5 Simple Ways to Boost Sales For Your Ecommerce Business

As an e-commerce store owner, you’re proud of the products you sell and your customers love them! It goes without saying that regardless of your current level of business, you’re always looking for more sales. 

In this article, we’ll talk about various ideas to boost sales in your e-commerce business by improving your conversion rate. 

And just so you know. I put my money where my mouth is. We implemented all of these changes over at Salís Skincare. Our Return Customer Rate improved by 10% and our conversation rate improved by 2.8%!

1 - Email people who abandon their cart

We’ve all done it. We go to a website all excited to buy a new product, we find what we want, add it to our cart, start the checkout process, and… we don’t complete the purchase. 

Maybe we got distracted by our kids, pulled to another app from a notification in our phone, or just weren’t totally ready to buy yet. 

This happens all the time to every e-commerce store. In fact, according to Statista, 88% of online shopping orders were abandoned in March of 2020. That means that out of every 10 people who added products to their cart, only 1.2 actually completed their purchase!

One of the easiest ways to get the other 8.8 people to buy is to send follow-up emails reminding them that they left something in their cart and can still buy it! 

In order to be effective, these emails should offer a compelling reason for the person to “buy now”. Here are three ways to do that:

• Time-sensitive discount codes (best option). 
• Use urgency phrases like “inventory is low”.
• Remind them about all of the awesome benefits they’ll get from your product. 

Any one of those tactics should give you an immediate conversion bump. Use all three, and you’ll be off to the races!

Here’s a discount code example from Fawn Design: 

The best part is, these emails can be automated through email service providers like Klaviyo or Hubspot. 

2 - Add customer testimonials to your product page

In the age of e-commerce, customer reviews are a must-have. Especially for people who are considering whether to buy from you for the first time. 

People naturally trust customer reviews more than what businesses say about their own products. Reviews help them feel more confident about their buying decisions. 

Just like we discussed with the cart abandonment emails, you’re more likely to get a review from your customers if you give them a compelling reason to provide one. Discount codes or gift cards to your store work great for this. 

And don’t just include your positive reviews. Include the bad ones as well and show your responses to them on the same page. Potential buyers want to see that you have good customer service!

Here is a testimonial section example from Bee Friendly Skincare: 

3 - Remove distractions from your website

Your website, and specifically your product pages, should be focused on one thing: helping your prospective customers decide if your product is right for them. 

One of the biggest mistakes e-commerce companies make is having too many button options or other items on the page that distract from that goal. 

Buttons that link to social media accounts or social media share buttons fall squarely in this category. 

It takes time, effort, and sometimes money to get a prospective customer to your site, do you really want to send them away to another business? 

That’s what you're doing when you include social buttons on your website. 

Instead, include those links or buttons to your social accounts in follow-up emails after they’ve already purchased. That way, you’re still able to grow your social community without distracting prospective customers on your website. 

The same goes for any other external links you have on your website. Use them with caution and remember that once you send someone away, they might not come back!

Here’s a great example from HotSox. The main focus of the page is the add-to-cart button and there are no social buttons.

4 - Answer your frequently asked questions

This one is pretty simple but super effective. Oftentimes, your prospective customers will only buy from you after they have all of their questions answered.

The simplest way to do this is to include a comprehensive FAQ section on your website. On this page, add all of the most common questions you get about your products and the answers to them. 

It’s crucial that this page also includes information about your return policy and shipping details. How long will it take for your products to arrive? 

Do you offer free returns if they don’t like the products? Free exchanges? 

If it makes sense, you can also include these FAQs on each product page. 

Arbuckle’s Coffee includes shipping & return information on each product page: 

5 - Get better product pictures and videos

The importance of this one can’t be understated. 

The goal of your product pictures and videos is to recreate the “in-person” experience of buying in a store. 

Imagine yourself looking at your products in a store. You want to see every side of the product in as much detail as possible. If applicable, show your product being used as well. 

You want to paint a picture of what it will be like for that prospective customer to use your product. 

Pictures and videos can do a better job of this than almost anything else on your website. 

So make them count!

Roma Designer Jewelry includes various pictures and a video for this necklace: 

Of course, there are myriad ways you can increase your store’s conversion rate to boost sales in your e-commerce business. 

Start with any of the five recommendations above and let me know how it goes!