If you’re selling online, how well is your site working for you? So much time goes into launching the site, adding inventory, and fulfilling orders, but how much time do you take to optimize your site, and where should you start? Here are some tips to help you increase your online sales:
Check your site’s Google Analytics
Have you set up Google Analytics for your site? If not, you most certainly need this free tool to learn what pages are the most popular, the age and gender of your visitors, what search terms they are using to find your site, and more. You’ll be able to tell what pages are visited most and what pages have a high bounce rate. You can also find keywords to optimize product descriptions and drive traffic to your site. Monitor Google Analytics to make comparisons and adjustments regularly.
Make your site mobile friendly
Your site’s responsiveness is critical, with more people browsing and shopping from their phones. While your site may look great on a laptop or desktop computer, images, text, and menu options may not appear or render correctly on a mobile device, and that could hurt potential sales. Google has a free tool to test your site’s mobile-friendliness at https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly.
Test your site links, menu navigation, carts, and forms
Broken links, menus, and outdated information can frustrate any online shopper, and you may not even be aware you’ve missed out on a sale. Test links, forms, site navigation, and make any necessary updates to them. Ensure that your contact information, including your email and phone number, is up to date. You may opt to have someone else who is not as familiar with your site audit it for a more realistic experience, with honest feedback you can use.
Update product images and use social proof
Using the same product photos for several months can make your products look stale and lower your search engine rankings. Showcase any recent work or new products and designs you’ve added. Update your slider or carousel with new offers or sales events. If you can show social proof of customers using your product, such as wearing a T-shirt or showing a photo panel on a wall, add those to your site. The more authentic you can be, the more shoppers can see themselves using your products and making a purchase.
Show customers your site is secure
The URL of your website should begin with “HTTPS” and show a lock icon. With cybersecurity and internet fraud at an all-time high, customers want to feel safe shopping online, and you want them to trust your site. If you have icons for security services used on your site, display those on your page to reinforce the steps you’ve taken to ensure secure transactions.
Create a sense of urgency—don’t miss out!
Down to those last few Valentine’s mugs before you’re out of stock? Are some items hot sellers? Let shoppers know! You can use commerce software that promotes how many other shoppers have the same item in their carts, show what products are trending the most, and what products have low stock. Flash sales and countdown clocks can also create a signal for shoppers to buy now. Even if you don’t have help from software, you can still add text to item descriptions to move the inventory you want to push.
Add cart abandonment software
Some sites have estimated that cart abandonment is as high as 70%, meaning 7 out of 10 shoppers never purchase the items in their cart. Several software options exist that can potentially save lost sales by retargeting shoppers who leave their carts through emails, texts, and digital ads displayed while browsing after they’ve left your site. Have plenty of shoppers but few purchases? Take a closer look at your abandonment rate and utilize this type of software to recapture lost sales.
Begin to take a closer look at your site’s traffic and sales. You’d be surprised at how small changes can make a significant impact on your sales.
