16 Tips for Increasing Sales on Shopify
Increase sales on your Shopify store and improve its overall performance with these useful tips and tricks.
If your e-commerce store on Shopify seems to have plateaued in terms of sales, don’t worry. You’re not alone! Struggling to increase Shopify sales is a common problem.
Selling on Shopify can be competitive, with nearly 2 million sellers competing. Thousands of stores within each category use attractive templates, designs, and strategies to grab customers’ attention. At some point, you need to think outside the box to attract new customers.
Thankfully, there are many things you can do to improve your sales on Shopify. In this article, we’ll discuss some of the best ways to drive sales.
- Improve your navigation
- Better define your target audience
- Optimize your online store for mobile
- Remove mandatory user sign-in
- Build brand trust
- Ensure high-quality product pages
- Focus on your main selling points
- Optimize your product pages
- Offer free shipping
- Attract customers with content marketing
- Use SEO to increase your store’s discoverability
- Run paid social media ad campaigns
- Monitor your social media channels
- Get referrals from existing customers
- Build an email marketing strategy
- Develop brand loyalty
1. Improve your navigation
Forty-two percent of people will leave a website because of poor functionality. If the customer can’t quickly find the product they’re looking for, they won’t stick around. You need to ensure your store is easy to navigate. The homepage should have a visible menu where customers can easily find different product categories.
Shopify allows you to categorize your products by vendor, product type, or tags. This makes it easier for shoppers to find the items they need. It can also boost sales since customers see a variety of similar products they may want to purchase.
2. Better define your target audience
You may need to define your audience better. Perhaps your target audience is too niche to bring in huge sales, or your marketing and SEO are bringing in the wrong audience. Either way, you need to pause and redefine who you’re targeting and how you can draw them to your store.
Start by picturing your ideal customers. What is their gender, age, location, or income level? What are their interests or hobbies? Being as specific as possible is crucial, as it’ll help you understand who you are trying to attract to your store.
3. Optimize your online store for mobile
Today, most online shopping happens on smartphones. In fact, 79% of smartphone users have made an online purchase with their mobile phones in the last six months.
By providing users with uninterrupted browsing on their mobile devices, you’ll give them a better user experience, boost engagement, and drive the conversion rate.
However, if your store isn’t optimized for mobile phones, you may miss out on a ton of business.
4. Remove mandatory user sign-in
Nearly 70% of online shoppers abandon their carts before checking out. How can you reduce this number? By making the checkout process as quick and simple as possible.
Forcing users to register and create an account to allow making a purchase causes 28% of shoppers to abandon their shopping carts. This is because the additional step makes the checkout process tedious. Giving users a choice on the checkout page and allowing them to make purchases without signing in is a better option.
5. Build brand trust
Customers prefer to make purchases from stores they can authenticate and trust. A badly designed store with glitching landing pages or too many pop-ups offers a terrible customer experience. Businesses build trust by creating high-quality, flawless e-commerce stores. Online reviews and testimonials from past customers can also help new shoppers build faith in the brand and know they won’t be scammed.
More users are relying on reviews than ever before: A whopping 77% of shoppers regularly read them when looking up businesses.
Reviews also provide social proof. For example, they encourage potential customers to make a purchase by showing them that other people have done the same and are happy with their choice.
6. Ensure high-quality product pages
The product page is very important because it’s where a customer will decide whether to make a purchase. Ensure your product descriptions are evocative and error-free.
Add as many details as possible, and include information about the size, material, color, and usage. You can also mention the manufacturer's or supplier’s name if the products are not made in-house.
Aim to upload at least four or five high-quality product images. Include images from different angles so customers can visualize the product and know exactly what they’re purchasing.
The product page should answer all customer questions and include a direct call to action.
7. Focus on your main selling points
The most important thing to do is identify your strengths. What is it that makes your brand stand out from the crowd? This could be any of the following:
- Competitive pricing
- Superior quality
- Brand identity and values
- Quick delivery time
- The customer-facing problem that your product or service solves
As a brand, it’s important to focus on the factors that help you make sales. Focus on those factors in any ad campaign, social media post, or email sales strategy you use to get sales.
Offering free samples with each order can also be an effective way for customers to try your products, encouraging them to purchase the items in the future. For example, Nespresso offers “free coffee” with each order so customers can experience a variety of flavors with the same convenient pod system.
8. Optimize your product pages
Try to think like a shopper. When you land on a product page, you want to be convinced that the product is great and you should buy it. How can your product page do that? By giving shoppers all possible information about the product.
Use text descriptions, photos, close-up views, videos, and customer reviews to answer any questions or doubts. It’s important to include product specifications, as well.
While finding ways to optimize your product pages, you also need to ensure you’re using professional product photos (as opposed to photos clicked on a phone in the spur of the moment). The photos on your product pages should display your products clearly, with bright lighting and a consistent background to build brand trust.
9. Offer free shipping
Customer needs are constantly changing. With increased online shopping, free shipping has become almost an expectation. In fact, 66% of consumers expect free shipping for all online orders.
Shoppers prefer to commit to a price on the product page. Usually, an additional shipping cost at checkout turns customers off. This is why it’s important to offer free shipping. Do this by including the shipping cost in the product price.
10. Attract customers with content marketing
Content marketing means creating original content that speaks about topics related to your product or brand and organically leads potential customers to your store. Such content can be in the form of articles, blogs, interviews, podcasts, videos, or even social media posts.
Using content marketing has the added advantage of defining your brand. For example, issues your business cares about could provide interesting content that might persuade a like-minded shopper to give you their business.
This strategy is also helpful because it allows you to use keywords that will improve your search engine optimization (SEO). Search engine optimization will help your Shopify store rank higher in search results, putting your products in front of more potential customers.
11. Use SEO to increase your store’s discoverability
Search engine optimization helps people find your store easily. A customer searching for a product online may find hundreds of results. How do you direct them to your store? How can you help them find your page first?
The answer to these questions is SEO. Optimizing your store using relevant keywords can make it one of the top results on a search engine, helping bring organic traffic to your store. This is particularly important because 75% of people never scroll past the first page of search engine results.
Shopify helps its users create SEO-friendly pages using keyword-heavy titles, metadata, and URL slugs. Several downloadable Shopify apps and plug-ins can identify and fix problem areas in your store.
Using SEO with content marketing is the ultimate tool for increasing search engine rankings. Blog posts and original content can go a long way in bringing in new customers.
12. Run paid social media ad campaigns
Social media marketing is the best way to get your product in front of customers. You can create product marketing campaigns that talk about your brand and the value of its products. Do this in an interesting, informative, and creative way that grabs attention.
Influencer marketing can be particularly helpful in creating social proof when designing social media campaigns. Customers are more likely to invest in your product when they see an influential person they trust talking about it.
Here are some platforms to consider for social media advertising:
- Facebook. Facebook has the largest number of users on any social platform. This means your target audience is likely on Facebook. With metrics like location, age, gender, and interests, you can define your customer category and advertise to them directly.
- Instagram. The majority of Instagram’s audience is between ages 18 and 44. It’s one of your best bets if you’re targeting younger people. Creating interesting photos, videos, IG stories, carousels, and trending reel content can help expand your following.
- Pinterest. Pinterest attracts users with specific needs who are looking for inspiration for new purchases or researching a type of product. Popular categories include home decor, renovation, fashion, and DIY crafts. Promoted pins push ad content to the top so customers see it first.
- Google. If you want to attract an audience faster than with SEO, which is aimed at long-term success, consider using Google Ads. Google Ads lets you advertise your products to audiences searching for targeted keywords.
13. Monitor your social media channels
Social media is also useful for monitoring what customers think and feel. Listening to what customers say about your products can help you make changes and improvements.
Social media allows brands to engage with their customers. Forging new relationships, starting interesting conversations, and creating excitement about a product are all a part of using social media thoughtfully.
You can engage your customers with things like interactive live streams, product reveals, and polls. Finally, being active on social media can help you define a clear brand identity. As brand awareness increases, it will likely reflect in sales.
14. Get referrals from existing customers
Existing customers can be your biggest cheerleaders. They could bring more customers to your store if you give them the right encouragement and incentives. So how can you get existing customers to publicize your brand?
- Exceed expectations. People will talk about your product or brand if you leave them with a positive experience. A product freebie or free delivery can go a long way in ensuring word-of-mouth publicity for your business.
- Offer incentives. Many brands incentivize customer referrals by offering discounts on future purchases. If a new customer comes in via an existing one, you can reward the referrer with attractive offers. This will encourage them to keep talking favorably about your brand.
- Reviews. Having positive reviews is the easiest way an existing customer can encourage new shoppers to make a purchase. Product reviews and testimonials help customers make up their minds about your brand or product. They also help build trust. Knowing that others have bought and enjoyed your products can nudge a shopper to add a product to their cart.
15. Build an email marketing strategy
Email marketing is easy and popular for driving results at a relatively low cost. For every dollar you spend on email marketing campaigns, you can get a return on investment (ROI) up to 36 times.
As a store owner, you can send customers who have signed up to receive emails marketing content to help encourage sales.
Begin by identifying the kinds of emails you might want to send.
- Welcome emails to first-time users
- Reminders encouraging cart abandoners to make a purchase
- New offers and promotions
- Product launches and new collections
Additionally, emails help keep you in customers’ memories. The next time they want to buy a product, they will automatically think of you. You can even supplement your emails with SMS texts if a customer signs up to receive SMS.
However, don’t bombard customers with emails. Receiving too many notifications from a brand can be annoying and might lead to the customer unsubscribing.
16. Develop brand loyalty
Rewarding loyal customers can help with customer retention. Do this by creating a loyalty program that features:
- First dibs on sales
- Discount codes or coupons
- Priority for giveaways
- Promo codes
- Special offers on new products
In addition, including user-generated content on your social media and Shopify store can make shoppers feel like they’re part of your company’s growth story. Involving influencers in your marketing strategy can also add trust.
Building brand loyalty will allow you to upsell and cross-sell to a loyal customer base.
Improve your Shopify store with Project Catalog
If you’re unsure how to implement these tips, consider hiring an e-commerce development expert via our Project Catalog™. These independent professionals can optimize your Shopify store and fix areas that are hampering your sales.
Just sign up, browse, and buy predefined projects. Once everything is approved, an independent professional will begin work on your online store and deliver results within the agreed-upon time frame.
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And if you’re an e-commerce expert looking for more clients, join Upwork as an independent professional. Many e-commerce businesses are looking for independent professionals on Upwork.
Upwork is not affiliated with and does not sponsor or endorse any of the tools or services discussed in this article. These tools and services are provided only as potential options, and each reader and company should take the time needed to adequately analyze and determine the tools or services that would best fit their specific needs and situation.