Shopify, the multinational e-commerce company, has become incredibly popular since it launched in 2006, and as of last year, the platform generated over $135 billion in total sales. It has grown from selling only snowboarding equipment, to a platform that has hosted over a million stores across 175 countries. You might be wondering how you are going to compete against the other current 820,000 sellers, and gain the attention of at least some of the 218 million buyers.
It’s easy to think of the other sellers as the competition, however the true competitor is yourself, since there is always more that you can do to improve. Having said that, understanding that even though your product or service might be great, there are other factors that influence the number of sales you achieve.
These can be things like customer service, catering to mobile users and having testimonials. By implementing a few relatively simple methods, you can drive your sales even further. This article only covers a few methods, if you are interested in learning how to automate these tips with Shopify apps, check out Socital’s 15 recommended apps to increase sales.
Reward customers for referrals
One of the oldest and most trusted forms of marketing is the word of mouth. Statistics have shown that the chance of someone buying a product or service is increased by 92% if it has been recommended to them by people who have bought the same thing, or something similar. Having referral system is great, but reward customers for referring someone to your store is even better.
People love being rewarded, especially when they have to do very little, and referring someone is not very hard work. Not only will this increase the audience you have, but it will also drive your sales and improve the relationship between you and the buyer by creating trust and good memories.
It might be beneficial though to include some condition that states that at least one of the referrals need to buy something before the referrer is rewarded, that way you won’t only be giving away free money.
Offer automatic purchases
Making a sale is great, it means more money for you, but the after-sale service is equally as, if not more important. Offering automatic purchases is a form of after-sale service, since you are providing convenience to the customer after the initial sale is completed.
It’s a great feature to include in the services of your store, simply because many people buy the same thing every week or month, and just don’t have time to track those things.
It should be important to note that it should be as easy as possible for customers to remove themselves from the automatic purchases service. Charging a customer for something they no longer want or need is an easy way for them to become disgruntled and have a negative experience. This might lead to feelings of distrust or even the loss of the customer.
Use push notifications
You might be thinking that using push notifications is an easy way to annoy a customer, and you would be right if they were used too often. However, many people rely the notifications they receive in order to know when to check messages, return phone calls, wake up in the morning or even take medication.
Using push notification sparingly and when needed is a great way to remind customers when they have items in their basket, a special for a product they’re interested in or for products that are in their wish list which are now cheaper or in stock.
This is a simple and effective way to drive potential forgotten sales.
Analyze your statistics
The most important thing that you can do, is to know the statistics of your business. Information like what sells the most, what sells the least, the products that are searched for the most, product pages that aren’t even viewed and how many people visit and stay in the store.
Knowing what sells the most will give you an indication of your target audience, so you might consider introducing similar products. Knowing what sells the least allows you to remove unwanted products that are not being bought.
Knowing how long people stay in the store for and what pages are visited the most often will indicate if prices need to be changed, or to check how fast the page loads. Statistics about your store will give you the opportunity to improve things that will lead to an increase in sales.