The Internet has 4.1 billion users (out of the 7.6 billion global population), whose attention businesses vie for. And with different competing elements online, it has become quite a challenge for brands to reach, convert, and retain their audiences.

Fortunately, there are technological advancements that can aid enterprises in gaining traction in their respective niches. eCommerce software platforms are one of these. Spending on this technology reached $4.7 billion worldwide in 2015 and is projected to grow 15 percent year-over-year until 2020, Forbes writes in an online-published article. 

This only shows that more and more commercial entities are discovering the benefits of eCommerce applications. However, simply having one in your sales toolbox is not enough. You have to maximize the capabilities of your preferred platform to be attractive to consumers enough to get them to spend their money on your products or services. 

To help you achieve higher ROI from your eCommerce investment, we have prepared seven tips on how to improve eCommerce sales. 

8 Tips for Improving Your Business with eCommerce Software

1. Make your website easy to navigate 

2. Practice upselling and cross-selling

3. Have effective channels grow loyalty and sales

4. Remind shoppers about their abandoned carts 

5. Take your marketing to social media platforms

6. Set up a world-class customer service

7. Use your data

8. Blast into the future with AI

Make your website easy to navigate 

Shoppers spend a lot of time going through an online shop looking for the items they like before putting them in the carts and paying for them finally. However, if your website’s layout is not easy to navigate or is not visually appealing, you might lose potential customers even if you have a wide range of products. Disruptive Advertising reports that 38 percent of online shoppers change their minds about buying from a website if they do not like its visuals. 

You can mitigate this scenario with an eCommerce software that presents you with well-made, ready-to-go layouts. But if you prefer to have your own, you may want to edit the templates or take cues from other websites. This way, you can get shoppers to stay on your website and spend. 

Practice upselling and cross-selling

When people shop for a certain product, they either like to look at other things that go with it or similar items that are a cut above the one they have in mind currently. The former allows you to cross-sell while the latter is an opportunity for upselling. With that, you can sell your other products as well and drive more sales.

These consumer behaviors are a chance for you to increase your revenue. There are numerous eCommerce software platforms out there that allow you to do so because of their automation capabilities. They make this possible because of product categorization. This means you have to group similar items together for your cross-selling and upselling to be effective. Once you have accomplished that, the eCommerce application does the heavy lifting by choosing the most appropriate items from your catalog to present to shoppers. A/B testing for ecommerce can also give you more insights to realize which approach works and not.

Have effective channels to grow loyalty and sales

Some of the best selling ecommerce companies use very effective lead farming techniques, where the idea is to build loyalty with the customers and push them to make repeat purchases. It is essential that you create different funnels via your website to convert visitors into buyers using subscription forms, gathering contact touch-points etc. Obviously it is important that you handle subscribers, users who abandoned their carts, users with failed payments,etc differently to strike at the right time in order to optimize conversion. It all starts with gathering the right information about your users, be it their email address or phone number. It is recommended to use any of the methods available out there to detect invalid emails as well as validate phone numbers to get things right from the start.

Remind shoppers about their abandoned carts 

Abandoned shopping carts are a fact in online commerce. In fact, 68% of the time, people do not push through with their purchase, as CPC Strategy points out in an article. These consumers usually turn their backs on their carts because of unexpected costs such as handling and shipping fees or maybe they found the same products elsewhere for lower prices. There may also be instances when they leave the cart to possibly add more items later on, and then they got distracted and forgotten about it.

Though that is cause for worry, it is not a lost cause since you can still draw those shoppers back to your site. This is possible through abandoned cart marketing, a strategy that sends reminder emails to buyers about what is in their cart. 

Being straightforward can grab their attention and may convince them to go back to your site and complete the checkout process. 

If you want to take it up a notch, you can also offer discounts to convince them to commit to their order. 

Take your marketing to social media platforms

Integration is a common practice in today’s technological landscape that it has even made its way through social media platforms and eCommerce software solutions. This feature allows you to connect your online shopping site with your official social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. 

By doing so, you can ease your marketing in social media networks. You can highlight the top-selling goods in your catalog, the latest additions in your inventory, and even promote your less popular items to attract buyers to them. This even increases your customer engagement in different platforms, which can lead to conversion, repeat purchases, and brand loyalty.

If you’re well-versed on what is ecommerce marketing and its current trends, you’ll know that more and more consumers are moving online to shop. Plus, most Millenials and Gen Z shoppers spend a lot of their money on items they discover on Instagram and Snapchat, according to a global survey conducted by BigCommerce. This means that you have to step up your game in those platforms and maximize their marketing and sales tools to increase your sales. 

Set up a world-class customer service

Customers are finicky about the customer service they receive from brands. In truth, it is a great factor in their decision to do business with a company. A flagship survey conducted by American Express and published in 2017 showed that shoppers, especially in Singapore, did not complete a purchase because of bad customer service. The same study also showed that if a company does well in that area, consumers are likely to spend more money on them. 

That is why it would be to your best interest to invest in providing first-rate customer service. An eCommerce platform can help you in this regard because many vendors offer built-in support modules. If the one you prefer does not have that capability, you can still take advantage of its integration feature by connecting it with your support software. This way, you can assist your customers before, during, and after their purchases. 

Use your data

Aside from helping you sell your products, an eCommerce solution can help you improve your sales using data. Since eCommerce applications have reporting suites, they can consolidate information about your audience and their behaviors, whether they make a purchase, how long it takes them to decide what to buy and to check out, how often do they shop and when, and what they often put into their carts. 

Beyond that, an eCommerce suite can tell you about your visitors who often look around but do not buy. By understanding them, you can find ways to convince them to go with their purchase intent. Thus, you can win over on-the-fence shoppers and increase your shop’s profitability. 

Blast into the future with AI

Artificial intelligence is a hot topic in eCommerce and it is not difficult to see why. This technology has different benefits that range from marketing and communication automation to product recommendation. 

When you invest in an eCommerce solution with strong AI, you can elevate your processes by shortening order processing times and by personalizing your engagements with customers. There are other aspects in your business wherein artificial intelligence can be effective, but these are only a few examples. 

They affect your relationships with customers greatly because nobody likes to wait too long for their orders to ship to them. On the other hand, consumers like to know that you pay attention to their likes, dislikes, and needs and wants. They can notice this easily in your marketing emails and in the products you recommend to them while they are on your website. 

Such things have revolutionized eCommerce and consumers’ behaviors. By integrating this technology into your online shop, you can start preparing your brand for future innovations. 

Adopting eCommerce for brand growth

Consumers spend more time nowadays on their devices looking for products they want or need because of convenience. If you adopt eCommerce early, then you are likely to gain an edge over your competition. This can contribute to your brand growth and help your business stay strong in your respective niche for a long time. This can aid you in strengthening your relationships with your customers as well since you can better understand their behaviors and be ready to give them what they desire.