10 Ways to Increase Online Sales in 2014

The online market is continually becoming a competitive atmosphere as more and more people turn to online shopping to cut down on time and make comparison shopping easier. If you want to increase your business’s online sales for 2014, here are 10 things you have to make sure you are doing:

Bump up your social media

Post daily content to give your followers more opportunity to interact and learn, use photos to grab more attention (photos on Facebook earn 53% more likes than without), make sure the links to your various social media channels are easy to find on each of your site pages and blog posts, and make it easy for people to share your content and photos. Remember that social media isn’t simply about posting links and information about your products. It is a give and take that involves discussion and interaction with your followers. Be sure to use your social media outlets to reply to questions and comments, ask questions, and give it a personal touch to create a relatable image for your customers.

Upgrade your site

Paying for a graphic designer or a solid project manager are excellent investments that will create huge impact in your sales. If you are relying on online sales, you need a website that is easy to navigate, is attractive, and draws customers to the right pages. Work with a designer to create a site that is simple but incorporates attractive branding. Use a web designer to make sure customers can easily navigate through pages, links, and shopping carts. And assign a project manager to make sure everything goes smoothly. Your website is the most important thing for an online business, so it is important not to skimp on this step.

Make you site mobile friendly

As more and more consumers own smartphones and tablets, mobile usability will make or break your online sales. According to StatCounter, mobile traffic now makes up 20 percent of all global Internet traffic (and that percentage is only growing). Make sure your site is optimized to be easy to navigate, attractive, and has a quick load time for mobile devices. Consider creating a mobile app for your business to make online shopping easier for mobile consumers.

Create clear calls-to-action throughout your site

You may think it’s obvious that you want customers to buy your product or service, but unless you specifically have directions to “opt in here” or “add to cart” or “get yours now,” it may not be obvious enough. Give your customer plenty of direction to how they can make a transaction and make your buy buttons well placed and obvious.

Avoid choice overload

You may have an excellent selection of products and services that you want to be available to your customers, but presenting them with too many options can result in “choice overload” and actually hurt your sales. Instead, categorize your offerings into smaller sections to narrow down the choices or offer “levels” of package options to make the decision-making process easier for your customers. This does not mean that you have to offer a smaller selection of products or services, just try to keep groupings of options or of possible items shown on each page small so your customers do not get overwhelmed.

Create an email list

An email list or “opt in” list is your key to build relationships and maintain regular contact with your customers. You can present exclusive deals, showcase new items, freebies, and give your customers of glimpse of what will make them want to click through your site and start shopping. Send them regular emails that give them quality content and value without spamming their inbox.

Include testimonials and reviews

Consumers love to know what previous buyers have thought. Adding reviews testimonials, and pointers of which are the best selling items give instant credibility for consumers who are making a purchase decision. If a consumer knows that someone else liked the product, chances are they will like it as well. This also give you insight as a business owner as to what is and what is not working for your business and it will help steer you in the right direction as to what your consumers want from you.

Shipping

Provide clear shipping information and try to provide free shipping or free shipping after a certain amount if you can. Any additional price tacked onto what is listed under the item can turn the consumer off when they see their final price at checkout, but if they know they only have to add a few more dollars to reach free shipping, they are more than willing to splurge.

Upsell, bundle, upgrade

Before checkout, offer a selection of add-ons to enhance your customer’s experience. Give them a deal if they buy an additional item with the product they may already be considering and you can instantly boost your sale. For example, if you sell refurbished cameras, suggest a memory card pack, lens, camera bag, or a better camera model at check out.

Use SEO

If you want to be found in Internet searches, using SEO methods is essential for your online business. Using a combination of internal linking, back linking, effective description and header tags, as well as keyword usage can get your site to rank higher in search engine searching for products or key words your potential customers are searching for. Effective SEO requires some back end web work as well as effective use of analytics, so if you’re not comfortable doing this yourself, consider hiring an SEO specialist or at least a few months of SEO strategy campaigns.

What tactics do you use to boost online sales for your business? Are there any huge changes you have made which have made a noticeable difference? We’d love to know in the comments below!