Online you don’t have the same ability to encourage an impulse buy simply because there are too many steps between seeing an item and checking out online. They need to trust you, the quality of the product and, between point a and point b, there are many instances where they can take a step back and weigh up whether or not they need the item in question.
It means that selling online is both easier, and much, much harder. To improve your sales online you will need to go the extra mile and use these tips:
Improve Your Buyers Personas
Buyers personas help you understand your customers and their pain points. In essence, it means knowing what their problem is and how to best position your brand or service as the solution. Not every business will be buying from you for the same reason, so having a variety of buyers personas that encapsulate these various motivations can help you improve your sales and customer retention.
You can really delve deep into how to improve your buyers personas, particular for B2B opportunities, on https://webpresence.digital/uk-blog/improve-b2b-buyer-personas/. Just remember to revisit these tips to adjust and even update your buyer personas over time. Needs, trends, and buyers change. What might be your customer base at the beginning may not be the same five years down the line. Readjusting and reassessing your buyer personas is essential to connecting with your existing customers.
Have Content that Speaks to Their Needs
Use your buyer personas and then create detailed buyer’s journeys for each and every one of them. When someone comes to your site, they need to feel like they found the holy grail at last. They need to feel like your content speaks to them personally, at the exact stage of their buyer’s journey that they are currently in. With every stage accounted for on your blog or elsewhere on your site, you can gently guide them from one step all the way to checkout.
Tip: Don’t be discouraged if this doesn’t happen in the same day. Retargeting using organic methods (like email newsletters after they sign up, or on social media) is effective and a great way to build lifelong customers.
Don’t Just Sell, Entertain
Customers are sold things online every day. Thousands of items pass by their screens in a quick swipe. They are so good at ignoring ads that you need to do more than push for a sale, you need to let them have fun.
Social media needs to be social, so don’t just make great looking ads. Make funny videos, how-to videos, behind the scenes content and more. You need to think not like an ad, but like an entertainment space. Sell the person your customer could be with your product, not just the product. This means moving away from product photography and into a more nuanced, engaging marketing method.
Be a Go-To Source for Inspiration and Help
If people from all over go to your site for inspiration or help in your industry, then chances are they aren’t going to leave your site to shop at a competitor. People generally don’t like surfing through thousands of sites to find the information they are looking for. There is a reason why comparison sites are so popular.
By being the go-to place for all the news, inspiration, guides and so on that is relevant to your industry (and not just your business) then you have their attention and trust. Even if you don’t offer the exact product you are looking for, you do have their loyalty. Eventually, that loyalty will turn into a sale. It may not be directly, but successfully wooing customers almost always means being them recommending your business to a family or friend later on.
Offer Rewards to Encourage Additional Sales
Rewards need to come in a variety of shapes and sizes, so think beyond the standard points system. Consider instead membership loyalty benefits or even a tiered loyalty program that actively rewards and encourages repeat business for a variety of reasons.
For example, tier one reward levels could offer discounts. Whereas tier two loyalty rewards could include things like free tickets to your events or even free samples on your birthday. There are so many ways that you can provide an ongoing, incredible relationship with your customers.
The value in doing this is massive. The top 10% of customers will spend 3x as much as the one-off customer will, and the top 1% will spend 10x more. Not only that, but returning customers often make up an average of 40% of your revenue, despite making up only 8% of your customer base. Recurring customers will make your business, so reward them for supporting you and referring you to their friends and family.
