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5 Surefire Ways to Increase Online Product Sales
So you have an online business and your selling products off your website. Let’s say you’re making sales but you’re not making as many as you would like. The following outlines a few surefire ways to help increase the sales of your products off your website.
Considering Hudson Horizons has many product clients, I have a lot of experience working with them to help increase their sales online. The information I’m providing below is the same that I’d share with them if I was to help increase their sales.
Please understand, these are not quick fixes – you must dedicate yourself and your company to implement these changes in order to see positive results. Some changes suggest shifts in the way you perceive your customers and others are software implementation tactics that can provide an immediate return on your investment.
Try some or all of these ideas to increase online product sales.
Setup a Coupon Discount Program for Repeat Customers
Your repeat customers should be your pride and joy. If you have customers that continually come back to purchase from your website, then you should provide them with coupon discounts to thank them for being a loyal customer. This will make them feel all warm and fuzzy inside and they will greatly appreciate you recognizing them as a valuable customer.
A common coupon code is one that offers them a 10% - 20% discount off their next order. Setting up a Coupon Discount Program requires some modifications to your website. I also recommend setting up a system that will automatically send the coupon code by email along with their order receipt. The email could say something like this – Thank you for your recent purchase. We’ve noticed you have purchased from our site before. To show our thanks for being a repeat customer we want to offer you with the following coupon code for your next order. Simply enter the coupon code 15OffOrder when checking out on your next order from our website and you will receive 15% your total order price.
A Web development company, such as Hudson Horizons, will be able to help you implement a Coupon Discount Program for your website.
Offer Free Shipping for all Orders over X Amount
A great way to increase sales is to offer free shipping for all orders over X amount. The way to do this is to first determine the average sales price of an online order. Let’s say the average order price is $50, for two products, and shipping is approximately $10. That means your total order is $60. A great way to entice people to increase their order is to offer them free shipping for all orders over let’s say $75. That means all they have to do is purchase one additional product. If you do this, you will increase the total sales of each order by $15. Of course the margin on each product is different so you need to determine your breakeven point and go from there. The above was merely an example to help explain the idea of offering free shipping to your customers to increase your sales.
Offer Free Samples with Each Packaged Order
Why do so many businesses include free samples of other products when you buy something from them? Because it can increase sales in so many ways. As the customer who bought the original product, I might try and like the sample of the new product and buy some of that too. Or I might pass on the sample to someone else who might try the product, like it, and buy that and other products from your company’s website. At the very least, the original customer will be thinking warm thoughts about your company and hopefully telling other people about your products.
Offer free samples with each packaged order. It will be a small price to pay to make your clients happy and keep them coming back.
Customers who Bought this Items also Bought…
A great way to up-sell products is to let your customers know about them. Amazon.com does this to perfection. When browsing and making a purchase off Amazon’s website, you will notice, underneath the product, an area that says “Customers who bought this item also bought”. This is a great way to let you customers know about other products that are similar and were interesting to your other customers. By doing this, you offer the opportunity to up-sell some products that maybe your customer did not see or were not thinking about when they were browsing your site.
Adding this up-selling feature will require modifications to your website. A Web development company, such as Hudson Horizons will be able to help implement up-selling features like this to your website.
Setup an Online Customer Rewards Program
We are all familiar with the customer rewards programs that so many large corporations have in place and there’s no reason why our smaller businesses can’t have one as well. It can be as simple as a discount on a customer’s birthday or as complex as a points system that earns various rewards for discounts on online merchandise.
If setup correctly, the above information will provide some surefire ways to improve customer loyalty, build customer satisfaction and increase online product sales.
I hope you find this information to helpful and vital to the success of your e-business.
At Hudson Horizons, we provide website Content Management conversion for the small to mid-sized business to easily allow our clients the ability to manage the data of their website on a day-to-day basis.
Hudson Horizons is an e-business product, solution and marketing company specializing in creating highly sophisticated customized websites, web-based software applications and providing e-marketing services for small and mid-sized businesses.
Our vision and ultimate ambition as a company is to always strive to be "The New Light for e-Business."
By offering new, innovative and extremely competitive products and solutions to our customers, we provide better ways to run and operate their business online.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daryl_H._Bryant
Handcrafting and E-commerce — It is an Odd Juxtaposition
The evolution of the handcrafting world and its migration to on-line marketing may sound like a strange juxtaposition, but in fact, e-Commerce has become a significant contributing factor to the sustainability of the craft industry in the US. I should know; my business wouldn't be here today if I had not made that transition myself. If you are in the craft business and have not created an on-line presence, please read on.
I began working with wood in the mid-80's. A vision of making outrageously beautiful pieces that would that would touch people's hearts and remind them of their interior lives began to take hold in my mind. While I was successful in attaining my goal of having my boxes sold in the very best galleries in the country, I found that despite hard work, long hours, and outstanding product, it was difficult to make ends meet and to justify the amount of personal and financial investment.
In 1999 the World Wide Web, as it was called then, was just beginning to be taken seriously as a marketing tool. I began to imagine what it might be like to sell directly to the customer instead of through galleries. While it concerned me to give up the security of the standing orders each show generated, the business to business marketing model and accompanying margins simply were not sustainable. I decided to create a web site and my wife and I worked together to design, write copy and create product photographs. It felt a bit like being an explorer in the New World: not a lot of maps and no one in my situation from which to ask for advice. But the business case for the site was compelling--selling my products directly to customers at twice their wholesale price made the margins a lot more workable. The site went live that fall and I spent most of the Christmas season on the phone selling product--my site delivered solid financial results. And the rest is history.
This story might be yours as well. As a crafter, you know the attention to detail you take in creating your products. That same dedication can be put forth into building your presence on-line. Creating a solid on-line presence is similar to the effort that goes into each piece. Each detail can’t be overlooked. Here are some things that have helped me along the way.
Hire a good photographer. This is crucial to any web site, especially if you
only sell on-line.
In the beginning you'll want to hire a good webmaster, but eventually, if possible, you should learn how to maintain your site yourself. You'll save yourself money and gain a better understanding of the business.
Investigate generating sales through Pay-Per-Click campaigns such as with Google AdWords and Yahoo's Overture.
When you're on-line, much of the personal element is lost. To make up for lacking a "store front" where you can interface directly with your clientele, put as much of yourself and personal style into your web site as possible. This includes indicating that you, the handcrafter, are available by telephone or e-mail to support any questions.
Making the transition to selling handcrafted pieces on-line may not be for
everyone. It’s a competitive market out there today, but there are many tools
available. You have the passion and desire to create beautiful crafts. Why
not take the initiative to ensure that your work is available to as many customers
as possible? It’s worth consideration.
Russell Pool has been perfecting the art of quality wooden box creation for over two decades. Each piece he creates reflects his passion for quality and his love for the spiritual qualities of balance, beauty, and getting things “naturally right.” To learn more about his work, visit Russell Pool Fine Woodworking.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Russell_Pool
What Trinidad's Gas Shortage Teaches Us
The recent panic-driven gas shortage in Trinidad and Tobago teaches us many lessons. We need to keep our tanks full in case of an emergency. News of a gas shortage can actually cause the shortage. Those are two important lessons we learnt but it also points to an Internet opportunity for gas stations.
What would a gas station do with a website? Gas stations get a lot of traffic vehicular and otherwise. Hundreds or even, depending on the location, thousands of people frequent them. It is often said that their built-in convenience stores make more money for the gas station than the sale of gas itself.
Just from these facts, our years-old clients should see what we're getting at. First, any business that generates lots of traffic would have a fairly easy time marketing its website and would be able to convert vehicular traffic into website traffic.
The c-store at the end of the day is actually a store where things are sold and in some cases, it is a 24-hour store. Does this sound familiar? Is the Internet not also a 24-hour store?
So to make it simple, gas stations can start by selling items from the c-store online. Let people pay for them online and come to the gas station at any time to collect. With gas stations nowadays selling everything from over-the-counter drugs to groceries, the possibilities are endless. The other beauty about this business is that people are aware that they will have to pay a little extra when they buy from the c-store precisely because of the 24-hour convenience.
Furthermore, advertising the website would be a breeze. Just put up the URL on one of your signs. While we're on the topic of advertising, some gas stations sell advertising space too. On their receipts, store windows and elsewhere. Now, what if you were to offer advertisers a banner ad or two on your website as well?
Webcam on the roof Now, let's get to my favourite. During the gas shortage, my brother called me to find out if there was gas at the station in my area. It turned out that the station nearby not only had gas throughout the so-called shortage but they reaped great profits because they were the only one in Central Trinidad with a non-stop supply.
Of course, I didn't know that then but if the gas station had a webcam, one could visit its website and see how the place looked. What makes it even more appealing is that gas stations tend to be located on main roads and busy streets. If the gas station had a website and a webcam overlooking the street, people would go there when they just want to see what's going on in the area, to see what the weather is like and maybe even just to people-watch when they're bored. This kind of 'liming' or hanging out at any website could translate to tremendous value for advertisers.
So there you have it, if you own a gas station or know a gas station owner, get a website and take advantage of these Internet opportunities before your competitor reads this and beats you to it.
Aleem Khan is an accredited Internet Expert with the International Internet Authority http://www.InternationalInternetAuthority.com which is a safe and reliable place for Internet domain registration.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Aleem_Khan