Here are five tactics to grow online retail sales and boost the profitability of the business.
This is a given. Customers expect a consistent and a quality experience with your brand and if they don’t get it, they have no issues with swapping to a brand that provides this.
That means that when it comes to digital display advertising you need to execute your campaigns cross device. Your customers expect you to have a presence where they are and be there in the important moments as they switch between devices and toggle between social media and online browsing. Building multi-format, multi-device ads is a must.
But that’s just the start of things. How big is your inventory? How often does your pricing or deals change? Do products often sell out?
If you’re dealing with an ever-changing inventory, your ads simply have to be up to date. If they’re not, all you’re doing is giving your customers a reason to switch to a competitor. Always negate this by bringing the right level of automation into the mix and keeping your ads up-to-date through data driven in-feed ads. Simply do the work once when uploading your feed and allow automation to guarantee your ads are always up to date and your customer experience is always positive.
It’s a well known fact for marketers that only 2% of users will convert on their first visit to your site. There can be any number of reasons for this. They might simply be researching products, they may have only just found out about you, or they may be waiting for a sale or comparing price between you and your competitors.
Retargeting is an essential tactic to engage with these users and help them through their path to purchase with you.
And if you get your retargeting right you’ll provide them with the help or the incentive they need to convert. The trick is to view these users as individuals and avoid the temptation to retarget them all with the same message. Segment your users by where they land on your website and what they interact with and provide them with a tailored ad that caters to their needs. If someone reads a blog, retarget them with similar products to those featured. If a user left a product abandoned in their cart, retarget them with the same product but consider an offer.
Get to know your users’ intent and you’ll get your approach to retargeting right. Retargeting is a proven way to realise higher conversions so even if you don’t have the time to deploy every tactic now you can prioritise those that will grow your online retail sales faster.
If your users are abandoning products in their carts, retargeting is one approach, but you should also consider the user experience of your website. Any kind of friction with the process at this stage can see your business losing out on a significant amount of sales.
On average 68% of shopping carts are abandoned. That’s a pretty big statistic to compete against.
Consider the following factors that impact conversions and look critically at the final steps of the process on your site:
A lack of information on shipping, returns, customer support information etc.
What can you improve on your site? And don’t forget to A/B test to get some actionable insights.
Brand awareness campaigns are a great way to get your message out there. They may not always result in immediate sales, but they are crucial to build your brand signalling and engage with people early on in their journey with you.
But can you use this messaging as a tactic to generate sales on a local level? As well as getting your overall message out there, you can provide tailored offers to promote your business to your target demographic in specific local areas, through geotargeting. This means you’ll engage with your exact audience, i.e. families with two children, in a defined geographic area.
Get your offer and your messaging right and this can help boost both your online and offline sales.
Referral schemes can be powerful tactics to boost sales. People listen to those close to them and will act on a referral.
Customers are also willing to do it. In fact over 80% of consumers are willing to make a referral to a friend or loved one after a positive experience with a brand. However, less than 30% actually do so.
Creating a referral scheme isn’t enough on its own. You need to give customers a reason to refer. And surprisingly it’s not all about cash. The trick is to understand your customers, their needs, wants and desires and give them something they want from you. Understand this and your referral scheme will be a powerful tool to grow your sales.
At Fluid Ads we help brands engage with their users through high-performing digital display campaigns. Get in touch with us today to find out how we can help grow your offline and online retail sales further.