Online store owners face some problems associated with a constant or declining rate of sales on their online stores, and this may affect the results and profits of the online store, especially with the continuous increase in competition.
Therefore, online store owners are looking for a set of successful marketing strategies and steps that help them win customers and increase sales and profits on their online store.
This is what we will explain in today’s article, where we will discuss with you the most important reasons and common strategies that you can rely on to increase sales on your online store and achieve the success and goal required of the online store in general, so continue reading with us.
Strategies to increase sales in WooCommerce stores
We will present to you a list of 15 proven practical methods that will help you increase sales on your online store. We will also explain to you the most important WordPress plugins that you need at the points that require this matter.
1- Improving the user experience
User experience is a crucial factor in determining a customer’s decision to purchase within your online store, so online store owners always strive to provide the best possible user experience to customers.
There are many methods that you can rely on to improve the user experience within your online store, and the most important of these methods are the following:
- Providing a good UX user interface that is easy to deal with, and it is preferable that the general appearance of the store be organized and professional.
- Increasing the speed of the online store in general, and you can rely on the article on increasing the speed of WordPress in 16 steps that guarantee the performance of your site Advanced strategies to more than double the speed of your online store.
- Organize the payment completion page and request only the basic data. If you want to include other data, for example, job or other data, you must make it optional and have a clear optional word. This is because the customer does not want to take a long time to complete payments and may leave the online store if he finds the opposite.
- Allowing payments to be completed without registering on the site. This point may differ with the strategies of some online stores, but it is one of the effective points in increasing sales on the online store.
It is worth noting that the user experience is also linked to promoting the online store at the level of family and friends, because when the customer gets the best possible user experience, he will definitely recommend the online store and also provide a positive evaluation of the store to those who ask him to evaluate the online store before purchasing.
2- Multiple payment options
Payment options are one of the basics of creating successful online stores and are one of the most important factors that affect completing payments and increasing sales on online stores.
This is when the customer reaches the payments page, which means the success of the marketing plan or strategy that he relies on, but he is surprised that there is no payment gateway that suits him. He will leave the online store directly, and you will find that your marketing effort has become insignificant. Rather, you may lose the customer in the long run as well, and this will be a result. The marketing campaign is exactly the opposite.
Therefore, multiple payment options must be provided to the customer, especially the local payment options that he needs, because they are less commission-based for him. You determine the target audience, then you determine the local payment options that he needs, then you determine the main international payment options that are most commonly used, for example, payment by phone. By credit card, Visa or MasterCard, payment via PayPal, etc.
Then you collect all of these options and try to include them in your online store. Consider choosing payment gateways that complete payments within the online store and with the lowest possible commission and fees, as well as being fully insured and a reliable source or with a brand known to customers.
You can review the article on adding global and local payment gateways to electronic stores or educational platforms A comprehensive guide to help you identify the most important payment gateways and explain how to include them within your WooCommerce online store.
3- Discount coupons
Customers are always attracted to discount coupons because the customer feels that he may get the product for less than its actual value, so he takes the initiative to get the product before the discount coupon expires or the offer expires.
The following points must be taken into account when using discount coupons:
- The discount should not be a large percentage of the product so that the customer does not feel that the discount is fake and thus cause an adverse result.
- It is preferable not to repeat the discounts periodically on the online store so that the customer does not feel that the discounts are always available on the online store and thus does not benefit from the incentive point for immediate purchase before the discount period expires.
- You should not make the discounts conflicting, for example, a 20% discount and immediately after it a 50% discount. This leads to the anger of the first group, who purchased 20% and feels disappointed in trusting the store and may demand a return of the money if it has not been received for 14 days or according to the return policy on Your online store, but if the second discount is 25% or 15%, will not feel much regret and you will win both categories.
- It is not preferable for the discount coupon period to be long, for example, a 20% discount for a month. This is not considered a discount, but rather a new price over a short period, and thus you also lose the point of motivating the customer to make an immediate purchase.
- Discounts must be linked to occasions in general. For example, do not make discounts on the occasion of January and then on the occasion of February, as these are considered fake discounts for the customer. However, it is preferable that they be discounts linked to valid occasions, for example New Year’s, Black Friday, etc., and the customer may wait until… Black Friday throughout the year to purchase your online store’s services or products.
The previous criteria may vary relatively depending on the specialty of the online store, but they help you prepare a discount coupon for your online store and get a good impression from customers, thus increasing sales.
The WooCommerce platform provides the ability to prepare discount coupons in a completely flexible way and with multiple options, as you enter the main WordPress control panel and choose Marketing from the side menu, then choose coupons from it, and then choose to add a coupon as shown in the following image:
The WooCommerce platform provides you with the ability to add discounts as a fixed percentage of products, a variable percentage, or a fixed discount on the total products, as well as with the ability to specify the period of the discount coupon and its usage in terms of the number of customers, number of times of use, and much more. You can also rely on various WordPress plugins to customize Advanced coupon features such as dynamic coupons and much more.
You can rely on the article The Comprehensive Guide to Discount Coupons and Using them to Increase Sales to learn all the basic points about discount coupons on WooCommerce.
4- Flash Sale
Flash discounts are one of the best strategies for increasing sales in online stores, and they may also be part of discount coupons, but they are relatively different, as they are discounts related to the products themselves, not occasions, and they are for a very short term and are mostly not repeated frequently.
For example, one-day discounts on the last pieces of all products, or a discount while supplies last, with the activation of a counter that shows the remaining quantity, and much more.
All of these discounts make the customer strive to complete the purchase for fear that the quick offer or available quantity will expire, and this is reflected in increased sales. It is worth noting that more than 64% of online consumers make their purchase during the quick discounts period.
There are many add-ons dedicated to quick discounts on WooCommerce, for example the Boost Sales add-on , which includes many ready-made pop-up templates, the ability to control products directly, and much more, and there are many other add-ons.
5- Live chat
When a customer enters your online store, he may need some assistance, for example, inquiring about product details, comparing products, or some technical problems in using the online store, payment gateways, etc.
Therefore, he needs technical support to help him solve these problems. If he does not find available technical support and leaves the site, the process of returning the customer to the store again will be difficult, and in this way you will lose the customer after he was close to completing the purchase on your online store.
Therefore, you must provide live chat on your online store, which is also one of the most used technical support methods for online store customers. It may be difficult to provide 24-hour live chat on your online store, especially for small or medium stores, but this can be compensated for by providing live chat most of the time. Sales on your online store through store statistics.
For WooCommerce stores, there are many options and add-ons that provide live chat on your online store, in addition to many advanced options, such as checking the customer interface, using auto-responders, and frequently asked questions in order to relieve pressure on customer service, reduce working hours, and much more.
One of the advanced options that you can rely on in your online store is the Zaitoun program. You can review the article explaining the Zaitoun program to provide customer service to online store owners, as it explains to you all the details of the program and the method of installing and dealing with it on WooCommerce stores.
6- Marketing referral
The marketing referral program is one of the main marketing strategies in most online stores, as you benefit from existing customers on your online store in order to gain the trust of new customers from relatives or friends.
This is because the marketing referral program generates a separate code for each customer in your online store, and the customer can use this code to promote your online store and receives a commission on every purchase through his code.
The customer’s commission can be a percentage of sales or a fixed value, but in all cases it is one of the cheapest marketing methods, as you only pay for completed purchases. It is also one of the most effective methods because marketing is done by existing customers who have already tried the service and provide advice to friends and relatives. A source of trust for them.
Therefore, it is indispensable to use a referral program in your online store in order to increase sales, and you can rely on the WP Referral Code add-on , and there are many other options on WooCommerce.
7- “Loyalty Points” system
The points system, known as the Loyalty Points program, is one of the successful sales increase strategies that work to maintain your online store’s customers in the long term.
There are many different forms of the points system, and the most commonly used form is that the customer receives points for every purchase on the online store, for example, linking points according to the limits of the financial amount or the initial payment reward, and much more.
After that, these points can be used in more than one marketing way, for example, when a certain limit is reached, money is withdrawn from the bank account, or a discount percentage is obtained on other products or free shipping services, or a discount percentage or free products are obtained from restaurants or other companies, etc. That’s a lot.
Therefore, if the customer obtains points from the first purchase, he seeks to buy the second product in order to try to reach the minimum limit for using or withdrawing the points, even if the same product is available on another online store that he prefers or is available locally, and this certainly reflects clearly on the increase in sales on the website. Your online store.
The previous point can also be included in the loyalty program, where points are obtained for every referral on your online store, and these points are included in the total points on the online store.
There are also many different add-ons on WooCommerce that allow you to create a complete and advanced points system. The most important of these add-ons are the MyCred add-on , the WooRewards add-on , the WooCommerce Points and Rewards extension , and many others.
You can review the article on how to activate the (loyalty program) within your store to double and repeat sales to learn how to deal with and install the loyalty program on WooCommerce in detail.
8- Organizing competitions
Competitions are also a successful marketing method that increases sales on your online store, but the competition strategy varies from one store to another in order to make the most of it.
The best way to benefit from organizing competitions is to present the competition to the target audience only and introduce the products or services during the competition. For example, do not offer a competition for a football match and the site specializes in digital products, as the audience is not suitable and may not produce the expected results.
But the ideal solution is to link the competition to the store’s specialty, for example a scientific question related to the store, an introductory question about the store as well, or a prediction about the best-selling products in the store. Here, it makes new customers familiarize themselves with the best-selling products and gain trust in them as well because they are from the nominations of a large number of old customers. In this way, you get the greatest possible benefit from the competitions.
It is not preferable to make competitions linked to events because this makes them short-term, especially since the prizes may be important. However, leave the occasions for discounts and offers only, and during the periods in between, offer some competitions. The prizes must be of value that customers are definitely interested in, in order to increase interaction and attract the largest possible number of customers. Customers.
9- Organizing a special event
During public occasions and events you will always find discounts from all online stores, so competition also remains at the best selling times of the year which can definitely generate sales.
But the matter is different from organizing a special event linked to your website only, here the competition is almost non-existent and you can achieve a good number of sales through discounts and offers as well.
For example, you organize a special event for the anniversary of the online store and the event is repeated annually, or achieving the first 100 sales on the store or 1000 sales on the store, and so on. You can choose 3 or 4 events and distribute them throughout the year, some of which are fixed annually and some when you feel a decline. Sales rate on the store and you want to activate the order.
You will find this reflected on customers, especially during annual events, as they wait for the event from year to year to obtain discounts, and the discounts must be the highest on the online store in order for it to be worth the wait and be effective, and you will find the largest online stores doing this annually.
10- Free gifts
You will find most online store advertisements containing the word free in all its different forms, because the word free works to attract customers’ attention to the online store’s products.
Therefore, you must rely on including free gifts for the customers of your online store, and there are many strategies that you can rely on in this matter. For example, if the profit margin is low, you can rely on fake gifts, such as shipping products for free, and the shipping cost is included in the cost of the product, etc. a lot.
If the profit margin is high, real gifts can be offered, for example bundled offers, such as offering to get a free item when you buy another item, etc.
But the most effective method for free gifts is to link the gift to a specific order. For example, when you reach the limit of 500 US dollars in purchases, you get free shipping, or you get an additional piece of the product, etc., thus increasing the total purchases and at the same time gaining customer satisfaction.
11- Improving the way products are displayed
The way products are displayed is always related to online store sales. If a customer enters a product on your online store and the way the product is displayed is disorganized, the images are unclear, the information is insufficient, etc., he will feel that the product is not suitable and will not complete the purchase.
This problem appears greatly in the way product details are written, as the details may be written incorrectly or do not show the features of the product and attract the customer correctly, so you always find e-store owners looking for a marketing writer to write product details on e-stores.
Therefore, you must improve the way you display products, first of all, by relying on the correct marketing writing to describe the products, as well as uploading pictures of the products from all directions and in all colors, in high quality and clearly, without certainly affecting the speed of the online store.
It is also preferable for you to film videos of the products on your online store and display them on the products page, explaining all the features of the product in a practical way, so that the customer gains sufficient confidence in the product and works to complete the purchase. You will find, after applying these tips in improving the way the products are displayed, that the sales rate in your store will clearly increase. Email.
12- Related products
When you try to buy a product from the most famous online stores, for example, Amazon, Alibaba, and many others, you will always find that they offer you products related to the main product in order to increase the total sales on the online store.
For example, when purchasing a mobile phone, you will find a proposal for a phone headset, charger, protective screen, etc., and you may also find bundled offers with a discount on all the product’s accessories. Thus, the customer feels that he will get all the basic product accessories at a reduced price, and thus he will get the offer, and this is reflected in an overall increase. Sales on the online store and definitely increase profits.
The strategies for related products differ from one online store to another. For example, the Cross-Selling strategy and the strategy that we talked about above, where you link related products or product accessories as a combined offer to the customer, or the Upselling strategy, which offers products in the same category but at a higher cost in order to be a source of comparison. For the customer, thus he may obtain the highest value product and this will result in increased profits as well.
In both cases, you need to study customer behavior within the online store and adequately research the products so that you can correctly identify related products and competing products and get the maximum benefit possible.
You can control related products on WooCommerce by entering the main WordPress control panel, then choosing products from the side menu, from there choosing all products, then choosing the product you want to modify, as shown in the following image:
After that, you scroll down until you find the product data section and choose the related products from the side menu. You will find a section of recommended products and marketing products as shown in the following image:
You can review the article How to Add Products Purchased Together to a WooCommerce Store, which provides all the technical details required regarding related or grouped products on WooCommerce.
13- Retargeting interested customers
A large number of customers leave the online store after adding the products to their shopping cart and reaching the stage of completing the payment. This is certainly due to a problem they encountered while completing the payment, for example, lack of stability on the idea of purchasing completely, or the discount coupon not being valid, and much more.
These customers are a group that is interested in your online store, but they need a little motivation in order to return to the online store and complete the payment process. Here comes the importance of retargeting customers.
It analyzes the performance of your online store and searches for customers who have products in their shopping cart and have not completed the payment process. There are many add-ons that help in this process, for example, adding Cart for WooCommerce By FunnelKit to WordPress or adding Abandoned cart reports .
After that, you re-communicate with them via email, and you can rely on email marketing add-ons, for example, the WP SMTP add-on , the Mailpoet add-on , the MailChimp add-on , and many others.
Then you start by reminding them that there are products in their shopping cart, and after that you explain to them the features of the product and the difference between it and competitors, such as trying to convince them of the product, and then you offer them a discount coupon, and in a large percentage you will find that a large percentage of them return to the online store and complete the payment.
You can review the article explaining MailChimp to launch a successful email marketing campaign to teach how to create a marketing campaign via email in detail using the MailChimp add-on.
14- Paying attention to social media
Your online store must have a large presence on various social media outlets. It is worth noting that more than 50% of online store sales are made through marketing on social media.
Therefore, you must search for the social media platforms that are most used by the target customer group for your online store, and then create new pages for them and equip them with the commercial identity of your online store, for example, the Facebook platform, Instagram, or Instagram, and many others. Then you publish pictures, details, and videos of the products on them, as well as reviews. Previous clients and more.
You can also rely on the IFTTT tool to automatically publish the content of your online store on the associated social media outlets. We provided a comprehensive explanation of it in the article on publishing your site’s articles on social media platforms automatically using IFTTT.
You can also create marketing campaigns for the target customer group on social media and track the performance of customers on your online store. For example, on the Facebook platform, you can rely on Facebook Pixel and thus you can analyze the customer’s performance within your store, determine the reason for the customer leaving the store, and retarget the customer as we did in the point The previous one, but through advertising campaigns on social media.
You can also include social media sharing buttons on all product pages on your online store in order to increase the spread of the online store and thus increase sales. You can rely on the AddtoAny add-on or the Sassy Social Share add-on and many others. You can also rely on the article on the best add-ons for marketing via social media. Social media effectively to learn how to deal in detail with the various marketing plugins on WooCommerce.
15- Paying attention to search engine optimization
Search engines are a free source of traffic to your online store and the primary source of sales in the long term, so they must care about ranking at the top of the results on search engines for keywords related to the online store.
You can do this by preparing an improvement plan for your website to be compatible with search engines and starting to publish articles according to a keyword plan also gradually until they begin to appear in the first search engine results as well. You can review the article Search Engine Optimization Guide for WordPress Sites | WordPress SEO to help you prepare your SEO plan.
You can also create advertising campaigns on search engines, which is the cheapest among the various electronic marketing methods. You are only charged for clicks, not views, and thus it is an effective marketing method to increase sales on your online store.
Conclusion
Some online store owners face periods of stagnation and weak sales on their online store, which is reflected in decreased profits, and this matter may affect the continuation of the project, especially in the long term.
But this is normal, especially for emerging or medium-sized online stores until they reach the target audience and have a stable fan base that generates a large number of sales and helps the online store spread automatically.
During today’s article, we presented to you 15 basic points that are common to most electronic store specializations that will help you prepare an integrated strategy that increases the sales of your online store.
If you have a question or a special problem with your online store’s sales, you can comment below the article, and you will be answered by technical support specialists as soon as available, God willing.
You can also share the problems you face with your online store in detail on the WordPress community, and you will find a response and help from a marketing and e-commerce specialist. It is also preferable to share your experience before and after following the previous tips so that your experience is reflected to all other members.
