Imagine a gruesome scenario where you’ve drained thousands of dollars into inaugurating an online store, but unfortunately, luck doesn’t favor you, and your business goes stale.
Sales are at an all-time low, and the number of hits you get on your site is plummeting. Your financial conditions are that of a crashing economy, and your bills are piling up.
Well, an inevitable fact is nobody would want to even think of being in such an appalling position.
However, fortunately, a simple remedy to break into the online market is to provide efficient customer service. There is no use denying the scope that the digital market has, with over 4.3 billion internet users globally.
If you’re looking to tap into the online market, to grow and to expand your business – mentioned below are some tips that’ll help you along the way.
4 Efficient Ways To Help Increase Your E-commerce Sales
1. Add value for your customers
If you’re new to the realms of digital marketing, you might not be familiar with the concept of adding value to your customers. Let me put it into perspective by explaining it through an illustration. Consider an online leather jacket store which focuses primarily on providing customers with an arsenal of stylish leather jackets and shoes.
Along with that, the leather jacket store also facilitates its customers by providing blog posts about styling tips that delve into the intricacies at play while wearing a leather jacket. Providing content related to possible queries that customers might have falls into the content marketing category.
The environment in which online retailers operate, elevate value addition for customers to a point where it becomes pivotal. Adding value has become a crucial part of the digital marketing world, mainly because of the emphasis on the customer’s experience.
Unlike the olden days, sellers have lost a significant amount of control they once had. With ever-increasing competition, customers have towering standards that need to be met. Failure to comply with the standards set by the customer can have devastating consequences for the seller.
When we talk about value addition in the context of online marketing, we talk about increasing the amount of content being put onto the website. The content that can be utilized to enhance the customer experience includes,
- Blog posts specific to your brand
- Infographics
- Reviews, etc.
The prime focus while delivering all this content to your site should be to establish your expertise in the market. This subtle way of expressing the authority you have in the market will vastly improve your brand image and boost sales.
2. Consistency is crucial
When it comes to branding, perhaps the first element that you need to keep in mind is consistency. Your branding should be so effective, that the image you represent online is similar to how you interact with customer’s offline. As an emerging business, try to build your online marketing strategy around your brand.
To develop a robust brand image, opt for a digital marketing strategy that aligns perfectly with the old school marketing methods that you’ve utilized. Make sure you make the most use of your professional logo, using it on all of your online communication, as one might do while sending flyers or on an advertisement.
Furthermore, use the same mannerisms while engaging with customers. When you’ve worked on your brand image for a considerable amount of time, online sales are almost bound to improve. You can leverage your offline engagement with customers to increase sales. Brand building elevates the status of your online business platform, as customers start to recognize and trust your brand – all thanks to effective branding.
3. Incorporate the element of storytelling
As surprising as it may seem, perhaps the most substantial inciting factor in customers is through their emotions. And what better way is there to trigger emotions other than the art of storytelling?
If you want to sell products, place those products in a setting which speaks to the customer’s feelings and connects with them on an intimate level. An example of this is Nike’s Just Do It campaign, which is motivating and awe-inspiring, all at once.
Incorporating the element of storytelling into the world of online marketing can help improve the customer’s overall experience, as it is based on a much more subtle way of selling your product. Instead of shoving the product down the customer’s throat, try to use a more implicit approach when it comes to marketing.
Try to catch the customer’s attention by using the magic of stories, to showcase something that they hold close to their hearts. Moreover, the element of storytelling goes both ways. You can either tell the audience (customers) about stories that they hold dear, or you can mold the situation to highlight the story of your brand. You can use this information to build a healthy relationship with your buyers.
Conducting research and integrating that into your storytelling can be used to create awareness and provides one-on-one engagement with your customer base. Make sure that the stories that you cover are somehow related to your brand and what you represent. Try to be in sync with your market segment through the stories you tell, all the while keeping a consistent and steady tone.
Language plays a vital role in digital marketing, as it is the medium through which communication takes place between the buyer and seller. Try to keep the conversation as engaging as possible, to gather in long time buyers. Telling an engaging story paints a positive picture of your brand that will remain with customers for a very long time, bringing in loyalty with it.
4. Integrate SEO
A rather obvious question that you might be harboring is ‘How do I boost sales if I can’t increase the number of people who visit my site?’ Well, the answer lies in three simple letters – SEO. There is no shortage of competition online, and sellers need to prioritize getting hits on their sites. Getting into the first page of search results is extremely crucial to getting more visits.
SEO distinguishes your website by aligning the content on your website to the requirements of Google’s algorithm. Incorporating relevant keywords plays a significant part in bringing your website to the forefront of Google’s search results. Keeping these factors in mind, invest in SEO to increase your customer base.
SEO works on several aspects such as backlinking, etc. which exposes your website to a much broader and diverse audience.
Conclusion
Incorporating the techniques mentioned above into your digital marketing strategy, will stabilize your online business, and increase revenue as well. With these tips, your business will soon flourish and blossom like no other!
Audrey Throne is the mother of a 3-year old and a professional blogger by choice. Throne is passionate about lifestyle, business, automotive, technology and management and blogs frequently on these topics. Find her on Twitter: @audrey_throne.
Gilbert Daniel says
Can I simply just say what a comfort to find somebody that really knows what they’re discussing on the internet. You definitely understand how to bring this issue to light!