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Top 4 Tactics to Boost Sales for Your Ecommerce Store

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Boost Sales for Your Ecommerce Store

The e-commerce landscape is showing no signs of a slowdown, with research indicating that “By 2026, the online segment will make up close to a quarter of total global retail sales.”

In this cut-throat landscape, there’s a lot of great advice everywhere. So, how do you choose which strategy to deploy?

In this blog, we have handpicked 4 strategies you must embrace to supercharge your e-commerce store and get it ready to face the coming years head-on.

Top 4 Hand-Picked Tactics to Multiply Your Ecommerce Sales

Strategy #1: Include Personalized Product Recommendations

Personalizing your communication takes more than addressing customers by their names. You want to build a relationship with them and make them feel valued. And one tried and tested way to do this is by offering personalized product recommendations to the customer. This is where a personalized product recommendation engine comes in handy.

A product recommendation engine can help e-commerce stores offer personalized product recommendations by:

  • Analyzing user behavior, preferences, and historical data to suggest products that are likely to be of interest to individual customers and have greater chances of being purchased
  • Offering collaborative filtering, a technique in which products are recommended based on the behavior of similar users (as Amazon demonstrates below with its “Frequently repurchased in home”):

Boost Sales for Your Ecommerce Store

  • Content-based filtering: In this technique, product recommendation engines recommend products based on the attributes of the products themselves. The engine analyzes the features of a product, such as its category, brand, price, and reviews, and recommends products that have similar attributes to products that a user has expressed interest in. Here’s another example by Amazon for inspiration:

Boost Sales for Your Ecommerce Store

  • Hybrid filtering: This type of filtering is basically a combination of both collaborative and content-based filtering techniques. It combines the strengths of both techniques to provide personalized recommendations to users.
  • Real-time personalization: This involves using user data, such as browsing history, search queries, and clickstream data, to recommend products in real-time, i.e., updating recommendations as the customer browses through the e-commerce store.
  • Upsell and cross-sell recommendations: In this type of personalized recommendation, products that complement or upgrade a user’s existing purchase or choice are suggested. Target’s website does it with its “Similar items:” section:

Boost Sales for Your Ecommerce Store

Strategy #2: Offer World-Class Customer Service

Building world-class customer service is intrinsically tied to building brand loyalty, retaining customers, and driving sales. Try these tips to give your customer service a ‘personalized, unforgettable’ touch:

A. Make it easy for customers to contact you:

Many brands fail to spoil customers with communication options—a big mistake. Research indicates that “51% of consumers are loyal to brands that communicate with them through their preferred channels:”

So, provide multiple channels for customers to reach out to you, including phone, email, chat, and social media. You must also make it a point to respond to inquiries promptly and courteously.

Example: Amazon provides excellent customer service by offering multiple ways to contact them. Customers can reach out to Amazon via email, phone, chat, or social media. Amazon also has a well-organized dedicated help center, “Amazon Help,” on Twitter, where customers can find answers to frequently asked support questions:

Boost Sales for Your Ecommerce Store

B. Be knowledgeable about your products:

Train your customer service team to have in-depth knowledge about your products, including features, benefits, and pricing. This will enable them to provide accurate and helpful information to customers.

Example: One brand that has gained ‘legendary status’ with respect to knowledgeable customer service agents is Apple. Here’s what an At Home Advisor has to say about Apple’s product training:

Boost Sales for Your Ecommerce Store

Long story short, you want to build a brand that is known for its knowledgeable representatives–ones who can help customers troubleshoot their Apple products, owing to their deep understanding of the products.

C. Respond quickly to customer inquiries:

Responding quickly to customer inquiries shows that you value their time and are committed to providing excellent customer service.

Example: Zappos, an online shoe retailer, has a policy of responding to customer inquiries within 24 hours, and their average response time is just a few hours. Take the following Instagram post, for instance:

Boost Sales for Your Ecommerce Store

The brand makes it a point to respond to the customer instantly and in style–a winning combination in customer service! No matter how good or bad the user post is, always make it a point to respond quickly.

D. Go above and beyond for customers:

Show customers that you are willing to go the extra mile to provide exceptional customer service. This will help to build trust and loyalty. But the real question remains: “How?”

Example: Lululemon empowers its customers by having a dedicated page on its website for the Lululemon Community. Customers can find useful training guides, information on events, etc., on this page and stay connected to the brand beyond a transactional capacity:

Boost Sales for Your Ecommerce Store

Strategy #3: Retarget Ads for Better Conversion

Retargeting ads, also known as remarketing ads, help improve your store’s conversion rates.

How? Retargeting essentially allows you to show ads to people who have previously interacted with your website, such as those who have added items to their shopping cart or visited specific product pages.

By showing them relevant ads based on their behavior, you can encourage them to return to your site and complete their purchase. Here are a few examples of how brands retarget customers:

Use case 1: Fashion retailer ASOS often retargets users who have abandoned their cart with personalized ads that feature the exact items left in the cart. The brand takes retargeting to the next level by including an enticing offer/message, encouraging the user to complete the purchase. In this case, the brand offers an 80% discount and a code that is applicable across the website:

Boost Sales for Your Ecommerce Store

Use case 2: Online furniture retailer, Wayfair, uses retargeting ads that feature large, high-quality images of their products along with a message that encourages users to return to their site and complete their purchase:

Boost Sales for Your Ecommerce Store

In addition to the examples shown above, you can create effective retargeting ads by:

  • Personalizing your ads
  • Including a clear call-to-action
  • Offering a discount or promotion
  • Experimenting with different ad formats

Strategy #4: Offer Free Shipping and Returns

This simple yet powerful strategy entails making it easy for customers to return items. To do this:

  • Make sure your return policy is clear and easy to understand.
  • Offer free returns and provide a hassle-free process for customers to return items.

Use-case: Nordstrom, a department store, allows customers to return items at any time, and they offer free returns and exchanges. Plus, the return instructions are clearly outlined on the website:

Boost Sales for Your Ecommerce Store

The Final Word

Every e-commerce store, like its owner, is different, with a distinct character and personality. So, implement these tactics accordingly and make sure to continuously analyze as well as adjust your strategies based on real-time customer behavior and feedback. Good luck!