11 strategies to sell more and better in your online business

One of the main concerns of entrepreneurs is how to sell more with your business or online store. And it is normal, because we need clients to grow.

Therefore, in this article we are going to detail the best strategies that we are observing to sell more and better in your eCommerce.

Use gamification through a Points Program

Gamification consists of apply game-specific methodologieswhich encourage users to continue participating or consuming.

For example, you can implement a Points Program, so that Every time someone buys in your store, receive a series of points that you can later exchange for discounts.

For example, every time you buy a train ticket on Renfe, you receive a percentage of its amount in points. Let’s imagine that when you buy a €18 ticket, you receive 6 Renfe points.

Later, you can use these Renfe points to discount an amount of money on each purchase. In this case, 10 points are equivalent to €1 discount.

Install a Chatbot on the web

Los chatbots son smart chats that help users with automatic responses. Like WhatsApp, but from your website and automated.

Not only are they an excellent option to improve sales, but since they are an automated process the cost is minimal compared to having human attention behind it.

Let’s take the case of a potential customer who wants to know how much time he has to return a product: he can ask the chatbot, and it will respond immediately with its programmed response.

Take advantage of email marketing campaigns

Email marketing is a very popular marketing strategy that consists of contact your potential clients via email.

It is very useful, therefore harvest a list of subscribers to be able to send you all types of communications.

At the sales level, these are some of the most effective:

• Special salessuch as discounts on the subscriber’s birthday, or on specific dates (Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Black Friday…).
• Reminders of abandoned shopping cartsto let the user see that there is still time to purchase the products they had in mind.
• Notify of price drops on products you have visited. This way you make sure that you are sending them a better price for a product that they were interested in.
• Notify of the last hours of a promotion. For example, emails like “Last minute for your 50% discount“, o “Tomorrow the exclusive promotion ends“They are very effective.

This is an example of an email from the company Jack & Jones, in which they notify us that a product that we had previously seen on the web has dropped in price:

Integrate an Affiliate Program for invitations

The affiliate program encourages word of mouth and that other users recommend us to their family and friendssince we will offer you a gift for each person you bring on your behalf.

For example, in the Adidas online store they offer you an affiliate link. If you share it with people you know and they register on the web, You will get a €10 discount code, and so will they!

In this way, they not only encourage a person to recommend Adidas, but the person who has been invited will also want to buy with their discount.

Boost up-selling and cross-selling by offering recommendations

Up-selling and cross-selling strategies consist of recommending related products or services so that the shopping cart increases its price or they end up buying more than they thought.

To achieve this goal, it is very useful to implement a recommendation system in your online store that suggests products to customers based on their previous searches and purchases.

A good example of a company that does this is Amazon, since under each product sheet, they show you a list of others that could be relevant depending on what you are looking for:

Offer free shipping with a minimum amount

Free shipping is a good incentive for someone to decide to buy from your online store, but what if you set a minimum amount necessary?

So you will motivate customers to buy for a minimum amountindicating in the shopping cart, before paying, that they only need “x€ more” to have free shipping.

This strategy is highly effective in increasing sales and will also prevent you from having very high shipping costs for small purchases.

Zalando, for example, includes free shipping on purchases of €25.90. Other high-end companies, such as Ralph Lauren, offer it if you reach €110.

Create an FAQ section

Frequently asked questions (or FAQs) pages can streamline the purchasing decision processplus it will prevent your customer service from becoming saturated.

And if users quickly find the answers to their questions during the purchasing experience, they will be more likely to end up becoming customers.

In fact, for customers who are in the consideration or comparison stage, an FAQ page can provide that last push of useful information to decide in favor of your product or service.

Organize events, workshops or webinars

When a company organizes events with recognized expertsthis reinforces the company’s image as an authority in its field.

In fact, by offering relevant content (whether in in-person or online events with webinars), customers may feel more inclined to investigate what your company has to offer them.

You may not get direct sales, but indirectly you will be improving your brand image and you will have a larger space in the mind of your potential consumer.

Implement copywriting in your messages

Copywriting is the art of selling through the appropriate use of words, empathizing and connecting with your target audience.

We found these 4 copywriting principles that can help you sell more:

Authority

The authority is the level of importance that your brand has within the sector. To improve it, you can:

• Publish quality content or have an excellent catalogso that users perceive you as a reference source, whether to read articles or to buy.
• Promote the linking of other websites to yours. This, technically, is an SEO strategy to position in search engines. And, if there are other websites that link to you as a source, you will gain authority and improve your positioning.
• Collaborate with influencers or experts in your sector. This way, they will associate your brand with their names.

But not only authority is important to sell more. We will continue to look at other strategies.

Credibility

Credibility is nothing more than the security that your customers feel buying your products or services.

To improve in this aspect, we can use several strategies:

• Implement testimonials or reviews that endorse our good work.
• Include security certificates or seals trustworthy, such as Online Trust.
• Clear return and shipping policiesso that they know that you have nothing to hide nor do they think that you will scam them.
• Accessible customer service, indicating the contact methods visibly on the website. This way, they will feel safer in case they have any incident.
• “About Us” Page in which you show who is behind the company, or what your values ​​and history are. This will help you get a good image.

With these strategies, you will help people trust you and feel safe buying.

Affinity

Empathy is one of the best sales recipes. It brings you closer to your client and makes you more human. Before you have shown that you know how to help him, but now you must emphasize something more important, which is that you want to do it.

Get to know him thoroughly to be like him.

Adopta su tonouses his vocabulary, reflects his concerns, his way of thinking.

Urgency

In a sales process the fear of loss It usually has more strength than the desire to purchase. You have two magical resources for offers and campaigns: the deadline and shortage.

The deadline is what works the most. And yes, I said deadline. Exploit the pain of loss with a countdown clock on your sales page. And stir up that fear with numerous ads in email marketing campaigns:

Tomorrow the offer ends, 5 hours left, Last minute, This offer will disappear forever…

The shortage achieves a similar effect, although not as powerful. It consists of communicating that there are limited units and they will be sold out.

Offer for the first 20 buyers, maximum capacity for 70 attendees, only 5 units left…

Remember to always mention true data and not falsify the amounts, because otherwise, you could get into an online reputation problem.

Apply CRO strategies to improve conversion

He CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) is a discipline that deals with increase conversion rate of a website. That is, having the same visits, more sales are produced.

For this, we can follow some very useful tips:

• Use high quality images.
• Implement trust seals and security before making payment or adding to cart.
• Shows the warranty available.
• Usa reviewstestimonials and real cases to improve trust and credibility.
• Take care of the design and loading speed. Check that the website looks good on all devices and that it loads quickly.

Use data analysis to improve

In an online store, data analysis can be an excellent tool to improve sales.

One of the most important aspects to analyze is the behavior of users in the pagesuch as what products they look at most frequently, or how much time they spend in certain sections of the store.

For example, if data shows that users spend a lot of time on product descriptions but don’t proceed to purchase, it could be a sign that you need to improve your descriptions or adjust your prices.

Another crucial aspect is the analysis of conversion rates and navigation paths. That is, observe Where and when customers abandon the purchasing process.

This can lead to strategic changes, such as simplifying the shopping cart process or offering more security guarantees at checkout.

Finally, the data analysis of historical sales and seasonal trends can assist in inventory management and planning promotions and discounts.

For example, if you experience an increase in the sale of jackets in the month of November, with Black Friday, you already know that you could plan a campaign to boost it this year.

With this we finalize our recommended strategies for sell more and better in your online store. And you, have you applied any strategy? Has it worked for you?

SEO Podcaster at Campamento Web, the most listened to SEO news and interview program in Spanish. Graduated in Communication from Loyola University, teacher and SEO consultant, he has focused his areas of specialization in the field of communication and web positioning for more than 10 years.