Online sales have skyrocketed since the pandemic in 2020. As more businesses have opened their virtual doors, the competition has grown increasingly stiff. How do you differentiate yourself from the thousands of competitors in your niche? In a sea of online businesses, how do you inform potential customers that you exist?
One of the most strategic ways is to drive traffic to your e-Commerce website. Traffic is the foundation of the success of your e-Commerce business.
What Are The Prerequisites To Driving Traffic To Your e-Commerce Website?
Luckily, there is no lack of strategies to help boost your traffic and drive them directly to your website. However, just getting them to land on your website is not enough. The most important event that must happen once a casual visitor lands upon your website is for this to turn into a sale.
For this to happen, some conditions must be laid in place, to ensure that not only the incoming traffic is converted, but viable as well. Here are some issues to ponder:
- Will it sell? Any product you sell must be something that your audience actually wants and is willing to pay for. There must be a significant reward in exchange for the cost to invest in making, marketing, and selling said product.
- Is there a market? In your market research, did you find that there are already customers spending money on this particular category of product?
- Does the target market have shared qualities? In this group of people already buying a similar product, do they have any identifiable qualities? Determine which market segment it is to target directly.
- Do you have a persuasive copy? You may have communicated your unique selling proposition or (USP), but has this been converted to persuasive copy on your website and across your social media channels? Does it drive customers to purchase your product?
- Is there a cost-effective way to reach your audience? Your marketing efforts to acquire new customers must be cost-efficient. Find the most affordable ways to get your customers without depleting your bottom line.
How To Boost Traffic To Your Website
As mentioned previously, there are a plethora of ways for driving traffic to your e-Commerce website. However, if you are just starting out, or your business is on a tight budget, you might be interested in exploring ways to boost your traffic, more cost-effectively.
1. Launch a referral program
When you get a lead that comes as a result of a referral, they convert at a “30 percent higher rate” than any marketing method in existence. It doesn’t have to be complicated and you can start anytime. You simply provide your current customers with something they value in exchange for bringing in new customers to you.
2. Optimize the “On-Page” experience
Google provides helpful tips on improving the “On-page” experience. This is a crucial element that determines whether or not your website should rank. When it comes to the “On-Page” experience, some of the features it looks at include mobile optimization, core web vitals, and user-friendliness.
Run reports on the above features so that your visitors have an easier time navigating your site and it will appear better for Google.
3. Start a blog
When it comes to the search market, Google owns most of it at 92 percent. If you want to see traffic to your site, then taking the time to invest in SEO is the answer. Launch a blog and deliver useful content. If you do not have a blog on your e-Commerce site, take a look at your e-Commerce platform as they might have blogging templates to give you your start.
4. Start an e-mail list
One of the best ways to build relationships and trust with your customers is to launch an e-mail list. According to Bain & Company, customers that are returning spent 67% more than first-time customers. Therefore, if you keep an e-mail list, you can continue to nurture the relationship with current customers, informing them of your news, product launches, sales, and discounts.
5. Improve your call-to-action (CTAs)
According to the Invesp website, studies in 2020 demonstrated that the conversion rate for e-commerce websites was only 2.86%. One of the best strategies to improve this is to provide an effective CTA to get visitors to sign up for your e-mail.
There are so many tactics you can employ to get a good result. One of the tactics you can use is to change up the color of the CTA button as well as the wording. Test to see which one sees the most uptick in sign-ups.
6. Optimize the checkout process
There are a variety of reasons why users abandon their shopping carts. It can be tied to the cost of shipping, way too many steps, extra fees, and an overall dismal experience.
Many customers are shopping online, but they still require a safe, seamless experience. Online businesses should focus on being completely honest with their pricing, limit the steps to purchases, and disclose the cost of shipping early on in the purchase process.
7. Start a rewards program
One of the most powerful ways of reeling in customers for repeat sales is starting a loyalty program.
A great strategy, a rewards program works because you are “rewarding” customers for doing business with you again. Customers should benefit from every dollar they spend, they gain “one dollar in rewards.” The more the customer spends, the more they get back in rewards, incentives, and discounts.
Start Driving Traffic To Your Website Today
Just implementing a few of the aforementioned tactics are likely to radically change your current traffic efforts. You don’t have to execute these tactics to the letter, just take small steps to improve your current strategies.
Start by identifying the most simple and basic problem and make the small changes necessary to see results.
