Monthly Archives: October 2014

10.31.14
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8 Must-have Elements for Any E-commerce Website

A dinner date with that ‘special someone’ demands a freshly pressed shirt, casual trousers and a nice jacket to match. A day at the beach calls for sunscreen, flip-flops, some cool shades and beachy shorts to match. A business meeting with your next ‘big fish’ client will see you in a tailored power suit, snappy tie and super shiny shoes.

What am I getting at with all this? Clothes maketh a man, my friend. And great website elements make a great e-commerce store.

Does your site have what it takes to clinch a sale and convert a visitor into a customer? Take a look and find out.

1. Intuitive Navigation

Good navigation, is in my opinion, the single biggest conversion factor for any e-commerce site. Over 70% off all visitors who do not bounce off your site, browse through it using on-site navigation.

Your navigation tells users where to find the products they want and helps them narrow it down to the smallest details. Do your site a favor by creating logical product categories that break down into clear sub categories in the most natural way; for example,

Menswear >> Shirts >> Cotton Shirts >> Egyptian Cotton

Another critical thing to ensure is that the navigation bar or product categories are clearly visible to the visitor. The more the user is forced to hunt aimlessly for a specific item she has on her mind, the higher are her chances of giving up and moving on from your site.

2. Search Bar

If for some reason your site navigation leaves a lot to be desired, all is not lost as long as you have a great in-site search function. At least 30% of all visitors directly use the site search function, pointing to the pressing need for a search function that offers results that are as quick and relevant as possible.

Search is also a great starting point for users who know exactly what they have in mind, right down to the model number, size and color.

Place your search bar in a prominent spot on your website – many sites like Amazon, Zappos, BestBuy and Walmart place it top center, right above the main navigation bar. Avoid the miserly little search bars that most non-e-commerce sites use. As an e-commerce brand, your search bar needs to be large enough to visibly fit in longer queries that may involve detailed product specifications and filters.

3. Product Ratings & Reviews

Don’t let the weaknesses of online shopping affect your business. Things like being able to touch, feel, try on or test run a product in a physical store cannot be replaced by e-commerce. However, you can offer the next best thing – word of mouth recommendations and reviews by real customers.

Understandably, users trust the experiences of real customers more than any glib marketing copy that you may offer on your webpage. According to a study by iPerceptions, 63% of visitors were more likely to purchase from a site that offered product reviews than those that did not.

Use and display product reviews wherever possible – on your search results pages, on product pages, even offer links to product reviews for products showcased on your home page. Actively seek out product reviews from customers immediately after product delivery. This keeps the purchase experience and product reviews fresh in the minds of customers and acts as great fodder for future sales.

Another awesome by-product of detailed and fresh reviews is better search rankings for your site. You see, new reviews are seen as fresh content and get picked up by search engines easily. Moreover, they typically contain keywords that are important to your site and thus contribute to boosting your search rankings.

4. Short, Simple Checkout Process

One of the biggest negatives that traditional retail has from a customer experience point of view is the long wait times that most customers have to suffer at the cash register before they can pay and checkout with their purchase.

Don’t replicate customers’ offline shopping miseries online by creating a long and overly complicated checkout process. Keep your checkout process as short and simple as possible. Forms during your checkout process must have minimal fields requesting only that information which is really useful to you.

A good-to-have aspect of high performing checkout processes is that they are self-contained and do not have any distractions like the main site navigation bar, banners, pop-ups or any other unnecessary site elements that might lead the user away from completing the transaction.

5. Guest Checkouts

A pet peeve that most online shoppers live down is the need to register with a site before completing a transaction.

Think about it. For any e-commerce transaction to take place, the user has to offer you her complete name, shipping address, email address and mobile number (besides their financial information) at the very least. Is it not possible to create a user account on behalf of the user automatically after the transaction is completed? Is it so necessary to divert the user from the middle of a transaction to a registration page and risk them losing interest altogether?

Offer guest checkouts as a thumb rule for all new users to reduce distractions and minimize the need to re-enter the same data into registration forms that they would anyway fill up in your checkout forms. If you do need any additional data about your users, you always have the option of sending out a dedicated email requesting them for such information.

6. Multiple Payment Options

Paying for a purchase in the real world can happen in a multitude of ways including cash, credit and debit cards, coupons, gift cards, checks, store credit and more. Unfortunately, the online world has been slow in adopting this variety of payment options into their transaction mechanisms. Most e-commerce sites offer just a choice between credit or debit cards and end the discussion right there.

With the rising incidence of large scale security breaches at leading retail chains and the subsequent credit card numbers being stolen, more and more online shoppers are switching to alternate payment methods like PayPal, pre-paid cards or even cash on delivery payments in developing countries. Mobile wallets by both Google and Apple offer users the option of syncing all your cards – debit, credit, loyalty etc – under a single app. Just tapping their mobile phones on a POS system at a retail store, enables customers to make their payment without fishing out a single card.

Acknowledge the need of the hour and expand your users’ options by offering the latest payment options preferred by them, to avoid losing out on a sale.

7. Trust Factors

Most people are fiercely guarded about their lives online, which extends to their financial behavior as well.

Few visitors to your site will willingly part with their email IDs or phone numbers, afraid of receiving a load of junk emails or having their data sold to unscrupulous organizations looking for user data.

When a user whips out a credit card or a debit card to make a payment, they need to know that the site that they are trusting with their financial information is safe to use and will protect the privacy of their personal and financial information.

Your job is to restore this faith in humanity that most online shoppers have by offering subtle trust cues across website. While collecting personally identifiable information from users, make sure you clarify that their data will not be sold forward to others or misused in any other way. This could be in the form of microcopy alongside the various data driven fields in your checkout process.

The need for trust is most acutely felt when it comes to financial information. Use widely accepted financial security measures to prevent data theft and misuse. Logos like the Verisign or McAfee tell the user that their data is now in safe hands.

8. Free Shipping

Getting items shipped to your doorstep is one of the many perks of e-commerce, however this perk typically comes at a price. Sometimes, the cost of shipping for certain bulky items becomes so unreasonably high, that online sales for such products becomes entire unviable.

A study by UPS in 2011, showed that unexpectedly high shipping costs were the number one reason for shoppers to abandon their shopping carts online mid-purchase.

Fix this conundrum by negotiating rock bottom rates with your shipping providers and offering users the benefit of free shipping once they shop above a certain order value. To ensure that your bottom-lines do not take a large hit while offering this convenience to your users, you can also offer users the option of picking slow shipping modes in order to avail the option of free shipping.

In Closing

The list of must-haves on a good e-commerce site is a large tome – something I probably will need a brand new blog post to cover and complete.

For now, my dear e-commerce colleagues, I promise you that getting started with these eight elements will show you some fabulous results already – results that will motivate you to dig deeper and turn that website of yours into a conversion machine. Amen to that lovely thought!

10.22.14
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Getting to grips with social media – 5 top tips for small businesses and start-ups

social media small businessThe rise of social media.

There is no doubt that since the arrival of Facebook in 2o04, social media has had a meteoric rise. It has altered the way we communicate and become an increasingly integral part of our everyday lives. So what does this mean for you as a small online business owner?

With so many social media platforms around it is easy to feel overwhelmed and unsure about how to get started tapping into all that social media has to offer. We take a look at the benefits of social media, its challenges and where, as a small online business, to best focus your time and effort.

Fascinating facts and figures

 

The benefits (and challenges) of social media for small online e-commerce

The statistics outlined above reinforces our belief that social media should have a place in your online businesses marketing strategy.  It’s no longer something that is the solely the domain 18-25 year olds that can be dismissed as a passing fad. Your business needs to take it seriously. If your customers are using social networks (and chances are they are) then you need to be communicating with them on the same platform. Indeed, 70% of marketers have used Facebook to successfully gain new customers. An effective social media presence can bring your business added value through:

  • Building relationships 
  • Directly engaging with customers on their preferred communication platform
  • Establishing relevant online communities
  • Driving new traffic and as a consequence increasing sales
  • Strengthening your brand presence
  • Providing a low-cost marketing channel
  • Offering valuable customer insight

Clock, 24 hours, 7 days a weekOf course having a social media presence does also bring challenges for small businesses – namely time and resources.  Time often feels like it is against you when you run your own business; you are constantly wearing multiple hats and juggling lots of balls. And since few small business owners have the luxury of  dedicated marketers or social media experts, it means it is down to you where you choose to commit your time and resources. Social media is a bit of a trade-off (a bit like SEO) your costs are low but you will need to invest time in it.

Social media can bring a number of benefits to your business but you need to be able to balance the time and effort you will need against your other commitments. And because measuring the value of you social media efforts isn’t always as easy as other marketing channels like PPC or email, small business owners can be hesitant about committing their time to it. However, social media is often a component part of a customer’s overall journey to purchase . This makes it difficult to accurately measure its influence in terms of last click attribution. In an interesting article by Hubspot, they note that the value of social media often comes at the beginning of the sales funnel through relationship building.

“When was the last time you bought something immediately after clicking through a Twitter or Facebook link? That’s not how it typically works, right? Most customers discover companies through social media, then take some time to get to know their products or services — subscribing to emails or returning again through another channel.” Hubspot 

5 Tips for getting the most out of your social media presence.

We’ve established that having a social media presence is a necessity for small businesses and if done well the benefits will outweigh the challenges. So where should you focus your time and effort?

spread too thinly1. Don’t spread yourself too thinly: Firstly it is really important not to spread yourself too thinly. Rather than signing your business up to every social media network out there, start with a couple of key platforms first. That way you will be better able to manage your presence effectively within the time constraints you face. Of course the best social media platforms for your business with will depend on your target market so spend a bit of time finding out which social media platforms your audience are using as these will be the best places to focus your time and resources.

In terms of size Facebook is still leading the way with nearly 1.4 billion monthly active users and for your interest,  the top 3 social networking sites used by marketers are Facebook, Google+ and Twitter . As a general guideline it is better to post a little regularly. Decide how much time you can realistically commit to social media and stick to it.  Planning it in to your schedule may help – even if at first it’s just 15-20 minutes each day.

Content Image2. Concentrate on content: Just as with your website, fresh, relevant, quality content is key. If  you want to your customers to engage with your business then your content needs to be up to scratch. The more interesting and relevant your content is to your audience the higher the likelihood you’ll get shares, recommendations and conversations starting up. Social media is not the place for hard sales messages,  it is for building communities, relationships and rapport between you and your customers. So don’t be overly ‘salesy’ or ‘self promoting’ – it will turn your audience off. Instead, widen your content with information your customers are going to find interesting, entertaining and informative – such as competitions, insider news, industry trends, polls, helpful tips, interesting posts or invitations to special events.

Your should be aiming to get audiences to start looking at you as a bit of an expert in your area. Think about starting a blog. This will not only help you get seen as an expert, it is also a great way of adding fresh, valuable content that invites comments and conversations. Remember, its quality over quantity every time. So slow down and think about what your audience would like to see and aim for less, higher quality content rather than churning out lots of ill thought out content that customers may find irrelevant.

social media conversation3. Engage in conversations:  Engaging in conversations is a great way to give your business a personality.  And,  as we all know people prefer to do business with other people. Social media is all about building relationships with customers. To do this successfully first spend a bit of time observing what your audience is saying to each other – what are they talking about?  As a tip, a good way to get a conversation started is by sharing interesting information such as a blog post.

In terms of etiquette, if someone takes the time to make a comment then make sure you respond politely, thanking people for taking the time to make a comment or recommendation. Of course this will open you up to dealing with negative comments as well so it is really important you respond to these quickly and professionally at all times.

If you are in the position to have other team members around then think about getting them involved in your social media presence as well. It will help with your own time constraints and add a different voice to the mix. Just remember if you are opening it up to colleagues make sure you have some clear business guidelines in place for everyone to adhere to.

social media sharing4. Encourage Sharing:  The more interesting and relevant your content,  the more likely it is to be shared. “The sharing of content through social media and email consistently outperforms both consumer ratings and consumer reviews. And, surprisingly, online sharing carries essentially the same weight as in-person recommendations.” Yahoo Small Business Advisor

Of course if you haven’t made it easy for people to share all your great content then your hard work may be wasted. Make sure you have your social media icons in prominent places to make it as simple as possible for customers to share your content. For example on your website display icons clearly in your sidebar or header, add them to your email newsletters (many of the email companies like Mail Chimp and Mad Mimi will do this automatically for you), include sharing buttons on all your blog posts and don’t forget to use call to actions asking people to follow you and like you on Facebook.

Remember people trust the recommendations of friends and family often above all other influences – so encouraging sharing is essential.  “The most influential element driving purchase decisions today is word of mouth.” WOMMA

 

social platforms should support one goal5. Take an integrated approach: Don’t look at social media in isolation, rather take a joined approach. By this I don’t just mean take an integrated approach to your presence on all your social media sites, rather that you make sure all your platforms are working in unison and supporting each other. Take a coordinated approach across your website, blog, social media platforms, email newsletters and so on to ensure they are all working together to your achieve your end goals. If you look at each platform in isolation then your messages will end up being disparate and confusing to your customers.

So the key to getting on board with social media is to start out picking a couple of key platforms to establish your business on, allocating a realistic (and manageable) amount of time on a daily basis and putting your energy and time into producing interesting, relevant and shareable content. Track your progress to see what is working well and not so well and then grow from there!

We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this post, so please do leave a comment. 

Social media is taking over the world image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Buttered bread image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Social network image courtesy of renjith krishnan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Click share button image courtesy of mater isolated images at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Succesful teamwork image courtesy of jesadaphorn at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

10.09.14
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How small businesses can plan for a profitable online Christmas

online christmas salesChristmas is one of the most important times of the year for many online retailers.  December 2013 saw UK shoppers spend a record £11 billion online – a year-on-year rise of £18% . So considering as a nation the Brits spent £91bn online in 2013  and are anticipated to spend £107bn in 2014 , Christmas 2014 looks set to be another profitable period for e-commerce.

If you haven’t already started planning for the Christmas period, then now is the time to get organised. You don’t want to risk losing out on those lucrative seasonal sales just because you haven’t planned ahead.

What will consumers be doing?

Trends indicate more and more people will be shopping online this Christmas.  November and December are still likely to be the key shopping months, but don’t forget a significant number of consumers start shopping in September and October.

  • In the UK 61% of people said that they completed more than half of all their Christmas shopping online during 2013
  • Online sales in 2013 grew by a staggering 19.2% compared to 2012.
  • In 2013 the majority of consumers (49%) planned to do their Christmas shopping in the months nearing Christmas – particularly in November or beginning of December, 27% and 22% respectively.
  • 30% of consumers expect to start holiday shopping before Halloween
  •  22% of women had already started their Christmas shopping by September or October in 2013
  • 28% of women  ‘do their Christmas shopping early to avoid stress’.

importance of planning aheadWhy and what should you be planning now?

So, if time has slipped away from you (as it often does when you are managing your own business), don’t worry it’s not too late to start planning your Christmas activities. Although early bird shopping may have commenced, the busiest sales period is still to come.

Don’t underestimate just how useful an exercise planning is. Putting time aside now to work out all your seasonal activity will save you both time and stress in the long run. A plan helps you keep on track and alleviates the need for any last-minute, poorly executed and panicked promotions. It also serves to inform other members of staff of what is happening and when – keeping all of you singing from the same songbook.

Promotions – put together a schedule of planned activity

Decide on what christmas promotions you intend to do and then put together a schedule of activity. For example supposing you want a special offer to go out in time for this year’s Black Friday and cyber Monday (28th November and 1st December respectively) then schedule in the day your activity needs to go out and work backwards from there. You can then calculate when you need to have all your preparatory work completed.

Get started now on planning your promotions:

Christmas offersSeasonal offers

Offers are a great way to pull customers in over the Christmas shopping period. By our very nature we love a bargain, so think about planning some special yuletide promotions such as:

  • By one get one half price
  • 3 for 2
  • Free delivery
  • Early bird incentives – such as 15% off

Tip: If you’re not 100% sure what offers you going to do then you can always do a teaser for customers. For example, Check out Argos. They have already set up a separate webpage for their Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals for customers – without stating the exact details of what their offers will be.

Email, social media, advertising, blogs

Whatever offers you decide upon, then you need to schedule when you want  your promotional activity to hit. How are you going to tell everybody about all the great products and offers you have if you don’t shout about them from the rooftops in time? So plan in when you are going to send out your promotional emails, publish your festive blogs, launch your promotions on your websites and social media networks and if and when you are going to advertise.

Sales platforms – what are you going to need to tweak

Getting  customers into the right mindset can really help your sales conversions. So think about how you can ‘Christmas up” your sales platforms.

Website: Making your website Christmas friendly is essential. Inspire customers as much as you can by showcasing products that you think will make perfect gifts. Make it easy for customers to find things – try categorising headings such as; stocking fillers, gifts for children, gifts for her, gifts for food lover or gifts for under £15. For ideas on how to get your website ready for the festive season check out some online businesses that do Christmas well like notonthehighstreet.com.

Open a Facebook shopFacebook store: If you haven’t already got one set up, then now is the time to  create a Facebook shop and give yourself an additional sales channel for your products in time for Christmas. With 1.23bn monthly active users, a Facebook store offers a cost-effective channel for small businesses and start-ups to sell directly to an engaged audience in an environment in which potential customers are actually interacting in the here and now.

Multi device friendly: Mobile and tablets play an increasingly important part in a consumer’s purchasing journey. 

“Mobile phones and tablet computers are now used for nearly 6% of all retail sales as Brits embrace shopping from the sofa, the train and under the duvet” The Guardian 2014

December 2013 saw online sales via mobile devices double from the previous year to £3 billion.  With the trend likely to continue, if your website is not already multi-device friendly then now is the time to get it sorted.

Landing pages: Don’t forget to plan in appropriate and relevant Christmas landing pages. If you’re sending out specific yuletide offers and promotions, make sure your message is carried right through and reflected on the landing page. Your landing page has a significant impact on your conversion rate so make sure you don’t just send customers through to a bog standard home page. Make sure it reflects the content of your Christmas promotions – otherwise all your hard work and planning could be wasted. 

christmas stock and resourcesStock levels and resources

If you’ve identified products from last year that sold particularly well or have products you are confident are going to prove popular, make sure that you’ve got enough stock in to fulfil any Christmas orders. This way you can rest assured that any seasonal lifts will be catered for. Equally if you feel you are likely to experience a large increase in orders then decide whether you will need any extra help to manage the fulfilment and despatch. If you think you will struggle then have a plan in place to get more hands on board when you’ll need them – whether that means pre-warning family and friends that they may need to be roped in to help or hiring in temporary seasonal staff. Essentially be  prepared!

prepared earlier‘Here’s one I prepared earlier’

Finally, if you know that the Christmas period will be hectic, have a think about what you can do now to get yourself a bit ahead. This will save you a great deal of time and stress during those really busy periods. For example:

If you have a regular blog write extra articles now, in advance. They are then sitting ready to published when you need them.  The same goes for emails and newsletters. There is no reason why you can’t them prepared in advance when you have a quieter moment.

Just by thinking ahead and planning in advance you can avoid any nasty surprises and keep your stress levels lower. And if you really have no time at all then think about some seasonal outsourcing – it may well be worth it in the long run!

Further reading for some more Christmas tips:

 

We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this subject, so please do leave a comment.

 

10.01.14
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11 Simple Tactics to Gain a Quick Sales Boost

There come times in all businesses when things slow down, revenues drop, and customers don’t seem too keen on buying more goods from you. Thankfully, such phases are just that – phases – and they change for the better sooner or later.

As a business owner, there are a number of things that you can do to push the cycle from a downswing to an upswing with a little bit of imagination and a lot of persistence. Here are some time tested tactics that will help you turn the tide and get your business back to busier, more profitable times.

Creative Pricing

If nothing else, the one thing that is in your control about your business is the price at which you sell. Instead of going the boring route of pricing your products by simply adding a margin to your total cost; get a little creative with your pricing to attract customers’ attention and tempt them to buy more.

a. One-day sales

Pick a specific high margin product category and discount it deeper than you normally would. Announce that you will be having a one-day sale for this product category and promote it heavily across your store, local media, email newsletters, direct mail inserts and so on.

Often people stock up on products that carry a very deep discount even if they don’t need to use such items immediately. By limiting the discount period for just one day, you are creating a sense of urgency and playing on users’ fear of missing out (or FOMO, as it is now called).

b. BOGO

Getting anything for free has a unique charm to it that a mere discount cannot match. Use the Buy One, Get One free tactic with items that have very different margins. By keeping a high value, low margin product at full price and bundling it with a high margin product for a BOGO offer, you’re protecting your margins while simultaneously playing into the users’ psychology of jumping for a free product.

Another approach is a Buy One, Get One half off. Here, a user sees the offer as a 50% discount on an item, which is a fantastic deal by most standards. However, in reality, all you are offering is a 25% discount on the two items put together.

c. Coupons

Falling back on coupons to gain a quick sales boost is a time tested tactic. In 2013 alone, US shoppers redeemed $2.8 billion worth of coupons. This number shows us that given the option, there’s a huge market out there that will gladly use a coupon to save some extra cash. What really matters is ensuring that you target the right media for promoting your coupons. In 2013, 91% of all coupons were distributed through Free Standing Inserts (FSIs); while only 50% of redemptions happened through FSIs.

CouponsSource

Build a larger bundle and offer deals on it

Advertising value discounts on high priced items makes users feel that they are getting a great deal, as compared to giving percentage discounts. For example, $100 off on $500 seems like a great deal, but saying 20% off on $500 does not seem all that attractive.

Promote higher value items and offer value discounts on them. This works in two ways. It makes the user think they’re getting a better deal than if you expressed the discount in percentage figures and it gets you a higher revenues by selling a higher priced item or bundle of items than just a single low priced item.

Brand partnerships

Partnering with a non-competing brand is a great way to reach out to new customers. Create special offers on your products especially for customers of your partner brands and use their promotion platforms to reach out to their customers. As a quid pro quo, offer the same benefits to your brand partner. That way, you gain access to a new customer base and entice them with a great deal, while your existing customers get an awesome deal on the products and services offered by your brand partners. A win-win situation all around!

Deep discounts to specific customer groups

Kill two birds with one stone. By offering special offers and deep discounts to closed user groups like your Facebook fans or your email subscribers, you create a need to belong among your users.

The deals and offers encourage more users to sign up and you get a higher uptake for your offers while simultaneously growing your mailing list or your Facebook fan base with people signing up to take advantage of your offer.

Target abandoned shopping carts

According to research by the Baymard Institute, about 67% of all shopping carts online are abandoned for one reason or another. Users who arrived on your site, browsed through your products, even chose one of them clearly saw something interesting about your brand and products to begin with. Whatever their reason for abandoning their purchase midway maybe, you can always tempt them to come back and complete the transaction with a timely abandoned cart win back email.

Typically such an email contains the item that was left ‘abandoned’ in the user’s cart along with a gentle reminder to complete the purchase. In the event of no response to the first email, a follow up email with a special discount will definitely nudge the most tightfisted buyers to complete their transaction and make a purchase.

Referral programs

People tend to form friendships and close relationships with other people who share similar tastes, interests and overall demographic profiles as themselves. If that is the case, the friends and family of your existing users are a goldmine of customers waiting to be tapped.

Offer special incentives to your customers for referring their friends to your service. Also offer a one-time sign-up bonus for the friend who joins you through a referral to sweeten the deal for both parties.

Repeat user offers

By now, we all know that it is WAY cheaper to retain and cultivate existing customers than to attract and convert new users into customers. Tap into your existing pool of repeat customers and offer them special deals for newer purchases.

Offers like ‘Get $X off on your next purchase’ push customers towards that next purchase a little sooner than they would have planned otherwise. Another option is to have offers that kick in on making cumulative purchases. For example, offering a completely free product when a customer turns in three used wrappers of your product is a great way on ensuring three purchases and offering a worthwhile gift in return to the customer.

Rewarding repeat purchases on a consistent basis tells users that you value their loyalty and often costs a lot lesser than what you would spend on marketing to brand new customers.

Social media activities tied to a purchase

Most brands carry out contests and interactions on social media to encourage engagement with users and build buzz. Unfortunately, most of these contests have very little to do with making a purchase.

Share a Coke campaign

Change that during tough times, by building contests that revolve around a purchase. The 2013 Share a Coke campaign was a clever way of making customers buy Coke cans with their names on them and asking them to share the pictures on social media. It got Coke some great engagement, brilliant buzz and amounted to being one of Coke’s most successful promotions (in revenue terms) in recent times.

You don’t have to have a huge multimedia campaign and pockets as deep as Coke to do something like this. All it needs is a great idea that resonates with your brand and its users, and you’re all set!

Promote your offers everywhere possible

As a business owner, your goal ought to be to provide maximum exposure to your business and brand. Self-promotion may not be something that you live by in your personal life, but it’s a necessary survival skill in the big bad world of business.

All the smart offers and coupons and discounts that you conjure up deserve to be seen by as many potential users as possible to maximize sales. Enable this by inserting your offers and deals on any available free medium around you. A coupon on your receipt or purchase confirmation email, a free sample with your delivery slip, a special offer on your thank you page or tear-away coupons pinned to community notice boards at your local library, supermarket or even Laundromat.

Upsell your products

Another great way of bumping up your revenues is by promoting your more expensive products instead of focusing your cheapest ones. People may be buying the cheapest version of your product out of sheer ignorance. Educate them about a better product out there, tempt them to buy it by offering a special deal on it. Keep in mind though that the expensive items you promote are not entirely out of the user’s league. Now that would be a surefire way of losing a willing customer.

Promoting an expensive product alongside a mid-priced one has another benefit – it makes the mid-priced product look a lot cheaper psychologically than it really is. This is a good way of promoting sales for the mid-priced products.

Break down your price

A lot of sales never happen because users often get scared away by the price tag of your products. While bringing down the price of your products may not be possible always, you can definitely work on the perception of price that your users have in their minds.

Break down your product price from an absolute value to a per unit price. A line like “Insurance that costs you just 50 cents a day!” sounds a lot more attractive than “Premiums as low as $180 a year” and breaks the perception that an annual plan will be unaffordable at this point in time.

Conclusion

Growing sales in a tight market is not easy. Every player in the business is up to his best tricks to pull his business out of the rut and you’re just one in a crowd of millions.

However, that does not mean that sales growth only happens in prosperous times. There are opportunities aplenty if only you’re willing to get a little creative with your selling and marketing.