Let’s say you’re running your online store for months already, or maybe even for a year or two. However, you’re not getting the amount of sales you wish to get. Sometimes, you even barely break-even.
You tried a lot of ads, but to no avail. You spent a lot more on ads, hoping for positive results, but the end results were bleak.
You began to wonder what’s wrong with your business – but you can’t find the answer.
If this is you, then maybe this article will be of big help! We offer simple but profound tips in boosting your e-commerce sales. This applies both to experienced and beginner entrepreneurs!
6 Tips to Boost Your Sales
1) Clearly identify your target market
You can skip this part if you know your target market already. But it’s surprising that many stores run for months or even years, yet they don’t have a clear target market yet.
They probably think that being in business online means it’s easier to find customers. While that’s relatively true – it’s easy and you can get more sales than from a physical store – you still need to do basic marketing research, learn your target market, and find ways to target them (or communicate to them).
Now, you don’t have to make things complicated or pay a large sum of money if you’ll do a marketing research – at least for now. It’s really simple as knowing what is called the “buyer persona”.
Chances are, you already have this buyer persona. For example, if you sell furniture items, chances are you’re thinking that your potential buyer (“buyer persona”) is someone who’s fond of decorating his/her house, or that he/she likes this certain design. That’s how you simply create that buyer persona – identifying the likes, dislikes, interests, hobbies and values of your potential customer.
Ask yourself:
- What are his likes and dislikes?
- Will she be interested here or not?
- Will my product or niche serve his/her interests?
Don’t take this complicated, too. Just ask relevant questions. You don’t have to know everything about your customer, but rather only the things that is related to your business.
2) Test and replace your products
Once you have a buyer persona in mind, check your products if they really serve your customers. Maybe, you’re not getting the amount of sales you want simply because you’re wrong products to your people.
Check the features of your products and see if they bring benefit to your customers. While any product almost always bring benefit, keep in mind it doesn’t bring benefit to all people (or people don’t see its benefits).
For example, selling cars to someone who isn’t interested in driving one because he/she is afraid of getting into accident clearly isn’t a good idea. Likewise, selling a sports car isn’t a good idea if your buyer prefers a truck or van.
You see, a sports car is great – but not for all people. So learn about your people first (your target market and buyer persona), then change products accordingly.
If you’re already established, and have the resources to do so, you can test varying products. Keep your old ones, but take new ones based on your established buyer persona. See if there’s a difference of sales between the two products or groups of products.
Once you see that one is better than the other, simply remove the bad performing ones.
3) Take advantage of Facebook ads
Many entrepreneurs start spending on ads before even establishing their target market, hence they fail – miserably. You can only use Facebook ads into full gear when you already have a buyer persona in mind.
The beauty of Facebook ads is, it’s easier to select your audience and target them. It’s also relatively less expensive – you can target much (depending on location and other variables you input) with just around $10 to $20.
It’s another thing, though, when it comes to making an ad. So, follow these 3 advice:
3.1) Use the best image and/or video – Visuals simply attract, so make sure you have the best image and/or video in your ad.
3.2) Follow this simple copywriting tip – “Sell benefits, not features”. Instead of saying what the product has, tell what the product will do to your potential buyer.
3.3) Use catchy headlines, but don’t clickbait – Don’t do what many ads are doing now – baiting people into clicks. Not only you will probably not get the sale, but they might get annoyed with you and even report you.
4) Establish your brand presence
Don’t take this complicated, too. Establishing your brand presence simply means giving your business a name or reputation that customers would link to it.
The truth is, businesses of similar kinds often sell similar products and have similar features. For example, there are many furniture stores, but there is only one IKEA.
Give your business a brand. That usually starts with your name (and logo next). Then work on to create a reputation for your business and name. The best way to do that is to simply do what you want to be remembered for. Many businesses talk about selling high quality products, having great customer service, yet they don’t have them. Just give it to the customers and you’ll have very good reputation.
If you can attach a meaning to your name, that will be great too!
5) Use content marketing
Do you ever wonder why a fulfillment business like us here at Fulfillmen have a blog on the side? It’s because it’s very useful for both us (the business) and you (our customer). Having a blog regardless of niche can engage your customer more with you.
But what will you write on your blog? You can inform them, entertain them; just basically be creative about this. The most important thing is, your blog gives value to your customers.
Again, don’t talk about how great your business and products are. Instead, show them how your business will help them. Or inform them about the latest trend in your business to help them make wise choices (of course, you should be that ideal choice, but don’t be biased!)
Don’t forget the visuals, too – pictures, videos, infographics – are all very helpful in your content marketing efforts.
6) Have a reliable fulfillment system
This is something that you won’t probably read in other “How to market your business” articles.
The truth is, your fulfillment systems will affect your business marketing whether you know it or not. If your shipping is always delayed, guess what? Your customers will complain a lot – until they slowly leave, meaning a slow decrease in sales. But shipping is just one part. There’s warehousing, order management, etc.
If your business is dropshipping, here at Fulfillmen, we can help you with all your warehousing, order management and fulfillment needs. As the best fulfillment center in China, we efficiently and smoothly manage and process our clients’ store’s logistics to ensure all products are kept safe and properly delivered to their customers.
But what if you’re not in China? That’s okay! Many of our customers are from outside China, anyway. Chances are, you’re probably using AliExpress to dropship your products. Even if you don’t, chances are the manufacturer of your products are from China since China is a big player in this e-commerce, dropshiping industry.
You can always check us out here or, if you have any questions or if you’ll ask for a quote, reach us here.
Conclusion
Boosting your sales is a matter of proper marketing and proper e-commerce logistics (of which Fulfillmen can help you). Let’s summarize the points you need to remember to make sure that, this time, you can gear up your store for more sales:
- Clearly identify your target market
- Test and replace your products
- Take advantage of Facebook ads
- Establish your brand presence
- Use content marketing
- Have a reliable fulfillment system
We wish you the best for your business!
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