Four Simple Tips To Increase eCommerce Sales Conversions

If you're looking to start an online business, selling products online (or even #b2b services), you know there are tons of resources to help you get started.

While it may seem confusing at first, with a little practice, you can learn how to create a profitable product or service that customers want to buy. For example, in 2016, I took a deep dive into digital marketing and #ecommerce sales.

While it was never my intention to get into the online retail sales space, I quickly learned that the future wave was self-branding, content creating, and finding ways to engage your target audience constantly.

Our initial goal was to sell coconut trees growing on family properties in South Florida. That quickly changed when we learned the complexity of agriculture sales, certifications, and government red tape. But like any good R&D experiment, I decided to change course and sell trending items in the midst of the fidget spinner crazy.

While most people will tell you that when you're ready to get serious about your eCommerce sales, these tips will help you get there:

1. Start with a plan. Before you launch your store, make sure you have a strategy that aligns with your goals. If you don't have a plan, it's easy to get sidetracked by the daily grind of marketing and shipping orders.?

2. Create a brand that stands out from the crowd. Creating a unique and authentic brand for who you are as an entrepreneur is essential. When i was selling fidget spinners, I ensured they were high quality and affordable so people would keep coming back for more!

3. Optimize your website for search engines and mobile users alike. Search engine optimization (#seo) is the process of improving the visibility of your website or page in search engine results pages (SERPs). Optimizing your site for search engines like Google and Bing, it can increase traffic to your site—which means more sales!

While all of these have truths, that is not all you need. In fact, over the first twelve months of running online stores, I experimented with selling everything from swimwear, sports memorabilia, backpacks, brassieres, shoes, pet accessories, luxury handbags, cooking supplies and generating over $100,000.00 in online sales.

Today, everyone has a brand or product they are selling via Shopify, Wix, BigCommerce, Amazon, Facebook Marketplace, or other online platforms. But there are fundamental problems, outside of the three infrastructure parts listed above, that will continue to hurt your sales, decrease conversion rates or limit your ability to find paying customers (outside of your circle of friends).

So I've decided to share four simple golden nuggets that will help increase conversions, drive sales and increase the authority of your eCommerce efforts:

#1 Do Your ABOUT US Page (PEOPLE BUY FROM PEOPLE!) -

In the day and age of prevalent online scammers, there is an ingrained feeling that people don't buy brands; they buy narratives and content.?

While it may seem trivial, the everyday online shopper wants to know about your organization, its founders, and the leadership structure of your organization/company.?

Are the proceeds from your sales going to a good cause, similar to Toms? Or were you tired of the corporate world and now selling your passion projects? While most people forget and skip this section, statistically, 50% of your website visitors WILL read the About Us page.

Want to know the next place online shoppers look after buying into your narrative? Your company/store policies

They will read the about us section, and some will look for any policies that will protect them because let's face the truth - it doesn't really matter how many times you have been through your store and it looks authentic to you - the client needs to feel "safe" before they open their wallet in your store.?

I'll see where people complain about not having enough sales despite a fantastic-looking store, the unique products, and everything being on point. However, the About Us page wasn't captivating (or there at all), and the policies are not visible in the footer menu.?

You really cannot slack on this subject!

#2 A Number For Customer Support (People Will Call)?

No, you don't have to be available 24/7 on the phone, listening to clients that didn't receive their product. However, you can use Google Voice or?grasshopper.com?- a voicemail service provider - where you receive a phone number that, once called, the client hears a pre-recorded voice mail.?

You could use their recordings, but you can also take it 1 step further and get a professional voice actor on Fiverr to record a detailed message like "hey thank you for calling BLABLA store, our circuits are currently busy. Please record your inquiry and we will reply via email….." - don't copy it word for word but you get my point. Put the recording in the grasshopper system and put your voicemail phone number on a large and visible section in the header and it will increase your conversions.

#3 Post Your Location, Location, Locatoin (People will Return Items)?

One of the most severe and simple mistakes is not having a mailing address for your store.?

Get a mailing address and put it on your online store. If you have a physical business location use that but worst case scenario, get a P.O. Box and use it. Make sure you add the address to the footer of your correspondence emails with customers, and PLEASE add it to your store's footer.?

#4 Do not use a Gmail Address (People Want Professionalism)?

Nothing grinds my gears more than seeing a bad company email address. And nothing that is relatively inappropriate, just, for lack of better terms - cheap. To be honest, what gives greater visual appeal -?[email protected]?or ThisIsMyBrand@gmail.com. Which email address would you feel more comfortable corresponding with about your order? And which seems more professional??

Spend the extra dollars now to help drive conversions and sales later. You don't know how much it helps online shoppers feel safe and increase conversions by doing minor things.?