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It’s no secret that people love to shop online. Today, more than 50%of the consumers prefer logging on an e-commerce website and shop from the comfort of their home. However, if your e-commerce store’s sales are not hitting the roof yet, then it means you’re doing something wrong. Maybe you’re not standing out enough from your competitors, or your website isn’t loading quick enough.
In this article, we are going to talk about some of our best-kept secrets that can help generate sales for your e-commerce website. We’ll talk about seven specific tactics that can be put to action immediately while analyzing case studies that prove why each tactic works the way it does.
Once you’re done reading these seven points, you should be a pro at the marketing basics so that you can turn your e-commerce website into a traffic driving powerhouse that generates sales day and night.
1- Use Facebook Ads
Facebook is the most popular social media platform out there, and you can use it as an effective source to drive relevant traffic to your e-commerce store. It’s not as easy as you’ll witness many fake ids and irrelevant profiles sneaking their way in too, but once you get the hang of it, things will get a lot easier.
The secret is to create a winning Facebook ad. Try different products, catchy copy, and alluring images to see which one converts well. Measure the metrics of each campaign to derive its success rate. When you spot the best combination, then raise the budget especially for that ad and campaign. Also research about the different types of Facebook ads available to see which one works best for your e-commerce store.
Needless to say, paid traffic is one of the best ways to get a surge of traffic on your e-commerce website. It might seem like a hefty investment, especially after reading that Facebook ad prices have increased by a whopping 247%. But the reality is that you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars the first time. Start as slow as $50 so that you can learn from the mindset of testing.
Let’s take a look at the case study of Buffer. They did a small experiment to see what results will a small investment of $5 on Facebook Ads can give them in return. When they calculated the metrics the results were as follows:
- Page Likes – 9 Likes per day
- Clicks to the homepage/landing page – 1 per day
- Boosted post – 787 new people reached
Now that’s what we call an impressive reach for as low as $5 per day!
2- Log onto Instagram
Whether you are a fairly new startup or a reputed brand looking to increase traffic on your e-commerce website or to attract more sales, Instagram is the solution for all your conversion woes. Since Instagram is a strong visual platform, it effectively converts passive shoppers into more active customers.
There are uncountable ways in which you can harness the power of Instagram’s following to increase traffic on your website. Add a link to your e-commerce store in the bio just the way Urban Outfitter does:
In fact, Instagram boasts nearly 800 million active users per month and more than 70% of them have already made their brand’s presence felt on this social platform. What’s more, Instagram is focusing on adding even more e-commerce features for the app. If you haven’t hopped on the bandwagon of Instagram, we recommend you do it now!
3- Do some influencer marketing
Another proven way tactic to drive traffic and awareness to your e-commerce store is to target relevant influencers. For example, if you have started an online leather jacket store start looking for popular fashion bloggers on Instagram who can recommend your product to their huge fan following.
If you’re clueless about how to search for popular bloggers on Instagram, log on to WEBSTA, a website that is dedicated to the latest hashtags and hot trends on Instagram. Simply get in touch with someone whose style resonates with your brand’s vision.
4- Post your store to Reddit
Everyone loves reading stuff on Reddit. The most popular content is featured on the main page, but it also has specific niches known as subreddits. You can post in a few threads that are relevant to your business like /r/leatherjacket if you want to generate traffic towards your online leather jacket store. Make sure that your post is catchy and solves a problem, rather than it being a clear cut ad. Read the rules before you post, as a blatant advertisement can get you banned!
5- Repeatedly ask customers to leave reviews
Customer reviews are a very powerful tool in convincing other potential buyers that your products are worth their money and time. Not only do they increase your conversion rate but also improve your search engine rankings. Plus, customer generated content is also a great way to keep your page fresh and post new content without having to create it from scratch.
Also, if customers have shopped from a Shopify website, the Product Reviews Addon app also allows their app to know about the purchase they recently made which automatically means getting more traffic!
6- Learn the art of email marketing
Another great marketing tactic that is often forgotten about is email marketing. Most e-commerce store owners are so caught up in the hunt of getting new customers that they neglect the ones they already have on board. Getting them to buy from you again is much cheaper and easier because they have already purchased from your before. Encourage potential customers to fill in their email address by offering discounts or any other thing of value like an ebook or free printable.
7- Contribute to other blogs
Writing guest posts on blogs related to your niche can help divert traffic to your e-commerce store too. Write an interesting article that adheres to the rules of the publishing blog. Make sure that it doesn’t contain blatant advertisement like product photos or sounds like a sales pitch. Focus on delivering something which people will love reading and is more likely to get shares and click-throughs to your e-commerce website. Read this article by Wikihow for a step by step guide on how to increase traffic to your website by blogging.
Final Thought
We hope that these different ways helped you in creating an effective marketing strategy to boost traffic on your e-commerce website. Keep active on social media channels, provide discounts to increase your mail list, get a few influencers on board and start blogging- follow the basics and your e-commerce website will start getting noticed in no time.
Guest Post: Evie harrison is a blogger by choice. She loves to discover the world around her. She likes to share her discoveries, experiences and express herself through her blogs. Find her on Twitter.
