Sales increase: Turnover in your Online Shop

Online merchants are always looking for ways of sales increase in their online shop. Since established online shops don’t simply add new products to their range and the target group doesn’t usually change from one day to the next, shop owners have to get creative. For sales increase online shops have numerous options available: from checkout optimisation to email marketing to reducing abandoned orders and optimising product presentation.

As long as these initiatives are sustainable for sales increase and ensuring strong customer loyalty, there is no limit to how creative you can be. This blog post is about measures of sales increase for online shops and provides shop owners with an overview. So don’t waste any more time and start influencing the buying decisions of your customers!

Basics for a sales increase in your online shop

Before we get to the slightly more sophisticated sales-boosting initiatives, let’s first look at the basics. These basics are the foundation of every online shop. It’s clear, for example, that without traffic (e.g. via search engine optimisation) no sales will occur and that without suitable product presentation (e.g. through product photos) no products can be sold. There will be no sales increase in your online shop.

We first roughly divide the foundations for high turnover in your online shop into three phases, corresponding to the customer journey: traffic generation, user experience design and checkout optimisation.

Traffic generation for a sales increase

Of course, visitors must first be in your online shop in order to make a purchase at all and for sales increase. Display ads, Google ads (SEA) and social media are some of the options for this. Search engine optimisation (SEO) is of particular importance for traffic generation, as this instrument, when used correctly, directs large streams of visitors to websites in a long-term and cost-effective manner. Read our blog post Conversion Rates by Industry to learn about Micro and Macro Conversion.

User Experience-Design (UX-Design) for a high turnover in your Online Shop

Once visitors have entered your shop, the next thing they need to do is be able to find their way around – ideally from the very first moment. With an optimised UX design, you’re ensuring an intuitive and user-friendly design for your online shop. Visitors know immediately where to find which product. The longer potential customers need to find their way around, the more likely they are to abandon a purchase. So, use intuitive navigation, meaningful CtA buttons (call-to-action) and an early provision of crucial information (product description, product photos, shipping costs, etc.) to optimise your UX design and for a sales increase in your online shop.

Checkout optimisation for sales increase

If a visitor is in the checkout phase, the likelihood of making a purchase increases. In order to actually generate sales increase in your online shop and avoid order abandonments, the checkout should be designed in an uncomplicated fashion. Strictly speaking, checkout optimisation is part of UX design. After all, it’s all about usability. However, because of the importance of this phase within the customer journey, the checkout deserves special attention. After all, this is where the likelihood of a purchase is very high, which is why optimisation at this point is particularly worthwhile. Checkout optimisation includes, among other things, a quick ordering process, versatile payment methods and the option to order as a visitor.

With these basics, the chances of sales increase and thus increasing the turnover of your online shop are good. Each of these three phases nevertheless needs constant optimisation – for instance as new traffic sources arise. User expectations are also constantly changing (e.g. due to new technologies), which is why your UX design needs to be continually looked at critically in terms of its user-friendliness. Remember: your competitors aren’t sitting on their hands either.

Online shops shouldn’t stop at this point, because the sales potential is far from exhausted. After all, it’s all about the basics. With the right initiatives, you can ensure a further significant sales increase in your online shop. We will show you what further steps will ensure a strong sales increase!

Sales increase through more trust

Trust is a prerequisite for every harmonious relationship, not just in interpersonal relationships. In business, too, trust is the foundation of every relationship. If an online shop creates a solid relationship of trust with its customers, the effort will pay off in the form of sales increase. It’s true after all: who trusts, buys. And those who buy, come back.

Trust is a deeply psychological phenomenon and therefore requires a good understanding of a business relationship. In our blogpost Creating trust in e-commerce, we therefore relate the “Integrative Model of Organisational Trust” to e-commerce.

Now we come to the specific measures that can build trust and signal to potential customers that this is a serious online shop which has high-quality products.

Quality seals for sales increase

Place well-known quality seals (e.g. Trusted Shops) in suitable places in your online shop – ideally along the entire customer journey. In addition to the footer, ideal places for this are your product pages and the checkout process. Another plus: many price comparison sites also display the relevant certifications in the form of quality seals in their results. This immediately proves your trustworthiness and naturally has a strong effect on a potential customer’s purchase decision.

Social Proof for sales increase

Since we cannot touch a product and test it out if necessary when buying online, we draw on other people’s experiences. The most common method of social proof is customer reviews in online shops. For 63% of respondents in a survey, customer reviews are considered a decisive criterion when choosing a shop. Product reviews on YouTube as well as the company’s own social media accounts are other excellent ways to gather customer feedback and provide social proof for sales increase.

Service orientation for sales increase

You can also build lasting trust by foregoing communications that are advertising-heavy in favour of communications that are service-oriented. Once a visitor is in your online shop, this user’s needs should come to the fore. Don’t overwhelm your visitors with advertising. This way you show that the customer is your priority. You also strengthen customer loyalty as a result.

Personalisation for sales increase

A more subtle but still very effective way to build trust in e-commerce is to personalise your communications. This refers to both your tone and how you address people. Should a visitor be addressed cordially, matter-of-factly or in a hip fashion instead? To give a specific example that can be implemented quickly: The uptain® ALGORITHM analyses these communication preferences for winning back your order abandoners so as to successfully reduce your abandonment rate.

Sales increase by increasing shopping carts

You’ve done everything right if a customer shows interest in products, puts them in their shopping cart and places their order. But there’s even more you can do! Through cross-selling and up-selling, you can in many cases ensure a further strong sales increase in your online shop by increasing the value of the shopping cart in the middle of the ordering process. However, do be careful not to appear too promotional. Instead, cross-selling and up-selling should always offer the customer added value. This is how you can discreetly influence buying behaviour.

Cross-Selling for sales increase

Just about every product creates a potential need for further products. Cross-selling describes precisely this mechanism: the sale of products that suit a product. Customers quickly buy several products at once, which leads to sales increase in your online shop. As a rule, cross-selling products are labelled “similar items”.

When I buy a smartphone, I usually need a case and screen protector as well. Headphones are also excellent to sell with smartphones.

Up-Selling for sales increase

In contrast to cross-selling, online retailers don’t try to sell more products with up-selling, but products of a higher price and quality, which at the same time lead to sales increase in your online shop. However, caution is advised, especially with up-selling, as online retailers quickly alienate customers through pushy up-selling.

To stay with the smartphone example: I put a smartphone with 64GB of storage in my shopping cart. By means of up-selling, the online shop offers me the same smartphone in a 128GB version. Depending on whether the price appeals to me or not, I decide on one of the two versions.

Reducing shopping cart abandonment

Did you know that 70% of already filled shopping carts are abandoned without the customer placing an order? Order abandoners are extremely annoying for online shops: They are directed to your website with the help of time-consuming and expensive marketing initiatives, show unmistakable interest in specific products – and end up leaving their shopping cart without buying. And this despite the fact that a willingness to buy is very high at this stage of their customer journey. In the worst case, potential customers switch to your competitors. In the best case, however, you can smartly win back your order abandoners and thus secure sales.

With uptain you can win back up to 30% of your order abandoners. The tool uses exit intent pop-ups and abandoned cart emails to successfully win back customers. In addition, this tool ensures sustainable growth of your loyal clientele with the help of personalised GDPR-compliant newsletter popups. Online shops thus have sales increase at a point where the customer was actually thought to be lost.

• Exit intent pop-ups appear shortly before a visitor leaves your online shop. Using intelligent data processing, the software recognises customer characteristics and the reason for abandonment, so that the exit intent pop-up then addresses the needs of the order abandoner in terms of content. The tone (cordial, matter-of-fact, hip) and the purchase incentive (e.g. service offer or discount code) are thus perfectly tailored to the individual order abandoner. In this way, online retailers can secure sales that they had almost lost or even have a sales increase.
• Abandoned cart emails are sent after an order has already been abandoned. Here, too, the tool responds in a customised fashion to the individual cart abandoner so that they feel addressed and attended to in the best possible way. Depending on their reason for abandonment, a service offer (email, phone or Whatsapp service), a discount code or a simple shopping cart reminder appears as an incentive to buy. As a result, the order abandoner returns to the purchase process satisfied and sales increase.

Mobile users generate additional turnover in your online shop

Often treated merely as a sideshow, online shopping on mobile phones is an underestimated revenue driver for any online shop. While in 2017 the share of mobile transactions was 40%, it grew to 48% in 2018. The trend towards mobile shopping requires solutions that are specialised in mobile online shopping, because this is where buying behaviour is fundamentally different:

• Mobile devices are often used for research purposes.
• The display is much smaller than on the desktop
• The visitor to your shop may be on the move.
• Building trust is much more difficult in mobile commerce.
• The smartphone as a means of communication carries a high risk of distraction.

In addition to a responsive web design that enhances usability, any plug-ins should be compatible on mobile devices. On mobile devices, Uptain’s exit intent technology recognises through tab and app switchovers whether and when the user wants to abandon. Mobile buying behaviour is also taken into account in winning back order abandoners and for sales increase in your online shop.

Using high-turnover periods for sustainable growth and sales increase

The period between Black Friday and Christmas is by far the strongest sales period for both retail shops and e-commerce. Many online shops have a large sales increase during the Christmas season. Almost a quarter of total online turnover is generated by online shops via their trading at Christmas.

Consequently, the focus is on sales increase in the course of Christmas retail or other high selling seasons (Easter, Valentine’s Day, etc.). Since this is usually a significant but short-term sales increase, a lot of potential is lost. After all, high-turnover periods with increased traffic and higher demand offer a good opportunity to win new customers and retain customers in the long term. Thus, with the right preparation for high-turnover periods, online shops can generate sales increase throughout the year.

Winning new customers

Surveys show that consumers give gifts to an average of eight people at Christmas. The per capita spend on Christmas gifts was € 475 in 2019. With all the gifts we buy at this time, e-commerce takes the pressure off us. Especially in times of the Corona Crisis, there is a strong expectation that the Christmas trade will benefit online retail.

The hurdle of placing an initial order is much lower at this time because everyone wants to buy Christmas gifts for their loved ones in good time. Once a customer has placed their first order, a relationship of trust is built up with the shop, which ensures sales increase in your online shop even outside of high-turnover periods. Thus the right preparation not only strengthens the important Christmas trade. During this short period, the otherwise low-turnover periods in online retail are also strengthened for the long term by the acquisition of new customers.

With uptain, online shops can convert undecided visitors into new customers shortly before they abandon their orders. A personalised exit intent pop-up delivers a purchase incentive tailored to the individual order abandoner, convincing them to place their order after all.

Building up existing customers

It’s from existing customers that online shops generate a large proportion of their annual online turnover. Although repeat or regular customers account for only 8% of annual traffic, they generate 41% of sales.

In order to sustainable sales increase throughout the year, online shops should focus on building up their existing customers. With qualitative newsletter leads and suitable newsletter content, online shops create loyal customers. Periods with high demand and increased traffic are perfect for this as the number of potential registrations increases rapidly due to the high traffic.

With uptain, online shops generate quality newsletter subscribers. Our GDPR-compliant newsletter pop-ups convince shop visitors of the benefits of a newsletter subscription. The algorithm behind it matches the right moment and gives the visitor an incentive that is appropriate for them (e.g. discount code or FOMO). This is how unknown visitors become returning regular customers.

In addition to purely business-related measures (e.g. pricing) and the necessary basics mentioned at the beginning (traffic generation, UX design and checkout process), there’s enough scope for sales increase in your online shop. Whether it’s gaining trust, winning back numerous order abandoners or focusing on mobile customers: new sales can also be generated in established online shops. You just have to know where to find them.

Online retailers can make use of intelligent tools that are suitable for sales increase. Thus, uptain automatically turns your order abandoners into paying customers – in all shop systems, without being annoying and with customised purchase incentives.