After months of planning, hard work and sleepless nights, that very first sale notification from your ecommerce store is probably one of the sweetest success moments for any business!
It’s not easy! But you totally deserve it!
Ecommerce stores have changed the way customers and businesses interact today. The experience is more personalized, communication is transparent, and customers enjoy a hassle-free, one-click shopping experience!
But all this is only possible if you have set yourself up for success from the word go. You need to make sure you build an ecommerce website that offers all the functionality needed to facilitate shopping, you need the right WooCommerce Hosting plan to support your website needs and you need to make sure you have a strategy in place to get noticed – ecommerce sales strategy, marketing strategy, social media and content strategy, and more!
Okay, you’re set. You have written compelling product descriptions, set up secure and easy payment options, the website design is great, product visibility is optimized for search engines – it’s time to sit back and wait for that first sale notification, followed by many more.
Hold up, selling online is slightly more challenging than that. We’ve listed some tips and ways to get that first ecommerce store sale and continue selling!
Tips and Ways to Make Your First Ecommerce Store Sale
To secure your first sale through your ecommerce store you need to be ready to start talking about your products and promoting them, even before your store goes live. Getting your first sale, and all others that follow, comes from knowing what you’re offering, what problems/gap is it resolving, who your audience is, what your USP is and everything else about your products. So let’s see how we can prepare and get ready to make that first sale.
Tap Into Your Existing Network
Friends and family, classmates and colleagues, neighbours, mentors, friends of friends – we all have a network of personal and professional contacts that we build through life. Reach out and share your products with them. This will not only help you get genuine feedback about your products but also build a base for word-of-mouth marketing for you. Share information on your personal social media profiles so your network can ask questions, make enquiries and even help you share your products with their individual networks.
Start Blogging
A blog is an excellent way to share relevant and meaningful information about your brand, your products, helpful guides, step-by-step instructions and other content that will help more people know about the products you offer on your ecommerce store. You can use relevant keywords to better optimize your blog content, thus reaching a wider audience and raising brand awareness. Your blog can become the gateway to sales and revenue.
Build an Email List
Email marketing allows you to get up, close and personal with existing and potential customers. Build an email list and share emails to drive traffic to your ecommerce store. You can build this list through your personal network, blog and ecommerce store website by asking people to ‘subscribe to your email list’. Give them an insight into what you’ll share over email – newsletters, exclusive discounts, coupon codes, etc.
Reach Out to Influencers
Find influencers in your product space and reach out to them. Customers today rely on recommendations and reviews shared by influencers, and this could really help you tap into an existing pool of customer base. Make sure you find the right influencers and share products and information with them that will be relevant and exciting for new customers. You will get direct access to a small but targeted user base who are likely to come shop from you based on an influencer’s recommendation.
Host Contests and Giveaways
Everyone loves freebies or even a solid discount! Use your social media platforms to host giveaways and contests to boost engagement and get potential customers excited about your products. You can collaborate with relevant brands to do giveaways or host one on your own. Make it exciting and relevant for your target audience. Use this as an opportunity to build a strong social media following and establish your brand identity.
Think B2B and/or Third-Party Shopping Platforms
If your goal is to start selling and take your time to build your brand, you can reach out to wholesale retailers, and platforms like Amazon to get your product out in the market. This way people will start seeing your brand instantly and you can expect some sales quickly. As customers learn more about your brand and like your products they will find and come to your ecommerce store directly to buy more and more from you.
Set Your Ecommerce Store Up for Success
The ecommerce industry is growing exponentially every single minute! More and more brands are getting online, and more and more customers are turning to digital platforms to shop. It requires time, effort and the right tools to set your ecommerce store up for success. From the right website builder to hosting plan, go-to-market strategy to consistent growth plans – an ecommerce store requires well thought out strategies every step of the way,
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