Without sales, there is no need to have a payment processor.
In other words, if you’re not making any sales or enough sales to justify having a payment processor, even the best payment processor won’t help you. That was why we talked about ways to increase sales last week.
We talked about various strategies from driving more traffic to using social proof; in fact, we shared several studies to show the effectiveness of some of the points mentioned. You should read the post if you haven’t; this post is a follow up.
If you’re looking to increase sales on your website, here are a few more tips:
1. Start Building an Email List
In marketing, there is the Rule of Seven; it is an adage that says your marketing message has to be seen by your prospect at least 7 times before they take action or buy from you.
In other words, the more you reach out to a potential buyer the higher your chances of getting a sale; in today’s very competitive marketing world, where the average American is bombarded with thousands of advertising messages every single day people are constantly looking for ways to opt out of advertising, so reaching the same person up to 7 times can be very difficult.
Fortunately, having an email list makes it possible and easy to get in touch with potential customers countless times; it could be 7, 70 or 700 times. As long as you aren’t just pitching blatant advertising messages to them every day and you can consistently contribute some kind of value to them in each email, then not only will the occasional pitches be forgiven but they’ll be very effective.
This explains the emergence of content marketing online and the rage about it lately, but that’s a subject for another article.
2. Make it Insanely Easy for People to Buy
This is perhaps the most important factor you should consider when trying to make a sale; it’s why we consistently recommend having the right payment processor.
The more difficult it is for people to make a purchase on your website – whether it is due to issues with your payment processor, too many forms to fill, your website becoming very slow, your lack of support for mobile devices or anything else – the more likely you will lose that sale.
According to recent data, slow websites cost the US economy over $500 billion every year. 40% of people will abandon a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load and over 80% of these visitors will most likely never return. 67% of people are more likely to buy from a mobile-friendly website than a non-mobile-friendly website. In fact, most online buyers find it irritating when they want to buy something on a website with their mobile devices and it isn’t mobile-friendly.
Online travel firm, Expedia, was able to recover $12 million in lost annual revenue by removing a simple field on their payment form. Popular blogger, Neil Patel, was able to boost conversions on his digital agency firm website by 26% just by removing one field; for him, that translates to 6 figures in additional yearly revenue.
In case you don’t get it yet, one thing is instantly clear from all the data and statistics cited; the easier you make it for your customers to buy, the higher their chances of buying.
This works in all areas but it is especially important when it comes to taking payments. In Expedia’s case, they found out a lot of customers click their “buy now” button that don’t pay; it happened that just one field on their payment form was confusing potential customers. That one field resulted in an additional $12 million in yearly revenue; they didn’t have to advertise, drive more traffic or do anything else. They just had to remove one field.
What does this mean to your business? Keep experimenting to see what works, ensure you’re with the right payment processor that gives you a lot of control over your payment options and test a lot. At ACH-Payments, you have the control you need.
3. Consistently Split Test Various Elements of Your Sales Page
The thing about selling stuff online is that you never really know what works; even after you’ve found a goldmine, you can still do better. Most importantly, don’t just rely on your intuition.
Server Density was able to increase revenue by 114% by experimenting with a different pricing option on their sales page and Veeam software was able to increase leads by 160% by changing a word on their sales page.
To some people, that sounds unreal but it’s a possibility if you’re effectively split testing; in most cases, your audience will tell you what you need to know about getting more sales on your website and, surprisingly, you won’t get that information by asking them. You’ll get it by constantly testing to see what they’re doing on your website and what is triggering actions from them.
To effectively do this, tools like Optimizely and Visual Website Optimizer will come in very handy.
4. Use Urgency in Your Copy
People are too lazy to buy. Unless your product is something they absolutely positively must buy, like paying for an exam or something of that nature, you will be doing very low in sales without using urgency in your copy.
We like to procrastinate and postpone things as much as we can; even if we find that we need things, we’ll often postpone buying them until we forget.
By letting people know that they absolutely need to buy your product RIGHT NOW, you’ll increase your sales significantly.
5. Use Real Testimonials
Nothing will communicate how effective your product is to a potential buyer than seeing that other people use and enjoy your product; this is the same social proof principle we talked about last week in action, but directly from your customers.
It could be in video, audio or text form; as long as the testimonial is real and believable, you’ll notice an increase in sales.
6. Be Exclusive
People will do anything to feel special and different; that’s why we’re often in groups, we do specific things to signify that we’re “men” or we’re “women” and it’s why we’ll often get into fights to support our political group or our sports team. We love to be in groups; we love things exclusive to us.
By making your products exclusive to certain people and letting them in on the fact that your product is exclusive to them, you’ll make a lot more sales.
7. Get an Authority to Vouch for You
This is similar to using testimonials and it’s also very powerful. It’s why companies experience a significant boost in sale by having a celebrity model for them. It’s how top diet company, Weight Watchers, was able to record a 65% increase in quarterly profits and more than double its stock value for a whole year by hiring Jennifer Hudson.
When you get a celebrity, especially someone trusted and respected in your field, to vouch for and endorse your product, you’ll notice consistent increase in sales.
What are your favorite tactics for increasing sales?
What are your favorite tactics for increasing sales on your website? Share with us in the comments and share this article with a friend.
