With the holidays approaching, most businesses are in full-out sales mode. Those with physical storefronts are decking the halls and window displays with suggested gifts. But what are businesses doing to spruce up their online presence?
Shoppers spent a record US$9.12 billion online this Black Friday, and Shopify sales are up 17% from last year. With this in mind, there are several steps you can take to encourage more sales on your e-commerce website. Keep reading to learn how to increase website traffic and online purchases—all while improving the user experience and strengthening relationships with consumers.
Connecting with (and growing) your current audience is the best place to start driving more traffic to your e-commerce website. Focus on these individuals to drive more traffic to your website.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is another worthwhile focus for businesses this time of year—well, anytime, really. Begin attracting more people to your e-commerce website by optimizing the keywords on your site to align with search intent. There are also many frontend and backend SEO best practices you can implement on your website to increase the likelihood of your business being found online.
of customers say marketing emails influence their purchases
Want to send customized emails or need help with e-commerce website SEO?
Now that you’ve got more people visiting your website, you want them to have the best possible experience. You want them engaging with your brand, easily navigating to the items you’re selling on your e-commerce platform and purchasing items online.
To do this, at the very least, you need visitors to be able to see and interact with what’s for sale on your website. Seems like a given, right? You’d think so, but too often websites are inaccessible. Website accessibility is an often overlooked—but hugely important—aspect of a successful e-commerce website.
A couple other user experience (UX) improvements include making sure your website is responsive to all screen sizes—and that it loads quickly. Consumers don’t have much patience for slow e-commerce websites. Speed is critical so that people don’t give up and purchase products on competitors’ websites instead.
of online businesses that fail do so because of bad usability
tbk can help with web accessibility & UX improvements for you to sell more.
To sell more through your e-commerce website, you’ll want to focus on conversion rate optimizations (CRO). CRO tactics help businesses turn clicks and visits into more revenue.
It begins with strong branding and positioning (having a clear value proposition). It’s often worth investing in professional copywriting for this, especially when writing product descriptions on your e-commerce website. They, in collaboration with a UX designer, can help you lower barriers to conversions with strong, well-positioned calls-at-action (CTAs) on your website.
Another CRO option is to send one or more reminder email(s) about things that have been left in website visitors’ online carts. CRO is incredibly nuanced, but this simple action can encourage people to take the next step in your sales funnel. Make it easy for people to buy now!
more orders with abandoned cart emails
Here’s your call to action to improve your e-commerce website.
To get better over time, you need to first establish a baseline and regularly measure your e-commerce sales performance. Make sure you’ve transitioned to Google Analytics 4, and that you’re using tracking codes (UTM parameters) on your website. This will help you get a clearer picture of website conversion rates.
Curious how people are navigating your website? Which pages are they navigating to before ultimately purchasing something? What sections of the pages are they lingering on most? When are people leaving your site and abandoning their online shopping cart? For the answers to these questions, you might consider a website heatmap and behaviour analytics tool like Hotjar.
Above all, never lose sight of your bottom line. How much are you selling online? Are some product categories outperforming others? Do certain target demographics buy more than others? Use this valuable information to make data-backed business decisions about your e-commerce website
of consumers conduct online research before making a purchase
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As we enter this busy time of year for shopping, may your e-commerce website be merry and bright thanks to these tips. If you need help increasing traffic, conversions, and purchases, don’t hesitate to reach out to the marketing experts at tbk.