Ecommerce has experienced unprecedented growth in the last 18 months as the pandemic has driven us all towards a greater dependence on digital sales. With this in mind, it is now more important than ever for businesses to be attracting more customers to their website, and, more importantly, to be converting them into paying customers.
Here are some of our top tips for how you can grow your business’ eCommerce earnings.
Create engaging, informative copy
Content writing is the main way you will be selling your products to prospective customers. You need to ensure that it is both engaging and practical. One of the main ways to do this is to be honest, as this promotes trust in your brand and will help to convince customers to continue buying your products. Customers will quickly see through copy which seems too good to be true.
Be wary of making assumptions about what your customer already knows about your products; your copy must be as informative as possible, to make sure that it answers every question a customer may have about your products.
Finally, make sure your copy is engaging. Try to appeal to the audience in question, catering to the preferences and tone of voice of that specific demographic.
Secure your data
There’s no getting away from the fact that online shopping scams are on the rise. Because of this, you need to ensure that your business’s eCommerce platform is safe for customers to use and that it secures their data – both in terms of payment card information and personal information.
For purchases made directly through your eCommerce platform, it is essential that this data is secured properly, and does not fall into the wrong hands. Never simply assume that your payment gateway has you covered and take time to understand your responsibilities in line with the PCI DSS – The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. The loss of customer data can incur substantial penalties, significant remediation costs, and extreme reputational damage, so you must take every step necessary to mitigate the risks associated with online trading.
Optimize your business for mobile
More and more consumers are now turning to their phones to make purchases, and mobile search figures have now overtaken those made on desktop computers. This means that your website must be optimized for viewing on a phone, otherwise, you will potentially lose over half of your potential customers.
Make sure your site is easy to navigate, is responsive, and loads quickly. Try to streamline the purchasing process to make shopping the most convenient process possible.
If you have the resources available, it might be worth building a dedicated mobile app for your business. This will grant further convenience to the customer, such as saved user settings, more personalized content, and faster loading times. Apps will greatly improve your users’ experience, although their development may be expensive.
Develop your marketing strategy
You can have one of the best shopping experiences available online. But this will mean little if people don’t know about it. Email marketing should be an essential component of your eCommerce strategy, as you can inform customers of new product availability and even offer them exclusive promotions.
More importantly, email marketing allows you to build a community from your customer base. By using personalized and relevant messaging, you can create a more authentic brand image and encourage customers to carry on buying from you.
There is a fine art to getting people to sign up to email lists so they can receive these emails. Pop-ups can be an effective tool, but it is important to make sure these are not annoying. Opt-in checkboxes are much less intrusive but may have a lower conversion rate.
AI can also be extremely useful for email marketing. By targeting customers based on their search history, you can convince them to buy products and ensure that your eCommerce platform continues to grow.
