Intro
Covid-19 has shaken up the business landscape considerably. Online shopping in the European market is expected to reach over $570 billion by 2025. At a time when customers have a huge choice of products just a click away, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to stand out from the competition and reach your ideal audience.
That’s why we’ve compiled some of the best applicable tactics your team can use to increase your online sales.
Let’s dive in and find out which practices work best for your business!
Define your buyer persona
When customers come into your store, you tailor your tone and service to their age, gender, and general appearance. When selling online, you don’t have the same advantage of meeting your customers face-to-face. That is why you should imagine them.
We can agree that nothing replaces a face-to-face conversation. But if you want to increase your online sales (and who doesn’t?), the most useful technique is to define your buyer persona. Think about who your customer is and create a demographic profile that includes age, gender, marital status, education, and profession. This will help you learn more about your customer’s personalities and figure out what tactics to use to appeal to them.
You should also consider what pain points and frustrations your ideal customer has that your product can fix and what motivates them to buy your product.
Now you’re probably wondering, how can you find out all this data?
There are a couple of ways. If you already have a website, there is a very useful hack to create your buyer persona – Google Analytics. It’s a tool that can help you identify buying patterns, and preferences and find information about your users’ ages, gender, main interests, and the profiles that convert the most. In addition, you can conduct comprehensive market research that includes surveys, interviews, and a general study of the entire market landscape that will give you the data you need to increase your sales.
Determine your sales goals
According to one study, 61% of salespeople believe that clear expectations and goals are the No. 1 factor that determines productivity. When everyone on the team knows what they’re supposed to accomplish and the goals are communicated effectively. It ensures that everyone is on the same page and working towards compatible goals.
Goal setting requires a strong connection between your sales and marketing teams, as they should be aligned with overall business goals. Setting and implementing goals can help you continually determine what’s working and what’s not. It can help you define realistic expectations, objectives, and KPIs and align your efforts to achieve them.
When your sales team has unattainable or non-compliant goals, both the quality and quantity of sales efforts decrease. In addition, stretch goals are demotivating and can lead to excessive risk-taking.
Create and optimize landing pages
The success of online sales largely depends on landing pages. These pages determine whether a user will continue to navigate your site or leave immediately. While landing pages should be tailored to your business, the general rule is the simpler and clearer the landing page, the more effective it’s.
To increase online sales, you should create a separate landing page for each of your main products, or if you have many products, create a page for each related product.
Here are some tips to help you optimize your landing page and increase the conversion rate:
- create a meaningful title that grabs the visitor’s attention and encourages them to read on;
- write clear, compelling text and use the keywords that your users use to search for you on Google;
- include images that relate to the message you want to convey;
- use CTAs that stand out visually from the rest of the information and are placed in a convenient location, so users don’t have to scroll;
- highlight how your product or service will benefit potential customers
- create a sense of urgency that makes users act quickly;
Utilize social selling
Social selling is the process of building and maintaining relationships with customers at every stage of the sales pipeline and funnel. To be successful with social selling, sales teams must take the time to intentionally and continuously engage with their prospects and buyers.
Considering that nearly half of the world’s population is active on social media, social selling tactics are more important than ever. Social selling is essential to sales leaders who want to present their offerings better. It also allows them to build trusting relationships, increase their social credibility, and ultimately achieve their sales goals.
Using various social selling tools such as Linkedin Sales Navigator, effective sales teams can have access to key decision makers, build meaningful social interactions, and present your brand as a trusted source for solving potential problems.
NextPilots has proven itself in business-to-business sales by creating awareness, building connections, and making meaningful appointments. The company offers different types of services that provide you with optimal pipeline management: data collection, expanding your network, and converting them into opportunities.
Use social proof to influence customer decisions
Did you know that 68% of online shoppers are more likely to buy if the brand has positive reviews?
Adding reviews from your loyal clients can encourage would-be customers to interact with your company or choose you over your competitor. When selling online, people often turn to others who had experiences with the products for advice. These types of testimonials do not only lead to higher profits for businesses but also build credibility for the company.
In addition, social proof helps companies build strong relationships with their customers and generate more revenue than they do with non-engaged customers. Therefore, don’t forget to include the “What our customers say” section on your website, as well as to communicate it through social media.
Ensure an effective follow-up procedure
Where does the customer’s journey end? When they finally buy your product or service? Afraid not!
Many businesses make the mistake of only thinking about getting the customer to buy the first time, not how to retain them. To increase online sales, improve customer retention, and get them to recommend your product to others, you should implement a thoughtful and useful follow-up process.
When someone places an order or buys your product, you should make sure they receive customer service information and links to relevant products that might interest them. Customers should be encouraged to leave reviews and feedback about their experience and encouraged to contact a real person with questions about their order. Maybe even be available to answer questions from other users who are considering a purchase.
Hire a sales agency
In today’s online-driven world, your sales team plays a fundamental role in growing your business. When you hire a sales agency or build a sales team that works with the marketing department, you have the opportunity to:
- Generate more relevant leads
- Overcome objections effectively
- Keep track of all deals
- Learn more about your customers
- Expand your network
- Increase the loyalty of your existing customers
- Increase revenue per customer
- Reduce acquisition costs per customer
Ready to increase online sales?
NextPilots is a remote sales team that operates with clear weekly KPIs and tangible results. Thanks to experienced, enthusiastic, highly motivated, and qualified young sales professionals, your online sales can be drastically increased. Let’s develop your perfect sales strategy!