In an ideal world, you can generate infinite leads and conversions for little to no cost. This, unfortunately, isn’t quite the way things work in reality. But don’t give up. There are still many things business owners can do to get more sales in a way that won’t dramatically increase spending.
Here are nine affordable ways to boost your ecommerce business.
#1 Use Content & SEO
Content marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) are two perfect examples of how you can get more people visiting your online store in a cost-effective way. These things require some time and effort, but can be accomplished with no capital investment if you take care of them yourself. Creating relevant, engaging content will draw more potential customers to your site. Keywords and metadata will help you rank better in organic search results, which is key to getting new customers from search engines and online users.
#2 Run Viral Promotions
Executing a creative, well-made viral promotion is one of the best ways to quickly generate leads without spending a ton of money. You’re essentially only putting up the capital to give away an item. The actual marketing aspect will be done for free by people sharing your contest with their connections. Make sure you have a plan before running a promotion like this, as you’ll want to get people to sign up for your email lists or follow your social media channels in exchange for entry.
#3 Upgrade Your Ecommerce Platform
What is an ecommerce website in today’s world without stunning, professional-grade templates, mobile compatibility, fast load times, and easy customizations? Not worth your time or money, that’s for sure. Fortunately, there are affordable options out there for entrepreneurs looking to upgrade their ecommerce platform. Take a look around to see what providers make the most sense for your needs and budget.
#4 Give Customers a Reason to Follow Your Social Media
Social media is one of the best ways to keep in contact with your top customers. But not all social media strategies are the same. Simply making posts isn’t going to cut it when other brands are doing things to drive deeper engagement. Creating high-quality social media that actually provides value to consumers costs you nothing but is extremely important to boosting customer loyalty.
#5 Retarget Abandoned Carts
It’s estimated that $4 trillion was abandoned in online shopping carts just in 2017. That far exceeds the total amount of merchandise actually purchased through ecommerce channels in the U.S. Recover some of those abandonments by retargeting consumers with email and ads.
#6 Get More Out of Your Loyal Customers
It’s typically more cost-effective to spend time focusing on your existing customers than trying to get new ones. Customer acquisition cost is one of the most troubling metrics for many ecommerce stores. Additionally, building loyalty through rewards programs and other measures will get people who already appreciate your brand to like it even more.
#7 Use Better Photos
Images are essential to a beautiful and engaging ecommerce website. You aren’t going to sell many goods if all your photos are unappealing to consumers. Think about resolution, as well as composition and size of your photos. However, you don’t want to go overboard with using too large of image files. This can slow down your website, which will lead to higher abandonment rates.
#8 Cross-Sell
Cross-selling products is one of the best ways to boost your bottom line without having to spend more money. The process is basically just offering consumers other suggested items they might also want based on their searches. Businesses that do a good job cross-selling are motivating customers to spend more money, just by pointing them in the direction of other products they might like.
#9 Streamline Your Checkout
Along with high shipping costs, a convoluted checkout process is one of the top reasons for people abandoning their online carts. You can lower the incidence of this by making your e-store’s checkout process quick and easy. The fewer hoops people have to jump through, the more likely it is that they’ll actually complete a purchase.
Every entrepreneur should be looking for affordable ways to generate more business. These are some of the most effective methods for boosting your ecommerce conversions, without draining your cash reserves.
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