Part 1: How to Shoot Product Photos

Understand Your Camera’s Capabilities

There’s no denying that DSLRs are capable of taking better photos than smartphones. However, smartphone cameras are getting better and better, and the trick to great product photography is actually in the setup. You can take high quality, professional-looking product shots on a smartphone. That being said, it’s important to understand what your camera is capable of so that you can use it to its full potential.

DSLR PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY

If you’ve invested in a DSLR, then you should definitely make the most of it and shoot manual. Start by getting familiar with the “exposure triangle”—aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. These three elements will determine how light or dark your image is, and the idea is to find the perfect combination for your setup and product.

The aperture is the opening in the lens that determines how much light your camera will let in, and it’s measured in f-stops. It’s pretty straightforward—larger openings allow more light to pass through the lens and subsequently produce a brighter image. The confusing part is that the larger the f-stop number, the smaller the aperture.

(Source)

So, why can’t we just use the aperture to control the brightness of the photo? The aperture also determines the depth of field, or in other words how much of the product is in focus. A small aperture will capture everything in the frame, whereas a large aperture is likely to leave the back of the product blurry. If you look at the two photos below, they were taken with apertures of f-1.8 and f/10 respectively.

The trick is to find an aperture large enough to produce a well-lit photo, but small enough to capture the entire product clearly. Start with f/8 or f/10 and work your way up/down from there.

The shutter speed is the amount of time the opening in the lens is open for. Outside of product photography, shutter speed is altered in order to determine the way a moving object appears in the photo. However, for product photography purposes, it’s important to use a slow shutter speed to allow for a smaller aperture. Once you’re happy with your aperture setting (i.e. the entire product is in focus), you should adjust the shutter speed until you get the brightness level you need.

The last element of the trio is the ISO, which is your camera’s sensitivity to light. Increasing the ISO will allow you to take photos when the lighting conditions aren’t great, however, this does decrease the quality of the photo. You should never exceed 400 as you’ll start getting some camera noise. If you can’t take a well-lit photo under 400, your light sources aren’t bright enough. Aim to use natural lighting where possible.

SMARTPHONE PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY

If you’re using a smartphone, avoid using any pre-defined filters and frames and don’t touch the digital zoom, which actually just crops the photo as you shoot. All of this will decrease the quality of the photo, so save these kinds of adjustments for the image production stage.

Take advantage of the auto-focus and tap on the product prior to taking the photo. There are also a number of iOS and Android apps that allow you to control some of the manual settings (though the results won’t be the same as using a DSLR).

And regardless of whether you’re using a DSLR or a smartphone, never use the in-built flash. If you know what you’re doing, you can use an external flash. But generally speaking, if your product is too dark, this is a sign that you’re using insufficient lighting.

Also, given the popularity of filters, keep in mind that this can change the color of how the product is perceived, which can result in refunds if the product doesn’t match what the image looks like. So avoid altering the colors of your product photos, so customers are given a realistic picture of what they’ll be getting.

Steady Your Camera

Even if you have the steadiest hands IN THE WORLD, always use a tripod or a smartphone mount. This will ensure that you have track-sharp images, even if you’re working with a slow shutter speed.

A fool-proof method of capturing clear and crisp photos is to use a tripod or mount and set a timer on your camera. When you press down on the shutter, or even lightly tap the capture button on your smartphone’s touchscreen, you apply downward/forward pressure to the camera—setting a timer will allow your camera/smartphone to re-stabilize. I like to use a 2-second timer because I find that it gives my camera just enough time to return to a steady position (and I’m too impatient to sit through the 10-second timer beeps).

Set Up a White Backdrop

When it comes to product photography, the key to a good setup is to shoot against a white backdrop. The white backdrop will reflect white light back onto your product and prevent any color spills. It’ll also ensure that your camera’s white balance calibration is on point, which will result in accurate colors.

Using a sweep is definitely the way to go, which is just a backdrop that seamlessly transitions from the vertical to the horizontal surface. For smaller products, definitely opt for a shooting table and do tabletop photography; it’ll give you more flexibility with how you position the backdrop in relation to the light source because of how portable it is. Buy a shooting table online or make your own with an old table, some scrap wood, a hammer and nails, spring clamps, and the sweep itself. I like to use white wrapping paper as my sweep because it’s smooth and reflective, but you can use anything you have on hand.

For larger products, it gets a little trickier. If you’re going to shoot frequently, buying a sweep with a stand will make your life a lot easier. If it’s a one-off shoot, grab an old sheet and find something to drape it over. I’ve used a DVD rack before!

Shoot Near a Window

Unless you know what you’re doing, avoid using artificial light sources. They require a lot of skill and expertise to use and it’s not worth the time or money if you’re just starting out.

Natural lighting is the way to go, just make sure you use it indirectly. Taking photos by a window and in a well-lit room tends to work best. In terms of positioning, the window should be to the left or right of the product, never behind or facing the camera. Natural light makes set up much easier as you don’t need to set up as much stuff.

When pairing natural light with a diffuser, you can create some beautiful product photography.

If you find that the lighting is too intense, you can diffuse it by covering the window with a white curtain/sheet or taping over it with white paper. You can also buy a diffuser for product photography online.

It’s also important to be prepared and get through the shoot as quickly as possible. The color and intensity of natural light changes throughout the day, so for consistent images, you need to be organized and work fast. Having an extra pair of hands will definitely help!

If natural light is your go to lighting source, aim to take all product photos at the same time every day, so your photos have a consistent look on your online store. However, you can edit your images in post production to help with a consistent branding.

Grab a Reflector

The only problem with shooting by a window is that the light will only hit the product on one side. To avoid harsh shadows and evenly distribute light across the product, you should use a fill light or a reflector. You can buy a reflector or create your own fill light with a white piece of card. Covering the card with aluminum foil will make it extra reflective.

You should place the reflector on the other side of the product, opposite the window. You’ll just need to play around with the angle of it to find what works best for your product and setup.

Part 2: How to Optimize Your Product Photos for Ecommerce

Remove the Background

A white background will really make your images POP. It’ll draw attention to the product and give the image a clean, professional look. Furthermore, white doesn’t clash with any other color, so you can reuse this same shot regardless of the website theme or platform design.

In post production, you’ll want to remove backgrounds for your images to maintain a consistent look on your professional product photography. The most accurate way of removing the background is to use the pen tool in Adobe Photoshop. It’s not the only way; there are a number of background removal tools online and you can try using the magic wand and quick selection tools in Photoshop too, but you’re unlikely to get a clean cut around the product.

To use the pen tool, select the pen tool and mark an anchor point on the edge of your product. The idea is to work your way around the product, creating what’s called a “clipping path” until you get to the first point and complete the path.

If you’re new to the pen tool, you’ll quickly realize that the tricky part is when the edge of the product isn’t straight. If you click and hold, you’ll see these two funny lines with dots at the end appear; these are called “bezier handles” and can be used to manipulate the curve of the line. You’ll have to play around with the pen tool yourself to get the hang of how they work.

Once you’ve completed the path, click “Selection” at the top and hit enter. You’ll see that the product has been selected.

Swap to the selection tool, right-click the selected area and click “Layer via Cut,” which will separate the background and product onto two separate layers. Delete the background layer and you’ll have the product on a transparent background (represented by grey and white checkers). If you’d like a white background, simply add a new layer and fill it in with white.

Although the results are amazing, unfortunately, background removal does take time and it is quite a fiddly process, particularly when it comes to more intricate and detailed products such as jewelry. It’s a good idea to outsourcing the editing so that you (or your graphic designer) can spend time on more growth-related tasks.

For those looking for budget ways to remove backgrounds, you can find Shopify Apps like Pixc which will remove backgrounds. However, if you’re looking to do it yourself affordably, you can find a background removal tool on Canva’s Pro Plan. All it takes is a quick one click button. The technology has come a long way, making it possible without Photoshop.

Keep the Editing Simple

There’s nothing more annoying than receiving your online purchases and discovering that they’re nothing like what you imagined. You’d probably return the item and never shop on that store again. Your product photography and post production editing needs to mirror what the product actually looks like.

Adjust the color balance of the photo to ensure that the colors in the photo match those in real life, and only tweak the brightness and contrast (or the levels if you’re Photoshop savvy) to give it a more professional product photography look.

Note: Learn more great ways to edit your product photography for your ecommerce store with our Step-by-Step Photoshop Tutorials for Ecommerce article and create perfect product pages with our guide to Product Page Design!

Apply a Template

Creating a product image template is an easy and efficient way to make your product images look consistent. Start by choosing a size you’ll use across your ecommerce store—anywhere between 1200px and 1600px on the longest side is ideal because it’s large enough for an effective zoom function and to use across social media.

Note that the size you choose will be applied to all your product images, so you should think about the shape of your product when you’re choosing your dimensions. If your products are longer vertically, a portrait template might be better. Similarly, if you have really wide products, a landscape template will help you reduce the unnecessary amount of space at the top and bottom.

Note: If your products are all different shapes and sizes, stick to a square template.

The easiest way to create a template is to create a blank file in Adobe Photoshop and to resize it to the dimensions you want. Use guides to identify the center-point by creating a vertical and horizontal line at 50%, which will help you position your products later.

Your products should take up around 90% of the canvas, so it’s also good to create equal guidelines around the edges. When you drag each individual product into the canvas, resize it until either the top and bottom or left and right sides of the product touch the guides.

Doing so will allow you to align your products, which is a lot more noticeable when they’re all next to each other on a white background. If you look at the two rows of product images below, it’s easy to see that the first row has been created without a template; the shirts are all different sizes within their own canvases. This is likely to happen when you resize your products by eye. On the other hand, it’s clear that the products in the bottom row were resized using a template, as the top and bottom of each shirt is aligned.

Reduce the File Size

As can be expected, large images take longer to load. When I say large, I’m referring to file size rather than the dimensions of an image, i.e. the value in KB, MB, GB, etc. Seeing as 47% of users expect a webpage to load in under 2 seconds, and 40% will abandon a page that takes more than 3 seconds to load, it’s important that your images are small enough to ensure a speedy site.

It’s possible to reduce the file size without significantly reducing the quality of your images. My favorite method of reducing file size without significantly reducing the quality of the image is to use Photoshop’s “Save for Web” function. Open your image in Photoshop and go to File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy)… A window will appear which will allow you to choose your export quality. I find that a quality of 60 works best because it drops the file size down to below a megabyte and there’s no noticeable difference in quality.

Note: ImageOptim (Free) is a great little app that will further compress your images just by dragging and dropping them on the ImageOptim application icon. It will re-save the file and can save you another 20-40% in file size on average.

If you take a look at the photos below, the left shot of the earrings was saved as a regular JPEG image, with the quality level set to 12 or “Maximum.” The shot on the right is an exported web JPEG, where the quality level was set to 60 or “High.” The difference between the two is barely noticeable; the right is simply a little less saturated in terms of color. Learn more about optimizing images for the web in this step-by-step article (that also includes a video walkthrough!).

A Few More Product Photography Tips

1. Take A lot of Product Photos

Product photography requires multiple angles and photos to help people clearly see the product they want to order. Taking photos of a product’s sheerness in clothing will help reduce unnecessary refunds. Every product has it’s quirks. It’s important to capture the many sides of a product, so customers aren’t surprised when it finally arrives. Taking multiple product photos will also help you find the best photo to use to best represent the product. Plus, if you aren’t hosting video on the product page, you’ll want product photos of the sides and back.

2. Take Lifestyle Shots

Depending on the product, lifestyle photos might be a great addition for your collection. It could work well for fashion, beauty, or even outdoors products. When it isn’t clear what exactly a product is, a lifestyle shot can help people see an item being used to better understand its purpose. Alternatively, lifestyle shots can be used on social media to promote the product on your website. So while you don’t need to use lifestyle shots for your online store, you might use it to promote the product visually in other marketing channels.

3. Group Other Products

While this doesn’t work for all product photos, in some niches like fashion, combining other products in a single photo can help with a buying decision. Taking photos of a two-piece outfit, with footwear, and jewelry can help you sell more products on your online store. It can also create a better visual appearance seeing an entire look put together, so that people want to add all those items to their cart. Plus, great photos aren’t always about a singular product. Sometimes, mixing and matching other products together can create high quality images that push sales, which is what you want your product photos to do anyway.

4. Avoid Mixing Lighting Types

If you’re using artificial product photography lighting, you won’t want any sunlight in the photo. Mixing lighting types can create an unappealing product photo. So choose: natural or artificial light. If you use artificial light, take your photos in a dark room. If you use sunlight, turn off artificial lighting. It’ll just make photo editing that much easier.

5. Show Scale

One of the challenges of shopping online is that you can’t see an item in person. Ultimately, showing an item’s scale can be a great way to accurately represent your product. You don’t need a fancy product photography setup to do this. Even having a ruler or common object in the photo to show the item’s size can help people understand how big or small the item truly is. Don’t do photo editing that tricks people into thinking something is bigger or smaller than it is. It’ll only result in refunds. Be as transparent as possible for your product photography.

Product Photography Conclusion

So what are you waiting for? Grab your camera, set up your studio, and snap away! Although optimizing your product photos for ecommerce may seem like a lot of extra work, the results are worth it!

Take the time to get them right, because amazing photos will make your ecommerce store look a lot more professional and you’ll also be able to use them across social media to drive traffic to your store. Plus, once you get into a routine, you’ll be pumping out retail-ready product images in no time. Once you master the art of taking great product photography, take the next step and write great product descriptions, too!

The post Product Photography: The Ultimate DIY Guide in 2022 appeared first on A Better Lemonade Stand.

What is Average Order Value?

The average order value of your store is your total revenue divided by your total number of orders. This simple equation gives you the average amount each customer spends every time they place an order on your website.

The average order value is a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) and is typically measured in conjunction with other important performance indicators like the conversion rate of an ecommerce store as well as the customer lifetime value. While each of these metrics is important to monitor on an individual basis, collectively they create a big picture overview of a store’s performance overall.

Most ecommerce stores approach their average order value with these two methodical steps:

• Step 1: Measure the average order value
• Step 2: Improve it

Although these steps are somewhat simplified, they truly represent how ecommerce store owners handle their average order values. The following content will explain how to execute each step in more detail.

How to Calculate Your Average Order Value

To calculate average order value, use the formula below.

Average order value = your store’s revenue / your store’s orders.

For example, if you’ve earned $10,000 in revenue this year and you’ve had 200 orders, when you calculate your average order value you’ll discover that it’s worth $50 per order. This means that, on average, every time a customer successfully checks out their shopping cart, you’ll earn $50 in revenue. Your store’s revenue information and order count should be easily accessible either directly on your ecommerce platform dashboard or in your Google Analytics, if you have it connected to your store.

The important thing to take into consideration when you calculate average order value for your store is that it’s determined by the sales per order, not just by the sales per customer. If a customer purchases from your website twice, both of those orders factor into how you calculate average order value. It’s also important to note that the average order value determines the average amount of revenue you make per order, not how much profit you make. This is an important distinction to make because expenses and costs will need to be subtracted from your average order value to give you a complete overview of how much profit you earn per order, on average.

Regularly check your average order value so you can intercept any possible changes that may have affected it in earlier stages than you would have otherwise if you were not monitoring your average order value regularly. Any changes to your website like product pricing, shipping prices, shipping times, return policies, and store navigation can have an impact on your average order value.

How to Increase Average Order Value

1. Bundling products

If you sell more than one product on your online store, then this is a tactic you can use to increase your average order value. Pairing two or more products together at a price that is more expensive than just one product but less expensive than if the customer were to just purchase them separately increases the perceived value of the deal they’re receiving and will cause them to spend more than they may have otherwise.

To make use of this tactic for your online store, bundle products together that customers often purchase at the same time, or products that work in conjunction with one another. Alternatively, you can also provide your customers with the option to create their own bundles by allowing them to choose from a selection of add-ons that you provide to them.

2. Upselling

When a customer is ready to check out or if they’ve added a product to their shopping cart, suggest that they upgrade to a more expensive version of the product that boasts more features. For example, McDonald’s is famously known for its upselling tactic of asking customers if they would like to “supersize” their meal. Supersizing a meal will cost the customer more, however, they’ll also receive more food, which is where they can see the value in the upsell.

To implement this tactic on your own online store, make sure you first have products to upsell your customers to and second, that you suggest them to your customers! Often your website visitors may not check out your higher-value products but when you actually suggest one of them to your visitors, they’ll take them into consideration.

3. Low inventory notifications

One of the marketing and pricing strategies you can do for increasing average order value is show low inventory notifications. When an item is low in inventory, often discounts can help sell it through. Not only does this help you sell out of a product you sell, which is good on the books, but it also allows you to earn more per order.

You can highlight low inventory using badges on product pages or by having a pop-up appear at checkout with products that are “running out fast.” The element of scarcity can help quickly compel someone to add products to their cart, that they weren’t originally planning to buy. Thus, allowing you to increase the average dollar amount.

4. Price anchoring

With price anchoring, you surround your target price (which, in this case, would be something around the average order value you’re trying to achieve) between one product that’s much lower priced and offering much lower value, and another product that’s much higher priced and offering not much more value. The goal here is to make the average order value product seem reasonable and well-priced while making the other options not valuable enough or unattainable price-wise. This tactic will encourage most of your visitors to pick the average order value product, which is what your goal is.

This tactic works especially well for digital products, however, it can work for physical products as well. It also works well when you bundle products together because you can use the bundle of products as value-adding leverage that help your customers justify the prices.

To implement this tactic on your online store, create a set of three types of products you’ll offer as your low-value, average order value, and high-value products. Place these products (or bundles of products) side by side so your customers can visually see them together and then clearly explain the difference between each one, emphasizing the reasons why the average order value product is the best option in terms of value.

5. Cross-selling

This is another commonly recommended average order value increasing tactic and one that, again, works well for most businesses. The goal with this tactic is to suggest complementary products to your customers before they check out their shopping cart so they purchase more products and increase their order value.

So while with upselling the goal is to sell a more expensive version of the same product (like supersizing a meal), the goal with cross-selling is to sell an additional product to the customer that complements the existing product they’re buying. Carrying on with the McDonald’s example, its famous cross-selling technique is to ask customers if they’d like fries with their meal.

To implement this on your own site, find products, or collections of products, that work well with one another and suggest them to your customers throughout the purchasing process. You may notice on most ecommerce store’s product pages that the retailer will suggest similar products to the one you’re looking at, or products that other customers have also bought — this is cross-selling.

Employ cross-selling tactics on product pages as well as throughout the checkout process so you don’t miss a chance to suggest similar products to your customers. Here are some ways you can position cross-sells to your audience:

• “Complete the Look”
• “Customers Also Bought”
• “You May Also Like”
• “Products Similar To…”

Cross-sells are the most effective when they’re relevant to what the customer was already shopping for, so try to make your cross-sell suggestions as targeted as you can.

6. Create a loyalty program

About 75% of customers prefer brands who offer rewards. Loyal customers tend to spend more money per order than first-time customers. Once you’ve built trust with a customer, it’s likely that they’ll keep coming back. A customer loyalty program can be a way to incentivize customers to shop more frequently and buy more stuff. Not only will those conversion rates go up, but customers walk away with new products they’ll love. Ecommerce businesses can easily create a loyalty program using an app from the Shopify App Store. You can nudge customers when there’s a new sale to boost sales via notifications or pop-ups. Overall, loyalty programs are a great way to increase average order value while ensuring you have qualified traffic.

7. Financing

Offering financing for high-ticket items can be another driving factor to increase average order values on your website. This is an ideal tactic to use if you sell expensive items in your store like furniture, electronics or art and probably won’t work for stores selling lower-ticket items.

By offering financing, you take the pressure off of customers to pay the bill up front, and by breaking it down into smaller, more bite-sized chunks that customers can pay off over time spreads out the order value and makes it more attainable. This can make customers feel more comfortable racking up their order value and makes it more likely that they will.

8. Highlight best-sellers

When a customer is ready to check out, you can add a highlight to your best-sellers in a pop-up form. There are a few ways to go about this: you can show your top three best-sellers of all time, the top three best-selling products purchased with what they ordered, or show them more of the same product they’re buying in different colors or styles. To add some scarcity, this pop-up should have a badge indicated products with low inventory. When you show customers popular items, you can increase revenue because the product has already been proven to sell. Once they’ve added the best-sellers to their cart, you might show volume discounts so they don’t get sticker shock with their higher order volume. Online businesses that highlight their best-sellers will drive more revenue growth.

9. Free shipping thresholds

This is another commonly used tactic to increase average order values because it works really well for most businesses. As you’ll probably see, most online stores use this tactic because it not only works well to boost order values, but it also makes customers happy to have a free shipping option.

To implement this tactic for your own online store, first calculate your free shipping threshold, which we’ve discussed in detail in our How to Offer Free Shipping & Calculating Your Free Shipping Threshold article, and then make it clear to visitors what your minimum purchase for free shipping is.

Most ecommerce stores have a banner at the top of their website, either directly above or below the main menu, where they explain what the minimum spend is to receive free shipping, but another useful way to let customers know is right in the checkout basket. There, it’s useful to have a dynamic piece of copy that lets customers know how far away they are from free shipping which changes when they add or remove products from their cart. It’s small details like “You’re $13 away from receiving free shipping on your order!” that really helps customers put into perspective what threshold they have to meet to get their shipping for free.

The exact free shipping for minimum order you create is really important, so calculate it carefully. Make it a threshold your customers will have to purchase at least a couple or a few products in order to qualify — there’s little point to it if it’s an easy target. But, also keep in mind that if it’s too high, most customers won’t even try to reach it. It’s all about finding the balance between increasing the order value, compensating for your shipping costs, and making the customer happy.

As an additional tip, some businesses offer different shipping thresholds depending on whether the orders are being shipped domestically or internationally. For example, a free shipping threshold for domestic orders might be $85 while the one for international orders might be $150. This is useful for businesses where shipping costs are more expensive for international orders and a higher order value is necessary to cushion those costs.

Alternatively, you can also offer free shipping to make it more compelling for them to buy from your store in general.

10. Personalize the experience

An online retailer can personalize the shopping experience to increase average dollar spent and decrease their customer acquisition cost. You can do this by adding a section of your site to highlight their purchase history. If a customer was on the fence about a product, seeing it again while they continue to browse might entice them to buy.

Depending on the size of your inventory and popularity, you might also be able to offer suggested products based on previous purchases. For example, if a customer that frequents your store always shops the “floral collection” on your website, surfacing new items in that collection on your homepage using an algorithm can help them buy more products in the style they like.

After a customer checks out, you can also send them a follow-up email with their order. In that email, you can include a section with products they browsed with a discount that they can add to their order. Once the credit card has come out, it’s easier to get customers spend up. Revenue growth follows from showing products customers will be interested in. The more personalized the experience, the more likely you’ll increase your ecommerce average order.

11. Discounts

While it may seem counterproductive, offering discounts on products purchased can still increase your revenue and your profits. By discounting your products you entice your customers to purchase more in order to spend what they were originally expecting to spend, which makes them feel like they got a deal and still earns you revenue and profits.

These are different types of discounts you can experiment with on your store to boost average order values:

• Volume Discounts: The more your customers buy, the more they’ll save which is a huge encouragement to get them to increase their order value. Create a tier of savings customers can get depending on how much they buy — for example, if a customer spends $50 they get 10% off their order, if they spend $75 they get 15% off, and if they spend $100 they get 20% off. Tailor the tiers to match your customer’s expectations as well as the amount of discount you can absorb into your profit margins.
• Time-Sensitive Discounts: These types of discounts are ideal for creating a sense of urgency and scarcity which makes on-the-fence types of customers purchase faster than they might have otherwise. It can also influence customers who were just going to purchase one product, purchase a couple or a few products instead while the discount is available, thus increasing their order value.
• Discounts for First-Time Customers: This is a great way to encourage new customers to take the plunge and order from your store, without making discounts available to your entire audience. This can be a beneficial tactic for businesses that might not be able to give all of their customers a discount, or for businesses that want to increase trust in their new customers.
• Coupons: This is another type of discount to offer and one that you can advertise on your social channels, in transactional emails or in your email newsletters.

12. Sell replenishable products

Each week, you shop in-person and buy multiple items from a store. Any guesses which store? The grocery store. The reason why we buy so much food is because once we eat it, it’s gone. And so each week, people keep coming back to buy more stuff.

Think of your online business like this too. If you want the highest revenue, to increase sales, and a good average order value, do two things: sell replenishable products and be the only place that sells that specific product. Not only will it help with your conversion rate but it’ll help customer retention too.

13. Donations

Donating a portion of the proceeds from your sales can encourage customers to spend more on your site. When customers can contribute to a cause they care about or a charity in general, they’re more likely to feel comfortable buying more.

Think about how you can incorporate this into your own business model and what type (or types) of charities are relevant to your niche. Give your customers the opportunity to contribute to their community or a cause that matters to them just by shopping at your store!

14. Highlight customer savings

On your website’s top banner, you might have a promotion where you show savings based on average order value. For example, it might say “15% off on orders over $150, 20% off orders over $200, 25% off orders over 300.” That way, customers know the exact amount of money they save while you get to hit your important metrics. Once they go to check-out, you can highlight how much money they saved by showing the dollar amount. Your customer base will love their savings, but it can also help with customer acquisition to for first-time shoppers. Figure out the pricing strategy that allows you to have a high conversion rate while ensuring profitability. Carefully reflect on the minimum purchase total you need to have a healthy profit.

15. Flexible return policies

Having a flexible return policy that gives your customers the freedom to send back products that don’t work for them without having to pay additional shipping fees means that they’ll be more comfortable buying more without being penalized for it later.

Consumers prefer to shop this way, in fact, Generation Z is the most likely generation to report expecting to return more than 75% of the goods they buy online. Millennials expect to return 50%, with Generation X and Baby Boomers expected to return less than 50%. (Source) This is the way consumers shop now, and without a return policy that accommodates that, consumers may be deterred from shopping on your site at all.

16. Show multiple products together

Whether it’s a product page or a social media post, showing multiple products together in an image or video can help lift your average order value and other key metrics. You can increase revenue by showing a makeup tutorial and all of the products you’re using in it with links on YouTube. Plus, this is good for website traffic too.

Or you might show multiple pieces of clothing on a product page. For example, a woman might be wearing, a top, pants, shoes, and jewelry in their product photo. By adding a “Shop the look” section to the product page, you can sell everything the person is wearing so people can buy everything and re-create the outfit themselves. Don’t assume everyone has the same skill at putting together an outfit. You can increase revenue by showing customers every item and having an add to cart icon that adds the entire outfit to the cart.

17. Gift cards

Offer a gift card when meeting a minimum spend to get your customers to spend more on your store. The benefits of this tactic are numerous:

• First: Your customers will appreciate the bonus gift card
• Second: You’ll increase the average order value
• Third: Your customers are likely to return to your store again to purchase something with their gift card

Calculate a feasible gift card amount you’ll be able to provide your customers and the minimum spend they’ll have to meet to be able to earn the gift card. Set the minimum spend around the average order value amount you’re aiming for so you can meet that target but also take into account what your customers will be willing to spend.

18. Add services

Thinking about your ecommerce store beyond physical product sales can also help you increase customer lifetime value and average order value. For example, say you sell treadmills online, some people really hate assembling products, installation could be a service you add.

If your business is too small to offer in-person services, you can also add virtual services. For example, if you own a fashion store, you can offer services such as personal shopping and personal styling.

If you own an autoparts store, you might offer car repair advice to do-it-yourselfers who are working on repairing their car.

There’s always a service you can offer to customers depending on your niche and qualifications that’ll help you increase total revenue since services are typically priced much higher than an average product (with a few exceptions, like treadmills).

19. Gamification

Use gamification tools to get your customers buying or spending more. Fun games like spin-to-win coupons or contests and sweepstakes can get your customers purchasing more products or spending more than they would have otherwise.

Check out Sumo or ViralSweep to implement gamification experiences on your online store and read our Sumo Review and our ViralSweep Review to learn more about what each of these services offers.

20. Effortless browsing

The longer a visitor is on your site, the more likely they are to add more to their cart. Keep them engaged by encouraging them to browse through your site easily and freely. This can be implemented by maintaining a clean and easy-to-navigate user interface, noticeable calls-to-action on your homepage and product pages, relevant product recommendations, and interlinking between pages so customers can go deeper into your site.

60% of users prefer on-page navigation over search so don’t make your customers have to search for what they’re looking for and, in addition to that, present them with suggestions and recommendations they weren’t even looking for so they don’t even have to search to discover new things.

Conclusion

If you didn’t know what average order value was when you first started this article, we hope you have a pretty good grasp on what it is now. As a store owner, keeping tabs on data like your average order value can be the difference maker between making valuable business decisions and not, so now that you know exactly how to calculate your average order value and implement optimization strategies to increase it, you’ll be able to make more data-lead decisions for your business that ideally will offer more positive outcomes.

The post How to Increase Average Order Value: 20 Ways to Make More Sales appeared first on A Better Lemonade Stand.

First and foremost, the median conversion rate grew from 4% to 5.2%, a substantial 30% gain achieved over a single year. Secondly, ecommerce accounted for just under 20% of all retail sales worldwide. And thirdly, 2021 saw the number of digital buyers reaching a staggering 2.14 billion, indicating that almost one-third of the world’s population purchased items online over the past 12 months.

This data shows that shoppers are increasingly relying on ecommerce to do their daily shopping. But the truth is, many buyers still prefer to purchase items in-store. According to PWC, 47% of consumers chose a physical location to buy products in December 2021.

With this in mind, ecommerce businesses need to find ways to make online shopping just as convenient – if not more – as in-store browsing and purchasing. And, it turns out that some conversion optimization techniques have the potential of allowing them to do that. 

The best bit? Several conversion-increasing strategies deliver quick wins with relatively little effort and monetary investment.

So, if you want to boost ecommerce sales in the upcoming period without breaking your back, the following eight tips are an excellent way to get started.

Gamification

One super-original conversion-boosting strategy that works is gamification.

Essentially, the term gamification describes the process of adding game-like elements to non-gaming experiences. It’s an effective way to encourage learning, boost extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and make monotonous processes engaging by assigning rewards to activities.

And gamification has been used to drive sales for a pretty long time now. 

For example, the Starbucks star-per-dollar system allows patrons to enjoy their favorite perks just by being loyal customers and actively engaging with the brand.

Source: starbucks.com

It’s a relatively simple system, yet, it works: In 2021, Starbucks had 24.2 million active loyalty program users in the United States alone.

Looking at the numbers, it’s evident that gamification offers benefits to those businesses that employ it properly. But, you might find yourself asking: Why exactly does gamification work?

One of the reasons gamification works so well to encourage sales is that it creates a direct link between shopping and rewards.

Purchasing items, in itself, is known to release dopamine in the brain, giving people a surge of pleasure. However, research shows that buying online makes that dopamine release even stronger. In fact, 76% of Americans say that they get more excited over online purchases because they have to wait for the items to arrive. 

Now, consider the fact that excitement and anticipation additionally increase when the reward is unknown, and it becomes obvious why gamification has so much potential in boosting online sales.

How to (Easily) Apply Gamification to Ecommerce

The great thing about using gamification in your online store is that it can be relatively easy with the right add-ons.

A rewards and loyalty program, such as the one used by Sony, actively incentivizes users to spend money to earn points. Then, it offers coveted prizes. The result isn’t just an increase in conversions. But, it’s also reflected in a higher average order value (AOV) and customer lifetime value (CLV).

Source: sony.com

Gamified discounts are another excellent strategy to build anticipation and excitement around online shopping. They help ecommerce stores grab web visitors’ attention with the promise of a prize, then make them play a game to “earn” their reward. 

Spin the wheel games are a superb example of employing gamification to boost sales. If you check out the Dress Forms USA website, you’ll see that this ecommerce brand incentivizes first-time buyers with prizes such as discounts and free shipping.

Source: dressformsusa.com

And the best thing about this brand’s approach is that it’s made possible by a Shopify add-on, which allows business owners to add interactive elements to their stores, encourage conversions, and generate leads.

Product Gallery Expansion

According to a 2017 survey, being able to touch, feel, and try products is why 67% of men and 77% of women prefer to buy in-store rather than online. And while ecommerce stores can’t compete on all accounts, they can still do their best to provide an immersive shopping experience. We’re talking about a shopping experience that appeals to consumers’ senses and gives them a good idea of what to expect from their purchase.

With that in mind, a fantastic strategy for brands looking to boost online sales is to expand their product galleries with product images, illustrations, and videos. 

By employing just a few simple tactics, ecommerce businesses can match (and even exceed) in-store experiences and, consequently, boost conversions.

When it comes to expanding and improving your product gallery, you don’t have to go to great lengths to see results. Even science confirms that small changes make a big impact in positively affecting purchase intention.

Photography

For example, a research study from 2014 identified the exact attributes of product images that had sales-boosting results on ecommerce websites. According to the paper, the best way to optimize product images for conversions is to:

1. Display objects in a large size.
2. Minimize entropy (disorder) in product photographs.
3. Use warm colors and high contrast.
4. Use a higher depth of field (avoid too much bokeh).
5. Show people using the advertised products.

Dowse is an excellent example of an ecommerce brand that follows (almost) all of these rules. As you can see, it doesn’t use too many photos in its product gallery. Nonetheless, each visual representation allows web visitors to gather information about the blankets Dowse sells, subtly nudging them towards making a purchasing decision without feeling like they’re taking on a risk.

Source: dowsedesign.co.uk

Videos

In addition to adding more photos to your product pages to boost sales, you should also look for alternative ways to drive shopping intent amongst your website visitors. 

It turns out videos are a terrific tool for doing just that. Especially if you consider that over 50% of consumers use online video to make purchasing decisions.

The easy way to use this information to increase conversions in your ecommerce store is to look for ways to add videos to your product pages. 

Herman Miller does it beautifully, with a 10-second sequence that shows off its flagship office chair from several angles. What’s great about this video is that it manages to communicate a large amount of information without forcing web visitors to go through blocks of text to find out about the chair’s features.

Source: hermanmiller.com

Context

Another top tip for encouraging web visitors to convert is to use visuals to appeal to consumer emotions.

Lifestyle and hobby brands, like Nortvi, can use context to evoke emotional reactions from website visitors and present the items in their stores as aspirational objects. 

For example, the video below uses a combination of wide and close shots, giving audiences a solid idea of what they can expect:

• breathtaking design
• premium quality
• a vague promise that owning a Nortvi product completes the first step towards becoming a stylish world traveler

Source: nortvi.com

UGC & FOMO

The two sales-boosting strategies discussed so far offer exceptional benefits. But the truth is, they’re not exactly zero-effort ways to increase conversion rates on your ecommerce site. 

So, if you’re looking for quick wins, consider utilizing user-generated content (UGC) to create a fear of missing out (FOMO) amongst your web visitors.

When used separately, both UGC and FOMO help brands drive sales.

Let’s consider how UGC impacts sales. According to TINT’s State of User-Generated Content 2022 Report:

• 72% of consumers believe that user reviews and testimonials are more trustworthy than branded content. 
• 76% of people make purchasing decisions based on other shoppers’ recommendations. 
• 6 in 10 marketers feel that buyers engage more with UGC than they do with branded content.

Even a quick glance at this data confirms the positive impact of implementing user-generated content in ecommerce marketing.

But what about FOMO? Does it really impact buying behavior? 

Well, a study published in 2021 found that limited-quantity scarcity (LQS) and limited-time scarcity (LTS) both increased shoppers’ perceived arousal leading to impulse purchasing behavior.

How to Create FOMO by Including UGC on Ecommerce Websites

One of the great things about user-generated content is that it allows buyers an unfiltered view of how products perform in the real world. And, when that unfiltered view shows a positive customer experience, it tends to generate demand as buyers realize the benefits they stand to receive by investing in a product.

This is one of the reasons why livestream shopping and influencer marketing work so well.

And the best bit is that you can easily create FOMO by adding UGC to your product pages.

For example, check out how US Fireplace Store uses UGC on its product pages. In the reviews section, the testimonials are sorted so that those showing photos and videos appear first. This drives results for two reasons. 

On the one hand, it helps turn the brand’s products into aspirational objects. On the other hand, it infects potential buyers with a healthy dose of FOMO, encouraging them to imagine those same products in their living space, then giving them an extra nudge to buy with discounts and flash sale banners.

Source: usfireplacestore.com

Product Comparisons

When considering purchasing decisions, people want to be sure they’re making the right choice. 

This is why 91% of consumers read product reviews in 2021, why 76% of people consider free returns when deciding what products to buy, and why mobile queries including the phrases “best” + “right now” generate more and more traffic every year.

And the best thing is, there’s a highly effective marketing strategy you can use to help consumers find the right choice for their needs (and boost your conversion rates): creating product comparisons.

This tactic works not only because it provides your customers with valuable advice on how to get the best value for their requirements. But, it also speeds up the rate at which buyers move through the sales funnel, allowing you to achieve higher conversions with fewer touchpoints.

The amazing thing about utilizing this strategy to boost sales is that it relies on the know-how you and your employees already have. The only thing you have to do is put together (well-written) content pages that give your target audience reliable advice on how to get a bigger bang for their buck. 

There are a couple of ways you can do this to get the best results (with the least amount of effort).

Comparing Products Based on Price Point

A large number of buyers make shopping decisions based on their budget. In fact, 68% of online shoppers prioritize getting the best deal when considering products.

So, putting together a comparison page that presents buyers with solid options at a predetermined price point makes for an excellent way to encourage buyers to move through the sales funnel more quickly. 

As you can see below, Rain or Shine Golf compares products based on four different criteria. The store is giving every single web visitor the highest chance of finding the right product that will fit into their budget – no matter how tight or generous.

Source: rainorshinegolf.com

Comparing Products Based on User Needs

An alternative approach to comparing products based on buyer budget would be doing so based on user needs.

For an excellent illustration, check out the MAC website. This brand’s mascara product collection page presents a chart comparing the finish, appearance, and benefits of six different makeup products. What’s great about the execution is that each column includes a CTA button inviting users to shop the items.

Source: maccosmetics.co.uk

Price Anchoring

Another easy method to generate more sales in your ecommerce store is to use the tried-and-tested price anchoring technique.

This is a strategy that has been for a long time now. The way it works is to create price “anchors,” which influences customer psychology in two distinct ways:

• On the one hand, anchoring helps you create a reference price for the value offered by your product. According to consumer psychology research, the higher that price, the more compelled your customers will be to spend money on it. For example, a price anchor that values an item as being worth $100 will positively impact shoppers’ purchase intent if that same item is discounted to $99, even though the amount they save is a mere $1.
• On the other hand, this technique allows you to actively influence buying behavior by framing your offer in a way that causes buyers to perceive certain products as providing more value than others.

Essentially, if you’re interested in utilizing this strategy to drive conversions on your website, you can do so in one of two different ways. Both offer benefits, and you might even be capable of combining them to see the absolute best results.

Anchoring to Communicate Value Offered

The easiest way of implementing price anchoring in your ecommerce store is to assign a higher monetary value to your products then discount them.

If you check out the Orizaba Original website, you’ll see this is precisely what the brand does. It sets the value of its Baja hoodies at $44.95. But, applying a discount, Orizaba Original allows buyers to grab the items for as little as $34.99. Essentially, the store is using consumer psychology to increase purchase intent and boost the likelihood of web visitors turning into paying customers.

Source: orizabaoriginal.com

Anchoring to Influence Buyer Behavior

Alternatively, if you have a particular product you want to sell more of, you can use price anchoring in a way that allows you to present that product as offering the most value to customers.

For an illustration, check out the Penhaligon’s webshop, where a tester set of ten fragrances wins a prime spot. 

Note how the set is flagged on both sides by perfumes costing six times as much. This choice of layout encourages web visitors to choose the tester set instead of a single scent. That way, the brand ensures maximum conversions, offering a product for everyone’s budget. Plus, it lowers the risk of first-time buyers not finding something they like about the products, actively working towards achieving a higher customer lifetime value.

Source: penhaligons.com

Customer Concerns

The next easy method to boost sales in your ecommerce store is to look at all the factors that keep website visitors from converting.

For example, Baymard’s research on cart abandonment rates shows that, in 2022, shoppers failed to complete their purchases due to: high extra costs, slow delivery, not trusting sites with their credit card information, unsatisfactory return policies, and lack of payment methods.

These are all real conversion-hurting concerns keeping web visitors from becoming customers. So, you need to look for ways to address customer concerns to make the shopping experience feel safe and convenient.

The best part? This could very well mean highlighting customer experience policies you already have in place.

Shipping Costs/Time

Free and fast shipping is essential to making it in the ecommerce business. 

According to a survey from October 2021, 59% of shoppers make purchasing decisions based on free shipping availability. Moreover, 59% of people will increase their spending to qualify for free shipping. And, 90% of them expect to receive their orders within a week.

But the best part is, knowing this gives you a guaranteed-to-work low-effort strategy for boosting sales: being transparent about shipping costs. 

The easiest way to achieve this is to add a banner to your site, like the one used by Partake, so that web visitors know how much they have to spend to receive their ordered products. It’s also not a bad idea to indicate how much people will have to wait for their orders and to highlight any next-day shipping options you may offer.

Source: partakefoods.com

Security, Quality, & Returns Trust Badges

Another easy way to encourage web visitors to go through with their purchase on your site is to add trust badges to your homepage and product pages.

These can take the form of:

• Transactional security assurances (like pointing out that you accept safe payment options like PayPal, credit cards, and various digital wallets)
• Industry accreditations (like stating that you’re a certified B-Corp or use organic ingredients)
• Indicating that you offer free returns and a 100% satisfaction guarantee with each purchase

To see this tactic in use, check out the footer of the Tom Bihn website below.

Source: tombihn.com

The Human Element

Automated sales processes are great for cutting costs and speeding up issue resolutions. In fact, according to a Tidio survey performed in 2021, 88% of web users chatted with chatbots last year. And 7 out of 10 found the experience positive.

However, there are a few situations where “old school” human assistants still outperform AI: product returns, troubleshooting, and complaints.

Win Over Customers With the Promise of Human Interaction

If you’re looking for easy ways to boost sales without having to make too many tweaks to your website, one simple thing you can do is highlight the fact that your customers have the opportunity to get in touch with human assistants.

For example, the Real Thread homepage features a “talk to a human” call to action. 

This piece of brilliant copywriting acknowledges people’s frustrations about automated sales processes. It reassures the brand’s audience that their needs will be met and indicates that Real Thread is 100% committed to ensuring a positive customer experience even to those who need completely unique solutions.

Source: realthread.com

The Need for Speed

Finally, as you look for conversion-boosting strategies that won’t take months to deliver results, don’t underestimate the fact that technical website performance has a high impact on the likelihood of you making a sale.

Site speed, for example, plays a tremendous part in getting website visitors to convert. 

In fact, a 2020 Deloitte report uncovered that improving mobile site loading speed by 0.1 seconds led to an 8.4% increase in conversions and a 9.2% bump in average order value. 

How to Easily Speed up Site Performance and Load Times

Fortunately, there are a lot of things you can do to improve your ecommerce website’s technical performance. Super-easy options include:

• Switching to a better hosting service.
• Enabling compression on CSS, HTML, and JavaScript files.
• Minifying code.
• Optimizing images.
• Reducing redirects.
• Using browser HTTP caching.
• Minimizing the number of external scripts.

If you’re not entirely sure how your site performs in terms of speed, then the first thing you’ll need to do is test it. Google’s Test My Site feature is a great place to start. It doesn’t just show you where you stand but also gives actionable tips on things you can do to boost performance.

In Closing

Boosting sales on your ecommerce website doesn’t have to be complicated. Chances are that your website already has most of the elements that you need to go from average to exceptional conversion rates.

If you’re after quick wins and a high ROI, the eight strategies described in this article are an excellent place to start when aiming to increase conversions. However, if you want to ensure the long-term success of your ecommerce business, the tactics described here are just that: a start. 

To take your brand to the next level, don’t forget to also evaluate your marketing tactics. Focus on improving the customer experience you offer. And most importantly, optimize your customer retention strategy so that you have the highest chance of forming a loyal base of buyers who will come back to your store time and time again.

The post Conversion Quick Wins: 8 Ways To Boost Sales With (Relatively) Little Effort appeared first on A Better Lemonade Stand.

It first came under the microscope in 2018 when it was revealed that sales from Click and Collect had grown by 75% as compared to the previous year. There was no pandemic then.

By marrying the two experiences — ecommerce with brick-and-mortar — it was simply seen as a natural evolution of commerce.

But then came the pandemic. And this naturally evolving trend became a dire need for businesses. As sales shifted online, it became harder for businesses to keep up with the intensified demand and meet buyer expectations. Click and Collect became a preferred choice for both customers and retailers.

Companies that had already invested in the right technology and had rolled out a Click and Collect strategy made the most of the pandemic-inspired trend. Target, for example, saw a 700% increase in their Drive Up sales and a 200% increase in their online sales during the second quarter of 2020.

But even as we’re coming out of the pandemic, this trend is here to stay — simply because it makes sense.

In this post, we’ll take a look at the Click and Collect method of fulfillment and explore everything about it so you can easily implement it in your ecommerce strategy.

What is Click and Collect & Why is It Important?

Simply put, it’s a method of fulfillment where customers shop online and then pick up their orders at the nearest available physical location. It’s also referred to as curbside pickup and Buy Online, Pick Up in Store (BOPIS).

With ecommerce websites and mobile apps, it has become easier than ever for customers to find what they need. But still, problems like cart abandonment and low conversions plague the ecommerce sphere. It doesn’t take a lot of genius to arrive at the main causes of these frustrating problems: Among others, high delivery charges and uncertainty about delivery time are important factors to blame.

As far as sales and conversions are concerned, improving the overall customer experience is the rule of thumb. The lower the friction in your buyer’s journey, the higher your odds of converting a wary visitor into a paying customer.

Click and Collect is all about delivering convenience to the shopper. When done right, it removes friction from the customer journey and optimizes the final but crucial stage in ecommerce — order fulfillment and delivery.

How Does Click and Collect Work?

It’s a hybrid ecommerce model that combines retail with online. The customer buys online but instead of having the order delivered, visits the physical curbside location to pick up their order.

How it works depends on your business and the strategy you implement. There are different ways businesses are using Click and Collect today.

• Pick up at the nearest store selected by the customer during checkout
• Pick up at third-party locations or dedicated collection points
• Pick up at collection drive-throughs

Later on in this post, we’ll look at some examples of how successful businesses like Target, Asda, and Ikea are using Click and Collect to improve convenience for their customers.

The Benefits of Click and Collect for Retailers & Shoppers

Click and Collect, curbside pickup, or BOPIS is all about convenience for the customer. When shopping online, customers want their orders delivered on time and at no additional charges. Instead of waiting for days or weeks to receive their order, and without the additional cost, customers can drive up to the nearest location and collect their orders. It also reduces the risk of having their parcels stolen, lost, or damaged.

To take the convenience aspect to another level, companies like Asda are also offering a Try it On facility at the collection point. When customers drive up to the collection point, they can check their order and even try it on. If they don’t like it, they can return the parcel on the spot — at the same collection point.

From the shopper’s perspective, Click and Collect offers even greater advantages for retailers.

For some industries like Food and Beverage and grocery, in particular, curbside pickup is the only way businesses can fulfill online orders while battling already low margins. For small businesses, in particular, curbside pickup isn’t as expensive and labor-intensive as local deliveries. However, it all depends on the size of the business. For mid-level to large businesses, curbside pickup becomes a complex operation requiring considerable investment in ecommerce development and getting the right technology and people to support it.

Click and Collect also offers many upselling and cross-selling opportunities for retailers. Studies have shown that customers who opt for curbside pickup purchase about 50% more than their original order.

Offering BOPIS is also a great way to increase in-store traffic, allowing retailers to use experiential marketing strategies to engage customers and improve customer loyalty.

Curbside pickup is also especially very useful during the holiday season when it becomes harder for businesses to cope with the increased shipping demands. Studies have shown that sales from Click and Collect increase during the holidays.

Examples of Businesses That Are Using Click and Collect

Let’s see what strategies the pros are using to implement Click and Collect in their ecommerce business model.

Order Pick Up by Kroger

Though it has taken a simple approach to order pickups, Kroger has truly reinvented the food and beverage ecommerce space. The app allows users to choose order pickup when they place the order and select the time and date for pickup. Kroger Associates, who are trained to shop for fresh produce, hand-pick products, and hand the orders to customers in the parking lot when they arrive.

To deliver a seamless customer experience, the app lets users enter special instructions for each product ordered. For example, you can let them know you want “only ripe bananas.”

The Kroger app also lets Click and Collect customers communicate with the store when they’re 15 minutes away so associates can get the order ready in time.

Toyou by ASDA

ASDA has taken the Click and Collect concept to another level with automated robots, self-service parcel towers, QR codes and so much more. They’re making the most of technology to improve convenience for their customers.

ASDA also partners with more than 100 retailers across the UK to offer collection and returns services to their customers.

The way it works is simple: When customers shop with ASDA or any of its partner retailers, they can choose to collect their order from a convenient Toyou location. When the order is ready to collect, they receive a confirmation email with an order ID and a QR code.

Customers can then drive up to the Toyou location, scan the QR code, and have an employee bring the parcel.

ASDA has also added trial rooms to more than 300 of its locations to let customers try on their fashion purchases before driving away. If they’re not happy with their purchase they can return it through the Toyou parcel tower.

Drive Up and Order Pickup by Target

Target offers two options for Click and Collect — Order Pickup and Drive Up.

The app automatically fetches customers’ locations and selects the nearest store. The store settings can also be changed in the app if needed. When users select a store, they only see products that are available at that particular store. This way, they can shop and have their orders ready for pickup within 2 hours at that particular store.

When customers choose Order Pickup at checkout, the store employees get the order ready and waiting for them inside the store.

Drive Up, on the other hand, lets customers collect orders without setting foot in their store. They can simply drive up to the store’s parking lot and park in the designated Drive Up spot. The Target App lets users communicate with the staff and let them know that they’re coming, what vehicle they’re in, and when they’ve reached the location. A Target employee then brings out their order and loads it into their car — all within a few minutes, if not seconds!

Store Mode by Zara

Zara offers a Store Mode within its app. When customers activate the Store Mode, they can choose the store they want to shop from. This allows users to view real-time inventory — stock that’s actually available in that store.

It offers three different Click and Collect fulfillment methods: Click and Go, Click and Find, and Click and Try.

When customers choose Click and Go, they complete their order online and receive a QR code in the app. They then drive up to the location they selected earlier and have an employee scan the QR code and hand out the order. Zara has also installed an automated collection point in the Westfield Shopping center in London where customers can scan the QR code and a robotic arm retrieves the order and hands it out via a self-service kiosk.

In Click and Find, customers choose what they want to buy online and have the app guide them to the actual product in the store via an on-screen map.

Lastly, Click and Try lets shoppers buy online and have the item reserved for them in-store so they can try it out. This option is especially popular among fashion retailers.

Click and Collect by Forever New

Besides the traditional Click and Collect model, Forever New has rolled out a new feature called Reserve in-store.

When customers shop online via Forever New’s website or app, it requires them to choose Reserve in-store in settings and select their preferred store from the list. Forever New uses a feature called Find in-store that allows customers to check a product’s availability in the store they selected earlier. If it’s available, they can use the Reserve in-store feature to request a reservation. Once reserved, customers receive a confirmation email and SMS.

Unlike Click and Collect, reserving the product doesn’t require any prepayments. Customers arrive during the designated timeframe and try out the product. If they like it, they pay for it and possibly buy something else, too.

On the other hand, they also offer a simple Click and Collect model. However, unlike other businesses we’ve discussed here, their model is quite straightforward. The customer buys a product, pays for it, and chooses “Click and Collect” as a method of delivery. They’re then given a list of pickup stores to choose from. When a customer selects the store, the product is shipped from the warehouse to that store and is made available for pickup within a few days.

Implementing Click and Collect: Are Your Systems Technically Capable?

Click and Collect isn’t something you can or should roll out in a day. If not done right, it may hurt your customer experience and drive customers away, defeating the whole purpose of offering Click and Collect.

In 2016, when brands started experimenting with Click and Collect, shoppers were reporting longer wait times, the inability of employees to retrieve their orders, and orders running out of stock.

While it was a nightmarish scenario even back then, today’s customers have become more demanding and impatient than ever. The moment they land on your website, they expect everything to be smooth and frictionless — from product search and checkout to the final fulfillment. And so, there is no room today for businesses to experiment.

Proper implementation of Click and Collect can mean the difference between a happy customer and one that disparages your business everywhere they go. Hence, you must figure out how to do it right the first time before you start offering the option of BOPIS on your online store or mobile app.

Here is how you can implement Click and Collect in your business.

Accurate Data

Inaccurate inventory data is one challenge retailers face when implementing Click and Collect. If the customer drives up to the specified location and finds their items out of stock, it can create a very negative experience. Fulfilling orders right the first time is crucial in Click and Collect. And for this, you need to ensure that your inventory data is accurate. If your data isn’t organized and records are out of order, it’s time to first invest in an inventory management system before implementing curbside pickup.

Besides accurate inventory, you need systems to record customer data. If you’re selling across different channels using an omnichannel ecommerce strategy, you need proper systems and software to record sales and orders coming through all of those different channels.

Integrating Your Systems

All those systems you’ve invested in are no good if they’re operating in silos. To improve your business efficiencies and reduce margins of error, you need to unify and integrate those systems to get a 360-degree view of your customers, orders, and inventory.

A Designated Location for In-Store Pickup

To reduce wait times for customers who drive up for order collection, your store should have a designated pickup spot. For small businesses, it could be a small counter in the store with staff specially trained in handling collection orders. Large businesses could, however, consider setting up a designated location with separate workflows and staff.

System for Storing Parcels

You need a merchandise storage system or a mini-warehouse that stores orders before the customer picks them up. The storage system should include lockers, dividers, baskets, and shelves to organize parcels neatly so they can be retrieved without hassle.

If you’re facing increased demand for pickup orders, consider investing in automation technology like robots to automatically retrieve orders after a QR code or barcode verification.

Email and SMS Automation

Successful implementation of Click and Collect depends on effective communication between customers and the store. When the order is ready for pickup, your system should trigger email and SMS alerts to the customer.

When the customer arrives at the location, they need to be able to communicate with the store. Ideally, it should be done via a mobile app with the tap of a button instead of having the customer place calls to the store and being put on hold.

SMS functionality can also be integrated with the CRM or helpdesk that allows customers to send an SMS to the store alerting them about their arrival.

Creating Workflows for Click and Collect

To deliver a seamless experience, order collections and pickups need to be seen as separate from retail and ecommerce sales. It should have its own separate workflows with staff especially allocated for handling these orders. Likewise, its performance needs to be measured separately from its own KPIs.

Dedicated Parking

Offering a dedicated parking spot and free parking for pickup customers can increase customers’ adoption of Click and Collect as a fulfillment option.

Conclusion

Sales from Click and Collect soared during the pandemic. But there is no way this growth is going to stagnate. It’s estimated that the US Click and Collect sales will reach more than $140 billion by 2024, up from $70 billion in 2020.

But it’s imperative to get it right the first time. In today’s highly competitive ecommerce landscape, there is no room for brands to experiment with a trial and error strategy. It’s recommended that businesses work with a technology partner from the outset to deliver convenience and an amazing ecommerce experience.

The post The Beginner’s Guide to Offering Click and Collect for Your Ecommerce Store appeared first on A Better Lemonade Stand.

Americans spent nearly 10 percent more on home improvement projects in 2020, according to Home Advisor. Now, more than ever, the average consumer deeply cares about how their living spaces look.

It’s no wonder why the global home decor market, valued at $616.6 billion in 2019, is expected to reach $838.6 billion by 2027.

Source: Research and Markets

For brands to leverage this booming market, they must reach people. But for a space that’s remained traditionally brick-and-mortar, is selling online the best idea for home decor retailers?

Yes, as it turns out. Ecommerce is driving the sales of home decor. Consumers want to put a lot of love into their homes today, and they’re relying on the digital world to help them out.

Here, we explore why home decor brands need to sell online and how they can begin.

Why selling online is no longer optional for home decor brands

People were already getting used to the idea of purchasing home decor online even before the COVID-19 crisis. Williams-Sonoma and its brands like West Elm and Pottery Barn saw 52.8% of their retail sales come through ecommerce in 2018.

The pandemic has only added greater urgency to this effort:

• The home-products and furnishings category saw a year-over-year (YOY) online sales increase of 97% in March 2020.
• Furniture Today showed a 200% surge in online furniture browsing, 242% increased browsing for desks, 260% jump in searching for outdoor furniture online, and a 205% increase in browsing for home decor in March 2020.
• 58% of millennials, nearly half of Generation X, and 37% of baby boomers say they were more likely to shop for home furnishing online now than pre-pandemic.

Source: Statista

• Websites selling home decor and furniture products online generated 1.7 billion visits in March 2020.

Brands with an established online presence during the COVID shutdown could keep up with sales, despite physical stores getting closed. For instance, DTC home furnishing brand Article shared that April 2020 was their highest revenue month to date, with sales up 200% year over year.

But many retailers weren’t prepared for the pandemic-induced digital shift. They were heavily dependent on in-person sales, with poorly-built websites lacking advanced features for online shopping.

It’s no wonder the home furnishing industry suffered a 26.4% YOY decline in March 2020—translating to billions of dollars in lost revenue.

And for retailers, growth is expected to continue accelerating. A report by Technavio predicts the online home decor market will grow by $83.32 billion during 2020-2024 and reach $348.3 billion by 2027.

Source: Research and Markets

So, online sales aren’t going anywhere. The coronavirus crisis is a testimony to how critical it is for modern brands to have a digital presence.

Being online doesn’t mean shutting down your brick-and-mortar store. The most successful home decor brands are taking a more wholesome approach and developing an omnichannel strategy—allowing consumers to shop hassle-free online or offline.

Here’s how to set up your home decor brand for omnichannel success.

How home decor brands can sell online: Everything you need to know

Opportunities for home decor brands to enter the home are abundant. The barrier to entry is minimal, and no company holds a monopoly—Semisupervised’s 2021 study of 1,111 DTC brands placed “home and garden” in the least saturated category.

If you’ve ever thought about starting a home decor business or taking your existing one online, now is the time. Here’s your step-by-step guide to getting started:

1. Find what you want to sell (and how)

The easiest way to differentiate your brand from the mass market is by offering a unique product to a niche audience.

What you choose to sell depends on your budget, area of expertise, and preferred business model. For example, you can work with a manufacturer to create your furniture or you can make the furniture in-house and work with consumers on a made-to-order model.

You don’t have to come up with an entirely new product, either. You can sell to a niche audience with minor modifications to a popular category. Take Ordinary Habit and Goodfit, for example. Both make puzzles—but while Ordinary Habit aims to design artful games that help people get away from screens, Goodfit makes puzzles reflecting modern culture through recycled cardboard. Same product—targeting two different types of consumer markets.

What you sell also relies heavily on how much you can invest. The amount of money you need to get your business off the ground depends on your product choice and business model. For instance, a print-on-demand business won’t require much investment upfront since you’re buying materials as you go. But a furniture business might need storage and warehouse space—requiring capital right at the beginning.

You don’t have to go big or go home—you can begin humbly. Farah Mehri started her home decor brand Inspire Me! from her Instagram account. After four years of teaching her Instagram audience how to make their homes warm and inviting, she started her own product line.

Source: Instagram

Like Farah, you can begin small with what you can afford and gauge the demand in the market before you scale.

2. Build your brand online

Successful brands are strategic. You need to carve out a brand story, set your visual aesthetic, decide your vision and mission, and solidify your ideal consumer.

Building a brand gives you an edge over your competitors and makes you more memorable. Data shows 77% of brands can simply disappear, and no one would care. You wouldn’t want to be one of those brands, would you?

Branding is essential in home decor categories where consumers largely make logic-driven purchases—like furniture and mattresses. Infrequent purchases mean buyers often spend significant amounts of time evaluating choices, comparing brands, and seeing what goes with their style.

Picking brand guidelines also acts as a reference when you map content for your website and social media. 68% of brands in one study report that brand consistency has contributed 10-20% to their revenue growth.

Source: Lucidpress

Take sustainable furniture company Knoll. They highlight their operational footprint and product processes on their website and even publish a sustainability report.

Source: Knoll

According to one study, 86% of consumers claim there are certain products for which they’ll purchase only from a brand name.

Building a brand can help consumers identify you from the noise and keep coming back for more.

3. Build a top-notch online store and website

Your website and online store are the faces of your company—determining how consumers perceive your brand. You want to capture your consumers and leave a positive impression fast.

Don’t know where to begin?

BigCommerce makes it easy for you to set up your store even if you aren’t big on tech or coding. The platform is highly customizable, letting you design your online store and website to match your brand. You can also purchase your domain name for your store directly from BigCommerce.

While designing your website, don’t make the mistake of skimping on the details of product photography, succinct descriptions about your product, and a consistent color scheme. Here are the elements to take care of:

Homepage

Your homepage is the first thing consumers see when they land on your website. It should talk about what you care about the most and what your existing consumers love about you.

Many brands like Frama—a lifestyle objects company—also opt for displaying their bestsellers and the latest content on their homepage so consumers can immediately start purchasing from them.

Source: Frama

Another thing you need to take care of on your homepage is navigation. Consumers should be able to find their way around your website easily—your brand story, your product categories, a way to contact you, and any FAQs.

Since the homepage is the first impression of your brand to consumers, don’t be afraid to sprinkle some personality. Take the hardware brand, Yuns. It has a homepage with minimal distractions, a stand-out cursor, and a unique experience.

Source: Yuns

Product categories 

If you sell various products, you must separate them into different web pages for the best consumer experience. Howards Storage World’s mega-menu navigation gives customers a quick overview of the various subcategories they can shop from—both visually and textually.

Source: Howards Storage World

You can also apply trends & demand and divide your product categories for what consumers might be searching for right now. For example, Frame Bridge has different categories for different occasions, like gift shopping, Christmas, or travel.

Source: Frame Bridge

You can also get creative and show your product in different use-cases to highlight the categories of your products. Article, for example, does a great job displaying how their product looks in different rooms.

Source: Article

Product images and descriptions 

Consumers can’t see and feel your products, so product photos are your opportunity to build trust and replace the in-person buying experience.

Use a combination of photos of your product to display finer details, for instance, and consumers using your product. For furniture and other items, consider using advanced features such as virtual tours and 3D imaging. They enable consumers to see themselves using your product. It’s possible to do this on your own, but if you can afford it, hire a product photographer to help capture the essence of your brand.

Furniture company American Leather does a wonderful job sharing high-quality photos of their products and people using them. They also have brief product descriptions to go along with it.

Source: American Leather

Here are a few product photography and product description tips and tricks to keep in mind:

• Shoot your product from different angles and highlight the scale. This helps consumers avoid feeling like your actual product differs in size from the image.
• Include detailed measurements for products like furniture in the description. Take furniture brand, Eloquence. Their product descriptions are short, straightforward, and answer all questions consumers might have.

Source: Eloquence

• Try to capture the finer details of your product by taking a zoomed-in picture.
• If it’s possible with your ecommerce website builder, go 3D. BigCommerce’s integration with ThreeKit lets you customize and configure your product in amazing 3D, AR, and virtual photography.
• Tell a story. Who is this product for? How can it be used? Why is it better than its competitors? This makes it easy for consumers to see why they should choose you over your competition. Take how Helix quickly talks about its mattress’ features on its website:

Source: Helix

4. Figure out shipping logistics and provide excellent customer service

The need to provide a smooth shipping experience—with fast shipping, easy returns, and low delivery charges—is indisputable today. Why? It’s one of the biggest deal-breakers for consumers. 49% of consumers cite extra costs of shipping, taxes, and fees as the primary reason for cart abandonment.

Source: Baymard Institute

But figuring out shipping, making a smooth return process, and keeping your customer in the loop throughout can be a nerve-wracking process.

You might be fulfilling orders yourself in the beginning. But as you scale, it makes more sense to hire a shipping company to be your warehouse partner. Make sure your chosen fulfillment partner has good reviews and has worked with similar companies in your industry. Determine what they charge beforehand so you can factor it in while pricing your product.

Gain consumers’ trust by elevating product reviews, highlighting quality assurance seals, and making returns and trials easy. Snowe’s transparent return policy and their detailed FAQ page is a great example.

Source: Snowe

But there’s more to customer service today than just seamless shipping.

Enter: Multichannel and omnichannel retailing.

The pandemic forced many retailers to adapt to multi-channel retailing—the practice of selling merchandise on many different sales channels.

According to a report by Global Data, retailers employing multichannel services achieved the best online channel growth rates—including many traditional retailers like Best Buy, Target, and Walmart.

Neil Saunders, GlobalData’s lead retail analyst, said:

“Despite claims that the growth of online shopping is leading to a ‘retail apocalypse,’ the reality is that many retailers across all sectors are thriving because they are innovating with multichannel to provide a convenient shopping experience for consumers. A very significant proportion of sales that are attributed to the online channel are, in fact, multichannel sales that rely on both stores and online for success. On average, one third of “online” non-food purchases – where a customer actually transacts online – are in fact reliant on physical stores for product selection, pick up, or return.”

The data backs this up—according to a report by Gallup, while brick-and-mortar stores show a five percent YOY growth, 60 to 70% of consumers are researching products both in-store and online. So, being just offline isn’t enough anymore.

Many retailers are also starting to recognize the importance of omnichannel retail—taking multichannel up a notch.

But what is omnichannel retail exactly?

It’s a brand’s presence not just on multiple channels (e.g., e-commerce & brick-and-mortar), but a seamless integration of inventory, customer service, and sales—making the transition between channels seamless.

Do you ever log in to your Amazon app from your smartphone and resume shopping for what you earlier saw on their website? It’s a classic example of omnichannel in action. Omnichannel strategies drive an 80% higher rate of incremental store visits. Omnisend even confirmed marketers using three or more channels in any campaign earned a 287% higher purchase rate than those using a single-channel campaign.

Source: Omnisend

60% of millennials expect a consistent experience from brands across channels. No wonder the global retail omnichannel commerce platform market is expected to reach $11.1 billion by 2024.

But despite the tremendous benefits of multichannel and omnichannel retail, only 73% of marketers have a strategy in place for multichannel marketing. And while 91% of retailers plan to invest in omnichannel strategy, only 12% of retailers say they have the right technology to implement it.

Source: The State of Omnichannel Retail

How can you opt for a better omnichannel approach?

• Get to know your consumers: Conduct surveys, talk to your customers 1:1, and listen to them on social media to offer personalized services and understand what your consumers truly want. For example, Serena and Lily provide personalized design advice to their consumers.

Source: Serena and Lily

72% of consumers say they only engage with personalized messaging. Getting to know your consumers is the stepping stone to offering personalized service to your customers. Furniture store, Burrow, takes customization to the next level with their innovative configurator. Consumers can choose the size, color, height of arms and legs while shopping for their sofa.

Source: Burrow

• Offer a great mobile experience: Optimizing your site for mobile is no longer an option. US mcommerce sales will nearly double their share of total retail sales between 2020 and 2025.

Source: eMarketer

• Be where your consumers are: Don’t jump on every channel available to you. Instead, be strategic and be where your audience is.

Customer service today is beyond affordable shipping and proactive communication. People want a hassle-free experience across devices and plentiful customization options.

5. Create a comprehensive marketing strategy

You can’t afford to be a couch potato when it comes to marketing—you have to be proactive and strategic to figure out what works for your brand. Do Facebook ads make more sense for your business, or should you try content marketing? Experimentation and thorough research are your friends here.

The furniture brand Industry West, for example, ran a creative Instagram campaign that resulted in over $900,000 in online sales. They wrote an “oops” style message sharing the details to access discounted merchandise. Their post took off, and they averaged one order every five minutes. 72% of shoppers from this campaign were first-time customers.

Like Industry West, one way to market well is to share content and build an audience on the social media platform of your choice.

For example, if you’re a furniture brand, you can share design tips and advice. It’s a great way to redirect traffic to your site and convert more social media followers into consumers. You can try a healthy mix of promotional, educational, and entertaining content.

For instance, Holistic Habitat—a socially conscious decor brand—does a great job with its Instagram Reels.

Source: Instagram

Flooring company Flooret, on the other hand, creates blog content centering around design advice, customer stories, industry trends, and more.

Source: Flooret

In the end, focus on marketing authentically and bonding with your consumers. 76% of consumers would buy from you over your competitor if they feel connected to your brand.

There’s no place like home: The future for home decor brands

So, there you have it. Our comprehensive guide to how your home decor brand can sell online.

If you’re still not reaching consumers digitally, you’re leaving money on the table for your competitors.

Right now, the bridge between e-commerce and in-store is shrinking. Selling online without sacrificing the customer experience is the best bet for home decor brands looking to grow in 2022 and beyond.

The post How to Sell Home Decor Online: The Ultimate Guide appeared first on A Better Lemonade Stand.

Language has an undoubted impact on how people perceive the world around them. According to the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis, language affects both world perception and thought, a theory proven in 2008 with the help of functional magnetic resonance imaging. And, over the past decade, ecommerce-specific research has shown that copywriting plays a crucial role in ensuring online retail success.

For example, a 2014 study looked at the connection between emotional language in product reviews and commerce. Interestingly, it found that strongly worded emotions had a positive impact on the sales of hedonic products. Another research project from 2017 looked at over 90,000 product descriptions to try and identify writing styles and words that would predict sales. They found that the elements that drove the best results included appeals to authority, polite language, and informative and seasonal words.

So, if the way you describe your product, present your unique value proposition, or encourage web visitors to convert has a direct impact on your sales, it’s only natural that you’ll want to improve your website copy.

This ecommerce copywriting guide will teach you just that: How to use language that sells.

Why Great Copy Matters

While a scientific approach to copywriting may not be everyone’s cup of tea, there are a few undoubted benefits of investing in your ecommerce website copy.

Some of the advantages of getting your wording just right include:

• More Conversions: Finding effective ways to describe your products and services is, without a doubt, going to convince more visitors to convert, positively affecting your bottom line
• More Effective Nurturing: Using the right words at the right time can help you communicate the perfectly timed message for your audience’s position in the sales funnel. Consequently, by writing ecommerce copy with the buyer’s journey in mind, you cannot just capture more leads but also ensure that you nurture mere web visitors into loyal customers of your brand
• SEO Benefits: Great copy takes search engine optimization into mind, strategically using keywords to increase your site’s visibility on SERPs, winning you organic traffic you can turn into conversions
• Triggering Positive Feelings & Emotional Buy-In From Customers: Nailing your brand’s voice in your website copy is one of the best ways to build an emotional connection with your audience, driving them to become supporters and champions of your business
• Differentiating Your Brand from the Competition: Website copy is an excellent way to show web visitors how your brand differs from the competition. Remember, consumers might prioritize value and price when making purchase decisions, but they also make decisions based on trust, reputation, and emotional connection when choosing what brands to buy from

The Importance of Speaking Your Customers’ Language

One of the best methods for planning marketing strategies is to concentrate on practices that have proven to yield results.

This doesn’t just mean keeping an eye on analytical data to determine whether current copywriting methods effectively drive conversions. But, it also means doing continual research into consumer sentiment to understand people’s prevailing pain points, ever-changing shopping behaviors, and prioritized values (which are currently shifting in most industries).

Approaching the writing process with these in mind will allow you to write the absolute best website copy that appeals to your target audience and builds connections over your shared values.

Why Research Is Important

There are several common mistakes that business owners (and even some copywriters) make when starting the writing process. The biggest one of these is, without a doubt, allowing themselves to follow their instincts instead of data.

You see, more often than not, landing pages and product pages use copy that seems relevant to the brand’s mission. Writers or business owners decide to write copy they think will work without actually doing the research to validate their language choices.

The result? Web pages that look and sound great but unfortunately, do not convert.

Luckily, there is an easy solution to avoiding this problem — thorough research.

By looking for the correct cues, brands can effectively identify the language and voice that appeals to their target audience. Eventually, this leads to better ways of communicating brand values/product benefits and results in sales.

Know Your Audience

Perhaps the best way to identify language that sells is to properly get to know your audience.

Creating buyer personas, understanding their pain points, concerns, and motivations is a crucial step of the copywriting process, as it highlights the sales points that deserve emphasis. And, once you have all this data, you can put it to good use on your product or landing pages.

Just check out how well Asana’s copywriting team does this on the Asana vs. Monday.com landing page.

Source: asana.com

The key phrases used to differentiate between the two software options include clarity, control, ownership, transparency, value, speed, and less effort.

Plus, if you take a close look, you’ll see that the brand points out several times that its free trial lasts twice as long as Monday.com’s. This signals that Asana knows what new users want and understands how to present its offer to secure success.

Watch Your Tone

You don’t just have to know what your audience wants, but you also have to understand what type of brand they want to support.

Perhaps they’re looking for a reliable company? Or, they could be looking for a brand that’s fun and exciting. They may be focused on aesthetics. Or they may be looking for a brand that inspires and motivates them to go after their goals.

When writing copy for your website, you have to keep the tone of voice in mind. Read the room (that is, research your audience) and find the best ways to talk to potential customers.

You might find that the most effective way to approach website visitors is to appeal to their rationale — as is done by Udemy with its no-nonsense professional tone that is fully geared towards positioning the brand as a trustworthy educational resource.

Source: udemy.com

But, you might also find your audience responding better to a motivational tone that appeals to people’s self-actualization needs and inspires them to take action to achieve their full potential. Monthly, for example, has done that.

Source: monthly.com

Furthermore, note that while your brand’s voice needs to be consistent through all your distribution channels, the tone will differ based on where and what you’re trying to communicate. In other words, your Terms of Service page will have to sound far more professional than the caption to a meme you share on social media.

Tap Into the Knowledge You Have Access To

Considering everything that goes into writing web copy that sells, you might find yourself overwhelmed by the idea of doing the research and gathering all the relevant information to start.

But the thing is, you likely already have access to a great deal of valuable data that will help you turn your average website copy into language that actually sells.

For example, a simple Google search can provide insights about what users have found useful when searching for specific keywords.

Because of the search engine’s advanced algorithm, the top results will be the ones that have proven to be relevant to users’ queries, present relevant information, provide high-quality content, and offer an exceptional user experience.

You can analyze these results to check what type of words they use, how they construct sentences, and what CTAs they utilize to convince customers to convert. Then, you can try to find ways to recreate what works on these pages. Just make sure that you add your brand’s unique touch and emphasize the things your company does better than the competition.

Then, of course, there are your existing clients. Look for feedback from both those whom you’ve successfully nurtured into return customers and those who only purchased once then moved on to your competition.

Great ways to do your research include the following…

Engaging with Website Visitors

The easiest way to enhance your website copy is to talk to web visitors in real-time. Simply use live chat software (or, in some cases, chatbots).

Engage website visitors, offer them your help, and keep your ears open. More likely than not, they’ll tell you exactly what they’re looking for. Moreover, they’ll use the wording that appeals to them the most, which can give you the precious opportunity to identify keywords and sentiments your website copy should reflect to successfully sell your products and services.

Going Through Support Logs

Another excellent research method to identify your customers’ language is to go through your support logs. Recognizing the pain points of your existing customers, you can not only work to make your products better, but you can also find opportunities to adequately describe those products through your copy, effectively managing customer expectations and preventing disappointments by being more precise with what you promise to your clients.

Conducting Surveys to Find Pain Points

Do you have a sizable number of repeat and one-time buyers? Why not put together a survey which will help you recognize your audience’s pain points. Ask questions such as:

• What did you need to solve that led you to our product/service?
• What were your priorities when choosing solutions?
• What benefits made you continue subscribing to our product/opt for a different solution?
• Who would you recommend our product to?
• Who would you advise against getting our product and why?
• What changes would improve your overall experience/convince you to give our product another try?

Identifying FAQs

Another super-valuable source of information for copywriters is the frequently asked questions your support/sales teams receive.

Do your web visitors often ask for clarifications on product features? Do they have questions regarding shipping or payment processes? Any question that arrives in your company’s inbox more than a couple of times provides clues on valuable information that deserves to be on your site.

Looking at Information Collected Through CRM Software

If your ecommerce business uses CRM software, then it might not be a bad idea to take a look at the information available about your most loyal customers. Seeing how most of these solutions offer advanced customer insights, it would be foolish not to use them to optimize your website for conversions and fine-tune the language you use so that you ensure higher satisfaction rates from your buyers.

Reading Product Reviews to Find Information

Finally, don’t underestimate the value of product reviews, which are a great resource to check out if you want to know about the pain points that brought your clients to you, the benefits they found most valuable, as well as the main objections they had towards becoming your customers.

How to Write Great Copy for Your Ecommerce Store

Now that you understand the steps that go into recognizing the ideal language, voice, and tone for your brand, it’s time to get down to business.

But before you come up with a formula and start applying it to all your distribution channels and digital assets, you have to accept that different formats require different types of communication. That’s why the best way forward is to break up your copywriting efforts into categories based on the distribution channel you’re writing for.

Here’s how you can produce copy that drives conversions for all of your ecommerce brand’s needs.

Adverts

Considering that paid ads cost money, optimizing your copy is one of the best ways to boost ROI.

In addition to targeting the right audience segments and linking to relevant landing pages, there are a few proven-to-work tricks to increase the efficiency of your PPC campaigns and secure more conversions.

Analyze & Reflect User Intent

Your ad copy should speak to your audience’s intentions. That is, it must present an instant solution to the search terms you’re bidding for.

Don’t ask people if they want their problem solved — of course, they do! Just give them an attractive solution.

For an excellent illustration of how a well-written ad needs to reflect user intent, check out how different brands target the search term “buy glasses online.”

On the one hand, there are those that state they offer discount glasses or free shipping. But, the indisputable winner is Zenni, the brand that invites people to “grab great offers,” “shop by face shape,” and check out “frames under $20.”

Source: google.com

Be Specific

Another great piece of advice for writing adverts is to be as precise as possible.

People appreciate the attention to detail and want to buy from brands they can trust to deliver. That’s why using language that instills trust and authority makes an excellent strategy to increase click-through rates and conversions.

For a great example of how you can be specific, check out the highlighted sections of ads targeting the keyphrase “pet insurance Australia.”

Promising $50 savings, 80% coverage, stating annual limits, and offering flexible payments, the two companies have managed to do an excellent job of appealing to pet owners (as opposed to the company that only defines the term and lingers on technical details that don’t stand the chance of selling to buyers in the awareness stage).

Source: google.com

Customize & Personalize

According to a 2017 survey by Econsultancy, 39% of brands saw a considerable uplift in conversions after implementing personalization in their search engine marketing efforts, and 54% saw a minor uplift.

The great thing about this is that you can easily enhance your ad copy by adding custom attributes like text, numbers, price, date, etc.

IMAGE: IMPROVE COPY WITH CUSTOMIZATION

Source: info.redeye.com

Choose the Correct CTAs

If you’re writing copy for Facebook ads, one of the essential things you have to consider is what CTA to use. Understand that consumers inhabiting different stages of the buyer’s journey tend to respond to various calls-to-action.

So, if your ads are targeting the awareness stage, use something akin to “learn more,” as used by Mercedes-Benz Cars UK.

But, if you’re retargeting people who have already visited your website or even made a purchase in your ecommerce store, you can get a bit more sales-y and choose words like “shop,” “call,” “buy,” “book,” etc.

Source: facebook.com

Measure Results & Use Them to Make Your Landing Pages Better

Finally, as you approach the copywriting process for adverts, don’t forget to keep an eye on your analytics and data and make changes where necessary.

If you find phrases that drive impressive conversions, don’t hesitate to add them to your landing pages, like Zenni did, whose Google Ad we mentioned earlier in this section.

Source: zennioptical.com

Social Media Posts & Interactions

The most notable benefit offered by a well-developed social media strategy is that it allows you to meet your potential customers in a space they enjoy inhabiting. Essentially, this means you can raise awareness and communicate the benefits of your products/services without:

• A) Spending money on ads;
• B) Coming off as a brand that’s entirely focused on sales

But, to really make social media marketing pay off, you have to know how to write showstopping copy for your posts, as well as how to interact with your followers.

Remember It’s Entertainment

Research suggests that most young users go on social media platforms to stay up to date on current news or to find funny and entertaining content.

This should be a clear sign that your voice on these platforms needs to be exciting and engaging.

You can also adopt a funny, edgy, or controversial tone, but make sure that it’s the right choice for your brand. Take a look at how Lazy Oaf managed to find the right balance between likable and unique on its social media profiles. And, based on likes and comments counts, the tone seems to be appealing to its audience.

Source: instagram.com

Balance Professionalism

Even if you’re trying to be funny and approachable, you have to remember that value and trust sell better than design or personality. So don’t forget that your posts still need to be informative and communicate your dedication to providing a superb customer experience.

Adobe does a great job of writing copy for its social media profiles. Its tweets are super easy to consume, most are conversation starters, and a good chunk of them offer a solid amount of value, usually through educational content.

Source: twitter.com

Prioritize Click-Through Rates

Finally, as you approach the copywriting process for your social media profiles, don’t forget that your ultimate goal is to boost sales with captivating copy.

This means that your posts must include compelling calls-to-action, highlighting the unique value your followers get by going to your site and investing their hard-earned money in your products.

Wolverine does a fantastic job with its Facebook ads, where it advertises 20% savings on its limited bundling offer.

Source: facebook.com

Homepages

When it comes to your digital calling card — your website — the purpose of your copy should be to represent your brand in a way that will appeal to your target audience and inspire sales.

To achieve this effect, make sure to utilize words and phrases that will create a connection between your company and your potential customers, communicate the value you offer, and show that you’re a brand that puts its customers first.

Showcase Your Values

Over the past couple of years, shoppers have made a notable shift towards conscious consumerism, which means that they’re looking to support brands whose values align with their own.

So, one easy copywriting tip is to make sure your homepage copy reflects your audience’s values. That way, you can effectively connect with web visitors, turning them into viable leads, then slowly nurturing them with your quality products and service towards becoming repeat customers.

Check out how brilliantly Transparent Labs does this with the “Our promise” section of its homepage, where it highlights transparency, science-based ingredients, quality, and integrity as the leading principles behind its products.

Source: transparentlabs.com

Strike the Right Tonal Balance

You should have a no-nonsense attitude towards customer satisfaction. Nonetheless, you still have to remember that sales-oriented copy has to be interesting enough to make your website visitors stop and think about your products.

So do your best to find the right balance between catchy taglines and data-backed convincing value propositions.

SomniFix does this spectacularly with its “Don’t be a mouth-breather” header that sounds funny but is followed by solid industry terms and claims.

Source: somnifix.com

Differentiate Yourself

With millions of ecommerce stores operating in 2021, you’re probably not the only player in your niche. Naturally, this means that you need to find a way to express that your store is unique and offers something new or better than your competition.

Well-written homepage copy can do that for you. Just think about the benefits that no one else in your industry offers.

GILI Sports, for example, figured out that unique feature to be its products’ space-saving design.

Source: gilisports.com

Prioritize Benefits Over Features

Website copy plays an irreplaceable part in defining and positioning your brand. But remember, the true purpose of your company will always be to make your clients happy.

So don’t forget to plan the copywriting process with a customer-oriented attitude.

Tell website visitors what your products do for them. You don’t have to go into detail — you can very well do what Coola does and use no more than four words. But make sure that those words are what your audience wants to hear (and what your brand can deliver).

Source: coola.com

Product Pages

Once you’ve captured people’s attention, it’s time to optimize your product pages to be as convincing as possible.

In addition to breathtaking product photography and a UX that seamlessly guides page visitors towards becoming clients, your copy also plays a role in convincing people to buy.

Generally, you can drive sales by zooming in on the most relevant aspects of your products and finding phrases that appeal to your audience.

The following are excellent strategies you can implement on your product pages.

Make Bold but Reasonable Claims

One of the best ways to inspire sales is to instantly grab user attention on your product pages. Do this with impressive claims (along the lines of Apple’s “best smartphone ever” line).

Don’t forget to provide proof of what you’re promising to potential buyers.

Check out how Drunk Elephant does it in the example below. It grabs attention by promising “dramatic improvement in the appearance of skin’s texture, tone, radiance, and bounce.” But it also makes sure to support the claim by going into detail in the ingredients section of the page.

Source: drunkelephant.com

Cover Tangible Benefits

Another super-successful copywriting strategy for product pages is not to get hung up on features.

Yes, product features make your offer better than your competition’s, but ultimately, your audience doesn’t care about technicalities as long as it feels the benefits of those features. So try to describe tangible benefits.

Thomas Farthing, for example, doesn’t just say that its sweaters are made with the best wool out there. But, instead, it points out that they’re made “for a lifetime of adventure,” which does a superb job of communicating their quality.

Source: thomasfarthing.co.uk

Hit the Right Emotional Notes

Finally, don’t forget that people don’t necessarily make purchasing decisions based on objective thinking.

More often than not, they’re swayed by emotional language and imagery, so make sure that your copy stirs emotion.

Take a nostalgic approach like Mixam does below. Or tell stories about your products. You can even appeal to your audience’s frustrations to show how well you can solve their needs. Just make sure that you leave a lasting impact and position your brand and products as the answer.

Source: mixam.com

Page HTML Titles & Meta Descriptions

As we explore ecommerce copywriting, it would be foolish not to (briefly) touch upon the importance of every single instance of text associated with the product you want to sell.

What does this mean? It’s simple. It means you need to apply your copywriting knowledge even to the tiniest pieces of copy on your website. In addition to UX text, this also includes HTML titles and meta descriptions.

Seeing how these are the first samples of your brand’s language that potential buyers are likely to see, these spaces give you a precious opportunity to make a great impression.

For an illustration of a brand that hits the right note with its meta descriptions, check out Bloom & Wild.

Source: google.com

As you can see, the meta descriptions added to each of the brand’s pages do an excellent job of describing what customers can expect.

In addition to using emotional language that includes words like “surprise” and “delight,” the brand’s copywriters also properly formatted each web section. They made it super-easy for potential customers to land on pages that answer their needs, significantly boosting the chances of converting web visitors into buyers.

About Pages

Another part of your website that you definitely do not want to neglect is your About page.

As you try to enrich your website with language that sells, remember that the attributes that drive sales include trust, authority, and your brand’s values. And what better space to communicate these than your brand’s About page?

In addition to expanding on the values you listed on your homepage, a well-written About page gives you the priceless opportunity to tell your brand’s story by using emotional language — like in this example from Depop.

Source: depop.com

And it also provides credentials that support your expertise. Icebreaker, for example, has an extensive About page that provides information about every single part of the company’s practices, including explanations of the supply chain, a list of its materials growers, and even employee profiles.

Source: icebreaker.com

Plus, it can even forge a connection with web visitors by describing your mission and explaining how you plan on making people’s lives better, as Deliverr does.

Source: deliverr.com

Over to You: Boost Ecommerce Sales by Nailing the Copywriting Process

There you have it, some of the essential points you need to keep in mind while producing ecommerce copy that sells.

As you can see, much of what you will achieve depends on extensive research and finding the right voice to appeal to your audience.

But, just to be sure that your copy delivers results, do your best to avoid the common mistakes of watering your language down with too much fluff or too many adjectives, writing copy that’s sterile and doesn’t represent your brand’s personality, or, worst of all, doing all your writing in a single sitting without going back to edit (or check your grammar).

And, of course, for the best results, you will have to continually work on making your website copy better.

So don’t forget to test, make seasonal changes, and keep an eye on your audience’s reactions. Chances are, they’re already giving you the hints you need to write the best possible copy there is. All you have to do is open your ears.

The post Ecommerce Copywriting Guide: How to Write Copy that Sells appeared first on A Better Lemonade Stand.

However, the good news is that while your customers’ email inboxes are full with special offers, discounts, and calls-to-action to the point that they tune them out, they don’t ignore SMS messages.

In contrast, SMS messages are opened by an average of around 99% of recipients. Furthermore, about 97% of those SMS’s are read within 15 minutes of delivery.

Impressive, right?

The moral of the story? If you want to ensure your marketing materials get seen, SMS marketing is the way to go.

But, there are so many SMS marketing apps out there; how do you know which one to use?

Below, we give you the low-down on some of the best SMS marketing tools for your business.

But First, What is SMS Marketing?

Put simply, it’s a way of reaching customers by text message, or “SMS.” Typically, business owners use SMS marketing to tell customers about their upcoming campaigns, discounts, special offers, big news, product launches, etc.

With SMS marketing, you can:

• Send bulk messages — including personalized campaigns — to customers
• Decide when and how often to send messages
• Tailor your messaging according to your customers’ shopping and viewing habits

So now that you have the “what” let’s look at the “how.”

How Effective is SMS Marketing?

We know that SMS open rates are high, but the real question we have to ask ourselves is, do they actually lead to anything?

Here’s what we found out:

• Global tech company Campaign Monitor says email open rates should ideally sit at around 15%-25%, with an average click-through rate of approximately 2.5%
• In contrast, while the statistics vary wildly here, it’s possible to say that the average click-through rate for SMS ranges anywhere between 5%-10%. Not only that, but it’s also worth bearing in mind that:
  • As many as 75% of consumers want to receive special offers by SMS
  • More than 50% of consumers prefer to interact with businesses via text
  • Customers redeem SMS coupons 10x more than any other kind of coupon

These figures are hard to ignore. In fact, they illustrate perfectly why SMS marketing is not only effective but often expected by customers.

That said, we’re going to explore some of the best SMS marketing tools for smaller organizations. Of course, there are tons of SMS marketing platforms suitable for larger enterprises, but if you’re looking for something for your small- to medium-sized business then keep reading.

More specifically, we’re looking at these top SMS marketing tools:

• Twilio
• TextMagic
• SimpleTexting
• Klaviyo
• Birdeye
• Attentive
• Community
• Drip
• HeyMarket
• EZTexting

Let’s jump right in!

The Top 10 Best SMS Marketing Tools

Best SMS Marketing Tool #1: Twilio

Twilio is a well-reviewed cloud-based marketing platform. Its sole focus isn’t just SMS marketing — it also offers other marketing channels such as WhatsApp, video, voice, and email to engage your customers.

That said, Twilio is an exciting option for any business looking for a high-quality SMS marketing tool. Used by large companies such as Netflix, Airbnb, and Uber, it also offers convenient services for smaller organizations.

With Twilio, you can reach customers by SMS across 180 countries. Plus, Twilio allows you to send customers and/or employees notifications — for example, about purchase and shipping confirmations, as well as time-sensitive messages with special offers. You can also communicate with customers and build relationships via secure SMS channels.

Twilio is often called a blank canvas because its API capabilities mean you or your developer can build a tailored solution. However, the downside for newbies is that Twilio’s platform isn’t really aimed at absolute beginners. So unless you already have some background knowledge, you may find it confusing.

That said, you can use Twilio without being a developer. When you sign up, you’re asked if you’re a developer, and if the answer’s a short “no,” you can simply link your Twilio account to Zapier (or another automation service of your choice) to send and receive SMS with relative ease.

However, this potentially means additional cost, with Zapier plans starting at $0 and rising to $19.99 per month and even further to $599 per month for larger corporations. That said, its free program grants you 100 tasks per month. Zapier calls these tasks “Zaps.”

Twilio’s pricing packages are pretty transparent. You can either pay as you go, with text messages starting from $0.0075, or $0.0021 to send picture messages. Alternatively, there are volume discounts as you grow; although, these don’t kick in until you’ve passed the 20 million message mark.

To test the effectiveness of your SMS campaigns, you can use Twilio’s Messaging Insights. This is a dashboard where you’ll see real-time analytics and reports on messaging delivery success, one-time password conversions, errors, and responses.

Best of all, Twilio has a unique program aimed at startups called Twilio Startups; however, this service is currently on pause while it’s being tweaked. But, you can still express interest in joining if you pass the criteria test so it may be worth keeping an eye out for.

Check Out Twilio Here

Best SMS Marketing Tool #2: TextMagic

TextMagic allows businesses to quickly connect and send text notifications, confirmations, alerts, and SMS marketing campaigns with ease.

It’s well-reviewed; with users loving its ease of use, intuitive interface, transparent prices, and how quickly it works.

TextMagic is used by many different types of businesses and organizations, including smaller operations. These include insurance agents, an education recruitment company, an automotive company — to name a few examples!

TextMagic also integrates with Zapier and comes with several exciting features, including being able to:

• Send SMS messages to customers and use two-way SMS chat
• Add all of your contacts to your TextMagic account. You can do this either manually or import them via an Excel CSV file
• Convert emails into SMS using TextMagic

Like most SMS marketing tools, TextMagic allows you to schedule messages, alerts, and campaigns. You can also test their effectiveness with TextMagic’s tracking and reporting features, which provide live delivery reports, monthly email reports, and campaign success reports.

Its prices are easy to understand and start at $0.04 per text. One positive here is a generous 30-day free trial with no credit card required or account fees. You just open an account, load up your pre-paid credit payment (starting from $10-10,000), and only pay when you send messages. You can also see how much each campaign or communication costs before sending it, so there aren’t any nasty surprises.

TextMagic is a smaller platform than Twilio, but it does service 100,000+ customers — some of whom are happy to share their positive reviews online, including on the TextMagic site.

Check Out TextMagic Here

Best SMS Marketing Tool #3: SimpleTexting

SimpleTexting also has an intuitive interface and is well-reviewed by happy customers who praise its ease of use, customer service, prices, and automated message functions.

SimpleTexting is used by some big names, including Starbucks, Marriott, Samsung, and Stanford University. However, they’re keen to emphasize that they have “Pricing Fit For Everyone.”

Like its competitors, SimpleTexting provides everything you need to execute effective marketing campaigns using SMS.

Its features include:

• Two-way real-time messaging
• Scheduled texts
• Autoresponder texts that can be staggered over days, weeks, and months in drip-feed campaigns
• Contact segmentation to enable more audience-relevant campaigns
• Adding existing contacts to your SMS lists
• Running polls or surveys via SMS to find out what your subscribers or customers are thinking

If you want to try before you buy, there’s a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. This includes a test run of 50 text messages to see if SimpleTexting is for you.

SimpleTexting also integrates with Zapier and other apps you’ll likely use to manage your business; including Instagram, Mailchimp, WordPress, or Shopify (Shopify Review).

At first glance, prices here differ. Most notably, you’re charged on a monthly plan starting at $25 per month for 500 credits. Then, after that, prices increase the more messages you send.

Check Out SimpleTexting Here

Best SMS Marketing Tool #4: Klaviyo

Klaviyo is another well-known tool that’s well-received and often-mentioned in the same breath as other leading marketing tools.

Used by small and large businesses alike, Klaviyo has 265,000 business customers at the time of writing, covering all business types from entrepreneurs to larger enterprises. However, where it differs is that it’s not just an SMS marketing tool, but it also offers email marketing functionality and website tracking.

Zoning in on its SMS marketing features, Klaviyo says businesses who use its SMS tool see an average ROI of 24x.

In addition, Klaviyo users can:

• Sync customer data to better personalize messages with calls-to-action
• Run SMS marketing campaigns alongside other digital marketing strategies like email campaigns. Klayivo has a helpful blog with suggestions on how to do this, but it emphasizes that you need customers to consent to receive both SMS and emails if you want to reach them using both modes of communication
• Your customers can choose their preferred contact method, which is excellent for enhancing the customer experience

Its reporting and analytics show you how effective your email and SMS campaigns are and what drives your product sales best.

Customers praise Klaviyo’s ease of use, customer service, and integrations. They integrate with some big names, including Shopify, Shopify Plus, Magento, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce.

Prices for Klaviyo vary depending on whether you’re running SMS only, email only, or SMS and email campaigns. They also depend on how many contacts you want to text each month. For example, if you’re a small company that wants to text 150 contacts, it’s $5 per month. Up that to 1,000 contacts per month, and it’s $40 per month.

But if you’re just starting out, there’s also a free tier. Just create an account, import, and sync your data, and then use Klayivo’s features like its customizable email templates and SMS form builders for free. In addition, you get a free Klaviyo phone number and up to 150 SMS messages which you can use to text up to 50 SMS contacts per month.

Check Out Klaviyo Here

Best SMS Marketing Tool #5: Birdeye

Like some of the aforementioned SMS tools, Birdeye also offers multiple digital marketing options aside from SMS. These include video chat software, live chat, and so on. However, some reviews say that Birdeye is more set up for enterprise-sized organizations.

Frustratingly, you can’t access Birdeye’s prices without giving them your details first, so that’s something to be aware of.

With Birdeye, you can send mass texts from 10 to 10,000 contacts, and they emphasize that you can send SMS to customers at any point in their journey with your brand.

Best of all, Birdeye gives you access to one centralized inbox from which all your customer contacts can be managed no matter where they come from, whether it’s social media or your website.

Birdeye is also expected to introduce real-time analytics data on all text messages, but there’s no indication when this would be rolled out. When this analytics data does land, you’ll be able to compare the numbers of SMS sent vs. open rates vs. click rates and engagement over time.

Generally speaking, Birdeye is well-reviewed and used by over 60,000 businesses at the time of writing. Helpfully, we found some quantifiable success stories on Birdeye’s website. For example, Sunlight Financial increased its Google reviews from 6 to 1,753 using Birdeye.

Check Out Birdeye Here

Best SMS Marketing Tool #6: Attentive

The first thing to note about the Attentive SMS solution is that it tells potential customers that it drives an average of “18.5% of total online revenue for modern e-commerce brands.”

Attentive has some big-name customers, including Urban Outfitters, Supergoop!, and Rebecca Minkoff. Still, it positions itself as an SMS tool for “4,000+ pioneering brands.” Interestingly, Supergoop! increased its ROI by over 29x as a result of using Attentive SMS marketing.

Using Attentive’s SMS tool, you can engage with customers every step of the way. Most notably, you can:

• Send personalized and automated messages
• Send order and shipping notifications
• Initiate two-way SMS communications with customers based on the behavior exhibited on your website. For example, if an SMS subscriber has added products to their shopping cart and then abandoned their cart, you can send them an SMS message to prompt them to go back and complete their purchase

Attentive is an award-winning SMS solution. In fact, Inc. listed Attentive as one of its 2021 Best Places to Work companies.

Online reviews also tell us that customers enjoy how easy it is to set it up, how helpful and responsive the customer service is, and its competitive prices. There was also praise for its simple onboarding process and excellent training resources.

Check Out Attentive Here

Best SMS Marketing Tool #7: Community

Community hit the SMS marketplace in 2019 and already has over 28 million members who have sent over a combined six billion messages between them!

It achieved some early notoriety because it attracted Ashton Kutcher as an investor and other celebrity customers, including Jennifer Lopez, Paul McCartney, and Eminem.

Community differs because of the audience it attracts; artists, creators, entrepreneurs, media companies, and public figures, to be exact.

The platform works on the premise that you can achieve conversions through your conversations. Interestingly, messages sent via Community boast an average 59% click-through rate and a 95% open rate.

While Community started out as a bit of a celebrity-driven chatroom, it’s now onboarding small and large businesses so that they can instantly engage with customers via secure two-way conversations. It’s already also attracted some big corporate names, including Showtime, People, and CNN.

When you sign up, you become what Community calls a “Leader.” You’re allocated a 10-digit number, you can then promote yourself using social media, word-of-mouth, email, or by integrating the Community signup form. Then, when someone wants to chat with you, they become a “Member.” When they text you for the first time, they’ll receive a personalized text from you that asks them to enter their contact information and opt-in to your Community. Then, you can text your “Members” directly and build personal connections.

Users can also segment their communications by demographics and interests. Plus, you can reply to similar texts using pre-set standardized messages to help speed up your response time. Then, of course, you can also schedule messages, send texts, images, videos, GIFs, and view the analytics of your SMS marketing campaigns.

It’s worth noting that Community is currently only available if you’re based in the US or Canada and have an Apple device. An Android app is on its way, but there’s no timeframe for that just yet.

Also, not everyone is eligible to use Community. Paid subscriptions are only available to a select number of brands and companies. If you think your brand fits well with Community, then you have to tell the platform why and how you’ll use it, and Community will have the final say on whether you’re a fit or not.

Check Out Community Here

Best SMS Marketing Tool #8: Drip

Drip offers a blend of email and SMS marketing, custom reporting functions, and form building.

Zoning in on their SMS offer, Drip users can send automated texts including discount codes, order confirmations, abandoned cart recoveries, holiday promos, time-sensitive offers, product launches, and more.

Drip is smaller than some of the SMS marketing tools featured so far, with just over 30,000 marketers using it. However, it was created with smaller ecommerce brands in mind “to fight back and keep ecommerce independent” from the more prominent online marketplaces.

Impressively, Drip’s customers have collectively generated over $1 billion dollars in attributed revenue using a mix of SMS and email marketing. It’s clear that the types of brands that use Drip are smaller, independent businesses.

Drip is pretty well-reviewed, with users praising its ease of use, good value for money, and intuitive user interface. At the time of writing, however, the main disadvantage we’re seeing with Drip is that SMS messages can only be sent to US phone numbers.

Drip offers a 14-day free trial, and pricing starts at $19 per month for email marketing only. Then, if you add SMS into the mix, it’s a further $15 per month for 1,000 sends or $0.015 per text sent on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Check Out Drip Here

Best SMS Marketing Tool #9: HeyMarket

HeyMarket offers digital marketing solutions to companies spanning multiple industries including retail, hospitality, and health. It works by consolidating all of your SMS and Facebook messages into one shared inbox. Impressively, its users enjoy an average 80% SMS reply rate.

You can use HeyMarket to help you manage customer service, order confirmations, special offers, logistics, and much more. HeyMarket works on web browsers, iOS, and Android devices.

With HeyMarket, you can organize contacts into one list or separate lists to send targeted text messages and set automated replies. You can also run SMS campaigns — including drip-fed messages — using the platform’s SMS templates. Plus, its reporting function enables you to see at a glance the number of messages you’ve sent, how many of your messages were received, commonly used SMS templates, and which SMS chats take up the most time.

Some of its 1,500+ clients include the likes of Cornell University, BarkBox, U-Haul, and Blue Bottle Coffee. Its lowest plan costs $49 per month for 12,000 SMS sends per year, and any additional SMS are billed at $0.06 each.

HeyMarket integrates with Instagram, Facebook, HubSpot, Shopify, Zapier, and more.

Reviewers love its easy-to-use interface and excellent customer service.

Check Out HeyMarket Here

Best SMS Marketing Tool #10: EZTexting

EZTexting has been around since 2006 and is a well-established SMS and email marketing tool that works with businesses across many industries including retail, beauty, restaurants, ecommerce, professional services, and more.

Prices start at $19 per month for 2,400 mass texting credits per year, and $0.04 per SMS if you send more than 200 SMS per month. Best of all, there’s a handy 14-day free trial, so you can try it before you buy!

Like the other SMS tools in this list, EZTexting gives you the power to deliver messages at the right time to increase customer engagement. There’s no real discernable difference between EZTexting and other tools out there, however, it does focus its attention on small- to medium-sized businesses and is definitely not the new kid on the block here.

Like its competitors, EZTexting integrates with Zapier and HubSpot, although, at the time of writing we didn’t spot a Shopify integration. To date, 165,000 brands use EZTexting, and its website tells us it’s the #1 SMS platform for business users.

The cloud-based platform is well-reviewed, with customers giving it five stars for customer support and praising its value-for-money and ease of use. In addition, it boasts a 98% SMS open rate, with 90% of SMS responses taking as little as 30 minutes.

EXTexting also offers an analytics feature that allows you to see individual campaign results, bounce rates, unsubscribes, delivered messages, and more.

Check Out EZTexting Here

Are You Ready to Start Using The Best SMS Marketing Tools?

So there you have it, our list of the top 10 best SMS marketing tools for your business. Each offers the functionality you need to engage customers, and hopefully, increase sales.

The post The Top 10 Best SMS Marketing Tools appeared first on A Better Lemonade Stand.

Customers expect a lot out of the online checkout experience. Any blip along the way—too many fields to complete, functionality issues, etc.—can make customers abandon their carts. Research shows that 72% of online shoppers will abandon their carts if the process gets too complicated.

The top three reasons for cart abandonment all have to do with overcomplication:

• Requiring account creation
• A complex form or process
• Unexpected costs

The solution: Give your customers the option to check out with just one click.

Why?

Two reasons: Because customers want a smooth shopping experience, and if you don’t give that to them, they will find it elsewhere. Don’t give them a reason to start looking.

In this post, we’ll share and compare one-click checkout providers and dive deeper into how adopting this solution can transform your business and earn rave reviews from your customers. Not all one-click services are the same—and not all of them are even truly just a single click.

Below is a comparison of the four top one-click checkout providers.

Why is One-Click Checkout Necessary?

Here are a few things wrong with doing things the old way…

High Cart Abandonment

Picture this: Your customer finds an item that speaks to them. They excitedly click “Add to Cart.” Then the cart icon. Then they click “Checkout.” Now it’s time to set up a profile and create yet another password so they can sign in before making that purchase. Next, it’s time to take out the credit or debit card and add that information. They make sure they have the expiration date and security code correct. Then they click “Confirm.”

All done! Well… not exactly.

Most customers don’t bother with a lengthy checkout process. What if their payment card is in another room or they only have a few minutes on a busy day to complete this purchase?

The harder you make things for your customers, the less likely they are to buy.

Stated plainly, even when a shopper has a full cart and plans to complete the purchase, there’s still a significant chance that a merchant could lose that transaction. Here’s the simple truth: Checkout is incredibly difficult to do right. One snag results in the same stark outcome: A lost sale.” –Jimmy Duvall, Chief Product Officer at BigCommerce

In other words, the simpler you can make your checkout experience, the better. It’s faster, sure—but it’s also easier, which helps reduce the chances of cart abandonment along the way.

Trust

Many sellers are reluctant to adopt a new payment service because they just don’t know what it’s all about. They worry that incorporating a new payment button could disrupt their website’s infrastructure. They also worry about protecting their customer’s private information.

Online buyers trust retail giants like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy to protect them from online fraud; their social proof is already built-in. But independent ecommerce outlets? Not so much. Only about 5% of customers trust independent stores to do the same.

One solution is for ecommerce merchants to turn to third-party, one-click payment providers customers do trust (more on this in a bit).

Payment Service Fees

(Source)

Depending on the provider you choose, merchant fees can vary. Digital transactions totaled an estimated $4.8 trillion last year, with ecommerce representing $3.5 billion of that total.

Checkout platforms typically charge a standard 2.9% and $0.30 per transaction (however, platforms like Fast charge 2.9% and $0.29). But on top of transaction fees, merchants could be charged just to use certain checkout platforms.

Fast and PayPal only charge sellers transaction fees. However, sellers using Bolt and Shopify have to pay an additional platform fee on top of the fees for each sale. Bolt charges sellers a percentage of their annual revenue to determine platform fees. Bolt also charges sellers a “risk coverage” fee.

Apprehension about transaction fees is understandable, but merchants pay an even higher price by not having a convenient checkout offering. In other words: Getting a one-click checkout payment provider is worth it. It’s just a matter of which service offers you the most features at the most affordable price.

One-Click Checkout: The Landscape of Fast Online Payment

The one-click landscape wasn’t always full of options like these. In fact, Amazon once held the patent for “One Click” payments. But that patent expired in 2017, and the ecommerce space was never the same again.

Once they opened up and became a platform and a marketplace instead of being a reseller of books, it became important for people doing business at either end of Amazon to know that they had this large database that they would be able to give access to a large number of customers literally with one click.” –Thomas Jeitschko, Professor of Economics at Michigan State University

Today, we see several companies jockeying to become the one-click checkout option.

One-Click vs. Express Checkout

Keep in mind that there are a few different terms used to explain this type of checkout experience. Here’s the difference:

• One-Click: When you hear one-click specifically, that once was an Amazon trademark. In industry lingo, however, one-click may refer to any minimalistic shopping cart experience.
• Express: This often refers to checkout services where much of the appeal is the convenience of one click with a payment provider customers already trust. “Express” doesn’t explicitly have one click, but its promise is the same: A quick checkout.

The Case for One-Click Checkout

Let’s say you already have a system that works. Why should you start weighing one-click checkout providers to see which is best for you?

Here are just a few of those reasons:

• Increasing Conversions: Customers like fast checkout. When ElasticPath ran an A/B test sending customers to multi-stage payments and one-click versions, the one-click version converted 21% more often.
• Capturing Mobile Transactions: This is more important than ever, with 79% of smartphone users making a purchase in the last six months. Are you going to capture that audience? Or will you assume that whichever checkout you have is good enough?
• Affordability: Are you paying less in fees than your competitors are? This can be tricky to calculate. Some vendors use a percentage and a flat fee per transaction, while others charge flat fees per transaction that work better for high-cost goods.

Next, let’s look at a few of the software options available.

What is Bolt One Click?

Bolt is an express-checkout provider. Its goal is to offer similar advantages of a frictionless, “Amazon-style” checkout to different ecommerce providers. With Bolt, buyers can complete orders in two steps.

(Source)

In addition to transaction fees, Bolt charges sellers an annual fee to use its checkout service and sets the price based on the seller’s annual revenue. Bolt only works with merchants that have more than $3 million in annual online credit card volume.

It works with multiple platforms, including BigCommerce, Magento, and WooCommerce.

What is Fast Checkout?

Fast is a one-click checkout experience that works on all devices, platforms, and browsers. It handles logging in, checkout, order tracking, and more. Fast also offers batch ordering, which saves sellers money on processing fees and shipping costs by combining multiple transactions into one sale. While other platforms take at least two steps to complete an order, Fast is the only one that completes an order immediately after clicking “Fast Checkout.”

(Source)

With Fast, sellers can import a simple API (Application Programming Interface) to enable a frictionless payment experience without making any major changes to their store’s website. Thanks to a high standard in its privacy policy and free 100% chargeback fraud protection, Fast also scores well in the trust department.

What is PayPal One Touch?

One Touch for PayPal is different in that it tends to focus more on the consumer’s side rather than the shop’s side. It allows customers to log in, shop, and checkout in fewer clicks than the traditional PayPal interface.

(Source)

Theoretically, a buyer using PayPal’s One Touch will already be logged in by the time they make a purchase. Once they click the PayPal button to checkout, another page will open asking to confirm the purchase. If a buyer is not already logged in, the checkout process will take more steps.

What is Shop Pay?

Shop Pay is a checkout option available through the Shop app, a platform for shopping at stores available only through Shopify.

How does it differ from, say, Fast or Bolt?

Since it’s an option limited to Shopify stores, there won’t be any additional platform overlap. This is a checkout option designed for people either using Shopify or ready to set up on Shopify.

(Source)

Shop Pay is limited in scope, given it’s a platform-dependent option. But because Shopify is a closed ecosystem, it’s one of the only options available to sellers on the platform.

How Do I Install One-Click Checkout?

This is a question many sellers have, and oftentimes it stops them from moving forward with the installation process for their sites. One-click may be easy on the customer, but from the store’s perspective, it can seem difficult.

But it doesn’t have to be. Just follow these key steps:

1. Check with the Platform Hosting Your Site

Before you sign up for anything, make sure that your platform is compatible with the one-click provider. Here are some of the most common platforms that third-party vendors can service:

• WooCommerce
• BigCommerce
• Magento
• Shopify
• Salesforce Commerce Cloud
• Wix
• Squarespace

2. Select Your Provider

In our comparison table at the start of this post, we’ve done the direct side-by-side comparisons for you. But if you want to take a deeper dive into which provider is right for you, consider the following:

• Checkout Speed: Does the platform require all sorts of third-party processing that will slow things down?
• Number of Actual Clicks to Complete Orders: “One-click” isn’t necessarily always one click. Fast is the only company with a checkout button that completes an order in just one click. Make sure you understand how each platform achieves its quick checkout to see if your carts require multiple clicks.
• Shipment Tracking: This is especially important for customers who are used to buying from major providers. They’re used to transparency while shipping.
• Payout Options: Is there instant payout? Do you have to wait until a Monday for a purchase you received on Friday? Make sure you read the payout timing before you sign up.
• Fraud Protection: Does your payment provider offer chargeback fraud protection to help you limit losses from fraudsters? And do they offer it at no cost to you?

3. Follow the Documentation

Assuming you’ve matched your platform to your payment provider, you’re ready to move forward with the instructions.

In some cases, it may be as simple as adding an app. In other cases, you may have to double-check with their documentation to view the different processes for installing on specific platforms.

If it sounds tough, don’t worry—most of it is nothing you haven’t handled before. For example, some onboarding with a new payment processor can be as easy as signing up for an account and copying and pasting code into your platform. Other platforms offer white-glove implementation.

The Importance of Transparency & Customer Trust

One advantage of using a third-party checkout provider is that it can provide instant trust.

The wide availability of online checkout providers means that anyone can use them; the process is democratized. As long as you have a valid ecommerce platform, it’s easy to add any of the providers mentioned here and accept one-click checkouts.

This is especially important because of one thing: It means that you can now compete with the “Amazon Experience.”

Competing with the “Amazon Experience”

Let’s boil it down to one statistic: Nearly 90% of buyers agree that they’re more likely to buy on Amazon than other ecommerce sites.

(Source)

What does that mean for you?

First, you’ll need to replicate the Amazon experience in a way that rivals what Amazon already does.

• For Fast, that means bringing together both quick buyer authentication and handling payment processing in one fell swoop
• For Shopify, that means expanding its Shop Pay solution

One-click isn’t just something for the ecommerce order page anymore—expect to see it popping up everywhere. But, none of this can happen without trust. Sellers can lose as many as 75% of their sales if they struggle with a lack of trust, that’s why it’s so critical for merchants to pick from the top names in one-click checkout providers. Use an existing platform to integrate seamlessly with your shop.

Sellers can lose as many as 75% of their sales if they struggle with a lack of trust, that’s why it’s so critical for merchants to pick from the top names in one-click checkout providers.

Done right, you’ll have minimal API requirements and developmental costs. And the benefits? More trust in your one-click purchases so you can compete with the retail giants.

Making One-Click Checkout Easy

How do you make one-click easy on yourself? The more you know, the better you’ll do.

You should have an idea of which providers are the top names, as well as how to run them on your own ecommerce store.

Remember what to look for in one-click checkout providers:

• Compatibility with your existing platforms
• Convenience for customers
• Reliability on the backend during order processing
• Chargeback fraud protection
• Payout options: If you need instant pay or don’t mind waiting a business day, run the comparisons before you sign up

Next, it’s time for you to choose a one-click checkout provider that can make your shoppers’ experience that much easier.

The post One-Click Checkout Platforms: Which Option is Right For You? appeared first on A Better Lemonade Stand.

Here are 50 sales strategies you can use to branch out, secure sales, and ultimately, boost your bottom line.

Let’s get started.

50 Sales Strategies: Ways to Get Sales

#1: Get a Sale From a Friend or Family Member

For many people, selling to friends or family is way more complicated than selling to strangers. Often, we feel more pressure to impress them—and then there’s the added expectation of “mates rates.”

But ultimately, your friends and family should be your biggest supporters—both by cheering you on but also by putting their money where their mouth is—so don’t be afraid to reach out to them to get a sale.

Share a link to your product in a group text or family email chain so no one feels singled out, or if you still don’t want to blatantly ask them to purchase your product, ask them to share it on their social media instead. It’s a little bit less of an ask but can still be a huge help to you.

#2: Score a Sale From an Unknown Customer

You can most likely get an organic sale from an unknown customer just through search engine optimization. By getting ranked on Google, it’s possible that at least one person will click on your listing and make a purchase—so make sure you’ve optimized your product pages! You can learn optimization strategies in our Ecommerce SEO Strategies article, and for more product page tips, check out our How to Create a Picture Perfect Product Page post.

Another way to get a sale from someone you don’t know is through social media. By having an active social media page that posts content regularly, you can attract your target audience and from there, get someone to make a purchase. For ideas on how to actually make this happen, check out our post on How to Drive Social Media Sales and to make sure you’re selling on all available social platforms, check out our 6 Social Media Platforms You Should Be Selling On post.

#3: Get a Customer to Purchase Using a Discount Code

Discount codes are a nearly foolproof way to entice new customers into making a purchase.

It’s a little thing that can tip someone who was debating whether or not to make a purchase, into actually taking the plunge.

So, send out a discount code to your email list! Or, if you don’t have one, post it on social media or on your site’s homepage banner. Wherever you have an audience—no matter how small—or wherever traffic lands on your site, make sure your discount code is there.

#4: Get a Customer Via Your Twitter Bio

Entice new customers to head over to your store through your Twitter bio! You just have 160 words here, so use it wisely. Add a compelling call-to-action, link to your store, and see if you can make a sale!

#5: Secure a Customer Via Your Instagram Bio

Along the same lines as the above sales strategy, try to get a sale from your Instagram bio! Add a compelling call-to-action to drive visitors to your site.

Unlike Twitter, Instagram only permits one link in your bio but you can work around this by using a “link tree” tool. Link tree tools transform your bio link into a menu so you can link out to multiple different places. This is helpful if you want to direct users to specific product pages, instead of just your website’s homepage.

#6: Use Social Listening to Obtain a Customer

Social listening enables you to monitor keywords, phrases, or topics that are being discussed online. You can use this to your advantage to find conversations about your product, niche, or target audience’s pain points so you can jump in and provide a solution.

Use a social listening tool like Twitter Advanced Search to do this or you can manually scroll through social media comments sections to find any opportunities to mention your brand!

#7: Get a Sale From a Word-of-Mouth Referral

Find a way to get a customer through word-of-mouth. Personal referrals are still one of the most lucrative marketing strategies out there, and it’s because people tend to trust their peers!

So when you next have a happy customer—turn it into two! Ask them to tell their friends or family, either in-person or online. You could even take this a step further and incentivize them to share their experience by offering a discount on their next purchase when they refer someone they know.

#8: Make a Sale on a Facebook Group

Is there a Facebook group of people who are your target audience? See if you can gain another customer from one of those groups.

Keep in mind that promoting your product on a Facebook group can be a delicate process. You don’t want to annoy people by pushing your product, and depending on the group’s rules you may not be allowed to market anything or link your website. If you want to err on the side of caution, stick to “Buy, Share, Swap” groups or networking groups that encourage businesses to promote themselves.

Alternatively, you could create your own Facebook group where like-minded entrepreneurs can network with one another. This way, you can advertise your products without fear of stepping on anyone’s toes (or rules).

#9: Make a Sale on Reddit

There are plenty of different niches on Reddit so find one that’s applicable to your brand and see if you can gain a customer. You might have to operate covertly since Reddit tends to have a very strict no-advertising mindset amongst its users, but if you provide genuine value and become entrenched in a subreddit and get to know some of the other users, you might be able to make a sale!

#10: Get a Sale Via a Facebook Ad

Facebook ads are an effective way to reach large audiences, but to get sales from your ad, you’ll have to write compelling copy and have an eye-catching image or video to go along with it.

To get a sale from a Facebook Ad, don’t be afraid to A/B test different ads to see which ones work best. Refining your ads will take time, but once you get the hang of it, it’ll be a useful skill for your business overall.

#11: Get a Sale From an Instagram Ad

Turn regular Instagram posts into ads that promote your business! Not only can Instagram Ads help you drive traffic to your online store and get sales, but they can also help boost your brand exposure and get more users following your Instagram account.

#12: Score a Sale From Pinterest

To start generating sales on Pinterest, first open a Pinterest business account so you can access useful features such as analytics and ads. Then, get an ad up and running! Pinterest is a primarily visual-based platform, so to get sales from Pinterest you want to run ads that fit in with other popular content on the platform.

#13: Make a Sale Via One of Your Affiliates

You can generate sales by enlisting social media vloggers, bloggers, online marketers, loyal customers, etc., to become your affiliates. This is a relatively easy way to make sales, as your affiliates are doing most of the marketing for you! Of course, you’ll have to give them a commission of the sales they generate, so keep that in mind and figure out an appropriate commission rate before you reach out to any potential affiliates.

#14: Make a Sale From an Abandoned Cart Recovery Email

An abandoned cart is where a customer, for whatever reason, puts products into their virtual shopping bag and then doesn’t complete the transaction.

This is where abandoned cart recovery emails save the day.

You can send these campaigns to remind shoppers that their shopping cart is still waiting, prompting them to reconsider completing their purchase. To boost conversions, you could even offer a discount to help make the offer more enticing!

#15: Score a Sale From a Welcome Email

A welcome email is typically sent immediately after someone signs up to your mailing list. Consider including the following in your welcome email to get sales:

• Offer a welcome discount
• Include a promotion, like free shipping
• Offer a free gift when they make their first purchase

#16: Get One Sale From Your Email Newsletter

If you send out a regular email newsletter, try and get a sale directly from it! Link products your audience might like, alert them to new releases, include a promo code at the bottom of the email, or ask your subscribers to respond to the email with any questions they might have about your products.

If you aren’t already sending out a regular email newsletter then what are you waiting for?! It’s an easy way to get your brand in front of your customers and get them coming back to your store.

#17: Secure a Repeat Customer

Repeat customers are so important to a business. It costs more to acquire a new customer than to sell to a previous one, so when you get a customer—try to sell to them again and again and again.

There are several ways you can encourage a previous customer to make another purchase:

• Provide great customer service so they enjoy their shopping experience so much they want to continue to support your brand
• Send a thank-you note or thank-you email so they feel valued
• Offer discounts or promotional codes for future purchases so they’ll feel compelled to use them
• Create a loyalty points system that encourages them to buy from you again to build up their points
• Get them to commit to a weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly subscription of your product so repeat transactions happen automatically
• Offer fast shipping options so they know they can get their products quickly
• Offer a fast checkout process so they don’t have to spend much time inputting their details

#18: Get One Sale From Facebook Retargeting

Facebook retargeting is where the Facebook Pixel you’ve installed on your website identifies your website visitors, then uses the data it’s gathered to find their Facebook profiles. This enables you to re-target your website visitors by showing them Facebook Ads, with the intention of reminding them to come back to your site to make a purchase.

#19: Get a Sale From TikTok

During the pandemic TikTok exploded in popularity, making it an excellent platform to get sales. One of the most popular ways to promote a brand is via TikTok Live. Here, you can live-stream the launch or promotion of your products—just make sure your bio links to your store so users know where to find your products.

#20: Get a Sale From Your Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories are a great way to make a sale—you can either live-stream your Instagram Stories or pre-record your content and publish it. When you reach 10,000 followers, you can also include swipe-up links to seamlessly direct traffic to your website. Make some engaging Stories, post consistently, and show your products in action to make your followers want to purchase them.

#21: Secure a Sale From Your Instagram Shop

Your Instagram shop is essentially a landing page where your audience can view your products and get a general feel for your brand. Your Instagram Shop should include beautiful product images, product descriptions, prices, and where you ship to (make sure to disclose if you’re location-specific). Then, link each product to its corresponding product page so users can go ahead and buy the items.

To launch an Instagram shop, you’ll need to have a business Instagram account, and you’ll also need to have a Facebook shop, which we discuss more in the next section.

#22: Make a Sale Via Your Facebook Shop

To launch a Facebook Shop, you’ll need to have both a personal and business Facebook account.

Here are a few tips to secure your first sale on your Facebook Shop:

• Upload high-quality product photos
• Use short and accurate descriptions to describe your products
• Ensure that you set your privacy settings to “public” so that all Facebook users can view your shop

With Facebook being one of the most popular social media platforms, getting traffic to your Facebook shop and making a sale shouldn’t be too difficult. Make sure your product listings are high-quality, and optimize your titles and descriptions with keywords to increase the likelihood of the right customers finding your shop.

#23: Generate a Sale From an Instagram DM Conversation

Selling through Instagram’s direct messaging feature is great if you’re marketing your business on a tight budget. The premise is simple: Post product images in your Instagram grid posts and/or stories, and encourage followers to DM you to buy them. You can accept payment through PayPal or any payment provider that works for you and your customer.

#24: Make a Sale Over Facebook Messenger

Make a sale through Facebook Messenger! By having an active Facebook page for your business, you can wait for interested consumers to reach out with questions about your products and converse with them over Messenger to try to secure the sale. Or, you could cold-message people on Facebook and trying to secure a sale that way—but try not to be too spammy.

#25: Get One Sale From a LinkedIn Ad

LinkedIn is an ideal platform to score sales in the B2B market. If you’re thinking about launching a LinkedIn ad, you’ll be pleased to know that you can set filters to target your ideal audience down to their job title, age, location, company size, etc. which can really narrow down your customer pool so you find the right fit.

#26: Get One Sale From a Google Ad

Google Ads are paid-for advertisements that appear in Google’s search results. These target specific keywords, so it’s important that you know which keywords you want to focus on. Although there’s an expense involved with running Google Ads, it’s a quick and easy way to get to the top of Google’s search results so you get more eyes on your products and brand.

#27: Get a Sale Via a Blog Review

Whether this is a sponsored review or an organic one, when a blogger with a considerable following writes a product review for your brand, this can massively improve your traffic and grow your customer base!

Reach out to bloggers in your niche and see if they’ll write a review on your product. Some may do it for free just to be able to use your product, while others may charge a specific rate for their work. Do your own research to find the right bloggers for your brand, or use influencer agencies like Grapevine or Gleam Futures to find ones more easily.

#28: Get a Sale From a YouTube Review

Try to get a sale from a YouTube review! Reach out to YouTubers and get them to review your product or just use it in one of their videos. You can send out your product to a bunch of different YouTubers and see if any of them mention it organically in one of their videos, or you could sponsor a YouTuber to ensure that it ends up in one of their videos. Do your own research to find relevant YouTubers for your niche, or find one that’s the right fit through platforms like Grapevine or Gleam Futures.

#29: Get a Sale Via Your Brand’s YouTube Channel

Rather than sponsoring YouTubers to sell your products for you, why not create your own YouTube channel!? Creating your own Youtube channel can be worth its weight in gold.

Why?

• You can showcase your business’s personality and its best selling products so that you appear more approachable than a “faceless” brand
• Videos tend to rank higher in Google’s search engine results because YouTube is owned by Google, so they like to direct searchers to their own platforms

So start up your own YouTube channel for your brand and show your products in action! Don’t make it your goal to get a bunch of subscribers—instead, make it your goal to get sales from each video you post.

#30: Get One Sale From an Influencer

For this sales tactic to work, you have to familiarize yourself with your audience. Doing so better positions you to partner with an influencer who already has a following of people similar to your target audience. So, do your research and come up with a list of influencers in your niche, then approach them and ask if they would endorse your product or company. Or, use platforms like Grapevine or Gleam Futures to find influencers for your brand.

#31: Get a Sale From a Local Shop

Shopping locally has become increasingly popular, so why not ask a local shop to stock your products? Even if you’re primarily an online brand, having your products stocked on shelves in a brick-and-mortar shop can help grow your reach and get your products in front of people who might not otherwise see them. Plus, if customers know they’re from a local business, it’s likely that they’ll be more willing to purchase.

#32: Drive a Sale From One of Your Blog Posts

In one of the sections above we discussed the perks of having a blogger write a review about your products—but in addition to that, why not create your own blog? Blog content enables potential customers to get to know you and your brand better, it personalizes your business while remaining professional, plus it’s also great for your website’s SEO—so it’s a win-win overall!

#33: Get One Sale From Organic SEO

As we’ve hinted at throughout this piece, organic SEO is about optimizing your website to climb the search engine rankings for keywords your target audience is searching for. It’s one of the easiest and cheapest ways of extending your reach. However, patience is key with this strategy because it can take months before you see results. But, try getting a sale through SEO! It’ll pay off in the long run.

#34: Get One Sale From Beamer

Beamer (Beamer Review) is a tool you can use to create a newsfeed for your website. With it, you can announce product launches, offers, important news, and company updates in one dedicated space. You can even add photos, links, videos, and calls-to-actions to each announcement. All of this makes Beamer an excellent tool to engage with visitors, and by using it strategically, you can likely generate a sale through it.

#35: Get a Sale From a Popup

Put your popups to good use and get a sale from them! Optimize their timing so they appear on-screen at a point where they’re likely to get a maximum amount of engagement, and tailor their messages to different types of customers so they will appeal to all kinds of shoppers.

Popups are particularly effective to entice first-time buyers to take the plunge (offer a discount!) or to keep those customers who are about to abandon their cart on your site (have exit-intent popups at the ready to prevent this).

#36: Get a Sale Via Your Lead Magnet

Lead magnets offer your audience something free in exchange for their name and email address. Typically these include discounts, access to exclusive content, or giveaway entries.

Understandably, people may be hesitant to give away their email addresses because they don’t want to be bothered by spam. This means making your lead magnet attractive enough to overcome these barriers. So consider what your audience wants, how your lead magnet could address that pain point, and how it could lead a customer to purchase one of your products.

#37: Get a Sale Using The Instagram Giftcards Sticker

Instagram has now made it possible to sell gift cards through your Instagram Stories. To do this, click on the “gift card stickers” option in the Story creator dashboard. Your viewers can then tap on the sticker to purchase a gift card! It’s a fun and easy way to interact with your audience and turn them into customers.

#38: Get a Sale From an Ad Placed on Another Website

Advertising on another website is an excellent way to get more traffic to your site. So, why not sign up for a program like Google AdSense? When you use Google AdSense, you launch a pay-per-click ad that Google assigns to sites all around the web wherever it thinks your ads will be the most relevant. This means your ads are listed on sites where you’re likely to get highly qualified traffic, and you don’t have to do any of the leg work.

#39: Score a Sale From a Podcast

At the moment, podcasts are all the rage. Whether you’re hosting your own, being recommended by another podcast host, or sponsoring a podcast your audience listens to—these are all viable ways to score sales. So get your product featured on a podcast and get a sale from one of the listeners!

#40: Get a Sale By Running a Sale or Promotion

Running time-limited sales creates a sense of urgency, which encourages people to impulse buy. So run a flash sale or start up a promo code to encourage one of your website visitors or social media followers to take the plunge and make a purchase.

#41: Get a Sale Using a Chatbot

Chatbot software simulates a live chat conversation experience without needing to provide direct contact with a live human agent. Customers can let a chatbot know precisely what they want and the chatbot, in turn, provides them with product recommendations. So test out a chatbot on your site and see if it can get you a sale!

#42: Get a Sale Using Social Proof Tools Like ProveSource

ProveSource is a tool that helps businesses turn website traffic, sales, and data into social proof so that customers can see what all the fuss is about. You can even create custom notifications that pop up on your site when visitors are browsing which can motivate customers to make a purchase. Enable social proof notifications on your site and see if they make you any sales!

#43: Make a Sale on Another Sales Channel

There’s a whole world of sales opportunities outside of your ecommerce store—Amazon, eBay, Etsy, or even in-person. All of these can be lucrative ways to generate sales so try one out!

Multi-channel selling can make your store more resilient in case anything ever goes wrong with it (it gets hacked, shut down by your platform provider, or just goes down due to a glitch), plus it also enables you to reach more people since marketplaces like Amazon, eBay and Etsy have a lot of virtual foot traffic coming in.

#44: Get One Sale Through a Loyalty Program

Creating a loyalty program is a great way to inspire new customers to become returning customers, and returning customers are super important because they cost less to retain than trying to acquire new ones! So set up a loyalty program for your store and see if you can get a customer to sign up, make a purchase, and then return and make another one.

#45: Get a Sale by Including a Thank-You Note in a Customer’s Order

Including a thank-you note inside a customer’s package is a thoughtful touch that can be the difference between them making another purchase or not. So include a thank-you note with a special discount code in your customers’ packages and see if any of them put that code to use!

#46: Get a Sale From an Event or Meet-Up

Host or attend an event and/or meet-up where you can get some face-to-face time with potential customers! Whether these events are online or in-person, hosting or attending these events can put your business in front of customers who may not have otherwise discovered you.

#47: Get a Customer to Purchase Your Product After You Gave It Away for Free

Sometimes giving away freebies is lucrative for your business. After all, it provides a risk-free way for customers to sample your products and, hopefully, if they like them, they’ll come back for more. So find a way to give out your product for free and see if you can get one of the recipients to come back and purchase one of your products full-price!

#48: Get a Sale By Handing Out Flyers

This may seem old-school, but if it’s not broken, why fix it? If it leads to one sale and a bunch of brand awareness—it might be worth it! Create a flyer and make it attractive, professional, and noticeable—don’t make people guess what you’re selling.

People often like supporting local businesses, and handing out flyers is a way to let your neighbors know that you’re close by and want to be active in the community.

#49: Get One Sale From SMS Marketing

Offers, promotions, events, and new launches can be sent to someone’s phone directly via SMS marketing texts instead of getting lost in their email inbox, so set up a text list for your brand!

Since it’s such an intimate communication method though, it’s wise to be thoughtful, sparing, and strategic when sending SMS messages. If people feel invaded by your marketing, they’ll quickly have a problem with your business, which will have the opposite effect of what you’re trying to achieve. So don’t send SMS texts too often, but when you do, make them count and see if you can get a customer each time.

#50: Get One Sale Being Featured in a Local Newspaper/Publication/Another Brand’s Social Media

Getting featured in your local newspaper or being a guest on the local radio broadcast or on another brand’s social media are all great ways to extend your reach. See if you can get featured and see if it can drum up some sales!

Conclusion

There you have 50 sales goals you can test out to get more customers! Put these sales strategies to use so you can build up your customer base and get those sales rolling in. Good luck!

The post 50 Sales Goals For Your New Ecommerce Business After Launch appeared first on A Better Lemonade Stand.