Tips to help you increase your e-commerce sales
So you have set up an amazing e-commerce website with a great design, products updated and are ready for the sales to come in.
But so far your results are nothing but short of underwhelming.
Getting your e-commerce store up and running is only the first step of launching a successful business online. You need to know how to market your store so that you can start making sales.
Many businesses are taking their business online and you should definitely stay ahead of your competitors. These tips will help you define tactics that you can put into action and get you those sales.
Let look at the tips that can help you increase your e-commerce sales in Kenya.
Social Media
Having a business, you cannot sit in the corner and keep quiet. Social engagement is essential in today’s world. The more people talk about you the more they buy. Social media is the best way to drive new visitors to your store, convert them into paying customers and reengage them to buy more.
Open social media channels that suit your brand and start posting your products there. For most e-commerce stores Facebook, Instagram and Twitter work best. On Facebook and Instagram, you have the option of creating a shop where you can post your products by categories and people can easily browse through them and later go to your website to buy the products. Facebook and Instagram provide a wide-open window of sales opportunities mostly if your store’s visual branding is on point.
Brand Awareness
Be everywhere. The more people know and trust your brand the higher your sales will grow.
Brand awareness impacts trust which in turn impacts sales and repeat purchases. Be active on your social media, invest in paid ads that can reach more people, focus on quality content, consider partnering with influencers who have a following that can consume your products and partner with other businesses in your industry whose products compliments yours. Doing this will give you more audience, brand authority and affinity which will, in turn, give you more sales.
Paid Ads
Utilizing online advertising on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and google will give you more visibility to your potential customers. Paid ads are one of the best ways of generating sales quickly for your e-commerce store. Even if people will not click on your ad, they will start becoming familiar with you which is the first step of building brand awareness.
You might think that paid ads are expensive but you can always start small before you find your footing.
If done well, paid traffic can, in fact, be quite affordable and once you have a winning campaign on your hands, paid traffic can really take your business to the next level.
When you are starting, you can set aside a budget of ksh.5,000 which you can use to test different ads and then increase the budget of the most performing ads.
Email list
Building a tribe of loyal customers is very critical for your business. It means that you are targeting people who are already interested in your products and creating an opportunity of building a community.
In an era where competing is a norm, being able to directly contact customers to encourage repeat purchases is very important.
With an email list, you can update your customers when you have discounts, sales and new products which is a great way to upsell other products.
People opt into your email list because they like your products, so use it to engage and make sales.
Provide excellent customer Service
Your customer’s opinion matters a lot. Online reviews can make or break your business. Most people look at products reviews before making a purchase and if they don’t find any review their probability of buying the product is minimal.
Respond to comments and messages on time on your social media as well as your online reviews. If people can actually talk to you they will realize they are speaking with a real human, rather than just a faceless business.
Reviews or testimonials show you’re open and honest. Showcasing both good and bad reviews shows your customers that you have nothing to hide. If you get a bad review you can use it to showcase your excellent customer service by resolving the issue in a professional manner.
Listen to your customer’s feedback and improve your products so that your product ratings and sales can improve. Great products with great service will build your brand in the long term.
Add Live chat
You can also add a Live Chat option to your e-commerce store. Automate the live chat to answer most of the questions people ask. Having an automated chatbot will decrease the number of chats you have to answer manually and increase the number of orders you get. In case of complaints send personalized email messages to your customers and reply to them immediately.
Live chat allows your customers to directly speak to you in case they have a question. Sometimes your customers might have a question that they need to be answered first before they make a purchase and making them go through many processes to get an answer might make them not buy from you.
There you have it. Make a big impact on your e-commerce business. Just remember that increasing the number of orders you get is a gradual process. You won’t see a change in a day or two. However, you will see a significant increase in your store’s order volume with time.
We offer digital marketing services in Kenya as well as developing e-commerce websites in Kenya. Give us a call for a free consultation.
Also Read: The ultimate E-commerce website checklist
10 reasons why you need an E-commerce website
E-commerce is any commercial transaction that involves the transfer of information across the internet.
The good news is that worldwide online sales are expected to grow to $4 trillion by 2020. Many businesses are shifting to E-commerce, the question is what is motivating them and what are the supposed benefits that are attracting many businesses to create e-commerce websites?
Currently, we have so many e-commerce websites in Kenya with many companies and individuals going the e-commerce way.
Check out some of the advantages of having an e-commerce website
1. Low Financial cost
One of the major benefits of an e-commerce website is that it has a low startup cost. You don’t have to a physical store, employees, you will save on rent among other expenses. You can have a chatbot to help you with your customer service, that way you cannot have so much work on your hands.
2. A Larger Market
With E-commerce you are not limited to a specific area or country, you can sell your products to as many people as you can. This will help you grow faster and boost your business.
The proliferation of mobile devices gives people the power to purchase on the go — right in the palm of their hand. There’s never been a time when the impulse to buy has been easier to indulge.
3. Shoppers Start Online
87% of shoppers start product searches on the digital platforms, they can either search on Google, Facebook, Instagram among other channels. Thus the only way to ensure that potential customers find your product is to have an online presence.
4. Always Open
With e-commerce you are not limited to time, your business is on 24/7. People can shop at any time and in case they need assistance a Chabot can help in answering their queries.
An e-commerce store allows you to attract those who may have odd work schedules or who don’t have time to shop in-person or generally any person.
All you need is to customize your ordering systems for your customers to receive a confirmation message when they place an order to give them peace of mind.
5. More Opportunities To “Sell”
With a physical shop, you can only provide a limited amount of information on a product. But with an e-commerce website you have a wide range of options to help you sell your products such as showing demo videos of products, you can also include reviews and customer testimonials to help you increase conversion.
Reviews and testimonials are a great source of building a strong customer base with trust. They simply increase the confidence in doing business with you and builds trust with your current and potential customers.
6. Ecommerce allows for a customized user experience
Customer’s data about their previous purchases, wish list and online activity can be a gold mine to your business such that you can deliver a personalized experience.
Wishlist
You can use products according to a shopper’s interest or their wishlist which will trigger them into action because it is things that they are interested in.
You can also show related products to what they are looking for, which might even make them buy other products.
7. Retargeting and remarketing
Retargeting uses cookies from previous visits to display ads. Even if someone comes to your website and they do not buy, retargeting is a marketing tactic that can help get your brand in front of potential customers.
For instance, you visit Jumia and look for a fridge, you don’t buy it and leave the website when you visit another website, you will see a Jumia ad with different types of fridge and other electronics, this is called retargeting. It can act as a reminder to your potential customers and trigger purchases.
Remarketing uses a person’s information on past purchases and site interactions to send emails about sales and promotions for related products.
8. Easier to Encourage Impulse Buy
Another e-commerce benefit is that you can capitalize on is impulse buying. If you have attractive products with eye-catching photos and vibrant colour or human emotion, you can encourage impulse buying. People can easily end up buying products that they didn’t need simply because it was eye-catching.
9. Gain Access to Customer Data Easily
One of the best e-commerce advantages is that you can easily gain access to data for analysis on your customer.
With e-commerce, you can get a customer’s name, phone number or email address meaning you have three different ways of communicating and building a relationship with them.
10. Grow Your Business Organically with Content
You can grow your organic traffic and sales with e-commerce blogging to drive more traffic to your website without having to spend more money. You can make videos and writing content( blogging) to get organic traffic then you can monetize those customers with retargeting ads.
E-commerce websites in Kenya are really growing with putting starting to trust online products, therefore do not shy away from it, it could really help your business grow and what more, you don’t need to pay rent and other expenses that you would have if you had a physical shop. E-commerce in Kenya is set to grow exponentially this year.
