Your e-commerce investment is a big one. The “if you build it, they will come” approach does not apply. Your traffic is low, and sales are flat. What to do?
Why aren’t I selling as much as I could be?
As with any business, online or brick and mortar, there are certain fundamentals to customer acquisition and conversion that remain constant.
Establishing Demand
Is the demand seasonal or is it constant? Is it something people would feel comfortable buying online?
Understanding the Competition
How are you doing when it comes to competing against common keywords? How strong is their grip of the market? It could be that you have terrible SEO compared to them and people literally can’t find you. At the end of the day, SEO is very much like real life. In real life, you’d want to try to sell on “Main Street”, right? Well, “Main Street” on the internet is claiming the first 4 organic results for your search terms on Google. Try to find this out by using tools like Compete or SimilarSites.
Time on the market
The first few weeks that you’ve opened your store might be slow for you. Sometimes it’s important to manage expectations.
Promotion and Lead Management
How are you getting a steady stream of leads? Are you collecting emails? Are you running ads?
Getting down to the nitty gritty
Key Metric 1 – Conversion Rate
Are you getting a lot of site visits but very few conversions? What’s the shopping cart abandonment rate?
Key Metric 2 – Site Speed
What is your site load speed? The slower it is, the higher your shopping cart abandonment rate and bounce rate.
Key Metrics 3 & 4 – Time on Site and Bounce Rate
Whats the average amount of time that people are spending on your website? Is the bounce rate very high? If both of them seem poor – you’re probably not clearly articulating the value of what your site is selling.
Pricing
Is the pricing appropriate? Perhaps you’re selling SKUs which could be found elsewhere on the internet for a cheaper price.
Channel Diversity
Are you selling on multiple channels? Perhaps you shouldn’t just be spending all your time just on the store you built yourself….try selling on eBay, Amazon, Etsy, etc. This is called selling multichannel.
Search Engine and Social Marketing
Have you invested in marketing your website? Where are you marketing it? Are you seeing any return on investment from these marketing channels you’re currently pursuing? You wouldn’t be spending money on Facebook ads if you’re selling rubber gaskets, you’d be advertising on forums where people talk about that kind of stuff.
Specialize and Thrive
Is your niche targeted enough? Perhaps you’re not craving yourself a name for your site as “the destination site for X.” This might be reflected in a lack of variety regarding the products you’re selling. This inevitably will spill over to marketing.
Email is King
Are you sending customers enough emails? Email is BY FAR the most effective method to convince someone to return to your site. Don’t just sent one – create drip campaigns. Brand awareness is created by seeing a brand in multiple places.
These are good places to start. I hope this helps!
I can help you grow your business in any of these areas. Please contact me!