8 Ways to Increase Website Sales
8 Ways to Increase Website Sales
Your website plays a crucial role in the success of your business, selling your products and showing your potential customers who you are and what you do for them, even when you’re not around. Which is why, if it’s doing it’s job well, it can be an amazing tool for your business – making sales while you sleep and generating ongoing leads. But, if it’s not working well, then it’s time to update and optimize your website for increased sales.
Your website is the last step someone takes to buy your product or book your service, regardless of your marketing techniques and how well those are performing. Your website is the grand finale, the finishing touch, and the final step before someone purchases from you.
At Flourish Wildly, we design websites that not only look amazing, but work amazing, too. Here’s eight things that we implement into every site we design, that you can implement as well to increase your website sales, no matter what industry you’re in.
8 Ways to Increase Your Website Sales
Make Your Offer Front & Center
Humans have short attention spans, and your website needs to grab and hold their attention immediately or you risk them leaving your site and never coming back to it.
To ensure you’re grabbing their attention, answer their questions about what your business is and who it’s for, immediately. A clear statement telling them what you do and who you are will help your website visitors know that they’re in the right place. If you need help, use this simple Grunt Test created by Donald Miller, founder of StoryBrand: If a caveman came across your site, could he understand and “grunt” what you do from just a glance? If not, there’s a good chance you’re loosing money.
The top of your Home page should include:
A clear statement that says what you offer and who it’s for
A compelling image of your products or services
A call-to-action button
Not sure what your call-to-action should be? Think about what your viewer needs to do to buy your offer, or get started with your offer – what is the first thing you want them to do when landing on your website?
Making your offer front and center ensures someone viewing your website for the first time immediately knows what your business offers, why they might want it, and how they can buy it or get started.
Use Professional Images To Promote Your Products & Services
Professional images are important for all businesses, but even more so for E-Commerce businesses as consumers consider the quality of a product based on the quality of image, when selecting and purchasing products. Most of the time, people are deciding to buy from you before seeing your product in-person, based solely on your photography, website experience, and branding, which is why you want these elements of your business to work for you, not against you.
Professional brand and product photography will improve the perceived value of your products and of your business as a whole. High-quality and interesting photos will help your brand feel more authentic and trustworthy, display your brand’s personality, and attract the right type of customers to your business. And when your business is in front of the right people, you’ll be able to make more sales.
Make It Easy To Shop From Your Home Page
The fewer actions, or clicks, that it takes for someone to do what they’re trying to do on your site, the better. If your potential customers have a hard time understanding where to buy your product, or how to book your service, they’ll go find what you’re offering somewhere else.
Include a section on your Home Page where people can purchase your offering, whether it highlights your most-loved products, top services, or one main offer is up to you, but make sure your website viewers can add products to their cart, or book your service, strait from the Home page.
Tip for e-Commerce businesses: Add multiple shopping sections on your home page featuring your different categories.
Tip for service-based businesses: Add a “How-To” section with a simple headline about your service and three to four steps underneath sharing your process with a call-to-action button or link where they can book your service. Keep it short and sweet.
Make Your Navigation Clear
Something I notice on a lot of website’s is unclear navigation, or unnecessary links in their navigation taking away from what’s important. Take a look at your website’s current navigation bar and think about if there is room for improvement. What are the 4 or 5 things that your audience might want to do on your website? List these in your primary navigation bar, with any extra links listed in the footer.
If you’re an e-Commerce business with multiple product categories, I recommend listing those categories as your website’s primary navigation, with all other links (such as About, FAQ, Contact, etc.) in the footer, since these are less important.
You don’t want to confuse people who are visiting your site, or make it harder for them to buy from you, instead, you want to help navigate them to their goal in as few clicks as possible.
Share Reviews & Results-Driven Testimonials
Most people read reviews before buying a new product, because people believe other people’s opinions, knowing the reviewers have nothing to gain from sharing their honest thoughts us. Testimonials and product reviews help to establish trust with your website viewers by showing them how happy your customers and clients are, and showing off the results they get from your products or from working with you.
Social proof is powerful, and therefore testimonials are crucial for businesses. If you haven’t collected testimonials before, reach out to past customers and clients to ask for their experience. Make it easy for them by providing a simple form they can fill out, and motivate them with a reward of some kind, like a discount on your offering.
You can scatter reviews and testimonials throughout your site, or have a designated page with reviews, photos, or even video testimonials showing off your product or the experience working with you – it’s totally up to you! But having a few of your favorite reviews and results-driven testimonials on your website’s action pages, like your Home, Shop, and Services pages, is a great idea. These could be the deciding factor that makes someone to purchase from you.
At the end of the day, your audience will be more inclined to buy from you, and comfortable reaching out to you, if they can see lots of proof of what you’re promising with your offering, from other people.
Add a FAQ Section
A Frequently Asked Questions section may not be the most important thing on your site, but it definitely helps to convert, and filter leads for service-based businesses.
If someone can’t find an answer to a question they have, you may end up with leads that abandon you because they didn’t have enough clarity, and didn’t feel like reaching out to ask you about it. Or, you end up with an inbox or DM’s full of the same questions that you have to answer, wasting your valuable time.
Make a list of the common questions you’ve had, or survey your past customers and clients about what questions they had before working with you or using your product, and anticipate additional questions your audiences may have. Be sure to answer these throughout your site, or in a FAQ section.
Tip: Many people won’t need their questions answered before buying from you, but some will. Make your FAQ section easy to find for those who need it, but keep your website clean and simple by adding the FAQ link to your Footer navigation only. Adding it to your website’s main navigation will distract from the main focus of your website, while adding it to the footer will keep it easily accessible, and most people know to look for an FAQ link in the footer, as it’s common practice in web design. Another option is to add shorter FAQ sections to your sales pages only, like your Services page or Product pages.
Include A Call-To-Action On Every Page
It’s important to guide viewers through your website. The longer they stay on your website, the more they’ll interact with it and the more they’ll begin to trust you, eventually leading to buying from you.
Having a call-to-action at the end of every page, and most sections, will guide your website viewers to where on your site they might like to go next. This helps to ensure that they’re not leaving your site, and gives you more control.
Create An Opt-In To Your Email List
When people view your website, they’re likely interested in you and what you offer, but may not be ready to book your service or buy your product yet. Having an email sign up where they can opt in to get to know your brand better is a great opportunity to collect contact info on potential customers and clients, and nurture your relationship with them through consistent email marketing.
Remember, the greatest brands are in a love-affair with their customers. Those who opt-in to receive your emails have given you permission to contact them on a regular basis. It’s kind of like dating – your potential customers need to be wined and dined by you before the go and marry you (a.k.a. buy from you).
On to my main point – most people won’t sign up for a newsletter unless they know that they’re getting something in return. This is called an Opt-In, or Lead Capture. Examples of popular opt-in’s are free downloadable with information related to your business that they want and will find valuable, discounts, tutorials, or exclusive content.
Anything that provides free value to your potential customers is a great way to get more people to opt-in to your email list, and will continue building that trust in your brand.
If you are looking for more insight into optimizing your current website for increased sales, or improving your brand and website from the ground up, feel free to reach out via our Client Application form below.
So there you have it, the eight ways that you can improve your website for increased sales. I know it may seem like a lot, but I’m confident that you can implement these improvements into your website, whether you decide to work with a website designer or DIY it. If you find any of these tips helpful, or if you have any questions, let us know!
