Every day, people are faced with the challenge of growing their business. For nearly every business, a website is an important part of that growth strategy. But what about when your website is responsible for selling things to people, and not simply directing them to a store or giving them other information? What about actually increasing sales at your website?
Generating More Sales From Your Website
For our discussion, a sale doesn’t have to be an online-only transaction. Plenty of people make up their minds to buy something when looking at a website, and then go purchase that product or service offline. While e-commerce continues to grow, it represents less than 20% of the total US retail market. What does that mean for you? Well, it means that there’s plenty of room to grow if you’re smart and creative.
Here are some things you can do to increase not only traffic to your website, but increase sales.
Make it easy. It surprises me that so many websites have no CTA – Call-to-Action. You have to ask people to buy that thing you sell. That Add to Cart button needs to be obvious, and easy to work with. It should be decently sized and colorful. They should be able to see, plainly, the price of the item and know what makes it worth their money. Boring descriptions, confusing pricing, and other lazy or intentionally-deceptive practices still exist. While there is a segment of consumers that will be OK with this, most aren’t.- Give them a reason. People want to feel good about their purchases. Which means giving them a great value. It doesn’t matter how good the value is if they don’t believe it, though. Some businesses donate a portion to charity, some offer amazing discounts. Others have hard-to-find or even exclusive items. If people can buy your item elsewhere, for a similar price, there’s no compelling reason. Give them one!
- Avoid bad photos. People want to know what you’re selling, and they want to know everything about it. If you’re going to get them to spend their money without touching an object, they need to feel confident that they fully understand what they’re getting. You cannot spend too much on good photography.
- Engage with them before and after the sale. This means having a strong presence on social media, offering an authentic newsletter, and maybe even emailing or *gasp, mailing* a thank you. Even though the world is moving rapidly towards disinterest and transactional exchange, it doesn’t mean people like that. They want to know what you stand for, and that they’ve made a good decision.
- Stand out. It’s hard to sum this one up because if it’s an easy example, it doesn’t stand out. This could be through media, like the podcast I host, whistlekick Martial Arts Radio. It could be selling only limited-edition or autographed items. It could be the best warranty you can think of. It could be an insane return or trade-in policy. Something, anything, that stands out from the crowd is sure to be noticed.
Final Thoughts
There is an infinite number of things you can do with your website, and many of them will help you gain sales. Unfortunately, an even greater number will hurt. Start from understanding your customers, and you’re likely to have more success.
And, if you still want more help, just ask. I’m here to assist.