So, you have built your online shop. You offer great products (or services) and it’s only a matter of time for people to start “crowding” and shop like crazy turning you to the next millionaire.

I’m sorry to break it to you but that’s not going to happen. Why? Because time is the last thing you should count on when it comes to online sales. There are, however, some really simple ways that can help you boost the sales of your online shop. And they all have one thing in common. Hint: it has NOTHING to do with the product/s you sell.

In order for your online shop to be successful, you have to offer your clients so much more than great products (services). It is all about creating the most optimized experience for your clients! Here’s how to achieve it:

1. Make it personal

Long gone are the days when the phrase “just business, nothing personal” worked. In the current days of online shopping, everything is personal. The sooner you embrace this approach, the better results you’ll see. Making your online shop personal not only increases trust (something you definitely want), but it also makes YOU more likable. And, as you know, people like buying from… people.

How to “humanize” your online shop? The opportunities are endless! You can include links to the key people’s (personal) social media profiles; tell your shop story, your mission, and even your dreams and your customers will see the “face” of your business! Be creative in your about section as well – include interviews with a mixture of personal and professional questions to the online shop owner, add a few pictures of him together with his family, his team, etc.

2. Take the online shopping experience to a new level

Everybody knows that an image says a thousand words. Unfortunately, great (even outstanding) images are the bare minimum these days if you want your products to even be clicked on. In order to provide a truly unforgettable shopping experience for your clients, you have to go the extra mile and offer diverse methods for them to check out (and even “test”) your products before purchase.

How is this possible? Well, in today’s digital world you can recreate an almost in-store experience for your shoppers with the help of 360-degree videos, compelling landing pages, unusual shots, etc.

3. Be flexible when it comes to payments

Offering a variety of payment options for your customers profoundly increases your chances of turning aimless browsing to hitting the “Buy” button. The more payment methods are available at checkout, the less disappointed clients you’ll have. Don’t make it hard for the customer to finish their purchase by limiting their payment options. Offer multiple payment options and your clients will be happy. Amazon is doing it. Alibaba is doing it. Heck, every online shark is doing it for a reason!

4. Don’t be shy when it comes to your accomplishments

Shyness is not a quality that can help you get to the top online sales you are dreaming of. Boasting about your accomplishments, though, will do the trick. Anything you are proud of should find its place on your online shop. Ranking, certifications, credentials, testimonials, awards, you name it. If there is a badge for it, you should display it (even if there isn’t, you can create it and put it on view). Build trust in your visitors and they’ll soon turn to your loyal customers.

5. Add an SSL certificate to your online shop

As we already mentioned, making the shopper feel secure while on your site is essential for building trust in them and taking them one step closer to hitting the “Buy” button. Adding an SSL certificate to your online shop will make them feel confident that their data is secure, so make sure you don’t overlook it. Except for a great sale-boosting tool, an SSL certificate is also favored by Google (and you know the basic rule – if Google likes it, your site should like it as well).

6. Never underestimate the power of FREE SHIPPING

Did you know that 96% of online shoppers are more likely to hit the Buy button if the online shop offers FREE SHIPPING? I hate to break it to you but if you want your online shop to be successful, free shipping is not an option to you anymore. It’s a MUST. Do you want to make shopping on your site even more appealing to customers? Offer free returns as well!

7. Add value to your products

Adding value to your products not only drives more traffic to your online shop (thank you, Google) but it is also a great incentive for people to choose your product/service instead of the one offered by the competition. How to do it? Create different guides, how-to articles, include performance/usage ideas, and other texts that are aimed at solving THEIR problems and they will choose YOU. Every time.

8. Mobile-optimize like crazy

Remember when we all used to browse the Internet on personal computers with a separate keyboard, monitor and computer “body” under the desk? The laptop is fast approaching the destiny of the personal computers as well. Just think of the number of times you used your smartphone for checking something online yesterday compared to the number of times you used it to actually make a phone call and you’ll get the picture.

With mobile devices becoming more and more often used for online browsing, it’s essential to optimize your online shop and make it easily accessible to mobile shoppers. How to do it? Make it mobile-responsive, add more visual content, and make sure that everything that can be tapped on is “tap-friendly”.

9. Don’t lose sight of the “sales funnel”

If you have an online shop, you want people to buy, right? It’s astonishing how many online shop owners overlook this when creating their online shops. Everything your online shop features should be aimed at taking visitors down the sales funnel. Make it easy for them to take the right path and keep them by their hand, so to say. Make sure they are not distracted on their way as any distraction may lead to a step sideways (or, God forbid, backwards), which brings down the chances of them getting out their credit card and using it back to zero. It is quite common for customers to “forget” products in their basket. And if it comes to that – your client abandoning their order on the last step, well, this surely is a missed opportunity.

10. Have your target market in mind

A major mistake some online shop owners are making is not thinking about their target market when creating their online shop content. Trying to please everyone is a proven formula… for failure. It makes you needy and there’s nothing that disgusts customers more than a needy seller. Remember that people don’t like to be sold, they like to buy.

Having your target market in mind will help you create an online shop that will help you attract the right audience (your target audience). This, however, is not one of those set-and-forget aspects of your online business. It is a never-ending process in which you have to analyze your visitors’ behavior and adjust your strategy based on what they like and dislike about your online shop and products/services.

11. Make the customer feel financially safe

Nobody wants to take risks when it comes to their hard-earned money and your customers are no exception to the rule. Make sure they feel their money (and financial information) is safe with you and they’ll thank you by choosing to buy from you instead of the competition. To improve conversion rates, put some security credentials that are easily visible at checkout, erasing the last trace of insecurity in visitors and getting what you want (more sales, that is).

12. The power of upsells and cross-sells

Upselling and cross-selling are the sweetest part of it all. Just think about it – you have guided the visitor through your online shop, you’ve already won their trust and you’ve got them to that sweet spot when they are ready to buy. Is there a better moment to ask them to buy a little something extra?

Upselling is a working-like-a-charm sales strategy that is aimed at making the customer pay more money. It basically means offering the customer to buy a more expensive product of the same product family or to add an extra feature/upgrade to the product they are ready to buy (like an extended warranty, for example).

Cross-selling is a sales technique that is best explained by the popular question, “Would you like fries with that?” Generally more difficult than upselling, cross-selling means offering the customer to buy another item from the same category or an accessory that can be used together with the main product. Here are some examples of cross-selling labels:

• “Complete the look”
• “Frequently bought together”
• “You may also like”
• “Recommended products”
• “Customers who bought (main product) also bought”

13. Excellent customer service is the new black

Great user experience in your online shop does not stop when the customer buys your product. It takes outstanding customer service and support to turn a one-time shopper into a regular repeat shopper (every online shop owner’s dream). The good news is that it’s relatively easy to impress your customers with great customer support as the average is shamefully low. Remember that great customer service means great customer satisfaction. And a satisfied customer likes bragging about their shopping experience, bringing more potential clients at your online shop’s door.

14. Live chat and optimizing the process of communicating with your clients

Direct chat like Zopim Live Chat or other programs, automates and facilitates communication with your clients. Clients leaving comments and messages through direct chat lets you be available 24/7 for them. Also, you will be able to enhance the personal relationship between you and your clients and show them that they are a priority for you. On the other hand, this way you will help them make the right call concerning their order and push them to purchase.

15. The importance of customer reviews

Customer reviews are really useful when you want to get real feedback on your products and how they are perceived by the audience. But that’s among the many positive things about them – they help with the choice of a new potential client; they assure that the product is tested and it works; they add unique content to your website. So you need to stimulate your clients to write more reviews on your products (of course, positive, but this also depends on yourself). One way to do that is creating a wide margin for comments that doesn’t require registration.

16. Checkout on one page

Multiple and complex steps for finishing an order often lead to giving up of the clients without even completing their order. In order to avoid that, one of the things you have to do is simplify the ordering process – it has to be fast, easy, convenient and visible. You can choose from a wide variety of modules when it comes to the process of finalizing of the order. For example, at Tendrik we use one of the best and most popular modules for quick checkout – Ajax Quick Checkout. Whether you bet on the best one on the market or use something else created entirely by you, you have to consider user experience as your top priority.

17. Detailed information about the company

By providing full and detailed information about you company – address, phone number, data, offices, employees, you assure your customers that they can rely on you and that you are legitimate. You can also add picture and video content. Surprisingly many businesses don’t do that, but this is one of the essentials. By doing that you will give your clients more reasons to trust you!

18. Remarketing with Facebook and Google AdWords

These are campaign that allows us to increase our sales and are targeted only to users, that have already visited our website. Thus we can be sure that the user has an interest in what we are offering, and we can remove the obstacle stopping them from making a purchase. Not always the thing preventing the user from making a purchase is a big thing – a huge part of them are just forgetting their items in the carts, plain and simple. With remarketing campaigns, we are reminding our customers of our awesome content and by doing so we are stimulating him making a purchase.

19. Faster loading

Besides being digital, the modern man is always busy. Even spending time on the web, he is overwhelmed by (interesting) information and things he wants to see, read or learn. So, don’t make your customers wait. Even if you have perfect and detailed content, your offers and design are great, you will lose a big part of your audience – just because they won’t have the patience to see them. Moreover, faster loading of your site and pages is an important factor for SEO optimization – this would only give you bonus point in the fierce battle for Google’s first place. So, don’t forget – first impression is important!

20. Creating a blog

Creating and maintaining a blog would bring you only positives. Contrary to expectations, this is an extremely time-consuming and hard endeavor, but it is worth it. Your blog is another distribution and communication channel. It is the human face behind the company, it is essential of your good SEO performance. With it you can show your serious attitude towards your work. It increases the traffic towards your website. We can continue to list the numerous positive aspects of the corporate blog, but what is important to remember is that blogging is the secret ingredient of the successful business.

Do you want to increase your online sales? Do you need expert web development, SEO or Social Media Marketing services? Get in touch with our team!