All entrepreneurs working in the trade sphere ask a question about how to increase sales. There is no universal algorithm for increasing sales, but you can find many ways that can help. In this article, we will tell you how to increase sales.
All entrepreneurs working in the trade sphere ask a question about how to increase sales. There is no universal algorithm for increasing sales, but you can find many ways that can help. In this article, we will tell you how to increase sales.
Researching Demand
If you are not satisfied with your sales rate, study the demand for your products or services. Your product line may not be attractive and should be changed to attract customers. You can use free promotional tools like Google Trends to study demand. Find out the popularity level of search queries related to your offerings. If audience interest is low throughout the year, achieving sales growth in such an environment is complicated.
Try to find trending products with consistently high demand, and then add them to your offerings. Repeat these steps before each addition of new items to understand the feasibility of the offer. Also, compare your offering with competitors doing well and adjust your sales.
The proper sales funnel
Examine the customer's journey from product introduction to purchasing. Marketers identify four main stages that the customer goes through.
-
Awareness. Customers know the product or service exists but may not know about you.
-
Interest. Customers show interest in the products you have.
-
Desire. Customers want the product, and they choose where to buy it.
-
Action. Customers interact with you and buy a product from you.
Depending on the nature of the business, the sales funnel may differ, but the principles remain the same. Look at how you are working with customers at each stage. Maybe you are not doing enough to get customers to move from desire to action, or you are not promoting your products enough to get them interested.
Change your sales funnel if you are not prioritizing it correctly. For example, if you have a high abandonment rate in your online store, you lose customers when they are close to buying. But you are not trying to catch up with them, and you start looking for new customers to lead throughout your sales funnel. Instead, do not only focus on those who have reached the last stage of the funnel but also try to bring back those who have fallen off the track at this point.
CRM-system implementation
CRM-system is the key to quality customer service and streamlined business operations. The accounting system automates part of the business processes and prevents you from missing leads. For example, if you forget to call a customer back, CRM will remind you. CRM stores collected information about each client, which will help you better understand your target audience. Using customer information, you can conduct marketing activities.
Increasing your company's efficiency is another reason why you need a CRM. The program analyzes employees' actions, such as how they handle leads. By getting statistics on managers' performance, you will find your weaknesses and fix them. Perhaps you will learn that too much time passes between the receipt of the application and the first contact with the client, so they refuse to buy. CRM will also help you create a sales funnel, taking into account different scenarios, and you will see how customers move through it.
Using new promotion tools
Online store promotion has a lot to say, and almost all entrepreneurs realize the importance of advertising. But not everyone follows the emergence of new advertising tools and uses them in practice. Companies like Google regularly improve their promotional tools to improve the quality and effectiveness of their ads. You will have an advantage over your competitors by being one of the first to use them.
For example, Google Performance Max, a new type of ad campaign, has recently emerged. It will replace intelligent sales campaigns entirely in the future, and it is best to get used to it now. This tool lets you promote your products on all of Google's advertising platforms at the same time. This way, you will increase the reach of your potential customer audience without a significant increase in your advertising budget.
You can also increase your online sales by using Smart Shopping. This tool from Google allows you to show product ads in the most profitable places and not be limited only to search results, as with regular Google Shopping. In addition, Smart Shopping is more automated and does not require in-depth human involvement.
Launching promotional offers
Launching promotional offers is one of the easiest and most effective ways to get customers' attention. Some companies have built their successful businesses using a model of large but short-lived promotions. In addition to the usual discounts, you can hold raffles or other contests that will help attract a new audience of customers. It is best to conduct such promotions on social networks to achieve greater reach.
Increasing the average check
The average check shows your sales efficiency and indicates the purchasing power of the target audience. The two most popular ways to increase the average bill are upselling and cross-sales. The upsell method is to convince your customer to buy a more expensive product. For example, the customer wants to buy a washing machine without the dryer function, and the consultant talks about the convenience of this function and convinces him. As a result: the customer purchases a product from a more expensive line, and you increase the average bill.
Cross-selling is a way to increase the average check when you offer customer-related products to those that he has already chosen. The clearest example of cross-selling that everyone has encountered is buying a smartphone. Consultants in stores always offer to buy a case, a protective glass, or headphones to go with it. The customer is likely to need each of these items in the future. Therefore, he can buy them all at once for convenience. Cross-selling is encouraged by offering a discount on a set of products so that it is cheaper to buy them together than separately.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a business promotion with the help of email newsletters. An essential advantage of mailing lists compared to other promotion means is that they target a lukewarm audience of customers. If the customer is in the mailing list database, he used your services or was so interested in them that he left his contacts. This audience is much easier to work with, as they already know you.
Through email, you can make personalized offers to customers. For example, based on their purchase history or reviewed products, offer a discount on a product they find interesting. Emails also allow you to bring back customers who have abandoned their shopping cart by reminding them of it. And if a customer has not bought from you in a while, a mailing will help "revive" them - offer them a personalized discount on their purchase.
Loyalty Program
Reward your customers for buying from you, and it will give them the incentive to buy again. Discounts will be the best reward, and how you get them will depend on your loyalty program. You can use the following loyalty programs:
-
a cumulative discount that increases based on the total amount of purchases;
-
a system of bonuses, which are accumulated for purchases and later exchanged for discounts or goods;
-
cashback;
-
referral marketing.
Conclusion
We hope that our recommendations will help you increase your sales. Use different ways to increase your sales to realize the potential of your business.