Whether you’re a seasoned e-commerce business owner or a new online startup, the ultimate goal remains the same: boost online sales. Like many other things in the world, there is no surefire method when it comes to growth hacking strategies for ecommerce sites.
However, there are a number of ways and strategies that you can implement. They just take some time and effort on your end. To help you get started, here are some growth hacking strategies for ecommerce that will help you fuel sales.
1. Create buyer FOMO
Creating buyer FOMO basically means to create a sense of urgency. I’m sure that you’ve been on sites that show how many other people are viewing the same product, how many of the item is left, how many people have purchased the product and the likes. Having such visual metrics can help to convert buyers, as well as show that your store has a thriving community.
This FOMO plugin can display a popup for a time-limited offer, or a prompt every time a user makes a purchase. Both are great ways to convert customers who are on the fence!
2. Set up a referral program
Referral programs might be one of the older tactics, but they’re still around precisely because they are effective. Having a program that rewards customers for bringing their family and friends in is an all round win-win situation. Your customers and their contacts receive a reward or discount, and you gain new sales.
Tools like Extole can help you build a custom referral program and encourage your existing customers to refer their own circle of friends!
3. Build social proof
It doesn’t matter how much money you pump into advertising or how beautiful your product images are. Nothing is as convincing as other customers’ reviews. People love seeing recommendations and reviews from others because it helps them build confidence on their purchase. Without a brick-and-mortar store, there’s no way to examine the goods in-person so the next best way is to rely on what someone else says.
So showcase your buyers’ opinions and reviews on your ecommerce store. The best way is to include them in your product pages, but you can also include reviews such as their experience of shopping with you on your homepage and ‘About Us’ page.
If you need help with displaying and showcasing your customer reviews, tools like Yotpo will come in handy!
4. Write guest posts
We’ve talked about how blogging can be a very effective growth strategy, but writing guest posts on other blogs can also be key in reaching new customers! By writing a guest post on another site with a similar audience, you can reach plenty of buyers who may be interested in what you have to offer. Need tips on how to reach out to other brands? Check out this post here.
It’s important to not make your guest post overly promotional. Instead, write something that would be valuable for the readers! For example, Dove Chocolate partnered up with lifestyle blog Refinery29 to create this flourless cookies recipe. Also, don’t forget to link back to your own website, and look at the statistics to see if your guest post is leading new people to your site.
5. Make sure your website loads quickly
Or more specifically, in under three seconds, because 40% of users will leave a page if it takes more than that to load! Slow websites are one of the biggest sales killers, and a second delay can result in a reduction of conversions by 7%!
By ensuring that your website loads in under 3 seconds, you can boost your conversion rates by 21%. This Google tool will conduct a website check and provide pointers on how you can optimize your loading speeds.
6. Engage influencers
Social media has greatly influenced the digital marketing landscape. Now more than ever, people rely on social media influencers for opinions, trends and thoughts. Which means that one of the most effective growth hacking strategies for ecommerce sites is to simply engage social media influencers.
In fact, doing so can generate twice the amount of sales as compared to other forms of paid advertising. Not sure where or how to engage social media influencers? Read this post to understand more!
7. Launch seasonal campaigns
Holidays like Christmas and Valentine’s Day are ecommerce pay days, because buyers are willing to make bigger purchases. To take full advantage of these occasions, you can run a seasonal campaign. They don’t necessarily have to be promotions or discounts, you can also get buyers interested by releasing limited-edition items or holiday season packaging.
Give yourself adequate time to prepare designs, launch dates and marketing. You can also promote your campaign via user-generated content, such as coming up with a unique Instagram hashtag. For example, back in 2016 Starbucks used the hashtag #redcupcontest to promote their seasonal drinks.
8. Incentivize your checkout page
Cart abandonment is a real thing. In fact, this research by Baymard Institute shows that 70% of shoppers leave their shopping carts without completing the purchase! Therefore, by incentivizing buyers to complete the purchase can greatly boost sales.
One way to do this is to offer discount codes that need to be entered at the last page of checkout. Having the discount is already a motivation, and by making buyers enter it as the final step of checkout makes them much more likely to complete the purchase.
You can use promotional newsletters and social media ads to put the discount code out there. The more people see them, the more buyers you will have checking out at your page! It is another win-win situation: the customers get rewarded with a discount, while you’re rewarded by more sales.
9. Drive repeat orders
Don’t just focus your efforts in getting more new customers. Your returning customers are ultimately more valuable as they are two times more likely to make a purchase.
A simple way to get customers to come back is to recommend related products via email and invite them back to the store to make a purchase. In the email, you can offer them something extra for making another purchase, such as free shipping, an added gift or a discount.
Another way to drive repeat orders is to implement a loyalty scheme such as a points system that your customers can go on to exchange for free products, or one where they can get a discount on their fifth or tenth purchase! Depending on what products you are selling, you can also implement a membership program and offer exclusive member deals.
