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.
