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Top 10 Ecommerce Mistakes

By Eric Leuenberger Leave a Comment

Top 10 Ecommerce Mistakes

Here is a list of the top 10 mistakes (and myths) I see ecommerce stores fall into:

  1. Thinking that driving more traffic to your website will increase sales. (There are two types of traffic in general. Knowing which one to go after is the key to increased sales. More is not always better — that is, unless the right elements are in place to maximize sales from it.)
  2. Weak site design in relation to your target market. (i.e., Do you design for your market or do you just design a site thinking that alone will sell your product?)
  3. Not marketing enough or properly. (You can’t make sales if nobody knows you exist. Marketing is critical but it must be done correctly to gain the maximum benefit.)
  4. Try to sell the wrong product online. (Think that just because you have a product it’s going to sell? Think again. Unless you’ve done your homework first, you may be surprised to find that there isn’t a market for what you’re trying to sell online.)
  5. Not testing your site to find what really works. (If you ignore your site the results will show.)
  6. Not optimizing your product pages for increased conversion. (Your product page has a single overall objective with sub roles that help meet that objective. If you don’t know what this is, you have no chance of getting users into your checkout process at all.)
  7. Inadequate site usability. (There are a number of things that can help you determine if usability is a problem and then help you improve upon this. Usability is like the Yellow Brick Road to more sales.)
  8. No comprehensive marketing plan in place. (This is one of the number one reasons most ecommerce businesses are destined for failure before they even start.)
  9. Too many obstacles to shopping. (Adhering by the KISS [Keep It Simple Stupid] principle is crucial to helping customers do their job.)
  10. Poor customer service. (Do you answer your customers’ questions before they ask them? Knowing what they expect and at what moment will improve your customer service.)

If you make even just one of these mistakes, you are likely losing sales and hurting your ability to maximize your sales.

And please know, you are not alone in these mistakes. These are the top 10 mistakes I find most often, and I work with a lot of ecommerce entrepreneurs.

This is a perfect outline of the problems Ecommerce Amplifier fixes. The six-step tutorial will solve all of these problems and if you sign up for the Premium level, I’ll even provide you with my expert website review – pointing out exactly what you’re doing right and what you can improve.

Filed Under: Conversion, Customer Retention, Increase sales, Marketing Strategies Tagged With: conversion, customer experience, ecommerce mistakes, increase ecommerce sales, tips for ecommerce business

4 Ways to Increase Average Order Value

By Eric Leuenberger Leave a Comment

4 Ways to Increase Average Order Value

Here are 4 ways to increase your customers’ average order value:

1. Increase product price
To do this effectively you must understand what your market is willing to pay and be conscience how competitors price their products.

2. Cross sell similar products
This works when the products are related but often has the opposite effect when the products have little in common. The primary goal of a cross sell should be to increase the customer’s average order value by offering them a related item which they can add to their cart in addition to the item they are currently considering.

3. Offer free shipping offer with constraints
It’s no hidden secret that free shipping works. In fact the majority of Internet shoppers expect free shipping. You can take advantage of this and also increase your average order value by offering free shipping for orders that reach a certain minimum. If you want your average order value to be $45 for example then you may want to consider offering free shipping for all orders $45 and over.

4. Create product bundles
A great way to increase your average order value is to develop combinations of products that when bought separately would cost more. For example, let’s say you sell Apple iPods. You have an iPod Nano for $149.95 and a car adapter priced at $54.95 (a separate cross sell). These items are likely to be purchased together yet when purchased as individual items a customer would have to pay a total of $204.90. Bundle the two together and price it for less and your customer will see it as a deal that can’t be passed up.

These are just a few examples of the ways you can increase the average order value and increase the revenue your online store generates. Test a few and let me know your results.

 

Filed Under: Conversion, Increase sales Tagged With: conversion, increase cart value, increase ecommerce sales, increase online sales

Planning Special Promotions for Your Online Store

By Eric Leuenberger Leave a Comment

Just a reminder that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. If this is a time you can use to promote specialty products in your online store, now is the time to get those in place.

And don’t forget:

Columbus Day – Oct. 12

Halloween – Oct. 31

Election Day – Nov. 5

Veterans’ Day – Nov. 11

Hanukkah Starts – Nov. 27

Thanksgiving – Nov. 28

Heck! Daylight Savings ends on Nov. 3 and the Great American Smokeout is Nov. 21.

Find what fits your online store offerings and create a special promotion to match it. You can increase traffic, increase conversion and increase sales.

 

Filed Under: Marketing Strategies Tagged With: increase sales online, marketing specials, online marketing

10 Strategies for Ecommerce Shipping

By Eric Leuenberger Leave a Comment

Strategies for Ecommerce Shipping

You know what happens the day after Labor Day? The holidays come at you like a freight train come down the track fast!

This year, consider what you can do to improve your holiday sales. One area to focus on is shipping.

Free shipping is a sales driver—it always has been and likely always will be. If you can’t offer free shipping on every order, try the following practices to maximize client satisfaction.

Shipping Best Practices

1. Don’t make customers login to get shipping rates.

2. Include shipping info on all the product pages.

3. Link to the shipping page from the shopping car.

4. Don’t try to make money on shipping.

5. Consider offering free shipping at a level above your average order value.

6. Show delivery estimates by region.

7. Ship next business day as the norm. Ship express orders same day.

8. Provide tracking numbers.

9. Don’t ignore or point fingers on lost shipments.

10. Under promise and over deliver… figuratively speaking.

Here’s some more proof that free shipping is high on customer want lists. And here’s a post that shows the sales results generated from testing various types of shipping promotions (although these were tested during none holiday seasons.)

Filed Under: Increase sales Tagged With: ecommerce, ecommerce amplifier, shipping

Creating Effective Email Campaigns

By Eric Leuenberger Leave a Comment

Creating Effective Email Campaigns

Customer retention is your ticket to profitable sales, which I explained in this post about the 80/20 rule and the lifetime of a customer. And I also discussed some key ways to earn customer loyalty, including staying in front of your customers.

Email marketing is a great way to stay in front of your customers.

But how do you create an effective email? Start with four key elements:

  1. From name: this should be the name of your business or website because that’s who they want to interact with and it avoids any deception, which is the first way to lose customers.
  2. Subject line: make it short, sweet and intriguing to allow them to quickly understand what the email is about and entice them to open it.
  3. Email content (body): can include images and text and should follow up on the subject line, outline the offer, state the benefits to the customer and include the call to action.
  4. Call to action: ask your customer to do something. What is the end goal of your email? This is what you want to tell them to do. “Shop now,” “Learn more,” “Click for details,” “Go shopping,” “Add to cart,” etc. You have to ask (or tell) if you want them to do something. Customers like to be encouraged to take action.

These four elements are the basic components of effective customer marketing: Get Interest, Get Opened, Get the Action.

Filed Under: Customer Retention Tagged With: Customer Retention, Email Marketing

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