50 Sales Goals For Your New Ecommerce Business After Launch

Category: Conversion Optimization
Last Updated: August 20, 2024

Do you need fresh sales strategies? Or maybe you’re looking for a checklist of sales goals that can push your business to new heights? Either, way you’re in the right place.

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

Let’s get started.

Note: How can you track where your sales are coming from? Your ecommerce platform might be able to tell you, but to be sure, use a link tracker or link shortener. When you add a UTM tag to your links, it will track where users clicked from so you can accurately determine whether you hit any of these sales goals!

50 Sales Strategies: Ways to Get Sales

Sales Strategies to Get a Sale from Family or Friends

#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.

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

Make a Sale From an 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.

Get a Sale from Your Instagram Shop

#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.

Make a Sale from an Influencer

#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.

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).

Sales Strategies for Lead Magnets

#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!

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!

Make a Sale on Another Sales Channel

#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!

Sales Goals to Make a Sale in Person at an Event

#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.

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!