E-commerce is here to stay, it's not hard to see.
Retailers must be more visible online with increasing numbers of customers shopping online.
What happens if you don’t have enough money for advertising? Do you think you are doomed to disappear into the online abyssal?
Absolutely not.
More than half of consumers prefer shopping online. This is great news for online retailers such as you.
It's difficult to attract the attention that you need to drive traffic to your website and generate revenue with the proliferation of online marketplaces.
Today I will share 25 ecommerce tips that can increase traffic to your website without spending any money on paid advertising.
These tips are easy to follow, and even easier than you think.
What are the benefits of using non-paid strategies to increase e-commerce website traffic?
Marketers often focus on paid ecommerce strategy as they believe it is the only way to beat the big brands. But that's not always true.
95% of website traffic hits the first page on Google. This means that all traffic you can hope for is waiting.
Non-paid ecommerce strategies have the obvious advantage of not needing to invest in traffic. Instead of trading dollars for dollars, you trade time and resources to make sales.
A second benefit is that focusing on non-paid traffic can help you build a better and easier-to-use site. A study by Amazon Web Services found that 88% of online shoppers will not return to a website they had a negative experience with.
There are so many options for e-commerce shopping. Why would they choose not?
There are so many options. The threshold for errors and user experience issues is decreasing.
Thinking outside the box is key to building a business with long-term potential.
Long-term strategies like SEO, email marketing and on-page experiences pay off in the long term.
25 E-Commerce Strategies for Driving Traffic (Without Paying For Ads) )
E-commerce sales are growing steadily every year, and they don't seem to be slowing down. E-commerce sales could reach nearly 7,400 billion dollars by 2025. There are many ways to get traffic if you have trouble getting it.
These are some ecommerce tips that you can use today to increase traffic to your website.
1. Create a Referral Program
Referrals are more effective than any other marketing strategy at converting leads. It's never too late for you to start a referral program in your e-commerce store.
It doesn't need to be complicated, just as simple.
Take GetResponse as an example. Refer a friend to the software and you get $30 credit.
It's easy to offer something of value to your existing customers for each customer that they bring to you.
Find a referral platform and then follow these tips to get sign-ups.
2. Create a blog
Google holds more than 92 per cent of the search market. This means that SEO is a must-have investment if you want to drive traffic. One of my best e-commerce tips is to invest in a blog and provide valuable content.
You can produce content every day, whether you hire someone to do it or you write it all yourself. This strategy works, and I can attest to it.
It's easy to start a blog if you don’t have one on your ecommerce website. Many e-commerce platforms, such as BigCommerce and Shopify, have built-in templates for blogging to make it easy.
3. Enhance the On-Page Experience
Google makes it clear that on-page experiences are the most important factor they consider when ranking a site.
On-page experience can refer to, but is not limited to:
- The core web's vitality
- mobile optimization
- user-friendliness
These e-commerce tips can be used by first running the linked reports. Google will give you strategies and tips to improve your web page experience.
These factors will help increase your ecommerce traffic. Google sees your site as more attractive and easier to use, which in turn keeps users coming back.
4. Create an email list
Customers who return to the company for more than once a year spend 67% more than customers who come back. Building an email list is one of the best ways you can bring them back.
Why?
They already trust you and know what you have to say.
This example is from Birchbox
Customers will return to your offer by using a unique promo code. It makes it feel more exclusive and special.
These strategies can help you build an email database.
- Sign up to your email list and receive a small discount (between 10-15 percent)
- You can make your email list feel exclusive by only promoting new products to your email list.
- To encourage your followers to sign up, post teasers on social media about an upcoming email announcement.
5. Retarget email subscribers
After you have built an email list, you can retarget users based upon their onsite behavior. In this instance, retargeting is sending an email to someone who expressed interest in your company but did not take the desired action. It can also be used to place paid ads but we are focusing on non-paid strategies.
Emails from abandoned carts are one of the best ways to leverage email marketing retargeting. They are responsible for nearly 30% of all abandoned carts.
Customers can also be sent suggested products that are related to their previous purchases. It's much easier to keep customers you already know than it is to find new ones.
Here are some tips to help you retarget your email subscribers.
- Find ways to retarget users through your email marketing platform. MailChimp, for example, has a retargeting guide that guides users through the process.
- Start with the easiest retargeting campaign. It is easy to win with abandoned cart emails or recommended products.
- To see if other retargeting strategies work, you can test them. Ask for reviews within a week of purchase, or suggest a new collection.
6. Optimize your CTAs
About two percent of your web traffic will convert within the first visit. Therefore, it is important to capture email addresses via your CTAs.
To find the right combination, you need to try it out. Even something as simple and straightforward as changing the color of your CTA buttons can make a big difference.
Performable, for example, found that changing the color of their CTA button to red increased their conversion rate by 21%
You can experiment with different CTA buttons and phrasings to find out what works, and then compare them using A/B testing.
But don't limit yourself to just colors. Your CTA can be tested:
- Copy
- Placement
- Font type/size
- Images included
- Landing page
- Offer
7. Enhance Your Checkout Process
Nearly 70% of customers abandon their carts. Hidden fees, shipping costs, excessive steps and poor customer service can all be reasons why people abandon their carts. The checkout process is a good place to start.
People are now more comfortable shopping online than ever before, but they have high expectations. What can you do to improve the experience? Here are some tips:
- Eliminate hidden fees and be transparent about your pricing.
- Early in the process, share shipping fees
- Limit the number clicks required to convert.
Scandiweb provided a fantastic case study on the steps they took to improve their checkout experience. This is a great e-commerce strategy that you can implement regardless of how small or large your business.
8. Create a rewards program
Altfeld's white paper demonstrates that selling to an existing customer has a 70% chance of closing the sale.
How can you bring customers back to your business? Loyalty programs are a great way to keep customers coming back!
It is a timeless and brilliant strategy to reward customers who return and do business with you again.
Take Sephora, for instance.
You earn one dollar for every dollar you spend. You will get more benefits for spending more, including discounts or free shipping. This is a very simple concept, but it's hard to come up with smart rewards programs.
You will need to follow these steps in order to set up a rewarding rewards program.
- Find out what your most profitable customers share in common (locations, products, interests, etc.).
- To see which factors drive purchases, look at data. This information will allow you to create a reward program. Are they interested in free shipping? Discounts? Get early access to new product lines. If you're not sure, ask your customers to complete a survey.
- To implement your program, look for e-commerce loyalty and reward tools and plugins.
9. Add internal links to your site
SEO has been mentioned before, but this step is about internal linking to your e-commerce website. How does this increase e-commerce traffic
Sites that don't have proper internal linking rank lower than sites with solid link-building strategies.
You're showing Google that your website is a great resource for people looking to buy, and that you have a lot of knowledge in the niche you sell. This will enhance the user experience and increase your value to Google.
Here are some tips to add internal links.
- Identify the hub pages – these are pages that your users will be most interested in. These pages can be linked to by adding links wherever it is appropriate.
- Your product pages should link to similar products. Link to camping gear if you sell tents.
- To help users navigate quickly back to the core pages, use “breadcrumbs” as a navigation.
- Use simple-to-understand anchor texts, such as this: More information on internal linking best practices
10. Social Media: Get active
Ninety-one per cent of people read at most one review before they make a purchase. Is there a better place to read a lot of reviews from customers?
Of course, social media.
Are you using social media for traffic to your ecommerce store?
Is it being used as a landing page for customers if they have anything to say about your company?
Both of these things are important because they show customers that your business is real and you have real people behind it.
Here are some tips to help you create a social media strategy that will work for your ecommerce business.
11. Integrate Chat on Your Site
Customers need you to be there. Sixty percent want to make contact with someone in the sales process.
Do you remember the time you went to a brick-and-mortar store and needed help finding something? You walked all around trying to find someone to help you.
What did you think? Unimportant?
People expect the same level of customer service when they shop online. This means that you must be available to answer any questions and help throughout the entire sales process.
This process is made easy by a variety of chat software. Chatbot automation can make this process easier and more affordable. It answers common questions and connects users to a live person.
12. Prioritize Value
You can't make e-commerce revolve around asking customers to do certain things and not making sure they feel valued.
Email marketing is a great example. Email marketing is a great example of this.
We are at a point in our lives where selling a product alone is not enough to sell it.
To drive sales, you must offer free shipping, free trials and fast shipping.
Whatever offer you make, be clear about it. This will allow people to see the value of what you are offering before they buy.
This applies to all areas of your website, including:
- product pages
- Landing pages
- CTAs
- Social media posts
13. Enhance your product pages by focusing on benefits and not features
Poor product descriptions could mean you are losing a lot of money.
Do you want to find an easy solution?
When writing about a feature, consider the benefits for customers.
Take a look at this Gillette example:
Each feature is linked to a benefit.
They go beyond explaining what the razor does. They explain what the razor does.
These are some other ways to enhance your product pages.
- Reduce clutter to allow users to focus on the important things.
- Clear, concise calls for action are used to inform visitors about what they should do next.
- You can check your page speed.
- High-quality product photographs are recommended.
- Social proof can be used to increase customer confidence.
14. Use Video
Eighty-seven per cent of video marketers believe that video has increased e-commerce traffic on their site.
Because it's so important right now, I could write an entire guide about video e-commerce tips.
You should embed videos in your product pages immediately if you haven't already.
15. You can also add user-generated content
As high as 80 percent say that user-generated content influences their buying decision.
You can easily upload user-generated content by taking a picture of a product being used that was left by a reviewer and placing it on your site.
When people see others enjoying your products, they are more likely to trust and respect you. These are just a few of the other ways you can leverage UGC.
- Review product pages.
- Use a hashtag to ask users for their favourite products.
- You can embed product photos from customers at the bottom your website.
16. Understanding the Customer Personas
You could be missing one of the most basic e-commerce tips if you don't understand your customer persona.
What is a buyer persona and how do you define it?
It is essentially a representation for your customer. What are they doing? What do they do? What do they think? What is it that makes them tick?
You could be losing money if you don't have an avatar you market to in your ecommerce business.
17. Use trust signals
TrustedSite says that 50% of abandonments of carts are due to lack of business legitimacy.
What is the point of claiming legitimacy?
Trust.
Uneasy feelings can develop as a person works through the purchase process. Is it a legitimate site or a fraud? Are they satisfied with the product?
How can you avoid mistrust?
You can also add trust signals to the process. These are:
- Badges
- Verifications by third parties
- Customer reviews
- testimonials
- HTTP
Another great way to show your customers that you are a real business is to add a video of yourself and someone from the business.
18. Shipping Free of Charge
This stat could dramatically impact your e-commerce revenues: 66% of consumers expect free shipping for every online purchase.
They expect you to pay shipping costs for their products, no matter how much you spend. Amazon can be credited for this.
However, free shipping is not as lucrative as you might think. You can also get that customer if you do all the other things on this list.
There are several ways that you can make shipping free.
- Increase your shipping costs by increasing your prices, and then you can make it “free.”
- As a reward for loyalty, offer free shipping
- For free shipping, ask for an email address.
- Only for orders over a specified amount, you can get free shipping
19. Protect User Data (and make sure your customers know it)
This tip is important for e-commerce. It goes hand-in–hand with trust signals but it's also important.
E-commerce websites collect a lot data about customers. This includes onsite actions and banking or card information. Addresses, and possibly even social security numbers.
What can you do to protect this information
Here are some ways you can keep customer information safe.
- Secure your identity with an SSL certificate
- Track all orders
- require strong passwords
- Make sure that your data storage is encrypted
Let your customers know you are doing this. Include all steps taken to secure their information when you ask them for sensitive information.
20. Influencer marketing
When you partner up with an influencer or brand to promote your products, this is called Influencer Marketing.
This is what we see on Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat all the time.
The potential for influencer marketing is huge, with the market expected to reach 16.4 billion by 2022.
Reach out to influencers within your niche and ask if they are interested in endorsements. You can send them products for free.
TikTok's Dan-Os Seasoning has been a huge success story. Now, influencers across the globe are using it in their cooking videos.
21. Research, Test, and Use Pivot
You've now read 20 ecommerce tips. All of these will help you increase traffic to your website and convert more customers.
These strategies are essential if you want to be successful. Not all strategies work for every brand. They might be effective, but they may require a different approach.
An example: A fashion website that sells e-commerce might do better using influencers than an ecommerce business that manufactures.
Research, testing, pivoting are the only ways to find out. Try something else if it doesn't work. This is the only way to continue growing.
22. Make a sense of urgency
Visitors who leave your website without buying rarely complete the sale.
The urgency of the situation is compelling enough to make the purchase right away.
Perhaps it's “Act Now!” You might be able to get a discount on shipping or a lower quantity.
It doesn't matter how you approach it, so long as your visitor feels that they are not missing out on anything,
Take a look at this American Apparel example:
They warn customers in red font that they are running out of the item.
There are many ways to make urgency through exclusivity or FOMO.
- Popups can be used to display purchases made by other users.
- Send emails to “last chance”.
- You can add a timer to your shopping cart.
- Limited stock, such as American apparel, should be displayed
23. Increase the sales of customers you already have
Many smaller e-commerce shops overlook upselling, which is one of the most powerful selling tools they have.
It is easy to believe that it is not worth the effort.
The average order value can be increased by upselling, which is a win-win situation.
Amazon increased their sales by 35 percent the first year they tried upselling on their platform.
Here are some ways to increase upsells.
- Offer related product sections on product pages.
- You can suggest products at the checkout page.
- Free shipping is available for orders above a certain amount of money, such as $25 or $50
24. New Products Launched
Nielsen reports that 63 percent of buyers love it when manufacturers introduce new products. This is what it means for you, as an e-commerce store proprietor.
It is important to regularly launch new products or innovating your industry. My best tip for e-commerce is to make a difference in the lives of people.
Look at the competition and find ways to improve your business.
There are still many ways to invent even if you don't produce your products.
If you sell home improvement products, you might be able to bundle several items together. A subscription box that includes a bundle of products could be created.
25. Spend your money elsewhere
This entire list of ecommerce tips focuses only on how not to spend money. However, you might be able to take the money you spend on paid ads and put it elsewhere.
It can be used to outsource high-quality blog content and SEO strategy or for influencer marketing.
No matter how small or large your business is, it should have a marketing budget. You should think beyond paid advertising if you are currently spending money on them. Consider other options.
E-Commerce Tips Most Frequently Asked Questions
How do I quickly increase my ecommerce website traffic?
The two fastest methods to increase e-commerce traffic are social media and influencer marketing. SEO is a more long-term option.
How much of my ecommerce traffic should come from non-paid sources
Organic traffic has had the best conversion rates in years past simply because people find you naturally. This indicates that you are likely to solve a visitor's problem. This is difficult to quantify because each business is unique. If your strategy allows, paid traffic can be a key to success.
How can I track the traffic to my e-commerce website?
You have many options to track ecommerce traffic. You can use the Google Search Console dashboard on your site, as well as other tools such as SimilarWeb or Ahrefs.
What is organic traffic for an e-commerce site?
Organic traffic refers to website visitors who find your site through search engines like Google and Bing.
Conclusion: E-Commerce Tip
These 25 e-commerce tips will help you to identify which ones are most important. Are you more prepared to drive traffic to the store?
It is important to remember that you don’t have to do everything perfectly. You just need to slowly implement them until you see results.
Find the weak spots in your ecommerce store and fix them. Maybe you just need to improve your checkout process or blog content. These changes are usually completed within a few days to weeks.
The possibilities are limitless with all these tips and tricks.
How can you increase e-commerce sales and not spend money on advertising?
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By: Neil Patel
Title: 25 Ways To Drive More E-commerce Store Traffic Without Buying Ads
Sourced From: neilpatel.com/blog/e-commerce-traffic-tips/
Published Date: Wed, 25 May 2022 22:00:00 +0000