Updated on October 6, 2023
Shopify makes it easy for almost anyone to build and launch their online store. However, online stores don’t sell on their own. You need to implement specific tactics that will help the business grow.
Here are some tactics that can help.
Tactics you can use to improve sales in your Shopify store
From website visit until checkout, here is how you can improve your store conversion rate at every juncture.
1. Make it easy to find the right product
Not every customer comes to your store with an exact idea of what they want. They might have a vague idea of the brand, the basic qualities, and the price band. However, they will predominantly use the search function to find what they are looking for. Let’s say Google has made searching using a random phrase a habit that is replicated everywhere, including online stores.
This means that your online store must have a universal search bar. The search bar must allow the user to quickly search and find products or even content that they are looking for.
Without the aid of a search bar, they might go around in circles. This will lead them to ultimately bounce off their website or, even worse, head to a competitor.
Having a chatbot on your website can also help your customers navigate your site faster. We have written about seven essential Shopify apps that you need to have on your website, which is a must-read.
While a search bar allows users to find new products, related products, or product recommendations helps them purchase products that they had previously shown interest in but did not complete the purchase.
‘Complete the look’ is one such feature that has become commonplace in almost every online store, especially fashion and clothing stores. These stores use AI-based algorithms to recommend products that might help the customer to complete their look.
At the end of the day, both these features enable customers to discover products attuned to their taste and help push the needle on sales volumes.
Suggested Read: Top Shopify Bots & Sneaker Bots for Your Store [2022]
2. Personalize the customer journey
The need for personalization will never diminish with the passing of time. Every customer out there wants an online store to attend to them and serve them just like how they will be treated in a physical store.
However, personalization is not a random event. It needs to be strategically planned, especially early in the customer journey. This is so that customers feel that their time on the online store is towards a successful purchase.
Also, do not restrict personalization in eCommerce marketing to mentioning only the first name of the customer in emails or messaging. True personalization means providing the right website experience to the user.
This includes providing live chat support on the website that the customer can turn to at any point in the journey. The live chat feature will help them find the right solution to their query, akin to a real-life store assistant. In online selling, the key is to make the customer feel valued and attended to, although it is a virtual world.
To quote James Sinegal, Costco Founder, “This is almost like show business. I mean, every day, you’re opening up, and it’s show time.”
3. Educate customers to make an informed decision
Let’s face it. Empowering customers to make the right decision tops the charts as the best way to increase revenue. This applies to every field, every product, and to every industry. There are several reasons why educating customers is necessary.
First, when customers make the right choice, they feel good about themselves, which in turn makes them feel positive about the brand. Nobody wants to transact again with a customer that made them feel small or incapable of making a decision.
Next, when customers make informed decisions, it drastically reduces the chances of returns. Returns are expensive as it reduces the chances of the product being sent to a new customer. Most often, the returned goods may have to be sold as refurbished products at a steep discount. Either way, returns incur huge losses for an online store.
There are several ways to help customers make better purchase decisions.
- Incorporate demo videos along with product images.
- Populate FAQs from customers along with solutions.
- Use in-store content to help customers direct towards the right kind of product. For example, a blog on the type of headphones.
4. Use product videos to dispel customer doubts
The power of video in marketing is phenomenal. According to Wyzowl, 86% of businesses use video as a marketing tool. Furthermore, videos are currently utilized as a means to acquire high-quality backlinks for your website. Essentially, businesses within the same niche that appreciate specific videos can use them and provide a referral backlink to your site. This approach can prove advantageous for websites. Video can play a powerful role in communicating product nuances that even the most detailed product descriptions cannot.
Customers expect online stores to showcase product overviews and demo videos that will help them get a closer look at the product.
The popularity of 360-degree product images and how they persuade customers to make purchase decisions is also a supporting argument for the use of videos in online stores. Creating such videos and editing them to perfection has now become easy by easy to use video editing tools like an online video editor.
Here are five benefits that your online store will gain from using product videos:
- They improve conversions and sales.
- Product videos reduces product returns as customers make informed decisions.
- They build trust and credibility in the product.
- Product videos act as a de facto demo.
- You can be publish product videos anywhere countless times.
Suggested Read: Shopify Pricing in 2022: You can’t miss this Guide
5. Showcase social proof
Social proof is a marketing tactic where you use the opinions, feedback, and reviews of existing customers to influence the buying decision of future customers.
Robert Cialdini coined the term social proof in his 1984 book Influence: Science and Practice.
Although it might sound like a term out of a marketing textbook, in the real world, you might have seen it countless times. All the customer testimonials, reviews, star ratings, trust badges, seals, etc., are all forms of social proof used in marketing. Even awards and accolades conferred on the product or business act as social proof.
Of late, influencer-led product unboxing videos also count as social proof.
Since a sizable audience sees these videos, it helps with creating brand awareness and improving sales volumes.
At a basic level, there are five types of social proof:
- Reviews from customers
- Expert opinions
- Ratings and reviews
- Positive Social media posts
- Awards, trust badges, and seals
6. Provide a hassle-free checkout process
Did you know that the eCommerce industry is grappling with a near 70% cart abandonment rate? Cart abandonment happens just before checkout when the customer has to pay to complete the transaction.
One of the primary causes of cart abandonment is a lengthy and complicated checkout process. If the customer is asked to fill out too many forms asking for private information, they will think twice before proceeding.
Amazon did away with asking for too much information and was able to reduce its cart abandonment significantly. Further, it also started auto-populating repetitive information like customer’s name, billing address, and delivery address. This simplifies the checkout process.
In fact, the Amazon one-click checkout, as it is popularly known, became a turning point for the eCommerce industry. It has even become the gold standard for online shopping that most online stores are trying to replicate.
Needless to say, it can improve your conversions and sales volumes as well.
7. Delight your customers
“The two most important words I ever wrote were on that first Walmart sign, ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed.'” – Sam Walton, Walmart.
If Sam Walton used customer satisfaction to his advantage to grow a business, you should too. For an online store that doesn’t get to meet its customers in person, providing the best shopping experience possible is the only way to delight them.
There are two ways of doing it, and both are centered on customer service. Customer service is the trump card that can help you beat the competition and grow your sales.
Customer service can make any business stand out in a crowded business environment. Proactive customer service has become a USP for most businesses. It leads to positive experiences which bring back customers asking for more.
In fact, PwC, in its study, found that 32% of all customers would stop doing business with a brand they loved after one bad experience.
Similarly, self-service is on the rise as it empowers customers to find quick solutions on their own without waiting on someone. The use of website live chat software, chatbots, etc., to provide self-service has significantly risen in popularity owing to this reason.
According to a Microsoft report, 90% of customers globally expect brands or organizations to have an online self-service support portal.
All said, providing proactive customer service and self-service options are the best way to delight your customers.
8. Use nurture emails for retargeting back cart abandonments
We spoke about the scale at which cart abandonment could cause an eCommerce business. But is it the end of the road? Absolutely not. Like all business challenges, cart abandonment also has a solution that can turn things around.
It is retargeting emails. Think of retargeting emails as nudges to your customers who abandoned their carts. These nudges will act as reminders or as hooks that will persuade your customers to consider completing the order.
Most online stores offer a small discount along with the retargeting email to win back the customer.
These emails are a surefire way to get past the cart abandonment challenge and ensure that all the effort put in to bring customers to your online store has resulted in the fruitful completion of a transaction. Ultimately, it contributes to an increase in revenue as well.
In a nutshell
From Amazon to eBay, every major e-retail store we know today grew their business by implementing one growth hack at a time. In fact, physical stores like Walmart, Target, IKEA, etc., have also grown by making it easy for customers to find products and buy them quickly.
We know for a fact that selling online is difficult. To make things simpler, we have blogged about a few simple steps to set up an E-Commerce store.
The market size is still big enough for anyone new with some great ideas to earn their share of the pie. If you have an online store, you can grow it to the next level with these tactics that are inspired by the giants.
At Kommunicate, we are envisioning a world-beating customer support solution to empower the new era of customer support. We would love to have you onboard to have a first-hand experience of Kommunicate. You can signup here and start delighting your customers right away.
