In part 1 of our Get Selling blog, we looked at different ways of driving traffic to your ecommerce site. Hopefully you're getting visitors now, but you still might not be getting any sales. The second part in the 'Get Selling' series is all about converting your visitors into new and long-standing customers.
Conversions rely on building trust with your customers, highlighting why they should buy from your site, why others think your products and service are first rate and above all making it easy for them to shop with you.
Here are some ideas to assist in this process:
Use live chat
Have you ever gone onto a website and thought ‘I wonder if...’ or had a burning question you’ve needed answering? Well, live chat is the answer to these situations! A live chat function allows customers to get instant answers regarding your products and in turn raises the chances of a conversion.
You can help manage customer returns, make it convenient for customers to get in touch at a time to suit them (on any device), guide your customers through the buying process and even engage with customers by recommending alternative products.
If a live chat is not available having an easy to use contact form can be just as effective for a successful conversion. As long as it’s simple and intuitive to use, you’re onto a winner! Everyone likes to be able to send a quick message without having to fill in a hundred boxes.
Enable product reviews
Did you know that 77% of consumers* read reviews before purchasing online? And that according to Internet Retailer, you can increase ecommerce conversion rate by 14-16% by adding product reviews to your online store.
People like to be able to see reviews from previous customers to help gauge the quality of the products and even the business as a whole. Installing a reviews app, such as the free Shopify Reviews, is an easy way to collect and display product reviews. You can even use an add on app to invite your customers to leave a review once they've made a purchase.
Ensure your images are top quality
Image quality is something we have mentioned before as the quality of your images are directly linked to successful sales online. Customers like to be able to get a good idea of how products look before purchasing.
When shopping in a real store, customers can pick a product up, feel its weight, try it on, touch its edges and give it a squeeze. When shopping online, customers aren't able to touch whatever you're selling which is exactly why product photography is so important in swaying a potential buyers purchase decision. Your images need to give them an experience as close to "real life" as possible, so make sure you invest in quality product photography.
Display product videos
Creating product videos, 360 degree views and user guides all assist with providing your customers with as much information on your products as possible. They can help drive more traffic to your site and ensure your customers remain longer on your site. In fact user guides are also excellent when it comes to search engine optimisation, providing users with quality, value-added content to your site.
Include FAQs
Providing a list of frequently asked questions can be great in saving time with customer queries, answering your customers' queries there and then and providing additional, great-value content. Start putting one together and keep adding to it as you run your store.
Introduce an affiliate scheme
Encourage your existing customers to do the marketing for your store with an Affiliate Marketing Scheme. Affiliate marketing can be an amazing sales channel for an online retailer, it relies on your existing customers to spread the word for you and to grow your business.
Offer incentives for customers to share on social media and send emails to their contacts and then set an attractive commission rate when anyone goes on to buy.
Prominently display badges or seals
If your product is endorsed or certified by a reputable firm, let visitors know with a badge or seal. Any important characteristics or certifications of your product (such as specific materials, safety or any 3rd party endorsement) could be included on your product page as 'designed' badges.
These badges and seals allow you to borrow the trust they might represent. This trust makes it easier for potential customers to want to do business with you.
Offer free shipping
Once a customer has decided on what they want to buy, quite often the available shipping options can be a deal maker/breaker. If you charge a significantly high amount for postage you should be aware that this could prevent you from gaining sales. We recommend free shipping as a shipping option and a cost priced shipping option so not to make it too expensive for a customer.
Enable free easy returns
In addition to having attractive shipping rates, having a clear and concise returns policy can make it easy for your customer to decide to buy. People want to know that if they don't like something, that they can return it, without too much hassle. Although this can be seen as a negative offering by some store owners (as they worry people will just return a product), it can actually aid in the trust-building process and encourage people to make that purchase in the first place.
In conclusion
So you’ve got your reviews system set up, live chat installed, a contact form up and running, perfect product imagery and a sound returns policy. You're now well on your way to making the first of many sales on your store. But you're not on your own, Blue Horizons are here to help to run a successful and thriving online business. Get in touch if you have any questions or need any further help with your marketing.
*Source - Jupiter Research
