All our customers have something in common, they want to increase their eCommerce sales. At Zendfast we work with many different eCommerce websites from butchers, bakers, flower shops, car parts, laundry businesses, everything you can think of. Most of these businesses come from traditional bricks and mortar retail. They come with great products, excellent brands and a huge amount of experience in retail which will stand to them when trying to transition to eCommerce or improving the eCommerce they have already established. Increasing eCommerce sales is a challenge but if you put in the time and effort its worth it and you will create a major asset for your business.
Some of the pillars of traditional retail are still important but they need to be tailored a little to be translated into the digital world. I firmly believe that by implementing the following to your website you will increase eCommerce sales massively, improve customer satisfaction, increase repeat business and grow your company rapidly.
UX
UX or user experience on your eCommerce platform is important. It’s a fancy way to describe how easily a customer interacts with your digital platform in a positive way. It should be easy to navigate, find what you’re looking for, communicate your brand correctly and most importantly make it easy to pay. Ever go to a restaurant that doesn’t take card payment?
Similar to a bricks and mortar shop if a customer has a good experience visiting the website they will come back and they will spend again with you.
Poor digital experiences can have the opposite effect and lead to lost sales, lower renewal rates and potential losses in revenue from wasted digital marketing spend or development work.
Understand your customer profile and increase eCommerce sales
When you start or want to grow your eCommerce platform everyone wants to drive new traffic and customers to the website. Typically this could be with Facebook ads, Google AdWords or starting a blog.
A lot of money, time and energy can be wasted if you don’t understand your niche and customer profile. Google and Facebook ads are brilliant if you know who your targeting so spend the time to profile each type of customer you have and want to attract to your website.
Make it easy to pay
I made this point early but it’s an important one so I’m repeating it. I used the analogy of going to a new restaurant and at the end of the meal, they say they don’t take debit/credit cards and you have to walk to the ATM. It would take away from the experience, right? Imagine a customer coming into a restaurant or shop and a sign saying no cards accepted or cash only. It’s unacceptable.
The same applies online and on your eCommerce website. Not everyone uses Paypal, some people want to use credit cards, not everyone has apple pay. There are several payment options out there, the trick is to make sure you have plenty of choices and nobody is dropping off or in web terms, you don’t have a high bounce rate at your payment page on your eCommerce website. Make it easy to increase eCommerce sales.
Capture details
This is a simple but effective way to gain customers either new or repeat. Have a function along the customer journey on your website that can capture the potential customer’s details. This will allow the opportunity to sell to them at a later time, resell, cross-sell to them or upsell. Without capturing there name email or phone, you cant do it. It’s a small tweak but hugely important.
Subscription model
Recurring revenue is the holy grail of eCommerce and can increase your eCommerce sales exponentially. Here is a quick explanation of why its a powerful revenue model for your business. If new business sales are greater than your renewal drop-offs you’re a growing business. Businesses all to often focus on new business sales however high renewal rates in a subscription model is very effective and can see your sales growth skyrocket.
The maths: You have 10 subscription customers and over the following month, 5 new subscriptions join and 2 subscriptions drop off. You now have 13 subscription customers the following month. Repeat this each month until your new business is less than your drop-offs. That’s when you need to start looking at other solutions like increasing your renewal rates or the value of renewals.