Click here to download the eBook version or continue scrolling to read in this web version.

When discussing online business, the majority of people only look at the result that has been achieved by successful online businesses such as Amazon. They did not notice the hard work that the online business has done. One of the major struggles is to increase sales. Increasing sales through an online platform is the ultimate goal of all businesses that engage in it. Whether you run a small online retail business or sell under big eCommerce platforms like Shopee and Lazada, increasing sales through online platforms is a little like scoring a penalty – it is easier said than done.

However, there is a saying that you missed 100% of the shots that you don’t take, meaning you won’t succeed unless you try. Luckily, there are plenty of methods that can be utilized to increase sales online, many of which are easy to implement. Some of these points focus on specific strategies you can implement, while others are more generic. In this blog, we’ll be looking at 17 common practices that you can implement to increase online sales performance, whether you sell physical goods or run a service-based business.

1. Be Honest, Don’t Bullsh*t!

This is the main practice that can affect customers’ trust toward your products and brand. Many businesses write checks their products can’t cash. Not only is honesty in your advertisement is crucial to your business’s reputation, but it also fosters and encourages trust in your brand. Don’t make claims you can’t substantiate, and avoid using hyperbole if possible – today’s consumers are hypersensitive to marketing BS, so be honest, straightforward, and approachable in all your sales
advertisement.

This practice also applies to how you present and position yourself as a business. Ever come across a site that’s obviously run by one or two people, but features copy that would be better suited to a multinational enterprise company? This approach not only makes you look foolish but also damages your brand’s credibility. If you’re a small company, take pride in that and be upfront about it – many consumers are turning to smaller businesses precisely because of the more individualized, personal service they can offer. Don’t try to be something you’re not.

2. Be Clever With Click-To-Action (CTA) Buttons!

If you’re selling stuff online, links are like maps – this feature allows you to guide your customers straight to the items there are looking for. Having plenty of clickable links in your ad is good but remember to not overdo it.

For instance, the links to “Boy’s Wears” and “Girl’s Wears” give people who are looking to buy a new pair of clothes two additional places to click. This saves the potential customer a step, makes it easier and quicker to find exactly what they want (so they go to your site instead of a competitor’s).

3. The Proven Results Of Testimonies And Reviews.

In today’s social media environment, customer feedback has never been more important. Fortunately, this means that your satisfied customers can provide you with one of the most valuable weapons in your arsenal – testimonials.

Including gushing testimonials and reviews from your satisfied customer gushing about how wonderful your products are more influential than even the best-written sales advertisement, so make sure you include gushing testimonials and reviews from your customers. These could be
include in your product pages, landing pages, and home page.

Similarly, the inclusion of trust signals can be an excellent way to increase online sales, as it creates a more favorable perception of your brand in the mind of the prospect and can potentially overcome hesitations preemptively. If your business has any professional accreditations or awards, put these trust signals front and center on your site. If you have an impressive list of reviews from satisfied clients, make sure your prospects know about it.

4. Create Urgency! Make Profits From FOMO Customers

While it’s critical, be honest and be clear about what your business is and what you do. No rule says you can’t use a sense of urgency to encourage prospects to buy right now.

Many consumers respond favorably to incentives that generate a sense of urgency, such as limited-edition products and time-sensitive special offers. While there are as many methods to do this as there are items to buy online, certain strategies may be more productive than others.
If you don’t (or can’t) produce a limited-edition product to entice prospects, consider offering limited-time services, such as free shipping or a discount, to buyers who commit to a purchase right away.

5. Offer a Return & Refund Service

Risk aversion – the desire to avoid a potential loss – is often one of the most influential elements in a consumer’s choice not to buy anything. This perceived danger is almost always a financial one. Why should someone purchase your goods? What happens if they don’t work or the buyer dislikes them? Even minor purchases can lead to “buyer’s remorse,” therefore address this concern right away by providing a post-purchase service such as return and refund.

Customers will feel less likely to lose money as a result of this. The less risk you remove from a prospect’s decision, the more likely they are to buy from you, therefore eliminating anything that would discourage them from doing so.

6. Limit Your Stocks! Consumers Love “SOLD OUT” Items

This concept is simply inconceivable to many firms. Offering more items is undoubtedly a smart strategy to boost sales! Not always, to be sure. In fact, in many cases, having more options can lead to prospect indecision, which leads to lost sales.

If you have a lot of products, try to structure your site or product pages such that users have a few options as feasible. As a result, the visitor is less likely to be overwhelmed with dozens of various things. This can be accomplished by categorizing your products into progressively limited categories (which has the added benefit of making it easier for visitors to locate exactly what they’re looking for), or by focusing on fewer specific products. In any case, keep in mind that the more options you present, the more probable a consumer is to leave and go somewhere else.

7. Find Your Niche Audience, Then Experiment On Other Marketplaces!

Using the data, such as spending behavior, that you obtained about your current customers to locate others who are similar to them is one of the best strategies to improve online sales. Everyone has their own preference on which e-commerce platform is the best and comfortable for them to use. That does not mean you have to differentiate your target market for each platform. By focusing on a few target markets, it will be easier for you to manage multiple platforms simultaneously.

8. Make Checkout As Smooth As Possible.

To ensure the best user experience for customers, conversion rates can be greatly improved by decreasing friction in the checkout process. Visitors should be able to utilize and navigate your site as easily as possible, but you should make it even easier for them to buy what you’re selling. Remove any superfluous steps from your checkout process that can deter a potential customer from converting. Filling out forms with extraneous fields is a waste of time. Don’t let them run out of time and force them to start over. Of course, if your business sells on well-established e-commerce platforms such as Shopee and Lazada, you don’t have to worry about this.

9. Payment Options; The More The Better!

Consumers have more choices than ever before in terms of how they actually pay for goods and services, and not everyone prefers to use American Express. By offering more payment options, including newer services that are becoming increasingly popular on mobile, you’re making it easier for prospects to give you their money. Sure, it can be a hassle to optimize your site (and checkout process, as we discussed above) to include all these options, but doing so is a great way to increase online sales, particularly if your site has strong mobile traffic.

10. Invest in Quality Product Images

Food that is well-presented tastes better than food that is sloppily plated, according to studies. Given how significant appearance is in our perceptions of things (including other people), it stands to reason that investing in high-quality product photography will have a comparable
impact on-site visitors.

Include high-quality photographs of your products, regardless of what you sell – no tiny thumbnails or badly lit stock room shots. Make sure to include a variety of photographs. Including images of your merchandise from every possible angle may seem excessive, but give it a shot. People love to kick a product’s proverbial tires before buying, especially online.

11. Answer Questions! Or Lose A Potential Customer.

Making assumptions about your prospective consumers’ knowledge of your product, service, or even market is one of the most deadly errors you may fall into when trying to sell online. Many businesses make the mistake of assuming their customers know more about what they’re offering than they really do, resulting in unanswered questions or unaddressed complaints, both of which can hurt sales.

Consider every query you can think of regarding your product and address it in your product page’s description. Consider every possible objection a prospect might have about your offering and address it in advance in your description. This may appear impracticable, but keep in mind that you’re not overwhelming prospects with useless information; instead, you’re providing them with exactly what they need to make an informed decision. This method is also a great way to practice writing tight, clear, and brief prose. If you’re concerned that there’s too much copy, you can always reduce it. Simply focus on the customer and how it benefits them, rather than on why your firm is so great.

12. Use “Tiered Pricing” Methods To Gain More Effective Sales.

When you go to a restaurant, you’re almost certain to order one of the mid-priced dishes. This is because many restaurants utilize psychological tricks to steer customers into mid-priced meals. We tend to avoid the lowest – and most costly – dishes, which makes the middle-tier selections the most enticing. This is referred to as “decoy pricing.” With tiered pricing schemes, the same approach can be used to boost online sales.

You can encourage consumers to choose the middle choice — the one you really want them to buy – by offering a third “decoy” option in your pricing structure. Sure, some customers will choose the most expensive choice regardless (which is a revenue bonus), but the majority will unconsciously ignore the decoy and opt for the middle-tier option, which is exactly what you want.

13. Consumers Buy Solutions, Not Products.

Essentially, your value proposition is the promise of the value prospects will receive by investing in whatever you’re providing, and it’s the key reason customers should buy from you rather than your competitors. Value propositions can be divided into three categories:

Relevance: How will your product/service help customers solve their problems?
Values that can be measured: The distinct advantages that your product or service provides
Differentiator: Why should people buy from you instead of a competitor?

When you break down a value proposition into these three components, it’s clear to understand why these factors should inspire practically every aspect of your marketing messaging and website content, from your homepage copy to the content of your email marketing campaigns. Why wouldn’t you concentrate solely on these features of your goods? Examine the copy on your landing page, as well as any sales collateral or other marketing materials. Is the value proposition evident right away? If not, it’s time to rethink your strategy. In some manner, everything your prospects see should relate to your value proposition. The more perceived value you can produce for your products or services, the more sales you’ll generate.

14. Don’t “Syok Sendiri”! Listen To Your Consumers!

The voice of the customer is a market research technique that aligns text with the consumer’s requirements, wants, pain spots, expectations, and aversions. During market research and focus group testing, this method frequently involves terminology and phrasing used by customers themselves.

15. Identify Your Best and Worst Conversion Paths (For Research!)

Sometimes it feels like you’re doing everything right, only to have your conversion rates fluctuate between “miserable” and “pathetic.” This is frequently due to a misunderstanding of when and where conversions occur, rather than anything to do with the wording or positioning of your ads (though it’s worth paying attention to).

Examining your attribution models and conversion routes in Analytics should be one of the first things you do if your conversion rates appear to be declining. You might be shocked to learn that elements of your marketing plan that appear to be conversion flops have a significant impact on your online sales.

16. Social Media! Yes, Use Them!

Many businesses overlook active social media engagement with prospects as a potential sales tool because they believe it has a minimal impact on actual sales – when in fact, it is one of the most successful methods to improve brand awareness, customer satisfaction, and sales.

Consider a time when you sent a tweet or left a message on a company’s Facebook page and received a personal response. What impact did this have in your opinion of that particular brand? I’m guessing it got a lot better after that. Providing quick, honest responses to potential consumers’ inquiries about your products is a great method to boost sales, because the more attention you give potential customers, the more likely they are to want to buy from you. This leads to unprompted social feedback from users — the kind of brand exposure and “promotion” that money can’t buy (well, not in a way that sounds legitimate, anyway).

17. Can’t Find New Customers? Try Remarketing!

It takes time, money, and effort to complete any digital marketing campaign. If you don’t use remarketing, you’re relying on potential clients to convert right away, which nearly never happens (and is exactly as crazy as it sounds).

Remarketing is perhaps the single most efficient strategy to increase online sales, whether you’re remarketing your content or a specific time-sensitive sale offer. Remarketing not only keeps your brand in front of prospects’ minds but also presents them with a plethora of new conversion chances. Given the increasingly fragmented customer experience, which now typically spans several days and many devices, remarketing is also in line with how today’s consumers choose to shop — anywhere and whenever they want.

Don’t Know How To Start?

Without doing the proper research, boosting sales can turn into a very expensive headache. Especially when you are a start-up business owner, applying theories into practice is a lot tougher. Unless you have a super big connection with top-tier business owners, it is unlikely for you to reach your ultimate business goals alone.

Hence, that is where IKOBANA360 comes to help! From driving traffic into leads, converting clicks into sales, and even managing stocks and logistics for you! This all-in-one eCommerce solution is perfect for new business owners who have zero experience in online marketing and wish to seek simple yet effective business help.

IKOBANA360 is Malaysia’s new B2B eCommerce Solution, specializing in helping industries and SMEs optimize their sales in the digital world.

IKOBANA360 helps fortify and support your entire business operation through digital marketing, fulfillment, logistics, and everything in between so that your business remains competitive. You only have to think of your business. We do the process for you!

Ready to get started? Let IKOBANA help you kick start your new era of eCommerce business!