7 TIPS TO INCREASE ONLINE SALES

7 TIPS TO INCREASE ONLINE SALES

by Trudi Roach

At FashionVIP, we focus on the business of fashion and product strategies to help you get your unique product out there into the world and into your customers hands.

And one of the ways to support you getting your product out there is to help you generate sales.

So, I going to share seven ways that you can start implementing to enhance your sales in your business.

Are you asking yourself the question: How do I improve my online sales? If you’ve launched your product but are trying to figure out how to generate more sales for your clothing line, you’re in the right place.

But before I dive into the seven tips, I’d love to recommend that you keep your ideal customer in mind as you learn how to generate more sales.

It's so important for you to reference your brands ideal customer profile as it will inform how you communicate with those customers.

And if you need help identifying your ideal customer, you can download this FREE resource, the Find Your Brand Fans Workbook training all about your ideal customer. Go HERE to download it now and complete it when it works with your schedule.

Complete your ideal customer work then use these product marketing tips and tricks to generate more sales for your fashion and accessory products.

7 WAYS TO INCREASE ONLINE SALES

METHOD #1 HOW TO INCREASE ONLINE SALES: Create Honest Sales Copy

My number one way to increase sales online is to create honest product copy that connects with your customers.

This might sound obvious, but it’s surprising how often websites write copy their products don't live up to. Clear, concise and honest copy is critical to your brands’ reputation, and builds trust in your brand.

Delivering honest copy is how to sell products online successfully.

Never make claims you can’t back up, and don’t use overstatements – your customers have excellent marketing BS radars, so be honest, straightforward, and approachable in all your sales copy. Apply this to from your homepage to social media to your email campaigns.

Because if you can create honest product copy from the start, then you're going to build that trust right from the beginning, and that is really important for your business growth.

Creating honest copy also applies to how you position yourself as a business. If you've ever seen a product description that’s obviously written in a stiff and awkward style, but is for a soft and fluffy product, you'll immediately feel the difference.

Not staying true to your brands positioning is not only off putting to customers, but it also damages your brand’s credibility.

You’re a small company! Take pride in that and be upfront about it, and speak and write copy with your unique brand voice.

Your customers love your smaller business precisely because of the individualized & personal service you offer. Don’t worry about appearing bigger than you are.

METHOD #2 HOW TO INCREASE ONLINE SALES: Make your value proposition obvious

This is one of my favorite ways to increase sales online. With a clear and obvious value proposition that solves your customers problem.

So many companies lose sales and waste time by focusing on themselves. Remember: people don’t want to buy things, they want to solve their problems?

The vast majority of customers don’t care about you or your company (well, at least not in the beginning)– only how your products or services will make their lives better. This is why your value proposition should be clear and communicated in all your marketing and website content.

Your value proposition is the primary reason customers should buy from you, not your competitors, and the promise of the value customers will receive by investing in your product.

We can break down what’s included in your value proposition into these three main areas:

• Relevance: How your product solves your customers’ problems

• Quantifiable value: The specific benefits your product offers

• Differentiator: Why customers should buy from you and not your competitor

These three components of your brand’s value proposition should inform nearly everything in your brand messaging. From the copy on your homepage to the content in your email marketing campaigns.

Everything your customers see should tie back to your value proposition in some way. The stronger your value proposition is surrounding your products, the more sales you’ll make.

METHOD #3 HOW TO INCREASE ONLINE SALES:

Answer questions and objections in your copy

Now, tip number three is very important to know.

Please don’t assume your customer have enough information about your product. Even if the photos on your website are amazing!

Many businesses assume their customers know more about what they’re selling than they actually do. This can result in unanswered questions or objections that might have your customers abandoning the shopping cart. If you don’t tackle these questions and objections it can harm your sales.

Think about as many questions as you can about your product, and answer those directly in your product copy, and on your product pages. Now go back and think about every possible objection your customer might have about your product.

Brainstorm ways you can tackle those objections with your copy. This is how you give your customer exactly what they need to make an informed decision. And a purchase.

Don’t worry about creating product descriptions that are too long, you can always trim them down. Just keep the focus on the customer and how it benefits them, not why your brand is so awesome.

METHOD #4 HOW TO INCREASE ONLINE SALES: Create a sense of urgency

Tip number four, and one of my other favorite ways, is to Create a Sense of Urgency.

It’s important to be honest and transparent about who you are and what you do, but there’s no rule against creating a sense of urgency to persuade customers to buy from you right now.

We are all used to responding to incentives that create a sense of urgency, from time-sensitive special offers to limited-edition products. Although the ways you can accomplish this are as diverse as the products you can buy online, some strategies may be more effective than others.

For example, if it’s not possible to offer a limited-edition product to excite customers, perhaps you can offer a different incentive to customers who purchase right away, such as free shipping or a discount.

Plus you can also try seasonal offers or limited-time sales.

Whichever method you choose, creating a sense of urgency is a great way to increase online sales.

METHOD #5 HOW TO INCREASE ONLINE SALES: Offer fewer options

Tip number five is all about offering fewer options.

For many new brands and particularly small businesses, this idea can feel simply counterintuitive. After all, aren’t we taught that offering more products is a great way to increase sales! Well, not always.

In many cases, offering too many choices leads to indecision (also know as decision fatigue), on the part of the customer, which then results in an abandoned cart and lost sales.

If you offer a wide range of products, try to ensure that your website and product pages offer customers as few choices as possible. This reduces the possibility that the visitor will be overwhelmed by dozens of different products.

Try arranging your products into clear and narrow categories (this also helps customers find what they’re looking for), or you might highlight a fewer individual products.

Regardless of how you approach this, just remember that the more choices you provide, the more likely a customer is to click to somewhere else.

METHOD #6 HOW TO INCREASE ONLINE SALES: Implement Tiered Pricing

If you don't already know, my expertise here at FashionVIP is serving my clients through small business coaching, marketing and merchandising strategies, but it's all based on the business of fashion.

If you're not familiar with the business of fashion, you can watch this video here, where I share more about the importance of product pricing and some of my top tips.

Ultimately, if you want more sales, you want to grow your business, get in the habit of thinking about tiered pricing.

If you’ve ever eaten at a restaurant, chances are you’ll already familiar with tiered pricing. You are probably already choosing the one of the mid-priced dishes on the menu.

Restaurants use simple psychology to guide customers toward the mid-price meals.

Customers naturally avoid the cheaper dishes – and the most expensive. This makes all the middle-tier or mid-price options appear the most appealing. This is also known as “decoy pricing.”

It’s simple to apply this same principle to clothing and accessory products to increase sales online with tiered pricing structures.

When you add a third “decoy” option in your products and pricing, you can gently guide customers towards a mid-priced item option – the one you really want them to buy.

(Bonus: Yes, some customers will grab your most expensive item anyway), but most customers will subconsciously avoid the decoy and choose the middle-tier option, which is precisely what you want them to do.

If the word decoy makes you feel like your tricking your customers, let’s look at it this way.

Maybe you can use the tiered pricing method to guide customers towards great products and inventory that might be:

· Overstocked and under appreciated

· Becoming out of season, but still on trend and wearable

· Amazing pieces, that just haven’t been found by your customers

METHOD #7 HOW TO INCREASE ONLINE SALES: Offer a guarantee

Tip number seven is all about offering a guarantee

Now, we talked in tip number one about value proposition, about it's important to building your trust and confidence with your customers from the beginning.

Because, the reality is there are going to be people ready to buy your products. These customers may be in the actual buying process and they're looking to feel confident and secure in clicking the buy button.

Sometimes, the most powerful factor in a customer’s decision not to buy something is avoiding risk. – the desire to avoid a potential loss. Often this perceived risk is about money.

Why should someone buy your products?

What if they don’t work?

What if they don’t like them?

Even small purchases can carry the risk of “buyer’s remorse.” If you want to help your customer overcome this objection from the very beginning, offer a bulletproof money-back guarantee.

Offering a full money-back guarantee might not be right for every business. But the more risk you can remove from your customer’s decision to buy, the more likely they are to buy from you.

OK, there you have it, seven ways to increase online sales for creative entrepreneurs.

Don't forget to book a free on-demand product positioning assessment, the link is here!

When you sign up, you are going to fill out a short questionnaire. Then we’ll to hop on the phone together for 30 minutes and you'll share a little bit about your business with me. ⁠ ⁠ I'll take a look at your specific situation and analyze what’s going on! I'll share three ways to help improve your product positioning to increase sales and traffic at the end of the 30 minutes.⁠

You're going to learn more about positioning your product to enhance your sales.

You can also check out trudiroach.com to learn more about my paid FashionVIP program.

This is where you get the step-by-step roadmap for creating a revenue-generating clothing brand, so you can find new customers & increase sales, turn your products into best-sellers and get your unique product out into the world.

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Grab the FREE Find Your Ideal Customers Workbook training 👉 HERE