11 low-cost ways to improve your ecommerce sales

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11 LOW-COST WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR ECOMMERCE SALES

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11 LOW-COST WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR ECOMMERCE SALES

People like to know shipping charges before they check out. An ongoing estimated total - using the lowest-priced option you have available - will make most buyers far more comfortable with the process. You can put a shipping estimate up even if you're not intending to directly charge them - seeing the magical words "Estimated Shipping: Free" just below the subtotal of items in the cart can nudge a surprisingly high number of customers into making larger purchases.

OFFER A SHIPPING ESTIMATOR1

If you're selling products that customers have questions about, live chats with an expert can be a great way of helping someone make their decision. Don't be too sales-y - focus on providing the information they want to know and let your site design do the rest. Remember, customers want good customer service, and some kind of easily-reached support is a great way of providing that service. If you can't offer live support, let them know how long they can expect to wait before they get a reply, and try to keep it under 24 hours. Better to over-estimate and deliver superior performance than underestimate and look like you're inefficient.

ADD LIVE CHAT2

As nice as user accounts are - particularly if you want repeat customers - most people won't make one if they're only buying one thing. Use a guest process to let them buy anyway, and they'll come back to make an account if they plan to buy from you on a regular basis.

OFFER GUEST CHECKOUT3

Slow sites equal lost sales. You don't want to have a slow store - or worse, a slow checkout process.

IMPROVE LOADING SPEEDS4

Not everyone wants to buy with a credit card. Some would prefer to order through services PayPal - or, for certain high-value orders, even through check or money order. Be open-minded about payment options and try to offer several ways of completing the transaction.

OFFER MULTIPLE PAYMENT OPTIONS5

Knowing how to return items will make those uncertain of their order more likely to buy. In fact, a friendly return and exchange policy can provide a better user experience, ultimately driving much better sales.

CLARIFY YOUR RETURN POLICY6

Having an A/B set of checkout pages - that is, directing every other buyer to a second type of checkout page - can help you determine which page works best. Use one as an experimental page, and the other as a control page, then see what people enjoy more.

TEST YOUR OPTIONS7

Free shipping past a certain threshold, discounts for buying in bulk, and better rewards offers can all encourage potential buyers to make larger orders instead of smaller ones. Just be sure that anything you offer won't eat too far into your profits - a surprisingly high number of companies lose out on revenue they could be gaining by going too far with incentives.

ENCOURAGE LARGER ORDERS8

What else might a customer be interested in buying when they choose a certain product? It's your job to find out and put that item on the page so that people can buy them together. You can also encourage larger orders here with another incentive - a discount for purchasing the items together. The best products for this tend to be the ones that people are likely to purchase together anyway - the new customers joining in should be enough to offset the loss of existing customers suddenly getting a better deal.

DETERMINE UPSELLS9

If you're selling something that people want to buy over and over again, try offering them a monthly subscription at a small discount. This will save them time and money - something consumers always like - and help to drastically improve your revenue stream going forward. You can also do this on a more subtle level if you sell anything that's likely to wear out - a little before the product reaches the end of its intended lifespan, an automated message system can send a query to the customer notifying them of the issue and reminding them that you're still available if they want another one.

OFFER SUBSCRIPTIONS10

Star ratings, personal comments, and anything that adds a social aspect to the buying process can make a real difference over time. Focus on getting these for upsells, not just your most popular items, as a way of improving the overall size of each order. Reviews are particularly valuable if they're linked to an external account, or if they're from someone the buyer knows - mild peer pressure is a remarkably effective tactic.

OFFER REVIEWS11

For more tips on ecommerce, business, marketing, and branding

VISIT CORTEXCOMMERCE.COM