How to Increase E-Commerce Sales in 2023

Over 26 million e-commerce sites exist worldwide, and new ones are being launched every single day. E-commerce businesses are also gaining popularity as the process of creating a website becomes easier.

In 2020, the retail industry experienced a significant change. The shopping patterns of customers switched dramatically when physical businesses were compelled to go online due to the pandemic. As a result, e-commerce sales got a tremendous boost.

This puts more pressure on stores to step up their online marketing efforts and make sure they work at their best, particularly during busy tourist seasons.

But rather than just boosting online sales, the emphasis ought to be on cultivating online customer loyalty. It’s why e-commerce giants like Amazon thrive. Shoppers expect a hassle-free, easy experience, and providing this seamless consumer experience increases successful sales and sustained growth.

There are various e-commerce marketing tactics that contribute to the growth of brand recognition, website traffic, and revenue. To help your business expand, we’ve put together a list of excellent digital marketing strategies on how to increase your e-commerce sales.

Let’s get started.

 

Top 10 Tactics to boost e-commerce Sales

We will go over our ten recommendations for boosting sales volume below:

1. Build an email list and focus on email marketing

One of the most efficient communication channels accessible to you today as a marketer is the email system. However, the quantity and quality of your email list play a significant role in how well your email marketing campaigns turn out.

An email list is a collection of unique email addresses you are authorized to send email campaigns. Email lists can be built in several ways and could include persons who have:

• purchased a product from you
• subscribed to your website
• given you their business card at an event and signed up for your product

You must concentrate on building your email list for the following reasons:

• Increase the number of individuals who view your goods and services. Focusing on growing your email list will eventually lead to more individuals discovering your goods and services and clicking through to buy, regardless of whether your emails include information on your newest items, sales discounts, or invitations to your next event.
• Maintain a current and updated list. Email addresses expire periodically. As people switch jobs and ditch outdated AOL email addresses in favor of more recent services like Gmail, people’s work email addresses shift. But if you spend some time and effort establishing your email list, you can prevent list decay. Hence, ensure you always have a growing list of recipients who will open and click on your email campaigns, thus increasing e-commerce sales.

 

Note: The importance of email marketing can no longer be overlooked by affiliate marketers surfing the tide of digital marketing. You can increase affiliate profits while adding value, establishing trust, and connecting with your audience by working on targeted, well-written emails that include affiliate links. Go through our guide on Affiliate marketing for a more detailed overview.

 

2. Put customer reviews in noticeable places

One of your best marketing tools is a satisfied client base. Statistics show that 95% of shoppers do not take any action until they have read reviews.

Customer reviews allow you to alter more than only your sales and customer service strategy. Additionally, it can boost your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, increase prospect conversions, boost e-commerce sales and improve brand loyalty.

Also, understanding how to present reviews to your target audience helps you achieve noticeable results like increased e-commerce sales without you having to spend a lot on marketing.

Here, we’ve highlighted a few inventive approaches to include customer reviews in your e-commerce sales below.

• Feature reviews on landing pages
• Include reviews in marketing emails
• In your sponsored advertisements, reference client testimonials.
• Create reviews for your site and place them next to the CTA
• Post reviews on social media
• Make success tales out of your customer’s testimonials
• Take negative reviews seriously.

Pro-Tip: Make it a practice to read your reviews across all relevant sites. You can utilize the favorable ones to develop your e-commerce sales strategy, as well as learn from the unfavorable ones.

3. Start selling on Amazon

You’ve probably seen the news articles, statistics, and tales all over the place—selling on Amazon boosts e-commerce sales for individuals and businesses.

That’s because Amazon has grown to be arguably the biggest player in the retail industry, with a predicted $162 billion in net sales from e-commerce in 2022. For brands, companies, and aspiring sellers, selling on Amazon can be a very lucrative product channel.

But just like with any other channel, it’s crucial that you comprehend what it takes to sell on Amazon and the finest way to start that process. As long as you know what you’re doing, there is tremendous potential.

Before you start selling on Amazon, you need to choose a perfect selling strategy. There are two methods for selling on Amazon:

1. Sell directly to Amazon (1P relationship)
2. Sell on Amazon yourself (3P relationship)

 

• Selling directly to Amazon

Direct sales to Amazon offer a first-party relationship (1P relationship) between your business and Amazon. In a first-party relationship (1P), your business serves as the wholesale supplier while Amazon acts as the retailer.

Aside from Amazon being your retailer, selling directly to Amazon reduces the task new sellers struggle with the most: predicting and promoting your goods. You just need to worry about the supply because you are the wholesaler; Amazon will take care of anything involving customers. In this case, you eliminate any inventory risk from your business.

Also, the fact that your products are classified as Amazon products adds to their credibility and can lead to increased sales.

• Selling on Amazon yourself

Selling on Amazon by yourself, on the other hand, offers a third-party relationship between your business and Amazon.

In a third-party relationship (3P), your business acts as the retailer and conducts direct sales to customers via the Amazon marketplace.

Being in a 3P relationship with Amazon implies that you are in charge of your inventory, which enables you to complete orders on multiple marketplaces using your inventory.

You also have full ownership and management of your goods, making your seller account receive more brand exposure.

The upside of selling via Amazon marketplace as a 3P seller is that you can establish your rates to safeguard your profit margins. However, since Amazon monitors listings on other marketplaces, you should make sure you avoid being delisted due to price differences.

4. Implement Scarcity Tactics as Amazon does

Marketing teams of businesses like Amazon use scarcity marketing to entice consumers to buy a product or take advantage of a deal before it expires.

Typically, this involves

• setting time limits on sales and promotions
• reducing the amount of inventory
• designing seasonal or promotional products to sell for a limited period

The scarcity strategy is to create a sense of urgency. Customers are more likely to buy a product that is about to run out of stock. Hence, by emphasizing the limited availability of goods or deals and encouraging consumers to make purchases, you can increase your e-commerce sales.

Let’s discuss some different Scarcity tactics you can use for your business in detail.

• Almost out-of-stock products
  On your business website, you can employ software to show real-time alerts of low supply so that consumers always know when there isn’t much of a product available in stock. This could sway shoppers who are on the fence to buy the item before it’s too late.
• Cart timers
  Including a real-time cart timer on your company’s website and sending your customers an email when their cart is about to expire encourages customers to complete their purchases.
• Early bird discounts
  Early bird discounts are often limited-time offers on product pre-orders or unique promotions for devoted consumers to get a product ahead of time-limited bonuses. Online conference and concert ticket sales websites often employ this strategy.
• Countdowns for a discount or speedy delivery
  On your website’s checkout page, you can use this strategy by displaying a countdown that informs customers how much longer they can purchase for speedy delivery or a discount. Udemy is famous for using the countdown strategy.
• Limited edition goods
  Use this strategy to entice customers to spend a set amount of money when you have a lot of smaller items to sell or during the holiday season. Customers can get bonus products for a short period when they spend that much at your business.

Pro-Tip: The basis of scarcity marketing is a straightforward idea: People value things more when they are scarce. Scarcity marketing is a billion-dollar tactic that is used in almost every industry.

5. Use Social Media for customer targeting

Social media is one of the most effective methods to connect with potential clients, and the DMA predicts that by 2021, it will account for 24% of total marketing spending.

According to Statista, mobile devices produced 52% of all website traffic in the globe in 2018. And it is reasonable to infer that a significant portion of the traffic flows to social media platforms.

For your social media campaigns, develop an action plan. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other top social media platforms use a distinct approach that optimizes your action plan while also monitoring the input and responses that result in increased e-commerce sales for your business.

Let’s consider how to effectively use Social Media to boost your e-commerce sales.
First of all, you need to decide who your social media target audience is by conducting extensive market research about your business.
This contains:

• Analyzing the demographics of your target market.
• Finding out what your customers need.
• Analyzing your online presence and how customers find you.

Once you’ve completed your market research, you can then target your clients on social media using these business strategies:

Post content to all social media platforms

The demographics of the main social media networks are broken down as follows:

• Facebook is currently home to over 2.8 billion users who are more interested in consumer items than luxury products.
• Twitter. There are 280 million users who are interested in using this network to acquire their news.
• LinkedIn is a network of 850 million highly educated professionals from over 200 countries.
• Pinterest. A strong platform for goods and services with a visual component that has 70 million users, mostly female, between the ages of 18 and 49, interested in food, drink, and family/parenting material. Pinterest is a fantastic tool for visual marketing.
• Instagram boasts over 1.4 million users, mostly female, with a focus on subjects connected to fashion, accessories, luxury, and entertainment.

With the breakdown of social media demographics provided here, you can decide what kind of items to publish on which social media networks.

Get online advertisements

If you have the money, internet advertising should be a component of your marketing plan. However, choose a platform where your target audience is active.

Use your brand’s supporters

A group of people that appreciate the services you provide, such as family members and friends.

Co-promote with brands that are comparable to yours

Find businesses that cater to your audience by doing some research without violating their legal or contractual restrictions.

 

6. Free Shipping is always an advantage

Free delivery, which exempts consumers from paying an extra shipping fee, is an increasingly popular option for online shopping. Customers who value straightforward pricing structures are drawn to free delivery – a potential competitive advantage for your online enterprise.

It’s easy to picture the well-known retailers that provide free delivery when we think of the term Free shipping. A prime example is Amazon, which has been providing quick delivery for customers since 2005.

Nevertheless, small firms can and should provide free delivery as well. For small companies to grow their clientele and foster loyalty, free delivery is crucial. You must think of it as more and more companies offer it. Otherwise, you risk falling behind.

There are several advantages for both your consumers and your business when you provide free shipping as one of your shipping choices. Some of these advantages are:

• Improved Sales
• Customers are often drawn in by free shipping.
• Free shipping increases loyalty
• Free shipping helps you outperform your competitors.
• Free shipping boosts order size
• Free shipping helps you stand out from the competition
• Free shipping reduces customer confusion
• Free shipping has a minimal effect on your bottom line.

 

7. Make product demo videos

Given that 84% of consumers claim to have been persuaded to purchase after seeing a brand’s video, it is obvious that product demo videos have a bright future in e-commerce.

A product demonstration video displays your product’s functionality and usage. Prospective customers can get a good grasp of your product’s value just by watching these videos.

Videos for related products should be around two minutes long, depending on the product. Although people’s attention spans are becoming shorter by the day, those that need to comprehend things about your product will take the time—especially if they see value in it.

Regardless, the length of a video does not always indicate its quality, so you must optimize your product properly.

When it comes to acquiring knowledge and value, viewers would prefer to watch a movie several minutes long if it’s engaging, educational, and well-made rather than a 30-second clip that teaches them nothing.

In the end, product demo videos serve both current and potential customers. As a result, product demo videos ought to:

• Give succinct how-tos
• Highlight new releases
• Improve client retention, engagement, and loyalty
• Make the customer experience easier
• Encourage DIY capabilities

 

8. Optimize your e-commerce website with SEO

Although Search Engine Optimization is important for all types of websites, e-commerce businesses benefit most from it. This is because when it comes to online purchasing, customers often use search engines to find the desired goods instead of specific e-commerce websites. We all tend to Google the product first.

As a result, it is essential to rank your e-commerce sales website in the top spots of the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) so that your target audience sees your website as the top choice as opposed to your competitors.

SEO also helps you increase traffic and conversion rates.

We’ve listed below the top SEO tactics that will guarantee your e-commerce site a boost:

• Finding the most effective keywords for your online store.
• Creating internal and external links to various sorts of material.
• Concentrating efforts on boosting the ranking of collection pages.
• Establishing your authority in your field by starting a blog.
• Each meta title should include keywords.

The best thing about SEO, contrary to popular belief, is that anybody can use it. If your business revenue is not yet at the level where you can hire an expert or purchase tools, you may go ahead and learn the basics.

Investing time and effort in learning the fundamentals of SEO will be more beneficial for your business in the long run than paying for sponsored posts or conventional print advertisements.

If you would like to learn more about international SEO, you can read this article.

9. Offering multiple payment options like BNPL

A type of short-term financing known as “point-of-sale installment loans” or “Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL)” allows your consumers to pay for items over time, often with no or little interest. Customers choose BNPL payments because they are easy and often interest-free. Offering BNPL at the point of sale can help you increase average order values and decrease cart abandonment rates.

The benefits of using the BNPL payment method are:

• Increases conversion rates: Retailers that accept BNPL payments see an average 2.1% increase in conversion rates.
• Increases order values: According to Affirm, merchants receive up to 85% greater average order values when customers pay using BNPL compared to other payment options.
• Increases consumer satisfaction: Giving customers the choice to pay in BNPL improves their experience by giving them more flexibility over their payment options.
• Expands reach: By providing payment plans, you can reach more clients, particularly younger generations that have less cash upfront. In actuality, millennials or members of Generation Z make up about 75% of BNPL users.
• Selling high-value goods is made simpler since 45% of BNPL clients utilize the service to make purchases that wouldn’t otherwise fit within their budgets.

 

10. Establish a money-back guarantee.

Trust-building is crucial. Online customers are unable to hold or test out products in person, hence they need further reassurance before they can trust you as an honest retailer.

A money-back guarantee commonly referred to as a “satisfaction guarantee,” is a declaration made by a vendor that promises reimbursements to clients who are unhappy with their purchases. Since money-back guarantees provide buyers with a feeling of security when buying a new product, it is a compelling marketing strategy.

Money-back guarantees show your confidence in your products while equally aiding customer trust development. However, there are certain alleged hazards connected to full or partial returns. Some clients would see them as e-commerce loopholes and attempt to exploit them.

Adding a time limit is one approach to protect yourself. Depending on the particulars of the goods, you may be able to set the warranty to run for 30 days or two months, for instance. Additionally, you can specify requirements for the guarantee’s continued validity.

Consider hiring a lawyer to assist you in drafting a policy for money-back guarantees. This is an excellent move largely used by medium to large-scale businesses to help keep their customers happy as well as protect their bottom line.

 

Conclusion

Businesses must implement strategies to facilitate their success in the highly competitive environment that currently exists in the e-commerce industry. In this article, we have evaluated Ten tested strategies to boost your e-commerce sales in 2023.

We hope these pointers provide you with fresh perspectives on how to thrive in the new normal, equip you with tools to outperform your rivals and practical knowledge to grow your e-commerce business. Go for it!