{"id":620,"date":"2017-04-27T06:00:15","date_gmt":"2017-04-27T06:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web_staging_fern.staging.cartstack.com\/blog\/?p=620"},"modified":"2020-11-11T20:52:31","modified_gmt":"2020-11-11T20:52:31","slug":"5-quickest-ways-boost-online-sales-slump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cartstack.com\/blog\/5-quickest-ways-boost-online-sales-slump\/","title":{"rendered":"The 5 Quickest Ways to Boost Online Sales During A Slump"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve owned or managed an ecommerce store for more than a few months, there\u2019s one thing that you\u2019re keenly aware of…<\/p>\n

A good product or service does not always mean consistent sales.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You could have the best product at an attractive price point, and do everything you’re supposed to. And while some months are champagne and steak, others are still water and ramen noodles (not that there\u2019s anything wrong with a little ramen now and then).<\/p>\n

Growth and consistency are two things we all strive for in this industry, and with the right marketing strategies in place, growth can be seen in a relatively short amount of time (depending on your definition of \u201cshort\u201d). Unfortunately, achieving consistency means a lot of testing, breaking, fixing, analyzing, breaking again, fixing again, recognizing patterns, implementing new strategies and repeating.<\/p>\n

All that to say: Achieving consistency in ecommerce takes time<\/span>.<\/p>\n

For the majority of ecommerce stores, sales slumps are a regular occurrence. But not everyone has a plan in place to balance things out when they happen. For that reason, we\u2019ve compiled a list of our favorite ways boost online sales when your business is seeing a lull.<\/p>\n

1. Send A One Time Offer Email<\/h2>\n

So many small business owners still don\u2019t realize the power that is contained within an email list. So much power that it could catapult you from \u201cramen\u201d to \u201csteak\u201d in a day!<\/p>\n

Frank Kern, once touted as the \u201cBest Digital Marketer in the World\u201d, refers to a good email list as a mysterious stranger waiting to give you loads of cash if you can give them a reason to.<\/p>\n

Give them a reason!<\/p>\n

One quick way would be to run a one day sale. But there is some planning that will need to go into this to make sure the sale goes off without a hitch.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Pick a hot ticket item or items from your store and decide on a significant discount to offer your buyers. Try to offer a higher-than-normal discount, but check the math to make sure it will still result in a healthy addition to your bottom line.<\/li>\n
  2. Promote the sale HEAVILY through email and social media before the sale date.<\/li>\n
  3. Make sure support is in place to be able to handle what could be abnormally high volume on the day of the sale.<\/li>\n
  4. Make sure the scarcity of the sale (\u201cOne Day Only!\u201d) is in as many places as possible, including your website, your checkout page, the actual cart, and anywhere else your buyers could see it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Without digging too deep into email strategy, some of the main things to focus on while crafting your main offer email include subject line, benefits, call to action and scarcity.<\/p>\n

    Subject Line<\/h5>\n

    If your subject line isn\u2019t enticing enough for the reader to open the email, they won\u2019t. Intrigue and excite your audience enough to get them to open the email, but don\u2019t give them too much detail. Some examples you could try include:<\/p>\n

    We probably shouldn\u2019t be doing this\u2026<\/p>\n

    We\u2019ve never had a sale like this<\/p>\n

    Today is the day!<\/p>\n

    Check out this list of high converting sales subject lines<\/a> from ThriveHive.<\/p>\n

    Benefits<\/h5>\n

    Make the body of your email about the buyer, not about you. Focus on the benefits the customer would see when taking advantage of the sale, owning the product, etc. Use \u201cyou\u201d more than \u201cwe\u201d or \u201dI\u201d.<\/p>\n

    Call to Action<\/h5>\n

    Use a strong call to action in the copy. Avoid your typical \u201cLearn More\u201d or \u201cFind Out More\u201d language and get right to the point: \u201cClaim My 70% Off\u201d or \u201cShop [PRODUCTS] Now\u201d.<\/p>\n

    Scarcity<\/h5>\n

    Make sure that the scarcity aspect of the sale is in two different places in your email. (see below)<\/p>\n

    \"cartstack_boost_sales_email\"<\/p>\n

    If running a big sale isn\u2019t an option for you, or you\u2019d like to test another tactic, you could also try a \u201cbuy one get one free\/discounted\u201d promotion, offer free shipping on all orders for a day (again, do the math), or even just offer a returning customer-only incentive.<\/p>\n

    **Note** If your marketing strategy doesn\u2019t contain an email list-building component (i.e. You don\u2019t have an email list), that\u2019s alright. You can deploy the same concepts through social media, affiliate marketing opportunities, and other channels.<\/p>\n

    2. Upsell, Upsell, Upsell<\/h2>\n

    Another strategy you should be using to make the most out of the sales you already have is to increase your average sales price.<\/p>\n

    Raising your prices may seem like a good way to accomplish this, but that is something you’ll want to test before launching. The quickest way to do this in ecommerce is by upselling: Recommending products or services that complement the buyer\u2019s initial purchase. And you have so many opportunities to use this strategy too.<\/p>\n

    Shopping Cart<\/h5>\n

    Start with your shopping cart. Make sure that, as customers are checking out, they are presented with other similar items they might be interested in adding to their cart as well.<\/p>\n

    Take Amazon, for example. They\u2019re the masters of the upsell. And while we can\u2019t all be Amazon, they\u2019re often a great resource to look to for sales strategies to model.<\/p>\n

    \"cartstack_boost_sales_thank_you_page\"<\/p>\n

    Thank You Page<\/h5>\n

    Don\u2019t stop at the shopping cart, though. Your cart \u201cThank You Page\u201d is another good place to recommend complementary items, since customers tend to analyze this page closely for shipping details, price confirmation, and to clarify any other questions about receiving the item.<\/p>\n

    Use the extra attention given to this page to work in your favor. Many cart platforms like WooCommerce, Volusion and Magento even offer \u201cone click checkout\u201d integrations that will allow your customers to add the item to their order with a single click.<\/p>\n

    Confirmation Email<\/h5>\n

    When your buyers start to wonder how soon their product is going to arrive or they want to double check order details, where will they check? The confirmation email.<\/p>\n

    This is another channel that receives a ton of exposure, yet often flies under the radar of many ecommerce businesses. Use it! Recommend other products or categories that might garner interest, and even offer discounts towards the customer’s next purchase!<\/p>\n

    Be sure to apply scarcity & loss aversion tactics here, as well. Expiration dates on any discounts or offers or discounts are a MUST. A customer will be twice as likely to complete a purchase if they think they may lose the opportunity to do so in the future.<\/p>\n

    If you plan on trying the first tactic (one time sale) it\u2019s a really good idea to have this upsell strategy implemented first. This way, you\u2019ll essentially be multiplying the effects of the higher volume you receive from the sale, and incentivizing customers in more ways than one.<\/p>\n

    3. Use A Tool to Recapture Abandoned Carts<\/h2>\n

    This is another tool that, if you\u2019re going to be running a big one-day promotion, you\u2019ll want to have in place before you do so. And it\u2019s one that your store needs, regardless of any promotions or sales you plan on running.<\/p>\n

    Since over 70% of online shoppers abandon their shopping carts without checking out, having a cart abandonment tool in place will make the most out of your boosted traffic.<\/p>\n

    For instance, let’s say that you drive 5,000 prospects to your site when you launch your sale, and 150 make an average purchase of $80. That means 518 people put something in their cart and didn’t check out. With the right Cart Abandonment campaign, you could recover around 100 carts, and about $8,000 more in revenue.<\/p>\n

    You can check out a demo of CartStack\u2019s Cart Abandonment tool here to see how users are recovering between 15% and 25% of all abandoned carts, and getting a $27 : $1 ROI.<\/p>\n

    4. Run a Facebook Video Ad<\/h2>\n

    According to MediaKix<\/a>, Facebook videos have increased 360% in news feeds and there are roughly 3.8 billion video views per day.Hubspot<\/a> says that 90% of users say videos greatly influence their decision making process, and \u2153 of all time spent on the internet is spent watching videos.<\/p>\n

    For many in the ecommerce space, video ads are a scary thought. After all, we\u2019re in sales, not video-production! And Facebook\u2019s ad platform can seem daunting to new users. But it\u2019s actually super simple, and could result in a crazy amount of very inexpensive, “high-intent” traffic to your site.<\/p>\n

    Facebook\u2019s ad manager is equipped with step-by-step guides to help you set up your campaign correctly. And, if at any point you have a question about something, there\u2019s almost always a nearby link to an article explaining your options and how to make the right choice.<\/p>\n

    \"cartstack_boost_ecommerce_sales_facebook\"<\/p>\n

    \"cartstack_boost_ecommerce_sales_facebook\"<\/p>\n

    Dive in and give it a try! It’s not half as scary as it looks.<\/p>\n

    Another thing to keep in mind: Your video ad doesn\u2019t need to be a super-produced, theatrical, cinematic masterpiece. It just needs to intrigue, inform and excite potential buyers. Your viewers are far more concerned with content than quality.<\/p>\n

    Length<\/h5>\n

    Try to keep it short. You only have 1 second to catch their attention, and 8 seconds to intrigue them enough to keep it. Not only that, a study released by Facebook<\/a> shows that 79% of a video ad\u2019s total recall can be attributed to the first 10 seconds of the video.<\/p>\n

    Content<\/h5>\n

    Typically, people aren\u2019t on Facebook because they want to shop. They\u2019re there to catch up on current events, see what their friends are up to, and maybe find out something interesting that they didn\u2019t know before.<\/p>\n

    Your product is that \u201csomething interesting\u201d.<\/p>\n

    So, in that vein, try not to \u201csell\u201d the product too much in the video and let the product sell itself. Show different ways to use it, what differentiates it from competitors, and hit on all the benefits of owning the item(s).<\/p>\n

    Think of the times that a Facebook video has caught your eye and you stopped scrolling and began watching. More than likely, it was because something early on in the video intrigued you enough for you to devote slightly more attention to it.<\/p>\n

    This should be your goal. Intrigue your potential viewers early on, and retain it.<\/p>\n

    Check out this example from Joyus, and in-home cardio solution. Notice how the video starts off stating the biggest benefit the product has to offer. This is their “hook”. And, while your video’s production value doesn’t need to be quite at this level, the content of this video is a very good formula for a successful Facebook ad.<\/p>\n