You’ve found a product you want to sell and your online store gets a handful of sales each week. Now, you want to step on the gas and increase sales.
But there’s a finite amount of time in the day. Where do you start? This guide shares techniques bound to increase sales—and they don’t take a lot of time to implement.
1. Uncover your value proposition
Your value proposition describes why your target market would choose your brand/products. Uncover yours through quizzing existing customers. Why did they purchase your products over competitors’? What problems did you solve that others couldn’t?
Once you’ve found your value proposition, plaster it everywhere. That includes social media bios, above the fold on your homepage, and within product descriptions—like NOVO watch does on its online store.
![NOVO Watch’s product page showing their handcrafted watches.](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/NOVO.png?v=1666030389)
Gabriel Bertolo, founder of Radiant Elephant, uses this technique to increase sales on client websites: “One site in particular, after designing the value proposition and adding it to the website’s copy, saw an increase in the overall conversion rate from 1.9% to 4%.
“Online sales are only getting more competitive, anything you can do to set yourself apart from the rest and address a potential customer’s desires or pain points works wonders for increasing sales.”
2. Quiz your customers
How much do you know about your potential customers? Quiz them using apps like OctaneAI or RevenueHunt.
Ask questions that uncover pain points and recommend personalized products based on their answers. Follow up with email marketing campaigns that speak to those problems, using your product as the solution.
Skinny Mixes, for example, uses a recipe quiz to understand which dishes its potential customers like to make. Participants get an exclusive discount code alongside their personalized recipe recommendation, allowing Skinny Mixes to collect 13,000 customer emails and drive $500,000 in revenue.
![Quiz results page that recommends a skinny caramel pecan latte with a special discount to redeem on recommended products.](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/Skinny_Mixes.png?v=1666030528)
3. Share customer reviews
Did you know that the vast majority (93%) of new customers actively seek out reviews before buying a new product or service?
Email happy customers and ask them to leave a review on your Google Business, Yelp, or TrustPilot listing. Share these via the following channels to attract more customers:
- Email marketing campaigns
- Social media platforms
- Product pages
![Product page for Glossier’s lipstick showcasing 3,393 customer reviews.](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/Glossier_44fc76b4-ed44-4882-8536-1381bf1a809a.png?v=1666030614)
4. Answer questions via optimized blog content
Blog content is a low-cost alternative to expensive social media advertising. Instead of paying to attract customers that might not fit your buyer persona, invest in content marketing to attract your ideal customers when they’re actively looking for your product.
Find keywords your target audience is searching for. Answer any questions they have on the topic and use SEO best practices to improve your chances of ranking terms they’re punching into a Google search.
![Blog post titles on BeardBrand’s website titled “10 ways to use utility oil” and “how to grow an amazing handlebar mustache.”](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/Urban_Beardsman.png?v=1666030684)
Noah Kain, founder of Noah Kain Consulting says, “We help our SEO clients increase website traffic and sales by creating a brand-specific strategy for creating new content, acquiring new backlinks, and addressing on-page and technical issues on the website.
“By aligning these efforts and applying them consistently, we’re able to drive traffic and sales for specific keywords that are directly tied to increased sales.”
Noah adds, “One of our clients that sells custom furniture saw a five times increase in website traffic and 100% increase in year-over-year sales in our first 12 months working together.”
5. Offer free shipping
No matter what you sell, shipping fees are harming your online sales. Research shows that two-thirds of shoppers expect free shipping for all online orders, and 49% will abandon their online carts if extra costs (i.e., shipping) are too high.
Meet these customer expectations by running marketing promotions around free shipping offers. Have paying customers spend a certain amount to qualify for free shipping to increase average order value.
Maria Shriver, co-founder and CEO of MOSH, says, “Everyone likes to get a deal. And a generous discount for repeat business incentivizes people to take advantage of the convenience of regularly receiving their favorite products without the hassle of going through the purchase process again and again.”
Since implementing a 20% discount plus free shipping offer to email subscribers, Maria says, “Our sales have nearly doubled since implementing these subscription-based savings in late spring, helping us hit the milestone of one million bars sold in early September. But, more importantly, they are a terrific way to thank, reward, and retain our loyal customers.”
![Image with a 20% discount code to redeem on a six-pack of protein bars.](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/Mosh.png?v=1666030835)
6. Run abandoned cart email campaigns
People can see a product they’re interested in on your online store, only to exit without buying. This happens for several reasons, from unclear pricing to simply getting distracted and forgetting to return.
Use cart abandonment emails to remind people who added an item to their basket but didn’t buy. Give them a reason to buy now (like an additional discount), rather than later.
Grenade, for example, encourages new customers to buy products they’ve previously viewed “before it’s too late.”
![Email campaign from Grenade showing salted caramel protein bars with a “shop now” button.](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/Grenade.png?v=1666030916)
7. Use upsells and cross-sells
Potential customers often land on a product page that doesn’t perfectly match their preferences. Encourage these people to still make a purchase using these sales tactics:
- Upsells: Product recommendations that are more expensive than the one they’re currently browsing.
- Cross-sells: Product recommendations that complement what an existing website visitor already has in their shopping cart.
If someone is browsing a $19 iPhone 14 phone case, for example, upsell and recommend a $39 one with drop protection. Cross-sell and increase average order value with a matching $4.99 PopSocket.
8. Add trust signals to your online store
New customers often find it difficult to trust unfamiliar websites. Prove your online store can be trusted with sensitive information—and increase sales—by displaying trust signals like:
- Money-back guarantees
- Customer reviews
- Return/refund policies
- SSL certificates
- Logos of credit card processors
NCLA Beauty uses this technique to increase sales on its online store. In the footer of its website, potential customers see logos of payment processors they’re already familiar with.
![Website footer containing logos of Amazon, Amex, Apple Pay, Meta Pay, PayPal, Visa, and more.](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/NCLA_Beauty.png?v=1666031075)
9. Improve website navigation
Your website navigation acts as the map for your online store. Help shoppers find what they’re looking for with your main navigation. Point toward main category pages with search/filter functions that specify exactly what they’re looking for.
Similarly, boost sales by enabling breadcrumbs on individual product pages. That way, if someone lands on that page when they first interact with your store, they can discover products similar to the one they’re browsing.
![Navigation bar showcasing bestselling graphics, basics, and all over prints as subcategories beneath the main bestseller tab.](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/Into_the_AM.png?v=1666031128)
10. Speed up the checkout process
Less confusion at the checkout page equals more sales.
Limit form fields to stop potential customers feeling overwhelmed once they reach the checkout page. Enable Shop Pay to auto-populate a shopper’s details so they can check out in one click. Its checkout-to-conversion rate is 1.72 times higher than standard checkout.
Dan Potter, head of digital at CRAFTD London, suggests, “Simplify your page by asking for minimal information and allowing autofill to do its magic when it comes to card processing. Avoid cart abandonment by simplifying your checkout page.”
![Bar chart showing how Shop Pay checkouts convert 1.91 times more on mobile devices.](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/Shop_Pay.png?v=1666031221)
11. Accept alternative payment methods
Long gone are the days of punching credit card numbers into an online checkout form.
These days, consumers use a variety of payment methods to buy products and services online. Increase sales by offering the most popular, including:
- Debit and credit cards
- Buy now, pay later (Shop Pay Installments, Klarna, or AfterPay)
- Mobile wallets (Shop Pay, Apple Pay, or Google Pay)
![Gold necklace product page showing how a $220 product can be paid for in four installments of $55 using AfterPay.](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/Wolf_Circus.png?v=1666031313)
12. Provide excellent customer service
New customers will contact your sales team for a variety of reasons. Whether their product arrived damaged or they need help using the item they’ve bought, providing good customer service can retain customers and increase sales.
Be proactive, apologize for issues, and rectify them as quickly as possible. It plays on the service recovery paradox: you build more goodwill with customers after solving their complaint than you would’ve done with no problem.
![Line graph showing how customer loyalty increases after you rectify their problems.](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/image7_e84e7c1a-4870-4e20-a5ee-9fdb17ad7233.png?v=1666031400)
13. Offer a customer loyalty program
You’ve done the hard work of attracting new customers. Encourage them to purchase again with a customer loyalty program.
Two-thirds of consumers say the ability to earn rewards actually changes their spending behavior. Keep previous customers in your sphere of influence with rewards for their next purchase(s), encouraging them to action digital marketing strategies on your behalf.
That could mean rewarding them for:
- Generating word-of-mouth referrals
- Sharing your products on social media
- Making another purchase
![Liquid Death’s loyalty program page that offers exclusive merch access, private show invites, and limited-edition products.](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/Liquid_Death.png?v=1666031490)
Increasing sales for your online store is a continuous process
The best way to increase sales differs from store to store. Find out what works for your website and double down on it.
Talk with existing customers to stay one step ahead of their ever-changing preferences when shopping online. Whether you need to improve customer service or offer free shipping, it is possible to steadily increase sales.
How to increase sales FAQ
How can I bring more online sales?
Run abandoned cart campaigns. Start a loyalty program for existing customers. Use one-click checkout. Offer free shipping for all orders. Accept alternative payment methods.
How does investing in post-sales customer service increase future sales?
Rectifying an unhappy customer’s problem can build goodwill and increase loyalty. This can make them more likely to make another purchase, recommend your brand to a friend, and shout about their positive customer experience on social media.
Why does speeding up the check out process increase sales?
The checkout page holds the greatest risk of losing sales. It’s estimated that the average shopping cart abandonment rate at the checkout page hovers somewhere between 65% and 96%. Removing friction, decreasing the amount of steps to check out, will allow your customer to buy what they want quickly and will add to your bottom line.