The world of WordPress eCommerce can be tough. After all, with one of the most popular structures meeting one of the most popular business models, it can take quite a bit of work to grow your revenues into the hundreds of thousands. However, with the right strategy, there are quite a few hacks you can take on to increase your revenues tenfold. Here’s how:
Change Up Your Model
A common mistake many make with their eCommerce store is implementing a traditional storefront model to online. That process doesn’t always translate, which in turn, leads to stores buying too much inventory for not enough storage space, as well as not being able to invest more money into marketing and outreach. That’s why it’s not a bad idea to explore how to start dropshipping.
Dropshipping is essentially when a store sends their orders to a supplier that fulfills shipment to the customer. According to AmeriCommerce, approximately 22 to 33 percent of internet stores have adopted a dropshipping model, as it enables them to save on inventory that’s not selling as well as storage space. Furthermore, dropshipping also gives you a chance to add popular items quickly without having to wait until they reach your store first. Although your margins will be slightly higher, you’ll also have more capital to market your store, which with how competitive eCommerce can be, will always give you the advantage.
Make It Mobile Friendly
Another factor you might be lagging on with your WordPress store is how mobile-friendly it is. As noted by Impact Bound, 69 percent of our media time spent on mobile, which goes to show how important having a well designed mobile site is. Beyond just responsiveness, a quality mobile site should have a certain feel to it that encourages a sales pipeline, aiming to close the deal from as many mediums as possible.
Take a look around your current mobile site and see what type of flow it has, including what the experience is like to shop for items, check out, read your blog, etc. The goal is to start deciphering what it would be like to see a post on something like Instagram, be linked to your website, and then complete the purchase. Ask yourself certain questions along the way such as are your load times quick enough? Is it easy to navigate and dig deeper into the items I’m considering? How does the copy feel? All of these are considerations when looking at your WordPress site on mobile, which you should be mindful of doing periodic maintenance on moving forward.
Engage More On Social
With a solid mobile site on your hands, a smart strategy to increase sales is to start linking your customers from social media directly to your website. Not only is selling on social a widespread practice but one that has proven to hold great results. In fact, according to Big Commerce, online stores with a social presence have increased revenues on average by 32 percent, which is quite a big leap over the other digital marketing channels. And no matter how much you currently are active on social media, it’s always wise to reassess your efforts and see where you might be lacking on engagement.
If you’re not familiar, engagement is essentially the amount that people like, comment, or click on your posts. For example, if I was to run an Instagram story add where my call-to-action was “Swipe Up To Buy,” then measuring engagement would be how many people saw the post versus how many swiped up, and out of those, who made a purchase. Although a “like” or “comment” might not translate to dollars right away, the more that people engage with you, the more likely you’ll show up on their feed and thus, increasing the odds they’ll click on one of your ads. The name of the game here is consistency, which with enough effort will start to bring on a steady wave of customers quickly.
SEO And WordPress Go Hand-In-Hand
Finally, as WordPress integrates seamlessly with SEO strategies, optimizing how much you show up in search is an excellent method for increasing traffic. As noted by Junto Digital, 93 percent of online experiences begin with search, showcasing just how often we turn to Google when we want to find something. However, getting to the front of those results is no easy task, as it requires quite a bit of studying what people are looking up versus how that can lead to your business.
In looking at your eCommerce store, ask yourself what type of niche items you have over your competition, as well as what search terms people would use to find that. For example, if I’m one of the only stores that sell American-made leather baseball gloves, then owning “American leather baseball glove” and implementing that within my tags and copy would be ideal. Granted, for how many eCommerce stores that are out there selling products similar to yours, it’ll take quite a bit of creativity to get your search terms up. However, what’s you find your lane and maintain it, traffic will passively flow through your site for a long, long time.
What are some strategies you’ve found successful to bring on new customers for your eCommerce store? Comment with your answers below!