eCommerce sites and web stores are a great way to sell – and even more so in the past few months – but how can you increase sales online?
The good news is that once your store is up and running, then most of the hard work is done! But that doesn’t mean that you can’t make a few tweaks to improve your sales figures; either by increasing new customers or by improving the numbers of existing ones coming back to buy again.
Here are 5 quick ways to increase your sales online.
1. Have a clear, simple page layout
Make sure that your web store is clearly laid out and not cluttered or confusing.
Simple sells! The more unnecessary text and other visual clutter you have the harder it is for the customer to find what they are looking for.
Customers want to see images of the product, find key specific info (such as size, delivery time, colour options, etc) and be able to make a decision from the information displayed in a way that they can find it and understand it easily.
Too much clutter and many will simply hit the back button and lose you the sale.
Keep your layout uniform across all your product pages. Think about Amazon – their pages carry a lot of information, but before you land on the page you know where to find what you want. Images are upfront and there, plus some key text with highlights of the most important features.
More detailed info is further down the page and out of the way.
The other thing that all Amazon pages display clearly? The Buy Now and Add to Basket buttons.
These make it easy to purchase – so make sure that your product pages do the same.
For more suggestions on store page layout – read eCommerce display design improvements.
2. Build trust with your customers
Customers who feel that you are a company that can be trusted are far more likely to buy from you.
There are several ways to build trust. Consider implementing some of these suggestions if you have not already done so:
a). Be honest in your product descriptions. If a product does not live up to expectations, then that customer will not buy from you again.
b). Be honest in your service descriptions. As with products, make sure your service matches your promise – don’t say delivery in 2 days and then take a week to do it – that customer won’t be back.
c). Respond to customer queries (and complaints) quickly. Ideally, use a webchat or live chat service – some are free, and some are built-in with store platforms. Being available to answer questions will win you extra sales from customers with queries.
d). Post customer reviews (see below).
e). Have a secure site which uses an SSL certificate – this is essential these days.
3. Use the best high-quality images
Always use high-quality product photographs.
Most customers will ‘buy with the eye’ and the photos on your product pages are always the first thing to be looked at by every visitor to your pages. In fact, many will have decided to purchase after a quick glimpse of the first image they see, even though they may take time to read the description and check other information before they click on the ‘Buy’ button.
Therefore your images must always be top-notch. A poor-quality product photo will cost you sales – in the customer’s mind, they are a direct reflection of the quality of the product itself.
For more help on product photography, have a look at our eCommerce product photography overview, which covers everything you need to know about this subject.
If you don’t have the time or the equipment to do this most important task yourself, then it is worth hiring a professional product photographer.
Professionals for product photography are not expensive – they can be hired for as little as £99 per hour – and you can cover a lot of product in an hour!
And don’t forget – there are different types of photograph to take as well – read 6 different styles of product photography for further details.
4. Start using product videos
After product photography, the next most important element of your store page should be product videos. As the world has come to depend on online interactions, video has swiftly become the most popular method of online communication and is now expected.
Yet thousands – even millions – of online eCommerce stores have not begun to use it.
Get ahead of your competition by being different – create some video!
And it’s not just product videos that you are limited to. You also have explainer videos, demos, how-to and testimonial (customer review) video opportunities as well.
The options are almost limitless – but as with product photography, it needs to look professional.
5. Make the most of customer reviews
Did you know there are 26.5 million online stores worldwide? With so much competition, building trust with potential customers is crucial for success. One effective strategy? Start asking for reviews from customers (if you don’t already actively ask). There are many ways to do this, but simply by asking for them will get you plenty of testimonials – you’ll be surprised!
Ask for reviews on your product and your service (delivery, handling of complaints, etc) as well, then publish them to your website or eCommerce store.
Testimonials are an amazing way to build trust with customers who have not purchased from you before.
Testimonial videos work especially well. These do not have to be professionally recorded (although they can be) but start by asking one or two customers who have already reviewed you positively if they would also make a short video testimonial as well (and give you consent to use it).
A few of these on a product page and you will see your orders rise.
We hope these ideas will help you and prove profitable.
The great thing about them is that they cost little or nothing to do – but at the same time can have a profound impact on your bottom line.
At Splento, we have professional photographers who specialise in product photography around the world. We can handle any size and scale of catalogue, large or small, and can produce the final, retouched images within 24 hours (guaranteed). And for a fixed rate from just £99 an hour (including retouching), we can guarantee our services will fit your budget too.
And if we can’t come to you at the moment, we also work remotely.
Simply send your products to us and we will photograph them in the studio. Your quality product, our quality photos.
If you need help with your product photography – contact us today, we’ll be happy to help answer any questions you have.
Have a browse now through the Splento’s portfolio pages for some amazing examples and check here to discover for yourself how simple it is to make a booking.
Finally, what if you already have your photos taken and they just need a retouch to bring them up to the high standard you need? Easy – take a look at the Splento retouch service, which will give you product quality photographs that make the difference, with editing for just 49p per photo.
With so much to gain, have a look at your eCommerce store today to see which improvements you can implement, and get to work to increase sales online today!
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