eCommerce tips: top 15 startup ideas to improve sales

When you have an eCommerce store or marketplace, how can you ensure it brings in the most revenue possible? Join us as we run through 15 eCommerce tips that will transform how you do business.

Did you know that there are between 12 and 24 million eCommerce stores worldwide?

This means that if you want to break into the world of eCommerce, there’s a lot of competition. And not just from well-established marketplaces like Amazon and eBay but smaller competitors in your specific vertical.

The good news is that there are things you can do to bring in customers, stand out from the crowd, and increase your sales. We’ve put together 15 of our favorite eCommerce tips.

1. Make sure your website is fast and mobile-friendly

Speed is everything in the eCommerce world. If your pages load too slowly, your customers will get fed up and move on — potentially to one of your competitors.

According to Google, if your page load time goes from one second to five seconds, the bounce rate increases by 90%!

It’s also crucial that your website is mobile-responsive. Over half of all online sales are now made on a smartphone device, so your page must look right on mobile. Plus, mobile responsiveness is also an SEO ranking factor, meaning a responsive site can mean better website rankings in Google.

(Although, as an alternative, why not create a speedy, UX-friendly mobile app? We’ll look at this option in more detail later!)

2. Identify your target customers

Knowing your target audience means you can adapt your website, copy, and marketing channels to appeal to the people who are most likely to buy.

Market research is essential. Analyse your existing data, check out industry trends, and carry out interviews to see who you should be selling to.

You can also look at who your competitors are targeting, which brings us nicely onto our next tip.

3. Look at what your competitors are doing

Our third eCommerce tip? Spy on your competitors!

While it may feel like cheating, competitor research is a fantastic way to see what works for your rivals and what hasn’t been successful. It can also help identify gaps in the market — for example, is there something your competitors aren’t selling that you can?

There are lots of great tools out there that you can use for competitor intelligence. Google Alerts is fantastic for seeing when your competitors are in the news, while SpyFu and Semrush can help you look at your competitors’ keywords and backlinks.

4. Consider a mobile app

Custom MVP app development is not for every store, as it costs time and money. However, for many eCommerce sites, it’s a fantastic way to provide an optimised experience for your customers and provide a unique selling point in the marketplace.

Plus, nearly four out of five shoppers would rather use an app to buy than a mobile website!

If you’re considering a mobile app for your eCommerce tips in business, we can plan, develop, build, and test a stunning app that your customers love using.

5. Optimise for SEO (and ASO)

Search engine optimisation, or SEO, is the science of optimising your website to rank as high in the search engines as possible. Given that one out of four people clicks on the first Google search result, it pays to get your eCommerce store’s SEO in check.

SEO comprises a wide range of disciplines, including:

• Keyword research
• On-page optimisation (including your keywords and making your content as easy to read as possible)
• Technical SEO (looking at your site speed and how search engines crawl your pages)
• Backlinks from other websites

If you have a mobile app, don’t forget app store optimisation, or ASO! This is when you optimise your mobile app to rank as high as possible in the app stores so people are more likely to check you out.

6. Utilise cross-selling and upselling

It’s easier to encourage an existing customer to buy more than to convince an entirely new customer to buy from you.

Cross-selling is when you persuade a shopper to buy a similar product, while upselling is when you convince a shopper to buy a slightly upgraded product. These two tactics can be fantastic for boosting your profits, with 72% of salespeople saying that up to 30% of their business revenue comes from upselling.

With cross-selling and upselling, the trick is to promote the right products. Look at what your customers are already buying to identify what you should offer for the best results.

7. Ask for customer feedback

One of the easiest ways to make sure your eCommerce store targets the right people is to ask them. Take the time to ask your customers for their thoughts, whether in the shape of an email or a pop-up on your website.

Plus, regularly asking for customer feedback can significantly boost customer loyalty. Not only does it help you understand your shoppers better, but it can make them happier because they feel heard.

8. Market to your target customers

It’s important to choose not just the right marketing channels to use, but the right message.

A well-thought-out, consistent, and aligned digital marketing strategy is essential if you operate an eCommerce store.

Think about your target audience and the marketing channels they use. For example, if you want to target younger customers, it may be worth using TikTok and Instagram rather than Facebook.

9. Consider becoming a marketplace

What do we mean when we say scale eCommerce to marketplace? We mean opening up your eCommerce store to third-party businesses. In return for hosting their products on your marketplace, they give you a proportion of their revenue.

This can be a great solution if you already invest a lot of resources into your marketing, as you’re drawing a lot of potentially interested customers to your store.

10. Invest in your product descriptions

Detailed eCommerce product descriptions have a wealth of benefits for your website. Not only do they make it easier for your customers to understand the features and benefits of what you sell, but they can also make your pages more prominent in the search engine results.

Another benefit is that optimised product descriptions can reduce your return rate, as you’re providing shoppers with more comprehensive information about your products.

Don’t forget to create your own high-quality photos and videos too. 83% of shoppers see product images and photos as highly influential when making a purchase.

11. Introduce a loyalty programme

When you run an eCommerce store, it’s essential to look after and nurture your returning customers. A loyalty scheme is a great way to encourage brand loyalty and boost your customer lifetime value.

According to Yotpo, loyalty schemes make 60% of shoppers more loyal to a business.

An additional bonus of a loyalty programme is that you can gather more data that can help you make business decisions. It can be the deciding factor in a customer using guest checkout and signing up for an online account.

Bear in mind that the success of your loyalty programme may depend on your target audience. In our experience, Gen X and Millennials like loyalty schemes more than Gen Zers.

12. Review and segment your email marketing list

Developing an email marketing list can be a brilliant way to boost your revenue. Email marketing has one of the best returns on investments around — for every $1 you spend, you can get $36 back!

However, not all the people on your email marketing list will have the same wants and needs. Segmenting your email list can mean more targeted messages, which means more interest from your customers and more revenue for you.

For example, let’s say you run an eCommerce store selling shoes. By splitting your list into men’s, women’s, and children’s shoes, you can provide more personalised content and increase your conversion rate.

You can even take things a step further by splitting your email list into customers who have bought from you before and customers who are yet to buy a product. You can send exclusive content to the first segment to make them feel like part of a VIP club, and a discount code to the latter segment to encourage them to make their first purchase.

13. Provide a high-quality customer experience

It’s not just about having the fastest website and the best range of products. It’s important to offer exemplary levels of customer service from start to finish.

According to Zendesk, over half of customers will stop using a brand if they have just one negative experience.

Make it as easy as possible for customers to contact you, whether that’s by phone, email, social media, or live chat on your website. Also, ensure you’re responding as quickly as possible. Customers are getting more demanding, with nearly half expecting businesses to reply to them in less than four hours.

Think about the brands you love shopping with the most. What do they do to make you happy and want to share your experience with your family and friends?

14. Implement trust signals

Trust is everything in the world of business. You want shoppers to know that you’re a reliable and credible choice, especially if they’re trusting you with their credit card details.

22% of shoppers don’t think online stores are trustworthy, which is a scary statistic.

The good news is that you can use trust signals on your website to show prospective customers that they can shop with confidence. A trust signal is a piece of content on your eCommerce store that helps customers put their faith in you.

Examples of trust signals include:

• Ratings and reviews
• Case studies and testimonials
• Logos of clients you work with
• Accreditations and awards
• Payment security accreditations
• Social media icons

66% of customers say the inclusion of at least one trust signal on a webpage will make them more likely to buy a product.

15. Review your data

Our final eCommerce tip? Make sure you regularly review your analytics. This will help you understand what you’re doing well and where there’s room for improvement.

We always recommend deciding which metrics you want to review and setting achievable, quantifiable goals for your business. That way, you have something to aspire to.

eCommerce tips for all types of businesses

We hope that you found these 15 eCommerce tips helpful. Take the time to implement them in your eCommerce store or marketplace, and watch your sales skyrocket!

Summary

• Make sure your site loads quickly and is mobile-responsive
• Know who you are selling to
• Carry out thorough competitor research
• Introduce a high-quality mobile app
• Optimise for the search engines
• Look at good products to upsell and cross-sell to your customers
• Ask your customers to tell you what you’re doing right (and wrong)
• Consider the right marketing channels for your target audience
• Scale your eCommerce store to a third-party marketplace
• Create well-thought-out product descriptions
• Build a loyalty programme to encourage repeat purchases
• Segment your email marketing list
• Offer fantastic customer service
• Add trust signals to the relevant pages of your eCommerce site
• Regularly review your analytics