The ONLY 3 Ways to Increase eCommerce Sales

What happens when you search on Google "how to increase eCommerce sales?You'll get overwhelmed. Why?There are over 41 million results about this topic!And that's only on Google.  Imagine if you searched the same thing on Youtube.  Trust me, you'll still get overwhelmed with all the video results.In this post, I decided to simplify the whole process of boosting eCommerce sales.Before we get started, remember that you need 6 things to grow any type of eCommerce business.

1. You need strategies
2. You need money
3. You need product
4. You need people
5. You need technology
6. You need time

Without these 6 things, you're going to have a hard time growing your eCommerce business. Trust me, I've been there.

Understand the Difference Between Strategies & Tactics

Often times, people who run an eCommerce business get obsessed over tactics.  I personally like obsessing over strategies.What's the difference?

• Strategies are goals
• Tactics are actions to achieve goals

I'm a big fan of strategies because they're long-term and can be measured.I mean, why re-invent the wheel when you can easily apply strategies that have worked for other successful eCommerce brands in the past?Tactics on the other hand are always changing but many of them will help you achieve your goals.People get overwhelmed with tactics.So when looking at ways of increasing online sales, you need to focus on strategies so you don't get overwhelmed.

How to Increase eCommerce Sales

If you build an online store, it doesn't necessarily mean customers will immediately come and buy your products.You need marketing so you can generate awareness, build engagement, drive traffic and convert shoppers into loyal customers so they keep buying from you as as rave about your brand.You need to grab the attention of your target audience. You need to generate interest.  You need to make them desire what you have to offer and then eventually have them take action (buy your product).  This is called AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire and Action).There are only 3 ways you can increase eCommerce sales with marketing:

1. Organic Marketing
2. Paid Marketing
3. Earned Marketing

Keep in mind, you need a mix of all 3 to see significant results.

1. Use Organic Marketing to Increase eCommerce Sales

Organic marketing is the act of naturally attracting your target audience to your brand.  This is usually accomplished through content creation that is distributed across multiple channels including your online store.Organic marketing is usually not paid for but it doesn't mean it's free. You will need to invest time and money in creating the content. Content may include text, audio, video as well as all sorts of visuals such as photos and illustrations.  Unlike paid marketing, you do not spend any money on promoting this content.Organic marketing includes:

1. Content creation (blog)
2. Search engine optimization
3. Email marketing
4. Social media marketing

I created a video about 5 steps to building an organic marketing strategy.In this video, I cover the following topics:

• What is organic marketing
• The benefits of organic marketing
• What you need to know about organic marketing
• 5 steps to building your organic marketing strategy

Organic marketing is cost-effective, gives you control and lives on forever.

2. Paid Marketing to Increase eCommerce Sales

Having a set budget for paid marketing initiatives is critical if you want to increase online sales.You pay to promote your content, product & brand.Paid campaigns will help you see results in both short and long term.  When you combine it with organic campaigns, you will see a better return on your overall marketing efforts if done right.You can pay your way to promote your products on many different channels.These include:

• Paid search ads
• Social media ads
• Display media
• Influencers
• Retargeting
• Audio (podcasts, streaming radio)
• Traditional TV, radio, newspaper, billboards, magazines

Paid marketing provides immediate results, allows you to get in front of your audience fast and boosts website traffic so you can start generating revenue.Watch this video here where I share 7+ Digital Marketing Channels to Increase eCommerce Sales.

3. Use Earned Marketing to Increase eCommerce Sales

Whether you do organic or paid, you will end up benefiting from earned marketing. Earned marketing is user-generated content where your customers become the channel.It's usually characterized as word-of-mouth. People voice their love or dissatisfaction towards your brand or product.It can include product reviews on your website, mentions on social media, video reviews, testimonials, blog posts and more.This type of marketing can help boost your credibility & trust.  It may help consumers decide whether or not they should your products. Unfortunately, you don't have much control and sometimes, the user generated content is negative.It also may take time to have consumers generate this type of content. In the end, it's all worth it!