Since February 2008, online shopping has increased by 13 percent across the world – a whopping figure when one considers the current economic downturn. What this growth illustrates is that, even during these difficult times, consumers are still prepared to spend – and, more importantly, they’re choosing to spend online. As the world of online retail continues to boom, there’s excellent growth potential for your product or brand online.
At a time when business is increasingly going digital, it’s become essential to have an Internet presence. Busy lifestyles, combined with greater connectivity, mean that consumers are opting to shop online. As belts and budgets are tightened, consumers are searching for the best deals available – and they’re searching online, all day, every day.
How can your business take advantage of increased online spending? Most importantly, your company must have an online presence, which can be built and sustained through a solid digital marketing campaign. Once you’ve established this, there are several tips you can follow to maximise conversions and benefit from the online shopping boom.
Tips for increasing online sales
1. Implement banner advertising and PPC campaigns
These two methods of online advertising are ideal for driving valuable leads to your site. Through careful research, the demographics of your target market can be defined, which means you can tailor your ads to the specific needs of potential customers. This way, you can also ensure that the ads are displayed to appropriate users, thereby minimising wastage and increasing your return on investment. Qualified search analysts are ideally-positioned to undertake this type of research, and to implement these campaigns.
2. Include a strong call-to-action on your landing pages
Ensure that your home page has a visible call-to-action that encourages your clients to “click to purchase” or “buy now”. The same applies to your landing pages, particularly if you’re running a PPC campaign that sends users directly to a specific page. Make it easy, quick and obvious for users to buy your product. Also be sure to include these call-to-action buttons next to each product for sale.
Remember, too, not to distract your customers from the purchasing process by keeping other website features to a minimum. Reduce scepticism or doubt by including trust icons (such as security icons for e-commerce websites), delivery information, and contact details on the site. This information must be clearly visible on every page, preferably above the fold.
3. Display your products on your home page
It may sound obvious, but some websites have an intricately-designed home page that looks impressive, but which fails to display their products or services. Making your site attractive is important, but ensure that the design doesn’t detract from the pages’ primary objective: to sell. Help the visitor to find what they are looking for by providing a short welcome message stating who you are, what you do, and how the visitor can use the site. Don’t assume that the visitor knows about your business.
4. Create compelling web copy for your sales pages
And make sure it’s clear, concise and interesting to read. Online shoppers aren’t there to read, but they do want to know about your product. Write your marketing copy compellingly, but keep it short. Provide links to further information, or an email address that customers can use to contact you about your offerings if they have any questions.
5. Keep your customers in the loop
Whatever product or service you’re selling via your site, it’s important to keep your customers up to date. Consider sending a regular newsletter to your database. This keeps your company top-of-mind when your customers are looking to buy, and also encourages them to visit the site regularly. You can also use this platform to advertise special offers, competitions or new products and service offerings. 6. Help visitors come back, AND spread the word for you.
Make it easy for potential customers to find you again by adding bookmarking icons to every page, and most importantly, remember that word-of-mouth is more powerful than any sales message on your site. Thus, help your customers to spread the word about your site to their friends by adding a “refer a friend” link to every page of your site. This is an excellent way to take advantage of viral marketing. It’s also a good idea to include testimonials on your website, as this indicates credibility and shows that your site is well-established and trustworthy, thus instilling confidence in your customers.
Let us optimise your site for maximum results
Purple Cow specialises in optimising websites to gain maximum online exposure and boost sales. Through our carefully-tailored and monitored digital marketing strategies, we’re able to increase your online presence and up your bottom line. Contact us today to discuss a tailor-made Internet marketing strategy, or get a website audit now.