17 Ways to Make Your First eCommerce Sale Fast<\/h2>\n\n- Identify your target market<\/a><\/li>\n
- Design a sales funnel<\/a><\/li>\n
- Run targeted paid campaigns on Facebook and Instagram<\/a><\/li>\n
- Run keyword-based ads on Google<\/a><\/li>\n
- Start blogging<\/a><\/li>\n
- Boost your blog posts on Facebook<\/a><\/li>\n
- Use internal banners to drive traffic to your sales pages<\/a><\/li>\n
- Optimize your checkout process<\/a><\/li>\n
- Hire social media influencers<\/a><\/li>\n
- Start an email list<\/a><\/li>\n
- Add product discounts and limited-time offers<\/a><\/li>\n
- Create a customer testimonials page on your website<\/a><\/li>\n
- Give incentives to customers to leave product reviews<\/a><\/li>\n
- Setup Facebook Product Ads<\/a><\/li>\n
- Create a Google Shopping Feed<\/a><\/li>\n
- Answer questions on product-related forums<\/a><\/li>\n
- Listen to your customers<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
1. Identify your target market<\/h3>\n
If you don\u2019t know who you\u2019re selling to, you\u2019re going to have a difficult time converting traffic into buyers. Instead, you\u2019ll be forever asking the question, how do I make my first sale online?<\/p>\n
The most valuable audience often doesn\u2019t mean the biggest, but instead, one that\u2019s composed of people who will buy what you\u2019re selling.<\/p>\n
Getting 500 relevant and targeted visitors<\/strong><\/a> is better than 100,00 visitors who will never buy from you.<\/p>\nLet\u2019s look at an example. If you sell children’s toys your target market won\u2019t be kids, but instead the parents of kids. You could narrow this down further to parents of kids of a certain age, and even certain countries.<\/p>\n
Overall, your target market<\/strong><\/a> is the general audience who\u2019s likely to respond to your marketing message.<\/div>\nYou should start with the most narrow audience possible, and slowly expand out into different market segments in time.<\/p>\n
2. Design a sales funnel<\/h3>\n
By creating a sales funnel<\/strong><\/a> you\u2019ll have a clear path that you want your customers to take the moment they land on your site.<\/p>\n![\"Digital](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/digital-marketing-funnel.png\")
Digital Marketing Funnel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHere\u2019s a standard sales funnel process:<\/p>\n
\n- Awareness.<\/strong> Visitors are aware of their problem and became aware that your store could provide a solution.<\/li>\n
- Consideration.<\/strong> Now visitors are considering your products, researching, reading your content, and maybe have joined your email list.<\/li>\n
- Decision.<\/strong> At this point visitors are ready to buy, they\u2019ve added the item to their carts and close to purchasing.<\/li>\n
- Loyalty.<\/strong> During and after purchase you can ensure customers stay with you over the long-run.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
For an eCommerce store the process could look like the following:<\/p>\n
\n- Your visitor comes to your site via a targeted Facebook ad<\/li>\n
- They browse around your site, read a blog post, and join your email list<\/li>\n
- They receive a 10% coupon that encourages them to purchase a product<\/li>\n
- Your follow-up email sequence keeps your store at the top of their mind<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
3. Run targeted paid campaigns on Facebook and Instagram<\/h3>\n
Facebook has over 2.7 billion monthly active users<\/strong><\/a>, which means your target audience is probably using the platform.<\/p>\nSince Facebook owns Instagram you can run ads on both Facebook and Instagram at the same time.<\/p>\n
The advanced targeting features let you narrow in on your exact target audience that\u2019ll purchase your products.<\/p>\n![\"Facebook](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/find-target-market-with-facebook-insights.png\")
Find your target market with Facebook Audience Insights<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHere are some of the targeting options available:<\/p>\n
\n- Reach customers in specific countries, cities, and communities.<\/li>\n
- Filter your audiences based on age, gender, education, job, and more.<\/li>\n
- Target ads based on past behaviors and device usage.<\/li>\n
- Filter based on hobbies, interests, movie preferences, and more.<\/li>\n
- Include people who follow your Facebook Page, or exclude them for entirely new audiences.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
You can also run Facebook retargeting ads which will show product ads to people who\u2019ve visited certain pages on your site. This can help you pick up customers who visited your store, but didn\u2019t purchase anything.<\/p>\n
4. Run keyword-based ads on Google<\/h3>\n
Keyword-based ads are shown above the Google search results when people search for keywords related to your product.<\/p>\n
These ads are highly targeted since people are already looking for products that are related to what you sell.<\/div>\nHere are some tips for improving your ad copy:<\/p>\n
\n- Focus on your customer’s needs.<\/strong> Describe how your business and products benefit your customers.<\/li>\n
- Use keywords. <\/strong>Include our target keywords in your headline and body copy.<\/li>\n
- Include a CTA.<\/strong> If possible add a time-sensitive CTA that encourages people to take action and click your ad now.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Another great feature of running Google Ads is that you can set up dynamic campaigns. These ads differ from traditional keyword campaigns in that instead of using actual keywords, the campaigns are based on your website or product feed.<\/p>\n
Google will automatically match user input keywords with the type of products you sell. The result is hard to distinguish from standard ads, but easier to set up and can bring a great result, since they\u2019re more product-focused.<\/p>\n
5. Start blogging<\/h3>\n
Content marketing<\/strong><\/a> is the process of creating articles that provide value and information to your visitors. Usually, this is more top-of-the-funnel content, since you\u2019ll be addressing user problems and more-so speaking to lifestyle issues.<\/p>\nFor example, if you\u2019re selling workout supplements the majority of your blog content will focus on workouts, healthy eating habits, tips and tricks, supplement breakdowns, and more.<\/p>\n
Another purpose of your blog is to provide educational content surrounding your product. You can publish case studies, answer common questions, demonstrate the features of your product, and show how your product can help accomplish certain tasks.<\/p>\n
Creating a successful blog strategy begins with keyword research<\/strong><\/a>. Finding the right keywords will help to guide what blog posts you create and which keywords are bringing your competitors the most traffic.<\/p>\n6. Boost your blog posts on Facebook<\/h3>\n
If you\u2019re looking to attract more top-of-the-funnel visitors to your site, then consider promoting blog posts on Facebook. This lets you show your blog posts to new and current readers.<\/p>\n
If these readers enjoy your articles and are a fit for your products, there\u2019s a good chance they\u2019ll become customers.<\/div>\nBoosting your blog posts has other advantages as well:<\/p>\n
\n- Exposing your blog post to more readers means more social shares and a chance for backlinks, which improves your overall authority<\/li>\n
- Allows you to get your content in front of new targeted visitors in your market<\/li>\n
- Build greater brand awareness. You can retarget people who visited your site via the blog post and your ads will \u201cfollow them\u201d around the web<\/li>\n
- Share in-depth case studies to show that your products work, and elevate user trust in the process<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
7. Use internal banners to drive traffic to your sales pages<\/h3>\n
Every page of your site should be pushing visitors to your sales pages. No matter if it\u2019s a blog post, about page, or even your contact page you should be pushing visitors into your funnel or product pages.<\/p>\n
For example, throughout your blog posts, and on your sidebar, you could have internal banners that direct people to your sales pages.<\/div>\nIdeally, you\u2019ll want to view your entire website as playing a role in your funnel. Whenever someone visits your website your ultimate goal should be for them to become a customer.<\/p>\n
Here are some common ways of getting visitors to become customers no matter what page they\u2019re on:<\/p>\n
\n- Use exit-intent pop-ups to get subscribers as they\u2019re leaving your site<\/li>\n
- Include forms and internal banners within blog posts and pages<\/li>\n
- Keep your navigation simple and only include valuable pages<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
8. Optimize your checkout process<\/h3>\n
Purchasing items in your store needs to be a seamless experience. If you have any points of friction during the checkout process this can lead to cart abandonment.<\/p>\n
Think about how ordering items from Amazon is so seamless, you want buying products from your store to be this easy.<\/p>\n
If you have an existing cart sequence you can use a free tool like Microsoft Clarity<\/strong><\/a> which will record your existing user sessions, so you can see where your users are abandoning the checkout process.<\/p>\nHere are a few quick tips for optimizing your checkout page:<\/p>\n
1. Don\u2019t ask for too many details<\/h4>\n
Ideally, you\u2019ll want to ask your customers for the minimum amount of information. All you need to effectively process payments are name, email, address, and payment information. If you want to collect additional customer information you can do so on the backend.<\/p>\n
2. Allow for guest checkout<\/h4>\n
Don\u2019t require your users to create an account before they make a purchase. A user account will save their login and purchase information for future purchases, but some users might not want to fill out all that information from the start.<\/p>\n
3. One-page checkout experience<\/h4>\n
Your checkout page should never go on to multiple pages. All of your purchase form fields need to be entered on a single page. This setup also performs better on mobile devices.<\/p>\n
4. Multiple payment options<\/h4>\n
If your visitors preferred payment option isn\u2019t listed, they won\u2019t complete their purchase. You should offer multiple credit card options, along with PayPal, which most people have.<\/p>\n
9. Hire social media influencers<\/h3>\n
A lot of massive eCommerce brands got their companies off the ground by using influencer marketing. For example, the watch brand Daniel Wellington<\/em> utilized micro-influencers on Instagram to grow its brand to a powerhouse that\u2019s worth over 200 million today.<\/p>\nYou don\u2019t need to pay massive fees for social media celebrities either. No matter your budget you\u2019ll be able to find a handful of influencers who are willing to promote your products in exchange for a sample or free product.<\/p>\n
Working with smaller influencers can be more advantageous since their followers are likely to be much more engaged and convert into customers.<\/div>\nIf you do decide to go the social media influencer route make sure that you create unique tracking codes for every influencer you work with. That way you can track the influencers who have been the most effective, and improve your conversions with new influencer campaigns in the future.<\/p>\n
10. Start an email list<\/h3>\n
One of the best ways to create a relationship with your customers is through email. Again and again, email is proven to have a very high ROI.<\/p>\n
To get people onto your list you could offer an incentive like a free coupon. Even a simple 10% coupon for first-time buyers will convert a lot of visitors.<\/p>\n
Here are some tips for improving your email marketing:<\/p>\n
\n- Create great subject lines that entice your reader to open the email.<\/strong> This also includes your preview text that\u2019s shown to the right of your email headline.<\/li>\n
- Personalize your emails with user information. <\/strong>This includes using your subscriber’s name where possible, tagging users based on actions they\u2019ve taken, and more.<\/li>\n
- Create abandoned cart sequences. <\/strong>These run when users fail to complete a purchase and you gently remind them they have items remaining in the cart.<\/li>\n
- Use coupons.<\/strong> Reward your most valuable subscribers with coupons and deals that are only for them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Finally, make sure that you test your emails. By split testing, you can test different subject lines, links, CTAs, and more so you can learn what converts best for your audience.<\/p>\n
11. Add product discounts and limited-time offers<\/h3>\n
Creating urgency around your products is a great way to generate sales fast. There\u2019s a reason that Black Friday sales generated around $9 billion in revenue <\/strong>this year. People can\u2019t resist a good deal, especially when there\u2019s a deadline attached to it.<\/p>\nOne great option for eCommerce is to implement scarcity. This can either be a limited number of products or a time-based deal.<\/div>\nFor this to work you\u2019ll need to accomplish the following:<\/p>\n
\n- Use the fear of missing out trigger (FOMO)<\/li>\n
- Add an active action-based CTA<\/li>\n
- Use time or product-based scarcity<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
For example, you could create stock-based scarcity by showing the stock levels on your products. Or, you could create a time-sensitive 24-hour coupon or even a 3-day sale where products are discounted 50%.<\/p>\n
12. Create a customer testimonials page on your website<\/h3>\n
Create a dedicated page on your site to host reviews, this will show up on google when people search for your company name + reviews or testimonials<\/p>\n
Social proof can be an incredible way to sell more products. Some of the most popular search terms include \u201cproduct name + review\u201d. Third-party reviews are well trusted by consumers.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a reason that some of the best-selling products on Amazon also tend to have the highest number of reviews.<\/div>\nYou can take advantage of this for your site by creating a dedicated page for reviews and testimonials. Having a dedicated page can increase the chances of this showing up in Google, so you could pick up some additional traffic.<\/p>\n
Plus, this will help visitors convert into customers as nearly 92% of online shoppers<\/strong><\/a> look at reviews before making a purchase.<\/p>\n13. Give incentives to customers to leave product reviews<\/h3>\n
Product reviews can make or break your business. Negative reviews allow you to improve as a business, while positive reviews can help improve your sales process.<\/p>\n
Getting customers to leave reviews about your business can be tough. Most satisfied customers won\u2019t say anything, but unhappy customers can be very vocal.<\/p>\n
Here are some tips to encourage positive product reviews:<\/p>\n
\n- A simple ask.<\/strong> Often, all you have to do is ask and make it easy for your customers to leave a review. Something as simple as an automated email with a link to a review platform will suffice.<\/li>\n
- Follow-up for reviews.<\/strong> Part of your monthly workflow should be sending a quick email asking customers for reviews. You can tag customers in your email marketing provider<\/li>\n
- Give coupons for reviews.<\/strong> One of the quickest ways to get more customer reviews is to offer coupons to people who leave reviews on past products.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Here are some third-party platforms you\u2019ll want to encourage customer reviews on:<\/p>\n
\n- Trustpilot<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong> This is a community-driven review platform that helps companies collect user reviews. All the reviews are verified and can go a long way towards boosting consumer trust.<\/li>\n
- Amazon<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong> If you\u2019re selling products on your site and Amazon, you need to encourage Amazon reviews. The number and rating of your reviews will set your product apart.<\/li>\n
- Choice<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong> If you have customers in Australia, then you can encourage users on this platform to leave reviews about your products. Members can test a product, create comparisons, and buyer guides.<\/li>\n
- TestFreaks<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong> This platform helps companies collect reviews. It also includes a question and answers section where customers can post questions, and your support team can answer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
14. Setup Facebook Product Ads<\/h3>\n
Facebook allows you to integrate your eCommerce products into ads.<\/p>\n
This can be advantageous for customers since they can learn more about your entire range of products. These ads are more geared towards the top of the funnel prospects since you can show a wide range of product offerings. This also allows you to be a bit broader with your targeting as well.<\/p>\n
After you\u2019ve uploaded your products you can let the Facebook algorithms choose which products to display based on the consumer and their past behavior.<\/p>\n
15. Create a Google Shopping Feed<\/h3>\n
Google Shopping feeds, also called Product Listing Ads, appear above the organic search results and include a product image, title, and price.<\/p>\n
When a user searches for a term that\u2019s related to your product, there\u2019s a good chance one of your products could be listed.<\/p>\n![\"Google](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/google-discovery-ads.jpg\")
Google Product Ads<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nBenefits of Google Shopping Ads:<\/p>\n
\n- Build brand awareness.<\/strong> Having your product or products listed when people search on Google makes your brand stand out.<\/li>\n
- Get more quality leads.<\/strong> People searching for specific types of products on Google are already past the awareness stage and looking to buy or compare prices on products.<\/li>\n
- Easy to implement.<\/strong> Google product ads are easy to manage on the backend. Once you upload and optimize your products, Google will automatically show products based on the user\u2019s search. No need to set keywords, or create specific product ads.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Creating a Google Shopping feed can also be useful with retargeting. Once a user visits your product page and doesn\u2019t make a purchase, your product ads will automatically show up in the search results for products and related terms.<\/p>\n
16. Answer questions on product-related forums<\/h3>\n
Chances are there are dozens of different platforms where you can answer questions related to your products and provide value. If you\u2019re growing in popularity, then there\u2019s a good chance that people are talking about your business online.<\/p>\n
This could be in forums, Facebook groups, Reddit, and even question and answer sites like Quora.<\/p>\n
You can set up Google Alerts to notify you every time your brand or product is mentioned online, so you can respond.<\/div>\nOr, you can take the alternative approach of joining relevant groups and answering questions.<\/p>\n
For example, you could spend time answering questions related to your niche and providing value. You don\u2019t have to link out to your products specifically, but have links to your store in your author bio and profile. As you become a known resource people will follow your link and you\u2019ll have highly qualified visitors coming to check out your store.<\/p>\n
17. Listen to your customers<\/h3>\n
One of the keys to improving your sales process is to listen to what your customers want. Maybe it\u2019s a new product feature, something you could fix, or even comments that you can add to your product copy to make it convert better.<\/p>\n
There is a myriad of ways you can gather customer feedback, but one of the simplest is to create an email survey and send it out to your list.<\/div>\nYou can use your existing email marketing provider and link out to a Google Form, or even create a series of questions you send out via email if you only want 1-2 questions answered.<\/p>\n
You can also incentivize your customers to participate in the survey, by adding their name to a giveaway if they send you their survey answers.<\/p>\n
\nKey Learnings<\/h2>\n
By now you should have a better understanding of how to make your first online sale.<\/p>\n
Things like your existing audience size, traffic levels and targeting, product pricing, site speed, and more will all influence how long your first sale takes.<\/p>\n
However, there are a handful of strategies you can implement to sell your first product and scale your store.<\/p>\n
The process begins with knowing your target audience and creating a sales funnel that guides them from first-time visitors to customers and satisfied buyers.<\/p>\n
You can then start testing out different strategies to see what works best for your store including:<\/p>\n
\n- Create targeted ad campaigns on Facebook and Instagram<\/li>\n
- Promote our products with micro-influencers on social media<\/li>\n
- Create an email sequence that entices customers to leave reviews<\/li>\n
- Optimize your checkout process to reduce buyer friction<\/li>\n
- Start blogging to rank in the search engines and get more targeted traffic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Getting your first sale might take some time, but once you find that first ideal buyer, you can scale your store infinitely using the strategies above.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Starting an eCommerce store can be an exciting experience. But, once the launch is over you\u2019re probably wondering how long does it take for an online business to take off? There are a variety of factors that\u2019ll determine how long it\u2019ll take to make that first online sale, as you\u2019ll learn below. Luckily, you can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[]},"categories":[222],"tags":[671,672],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21665"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21665"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29280,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21665\/revisions\/29280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
1. Identify your target market<\/h3>\n
If you don\u2019t know who you\u2019re selling to, you\u2019re going to have a difficult time converting traffic into buyers. Instead, you\u2019ll be forever asking the question, how do I make my first sale online?<\/p>\n
The most valuable audience often doesn\u2019t mean the biggest, but instead, one that\u2019s composed of people who will buy what you\u2019re selling.<\/p>\n
Getting 500 relevant and targeted visitors<\/strong><\/a> is better than 100,00 visitors who will never buy from you.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s look at an example. If you sell children’s toys your target market won\u2019t be kids, but instead the parents of kids. You could narrow this down further to parents of kids of a certain age, and even certain countries.<\/p>\n You should start with the most narrow audience possible, and slowly expand out into different market segments in time.<\/p>\n By creating a sales funnel<\/strong><\/a> you\u2019ll have a clear path that you want your customers to take the moment they land on your site.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a standard sales funnel process:<\/p>\n For an eCommerce store the process could look like the following:<\/p>\n Facebook has over 2.7 billion monthly active users<\/strong><\/a>, which means your target audience is probably using the platform.<\/p>\n Since Facebook owns Instagram you can run ads on both Facebook and Instagram at the same time.<\/p>\n The advanced targeting features let you narrow in on your exact target audience that\u2019ll purchase your products.<\/p>\n Here are some of the targeting options available:<\/p>\n You can also run Facebook retargeting ads which will show product ads to people who\u2019ve visited certain pages on your site. This can help you pick up customers who visited your store, but didn\u2019t purchase anything.<\/p>\n Keyword-based ads are shown above the Google search results when people search for keywords related to your product.<\/p>\n Here are some tips for improving your ad copy:<\/p>\n Another great feature of running Google Ads is that you can set up dynamic campaigns. These ads differ from traditional keyword campaigns in that instead of using actual keywords, the campaigns are based on your website or product feed.<\/p>\n Google will automatically match user input keywords with the type of products you sell. The result is hard to distinguish from standard ads, but easier to set up and can bring a great result, since they\u2019re more product-focused.<\/p>\n Content marketing<\/strong><\/a> is the process of creating articles that provide value and information to your visitors. Usually, this is more top-of-the-funnel content, since you\u2019ll be addressing user problems and more-so speaking to lifestyle issues.<\/p>\n For example, if you\u2019re selling workout supplements the majority of your blog content will focus on workouts, healthy eating habits, tips and tricks, supplement breakdowns, and more.<\/p>\n Another purpose of your blog is to provide educational content surrounding your product. You can publish case studies, answer common questions, demonstrate the features of your product, and show how your product can help accomplish certain tasks.<\/p>\n Creating a successful blog strategy begins with keyword research<\/strong><\/a>. Finding the right keywords will help to guide what blog posts you create and which keywords are bringing your competitors the most traffic.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re looking to attract more top-of-the-funnel visitors to your site, then consider promoting blog posts on Facebook. This lets you show your blog posts to new and current readers.<\/p>\n Boosting your blog posts has other advantages as well:<\/p>\n Every page of your site should be pushing visitors to your sales pages. No matter if it\u2019s a blog post, about page, or even your contact page you should be pushing visitors into your funnel or product pages.<\/p>\n Ideally, you\u2019ll want to view your entire website as playing a role in your funnel. Whenever someone visits your website your ultimate goal should be for them to become a customer.<\/p>\n Here are some common ways of getting visitors to become customers no matter what page they\u2019re on:<\/p>\n Purchasing items in your store needs to be a seamless experience. If you have any points of friction during the checkout process this can lead to cart abandonment.<\/p>\n Think about how ordering items from Amazon is so seamless, you want buying products from your store to be this easy.<\/p>\n If you have an existing cart sequence you can use a free tool like Microsoft Clarity<\/strong><\/a> which will record your existing user sessions, so you can see where your users are abandoning the checkout process.<\/p>\n Here are a few quick tips for optimizing your checkout page:<\/p>\n Ideally, you\u2019ll want to ask your customers for the minimum amount of information. All you need to effectively process payments are name, email, address, and payment information. If you want to collect additional customer information you can do so on the backend.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t require your users to create an account before they make a purchase. A user account will save their login and purchase information for future purchases, but some users might not want to fill out all that information from the start.<\/p>\n Your checkout page should never go on to multiple pages. All of your purchase form fields need to be entered on a single page. This setup also performs better on mobile devices.<\/p>\n If your visitors preferred payment option isn\u2019t listed, they won\u2019t complete their purchase. You should offer multiple credit card options, along with PayPal, which most people have.<\/p>\n A lot of massive eCommerce brands got their companies off the ground by using influencer marketing. For example, the watch brand Daniel Wellington<\/em> utilized micro-influencers on Instagram to grow its brand to a powerhouse that\u2019s worth over 200 million today.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t need to pay massive fees for social media celebrities either. No matter your budget you\u2019ll be able to find a handful of influencers who are willing to promote your products in exchange for a sample or free product.<\/p>\n If you do decide to go the social media influencer route make sure that you create unique tracking codes for every influencer you work with. That way you can track the influencers who have been the most effective, and improve your conversions with new influencer campaigns in the future.<\/p>\n One of the best ways to create a relationship with your customers is through email. Again and again, email is proven to have a very high ROI.<\/p>\n To get people onto your list you could offer an incentive like a free coupon. Even a simple 10% coupon for first-time buyers will convert a lot of visitors.<\/p>\n Here are some tips for improving your email marketing:<\/p>\n Finally, make sure that you test your emails. By split testing, you can test different subject lines, links, CTAs, and more so you can learn what converts best for your audience.<\/p>\n Creating urgency around your products is a great way to generate sales fast. There\u2019s a reason that Black Friday sales generated around $9 billion in revenue <\/strong>this year. People can\u2019t resist a good deal, especially when there\u2019s a deadline attached to it.<\/p>\n For this to work you\u2019ll need to accomplish the following:<\/p>\n For example, you could create stock-based scarcity by showing the stock levels on your products. Or, you could create a time-sensitive 24-hour coupon or even a 3-day sale where products are discounted 50%.<\/p>\n Create a dedicated page on your site to host reviews, this will show up on google when people search for your company name + reviews or testimonials<\/p>\n Social proof can be an incredible way to sell more products. Some of the most popular search terms include \u201cproduct name + review\u201d. Third-party reviews are well trusted by consumers.<\/p>\n You can take advantage of this for your site by creating a dedicated page for reviews and testimonials. Having a dedicated page can increase the chances of this showing up in Google, so you could pick up some additional traffic.<\/p>\n Plus, this will help visitors convert into customers as nearly 92% of online shoppers<\/strong><\/a> look at reviews before making a purchase.<\/p>\n Product reviews can make or break your business. Negative reviews allow you to improve as a business, while positive reviews can help improve your sales process.<\/p>\n Getting customers to leave reviews about your business can be tough. Most satisfied customers won\u2019t say anything, but unhappy customers can be very vocal.<\/p>\n Here are some tips to encourage positive product reviews:<\/p>\n Here are some third-party platforms you\u2019ll want to encourage customer reviews on:<\/p>\n Facebook allows you to integrate your eCommerce products into ads.<\/p>\n This can be advantageous for customers since they can learn more about your entire range of products. These ads are more geared towards the top of the funnel prospects since you can show a wide range of product offerings. This also allows you to be a bit broader with your targeting as well.<\/p>\n After you\u2019ve uploaded your products you can let the Facebook algorithms choose which products to display based on the consumer and their past behavior.<\/p>\n Google Shopping feeds, also called Product Listing Ads, appear above the organic search results and include a product image, title, and price.<\/p>\n When a user searches for a term that\u2019s related to your product, there\u2019s a good chance one of your products could be listed.<\/p>\n Benefits of Google Shopping Ads:<\/p>\n Creating a Google Shopping feed can also be useful with retargeting. Once a user visits your product page and doesn\u2019t make a purchase, your product ads will automatically show up in the search results for products and related terms.<\/p>\n Chances are there are dozens of different platforms where you can answer questions related to your products and provide value. If you\u2019re growing in popularity, then there\u2019s a good chance that people are talking about your business online.<\/p>\n This could be in forums, Facebook groups, Reddit, and even question and answer sites like Quora.<\/p>\n Or, you can take the alternative approach of joining relevant groups and answering questions.<\/p>\n For example, you could spend time answering questions related to your niche and providing value. You don\u2019t have to link out to your products specifically, but have links to your store in your author bio and profile. As you become a known resource people will follow your link and you\u2019ll have highly qualified visitors coming to check out your store.<\/p>\n One of the keys to improving your sales process is to listen to what your customers want. Maybe it\u2019s a new product feature, something you could fix, or even comments that you can add to your product copy to make it convert better.<\/p>\n You can use your existing email marketing provider and link out to a Google Form, or even create a series of questions you send out via email if you only want 1-2 questions answered.<\/p>\n You can also incentivize your customers to participate in the survey, by adding their name to a giveaway if they send you their survey answers.<\/p>\n By now you should have a better understanding of how to make your first online sale.<\/p>\n Things like your existing audience size, traffic levels and targeting, product pricing, site speed, and more will all influence how long your first sale takes.<\/p>\n However, there are a handful of strategies you can implement to sell your first product and scale your store.<\/p>\n The process begins with knowing your target audience and creating a sales funnel that guides them from first-time visitors to customers and satisfied buyers.<\/p>\n You can then start testing out different strategies to see what works best for your store including:<\/p>\n Getting your first sale might take some time, but once you find that first ideal buyer, you can scale your store infinitely using the strategies above.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Starting an eCommerce store can be an exciting experience. But, once the launch is over you\u2019re probably wondering how long does it take for an online business to take off? There are a variety of factors that\u2019ll determine how long it\u2019ll take to make that first online sale, as you\u2019ll learn below. Luckily, you can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[]},"categories":[222],"tags":[671,672],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21665"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21665"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29280,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21665\/revisions\/29280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}2. Design a sales funnel<\/h3>\n
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3. Run targeted paid campaigns on Facebook and Instagram<\/h3>\n
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4. Run keyword-based ads on Google<\/h3>\n
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5. Start blogging<\/h3>\n
6. Boost your blog posts on Facebook<\/h3>\n
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7. Use internal banners to drive traffic to your sales pages<\/h3>\n
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8. Optimize your checkout process<\/h3>\n
1. Don\u2019t ask for too many details<\/h4>\n
2. Allow for guest checkout<\/h4>\n
3. One-page checkout experience<\/h4>\n
4. Multiple payment options<\/h4>\n
9. Hire social media influencers<\/h3>\n
10. Start an email list<\/h3>\n
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11. Add product discounts and limited-time offers<\/h3>\n
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12. Create a customer testimonials page on your website<\/h3>\n
13. Give incentives to customers to leave product reviews<\/h3>\n
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14. Setup Facebook Product Ads<\/h3>\n
15. Create a Google Shopping Feed<\/h3>\n
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16. Answer questions on product-related forums<\/h3>\n
17. Listen to your customers<\/h3>\n
Key Learnings<\/h2>\n
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