Visitors but No Sales?

VISITORS BUT NO SALES? 

The juvenile stages of building an e-commerce business are exhilarating. However, many wade through this terrifying phase to launch their online stores and stand the test to watch them grow.  

It’s a kick to watch your business grow. Actually, it’s a joy to see new visitors flock your new website/online business. But since we focus a significant part of our marketing effort on generating traffic it’s no surprise it’s the first thing many achieve. Now, you got the traffic but can’t turn them into profits? Something is definitely not right, but where are you getting it wrong?  

Leveraging your website to turn visitors into sales is a daunting task. Your product and service might be the best on the market, but without a proper conversion strategy, there is no way you will make a profit. Here are some of the reasons your conversion rate is poor and the most effective remedy to each.  

Problem #1:  Acquiring the wrong traffic 

Website traffic is a fundamental pillar of the success of any online business. However, the traffic to your website is helpful only if it’s dominated by quality rather than volume. For your traffic to convert it should be the right type; one with problems that can be solved by your service or product, otherwise it will be an effort in futile.  

For this reason, it’s wise to understand the source of your quality traffic. This will help you to make an informed decision and focus your energy on driving traffic that will easily convert. Analyzing your traffic can be tough especially because there is no direct method to determine which traffic is from your ideal customer segment. However using the Google Analytics data, you can get a rough idea. Go through the Demographics & Geo reports and the acquisition channels reports to get a better understanding of your traffic source.  

Once you understand your visitors, it will be easy to tell whether your product/service and the traffic are lining up. If they are not, either the product or the traffic is at fault, but panic not, you have two options. 

  • Change the acquisition strategy: you can acquire different traffic by changing your online advertising campaigns.  Focus your message on the audience that is actively looking for the products and services you are offering.  
  • Change the product or service to match the traffic: although this option is limiting it’s a nice gateway to those who feel it’s harder to generate traffic than supply products/services.  

If you have a consistent stream of purchase primed visitors who are in harmony with your product/services, perhaps this not the problem with your conversion strategy.  

Problem #2: Poorly responsive website or a complex interface  

The landing page is the first point of interaction between your traffic and website. So have you optimized your landing page? Is the first impression really impressive? How is your entire website, complicated? Slow? There are a lot of things to consider here. 

If you populate your site with excessive fluff and adjectives, it will turn away traffic. Remember, visitors are fragile and hate hurdles, the more you add complexity to your site, the lower the conversion rate. A good website should be professionally designed to load quickly. In addition, your landing page should offer intuitive navigation and be good looking. Here are some aspects to consider when designing your website and landing page; 

  • Optimize it for mobile devices 

Data has shown that approximately 52.7% of worldwide internet users use mobile devices. Besides, 80% of consumers shop via smartphones, according to Hosting Facts data. Using this data as the evidence, you can clearly see the importance of optimizing your site for mobile devices.  

  • Don’t waste customers time:  

It has been shown that a page that takes more than 3 seconds to load costs the online store up to 40% of the visitors. Then from there on, an additionally second takes away 7% of the remaining traffic. For this reason, it’s wise to reduce the loading time of your site if you are serious about increasing the conversion rate.  

  • Killer headline: 

Come up with a short, precise killer headline that will encourage your visitors to follow the call to action. 

  • Call to action: 

A good call to action ensures the impressed visitors access the links to the right pages promptly. The CTA should be clear and prominent. Besides, the CTA button should only contain an action driving word that conveys urgency.  

  • Image quality 

If you have a banner on the landing page, dominate it with high-quality images which blend seamlessly with your site theme.  

  • A sense of trust: 

Trust is paramount, and depending on the degree it can break or make your conversion rate. Assure your visitors your online store is secure for all transaction, put in place proper refund, shipping, and return policies.  

  • Break the landing page into categories: 

The best way is breaking your home page into categories based on the interest of your visitors.  

Online business is all about visual and word content. If you feel your website and the landing page are fully optimized, maybe this not the reason for poor profitability.  

Problem #3: your offer is not captivating  

Most new online stores operate by giving away something for free as a way of enticing visitors to leave their email address or continue with the purchase process. However, most small businesses fall short of the target by offering a giveaway that is not truly compelling.  

The problem may not be your product/service. Your product or service might be performing well locally but once it is fronted on the online platform the local convenience counts for less. Before adopting your next conversion strategy figure out the type of offer, you will give to new visitors.  How compelling the free offer is will depend on the target audience. For this reason, prior research is required to determine the best offer the will blow the mind of your audience.  

Everyone likes getting a special perk or saving money. Therefore, if you provide a highly visible special offer to your visitors, they will be obliged to reciprocate the favor. Additionally, do not primarily focus on the entry offers, exit offers also work magic and entice the visitor to stick around and complete the purchase process.  

Problem #4: your check out process is complex 

If your checkout process is complex, it makes it hard for visitors to convert into sales. Visitors demand convenience, speed, and efficiency.  A fully optimized check out process will not only ensure visitors complete the buying process with minimal effort but also build 100% trust. It makes sure your buyers leave the website happy and excited, thereby increasing chances of a repeat business.  

So how can you optimize the checkout process/ 

  • Make it a multistage process: 

Consumers prefer a multi-step checkout process instead of a lengthy time-consuming process.  

  • Provide a glimpse of the shopping cart:  

Visually indicate every product that your visitor adds to the shopping cart. Utilize hover effect to indicate the status of the cart on its icon. It makes it easier for the user to easily monitor the cart without having to visit the cart page consistently.  

  • Allows the visitor to create an account willingly: 

As a new online store do not force your customer to create an account to complete the purchase.  If need be, ensure the visitor is redirected to the exact step of the purchase process where they left.  

  • Optimize the cart page:  

Ensure there are no hurdles when the customer adds products to the shopping cart. Make the visitor feel confident by providing all the vital details like product image, quantity, size, etc. you should also give the customer the freedom to save, edit, or remove the selected products. In addition, display the total price and indicate the estimated delivery time.  

  • Optimize the billing page; 

The billing page should offer flexibility in terms of the mode of payments. Besides, it should provide a short and precise input form. The billing page is where you show the confirmation of the order with important details like customer support contact and order tracking.  

So far so good, we have highlighted some of the most common mistakes that lead to poor conversion rate.  

Wrapping it up 

The basic rule is that more traffic translates to better conversion, but that’s never true. As a matter of fact, you are on this page because you got visitors but they never seem to convert. You cannot pin all your hopes on any specific conversion strategy. This is because conversion optimization is founded on general rules which work across a spectrum of websites.  

There are a plethora of methods to converts your traffic into sales. The best way to leverage these techniques is starting slowly with the simplest and advance as your volume grows. Also, you should know that the methods we have discussed are not the only one in the modern online marketing. It will take time and effort in research to identify the flip side of your strategy and get the perfect remedy for it. But once you hit the right button, it won’t take long before you start recording notable gains.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Social Media Marketing is Not Working for Me, Why?

Social Media Marketing Is Not Working For Me, Why? 

A good percentage of people on the planet are on social media now. In fact, about 2 billion of the total 7.2 billion people on the earth have active social media accounts. What’s more interesting is that approximately 1.7 billion are active mobile social media users today. 

From a business point of view, which another way can you easily reach almost a third of the entire population on earth if it’s not on social media? For marketers and business owners, it’s like a dream come true, and if done right, social media marketing can be a great tool to help dominate your market. 

So, why is social media marketing not working for you? Or have you discovered that some of the basics tips and tricks you offer on social media campaigns don’t resonate with your followers? 

The truth is that social media can make or break your business. Here, we look at some of the main reasons why most people, brands, and companies fail at using social media marketing to grow their business. 

Lack of Consistency 

The main reason why social media may not be working for you is due to the frequency of posting. Adding a link to your blog or sales page on your Facebook page and not posting for the next couple of days will not convert. Social media works best when you are active consistently. The problem arises when things come up that hinder our ability to hop onto social media as regularly as possible. 

To avoid this and ensure more people can see your content, you need to ensure you post regularly. In fact, it is recommended that you have a schedule in place. You may consider having tools like HootSuite or SproutSocial for regular scheduling of your blog posts and social media updates. You may also consider having an editorial calendar to ensure your content is posted on a daily basis. Be sure to schedule a time to read and respond to every comments and question from your readers. 

Nothing unique to offer 

Time and again, businesses invest a lot of time and money to have high-quality content written for their social media accounts or blogs. Although the content can be written extremely well, it may still not provide anything of value.  

On the other hand, writing shoddy content have a great negative effect on your brand. It makes it look bad, and in the end, it performs poorly. 

You can avoid this by brainstorming with your team some great ideas for your blog or social media posts. Don’t post just anything, consider the unique angle you can take on your topic at hand and tailor it to what will fit your audience. Come up with a schedule to create content to avoid recycling the old content and ideas. 

Lack of Enough Content On Your Social Media Profiles 

Social media shouldn’t be a time-consuming task, but it is essential to make sure that you have fresh content on your platform to capture people’s attention. It will also be helpful if you consider social media monitoring tools or an excellent service like Google Alerts to remain updated on the relevant social media conversations. With such tools, it becomes easier to scan the communications and interact with your followers with several posts. This is especially useful to ensure that even if you don’t have enough time to create a new blog post, or even upload a new video on YouTube, you’ve contributed valuable information on your social media accounts for that day. 

Outsourcing Content from Non-Experts 

There is increased demand for businesses to have compelling content to attract more followers. A brand that wants to create content for its social media accounts can go out to hire writers or agencies for the job. They provide a list of topics, and the writing process begins. But no matter how much training you give to them, they don’t seem to create the standard of content you need. They don’t know your industry well enough, and they’re not as competent as experts in that industry. Their brains are just filled with a list of other companies they have to write content for. 

Social media marketing doesn’t have to be time-consuming. The content you choose to receive and share will be the main thing that will drive more traffic to your social media accounts or drive them away. You and your team of employees are the experts, and you need to know what interest your audience.  

Failure to Promote your Content 

When you create content, you can choose to post it, do nothing and let readers find it or you can promote it on your social media accounts to reach more people. The former is the quickest way to kill content marketing, and the latter will get you more leads. 

Some marketers may think that social media marketing is just creating content. The user will find the content, read it, convert, and get more people on your email list. But creating content is just part of the process. The other part is promoting your content. 

If you’re doing a lot of promotion for your content, but little creating, then you may be in an excellent position to build a more prosperous brand that those who do a lot of content creation but very little promoting.  

Promoting content is as important as creating content. You can improve your content in several ways such as Facebook posting, tweets, sharing on LinkedIn, Google+ posting, email newsletter, pitch bloggers in your industry, marketing email to a landing page, and mentioning your content in other blogs and websites. 

The important thing to note in social media marketing is that content creation is half the work, promotion is the other half to ensure you have a successful campaign. 

Little or No Investment 

An effective social media campaign cannot be done on a whim. You need to have a good plan that is well-researched and executed strategically. This means you will need to spend a lot of time and a tremendous amount of money to see great results. Many business owners aren’t ready to spend or invest in a high social media campaign, and as a result, they never see any potential results from their investment.  

At this point, they invest little time and money in the business which may not yield the results they expect, but still, they are unwilling to adjust to invest more in the campaign. 

It is important to understand that social media marketing isn’t an alternative strategy. It’s a huge strategy that is talked about, and there is no shortage of content to cover its practicability and best practices. Marketers and business owners need to understand that to get good results; they must invest time and money in social media marketing. 

High Expectations of Immediate Results 

There are so many stories of successful companies in the online industry that involve insane amounts of traffic that convert. Maybe all this information may raise your expectations a bit too high, but take a step back and get realistic about social media marketing. Just like SEO (Search Engine Optimization), social media promotion takes time to produce excellent results. A lot can be involved including compelling content and persistence. If you put in hard work on the right social media marketing strategy, you will get excellent results. Just keep posting fresh content, give it time, and keep interacting with the audience. Look for gradual improvement you have made within the last couple of weeks and don’t let your social media presence excite you so much to the extent of losing track of the primary goal. 

You’re Not Having Fun with it 

Sometimes, marketers and business owners get too serious about the whole social media marketing thing. Remember you want to use your social media accounts to get paid every day. You have the chance to leave your comfort zone and get out there, interact with people who have no idea what your product and service can solve and make them believe you’re offering the best.  

So, the process shouldn’t be a painful and dark journey. Lighten up and experiment new things. You can write unique content for your pages, find other people in your industry to follow, and watch as you get more followers on your page. If you can’t be creative and humorous with your content from time to time, you’re probably using a wrong approach. Shift gears and have fun with it. 

Conclusion 

There may be a million reasons why social media marketing is not working for you, but the chances are that you’re somewhere among these few ideas in this guide. 

Social media marketing is just like a marathon, and not a sprint. Business owners who take the process step by step get a lot of traffic which translates into more revenue. It is important to understand that being on social media means being able to support, engage and connect with potential customers. It is a great way to talk about the products and services your offer and grow your business. 

 

 

 

10 Ways to Attract Visitors to Your Website

Find out 10 ways on how to attract visitors to your new website 

So you have a professionally designed website dominated by a great portfolio of gorgeous products and services, but your traffic is letting you down. You certainly know more traffic translates to more sales, but none of your techniques seem to illuminate your path.  

Getting your website out of that obscure corner is eminently doable. However, truth be told, attracting a few hundred or even thousands of visitors monthly is not easy. The internet is unforgiving, and unless you adopt stringent measures, you will never build a consistent stream of online traffic. You must roll the sleeves and get ready to the task because the online world is a harsh attention economy.  

If you dedicate time and creativity using our techniques, you will get not only more visitors but also the right type of visitors. Ready? Here we go! 

#1. Optimize your website for search engines 

You will agree with me that the hardest, yet the best way to get free traffic is optimizing your site for search engines. The market share is dominated by Google, Yahoo, and Bing.  

Google holds the biggest market share at 70% and stands out as a great source of consistent free traffic. For this reason, the competition is enormous and to win a slice of the pie you need to publish topnotch content and audit your site to ensure it’s perfectly optimized for Google.  

On the other hand, although Yahoo and Bing don’t own the market share of Google, they can bring commendable visitors. Yahoo and Bing have a unique ranking algorithm which takes into account Facebook likes and tweets. If you want to rank higher on these sites be active on Twitter and Facebook.  

Ranking on the three most popular search engines will help you to cast a wider net for free traffic. It will bring you a decent amount of traffic and contribute immensely to the profitability of your business.  

#2. Offer some irresistible free offers 

Giving away some of your best content, services, or product for free is a great way of earning priceless publicity. This is a frequently undervalued strategy that can work magic when utilized reasonably.  

It is an incredible primary driver that creates an avenue for customer/traffic acquisition. Free offers entice more customers into your sales funnel and initiate a valuable channel to the higher ticket items. However, it not as easy as it sounds, if you go about this in a wrong way you will end up falling flat on your face. 

Take into account your potential audience to tailor the free offer to the sales funnel. The better the free offer is tailored to your sales funnel, the easier your traffic will move up the ticket prices.  

#3. Create an amazing blog 

Blogging is a primary, key generator of traffic in the modern internet arena. If you are serious about increasing your traffic, you need to create an amazing blog. Come up with an effective strategy or a clearly defined roadmap to help you stay afloat.   

A good blog is not an update when you have an exhibition or new client.  It’s not a personal diary where you narrate your life, on art, musing, or the universe. An amazing blog should contain fresh/updated and relevant content. It is the kind that delivers outstandingly valuable, entertaining, and useful content to grab the attention of potential visitors. You also need to keep your blog off the ground by constantly analyzing your online marketing efforts. Track the statistics and determine what brings traffic and eliminate futile strategies or content.  

#4.  Guest posting 

Although many believe that guest posting is all about getting links, that’s not the case. Getting free traffic should be the core aim when writing guest posts on a high traffic blog within your niche. It’s not unethical to rely on popular blog’s audience, in fact, the blog in question will also benefit from your effort. 

Guest posting is one of the most effective ways to get your site on the radar of potential customers or visitors. It helps you to rank high thereby earning you a steady flow of traffic. There are a plethora of strategies you can utilize to make a big impression. Key to all is submitting great irresistible content that will help you to leverage the opportunity.  

One great post could earn you hundreds of new visitors to your site. However, many people make a mistake by submitting second rate articles and retaining the best stuff for their site.  

One underutilize guest posting strategy is finding out editors of high traffic sites and following them on social media platforms. Connect with them and pitch your guest post idea.  

#5. Leverage social media marketing 

Social media; Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Google+, Instagram, and Stumbleupon, are getting popular by the day. Most of these platforms have changed algorithms thereby making it easier to leverage them to generate more traffic. They present an intriguing way to gain exposure to your website or business.  

However, unless you have a vivid plan, you may end up losing time without recording any meaningful benefit. Actually, dominating these platform is no easy feat, it demands a lot of time, effort, and creativity to build a worthwhile profile.  But once you get everything right, you will enjoy a consistent stream of visitors to your site.  

#6. Make sure your website is responsive 

The number of mobile users is on a high, and so is the number of searches via mobile phones. According to one study, the number of mobile searches has recorded a dramatic rise, and 28% of them are converting within a short time.  

Therefore, building a mobile responsive website is a necessity in the modern internet web.  A mobile-friendly website allows potential visitors to access the site from any devices including the small smartphones.  

Creating a mobile version of your site is not easy. For this reason its advisable to adopt a highly responsive design or use a plugin to optimize your site for mobile devices. Besides, you can use the accelerated mobile pages; a trend in the modern search marketing.  

#7. Leverage the power of email marketing 

Email is a powerful marketing tool that can bring an uptick in your traffic. For this reason, it’s a wise strategy to collect the contact information of your visitors’ right from the first day. This way it will be easier for you to attract repeat visitors and address the concerns of those who leave without buying.  

You should also build valuable email newsletters that will oblige your readers to share them with friends and relatives. Also, improve your follow-up strategy and send a friendly, relevant, and targeted reminder to ultimately increase your referral traffic.  

#8. Utilize affiliate programs 

Affiliates programs also known as an associate or reseller programs are great ways of generating online traffic. It’s an incredible way that helps you to promote your website/business via a hundred or even thousands of websites.  

A notable benefit of the affiliate programs is that you only pay a commission for every buying customer. It’s a low-risk option of getting more customers to your site since you only pay the affiliate when you make money.  

What’s more; affiliate programs present a superb way to automate traffic generation. Your affiliates do all the selling thereby increasing your sales on a daily basis.  

#9. Leverage forums 

Forums can also be a great source of free traffic for your website. However, caution must be taken when engaging participants on the ideal forum. Do not just drop links to your website on the forums and leave; you will probably be suspended.  

To generate commendable traffic from forums in your niche, focus on helping people with genuine posts. If your content is straightforward and helpful, you will build a good rapport with your potential customers. Then, using the reputation, you can start to recommend products in your store.  

#10. Tap the viral community 

Another great way of generating online traffic is leveraging the viral community via platforms like Reddit. Reddit has the main page, and in numerous niches called subreddits which amass the most popular online content. Pay attention to the threads that will be of help to your website.  

Identify your ideal subreddit and make precise posts to display the essence of your website/new store. Your post should be catchy, snappy, and not, so sales oriented. To be on the safe side read the Redditquette guide and adhere to every instruction. Additionally, check the subreddit guidelines and avoid operating on the extremes.  

Conclusion 

Our article has covered commendable ground, but you should understand that none of these strategies is a quick fix. It takes persistence and consistency to derive any meaningful benefit from these methods. Besides, the strategies require a lot of effort and time to bear fruits, but once the benefits start to trickle, you will not regret.  

Once these techniques stick, you will enjoy the benefits of every hour spent on marketing. Your website will start attracting consistent swarms of new visitors.  The next thing you should know that visitors do not translate to conversions. Therefore, once you generate traffic, you should target to turn the visitors into buyers.   

TOP 5 GOOGLE ANALYTICS FEATURES THAT WILL FACILITATE YOUR LIFE

Google analytic is an advent tool that delivers superb results when used correctly. It’s one of the best tools that help e-commerce businesses to optimize the impact of their online presence. Magnificent is the way this tool will help to understand the effectiveness of all the marketing efforts.

It presents a more straightforward and effective way to discern what is right or wrong. If you want to reach boundless success, Google analytic should be your close ally. It provides insights with invaluable information about your website, your traffic, and where they came from. In addition, the tool capacitates you to maximize your business for conversion and supercharge your sales.

Although Google analytics is simple in nature it can be overwhelming especially if you lack a digital marketing background. If you want to master the art of boosting business using this tool here are five features to help you boost your business.

#1. FUNNEL VISUALIZATION

What is e-commerce funnel visualization? A marketing expert would define “funnel” as the sequence of steps taken by a buyer to convert to a sale. On Google analytics “funnel” is the sequence/number of pages/channels the visitor goes through to complete the conversion.

Therefore, funnel visualization is a vital feature that helps you to identify the way visitors are flowing through your website. In a typical online store the funnel is homepage> categories pages> PDP (product details)> the cart> checkout procedure> conversion.

The e-commerce funnel visualization highlights the all flips sides of your checkout process. (See below)

 

Google analytics features

Once you set your goals on Google analytics and data starts accumulating, you will have the opportunity to evaluate your performance.  Check under conversion> goals > funnel visualization.

If you perform a knee-deep analysis on your e-commerce funnel, you will be able to determine why customers are not completing conversion process. It will clearly show you where there is a huge drop off on any of the process/funnel steps.

To get the most of the Google analytics funnel visualization functionality, set the funnels in a way that will measure how your site pages impact on the overall conversion. When setting up your goal, enter the web pages in an order that will effectively track them as individual funnel steps.

By default, Google Analytics calculates your goal conversion rate based on the total number of sessions to your site. For this reason, funnel visualization can also help in determining the number of visitors to a specific page. This vividly shows that e-commerce funnel visualization helps glean invaluable data. It helps you to see beyond the total conversion rate for your business performance analysis.

#2. GOOGLE ANALYTIC SITE SEARCH

All successful online business owners know that bringing qualified traffic to their site is paramount. Understanding the action of your visitors is a crucial step to acquiring the elusive conversion rates.

Have you set up a site search on your site? By setting up a site search using Google analytics you get the chance to derive amazing insights. The internal site search statistics help you drive more sales on your e-commerce store. It helps you identify the most crucial paths for your potential customers. When utilized optimally, site search can deliver meaningful data that helps you to tailor your site to the need of potential visitors.

Setting up site search on Google analytic is a breeze. You just go to admin> view settings> scroll down>enable the feature>enter the desired query parameters.

Once you set the desired parameters, data will start accumulating.  By going to the Behavior> site search, you will obtain an overview menu with invaluable data. The tab looks like this;

Google analytics features

The next step is interpreting the data, from the above overview it’s clearly evident 4.54% of your visits used the site search. There is 33.95% of search exits, this means 33.95% of visitors exited the site after the initial site search. Then, 17.89% of the visitors type an additional search after performing the site search.

In addition, the bottom right corner list the number of most searched terms. In our case, Kurtis is the most popular search. Using this data, the e-commerce should put more effort on Kurtis and add descriptive text and fill all the voids in the pages. Another idea would be to add catchy images of Kurtis products on the home page of the online store.

In summary, Google analytic site search helps you to;

  • Optimize website usability
  • Identify potential keywords
  • Identify product expansion opportunities

#3. MULTI CHANNEL FUNNELS

The Google analytics multi-channel funnels is an excellent feature to make note of. It is important to measure the clicks that happen throughout the visitors’ search right from the beginning to the end. This means you need to pay close attention to a number of different channels instead of focusing on the clicks before sales. The Google analytics multi-channel feature makes this possible. So how does this incredible feature work?

First, it’s good to understand the channels involved in the online marketing process; display, search, social, email, affiliates, custom campaigns, etc. These aspects affect what your visitors see an impact on their decision. This means measuring and gathering data based on the events right before conversion is not a good strategy. There are a lot of aspects that might have directed visitors to that page.

Google analytic multi-channel functionality helps you to monitor and analyze the performance of every aspect. The multi-channel funnels let you analyze the assisted conversion, time lag, path length, and the top conversion paths. It’s vital in identifying the better performing traffic channels and those that are futile. It helps you to make changes that will convince visitors to make that conversion since you already know where your traffic is coming from. You will have the opportunity to invest more of your resource in channels that offer the best ROI.

Google analytics featuresGoogle analytics features

Assisted conversions show the interactions (except the final interaction) the visitors have with your site leading up the conversion. These conversions help you to credit the specific organic as the major contributor the conversion.

Google analytics features

The top conversion paths indicate unique conversion paths leading up to the conversion. It gives the exact number of conversions from each path. In addition, this data gives you the value of the conversions and detail the exact interaction between the channel and the conversion path.

#4. AUDIENCE MOBILE TRACKING

Understanding your mobile audience is important. But why? Although desktop traffic converts much better, mobile traffic dominates. By focusing your attention on the mobile audience you will be casting a wide net to boost the conversion rate.

Smartphones are dominating desktop devices and figures speak volumes. In 2013, a page out of 8 was viewed via a mobile device, the use of mobile devices has doubled in the last 3 years. A study [1] by pew research center revealed that 77% of American owns a smartphone device. Moreover,

  • 15% of those who own smartphones have limited options for online access.
  • 10% of smartphones owners do not have other ways of getting online.

This data highlight the importance of taking your mobile audience seriously. Although sometimes mobile conversions are not possible, it’s good to trust this Google analytics feature.

To break down the devices that your visitors prefer, go to audience> mobile> overview. This will give you an overview report that segment traffic into mobile, tablets, and desktop devices.

Google Analytics features

By comparing the traffic engagement for this case, over 50% of the traffic was generated from mobile devices.

#5.AUDIENCE BROWSER TRACKING

To get boost the productivity of your e-commerce site, finer details may mean the difference between success and failure.

  • Do you know the most popular browser used by your visitors?
  • What browsers are visitors using for conversions?
  • Are there problems with certain browsers that when fixed would improve your rate of conversion?

Finding the answers to this question will help you to supercharge the productivity of your site. It will help you to identify the devices to prioritize when doing your ad targeting. In addition, you will have the opportunity to target the right browsers when redesigning your site.

To get an overview of the performance of the browser go to standard reporting> audience> technology> browser and OS (operating system).

Google analytics features

By clicking through to each of the browser you will get an insight into the browser versions used by your visitors. The data helps you to analyze customer’s conversion by browser type and version.

CONCLUSION

All the features described above can be implemented on Google analytics. Just know, the competition is getting stiff by day, but if you are smart enough you will get your share.

Before implementing the Google analytic feature you must forecast how they will impact your business. If you conceptualize an incredible idea, these features will help you to create the magnificent user experience and increase your business’ conversion and revenue per visitor.

Overall, Google analytic is a valuable tool that will help you to monitor the efficiency of your online business. It helps you to get the best out of your marketing efforts regardless of the size of the e-commerce business.

10 PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES TO CONVINCE YOUR ECOMMERCE CUSTOMERS TO BUY

If you own an ecommerce store acquiring more customers is essential to your business. But did you know that convincing a customer to buy is the real deal? Here are some techniques to convince customers to buy. 

The web is bombarded with tricked-out strategies that manipulate SEO or convince owners to create viral Youtube Campaigns to win customers. They overlook the basics and forget that in the modern world customers are subject to persuasion techniques, cognitive biases, psychological theories, etc.  

Having a solid foundation of excellent persuasion technique will give you an edge over your competitors. It will provide a deeper insight into why your visitors buy and the reason why some abandon the cart. Here is how you convince your customers to buy your ecommerce product; 

#1. USE THE POWER OF RECIPROCITY 

Ever received a gift from a friend that left you feeling obligated to return the favor? That is called the power of reciprocity. However, in this case, you have to take it a step further. Once you have offered an irresistible gift to your customers, don’t wait for the voluntary act from them. Take the opportunity and ask for the favor in return.  

Customers like bonuses, they help them to build compelling emotions around the brand. When customers receive bonuses they feel appreciated and happy. They find reasons to strongly connect to your brand.  At this point, they feel more obligated to return the favor by buying more from your store.   

In addition to bonuses, you can offer your customers a tripwire (a low priced product that is irresistible). This product should be designed not to bring profit but to convert a visitor into a loyal buyer.  

Alternatively, offer discounts and free gifts. This could be a welcome discount, product samples, free shipping, or a surprise free gift shipped with the ordered product. Moreover, you can pamper your existing customer by sending them appreciation notes and cards.  

#2. ENTICING PRODUCT SUMMARY 

Do not overlook the importance of a compelling, well-written, and detailed product description. Nowadays, online customers rely heavily on the web to learn about the products they want. Unless they get enough details they won’t be convinced to buy the product. For this reason, if the product description is lacking they will take the business elsewhere.  

Unturn all the stones and give rich descriptions using a simple and clear language. Explain every product feature and do not forget to include specs such as weight, measurements, materials, and the sizing charts. Give the information in bullets points to make it easily digestible. It’s paramount to articulate the superior value offered by the product features and how they enhance customers’ lives. Be specific and straightforward in your language of benefits but practice the highest standard of honesty.  

#3. UTILIZE VISUALS 

The description of the product is incredibly important but remember “a picture is worth a thousand words”. A rich product description is to be accompanied by quality product visuals.  

Produce large images that can be zoomed easily. The images should be of high resolution, free of clutter, and well-fit. The images should also be taken from different angles for easier identification of the product.  

Besides, the up close shots should include images of the product in its lifestyle setting ( the place where the product is used by the consumer). This will easily convince the customer since it makes them visualize utilizing the product in their everyday life.  

If your pockets are deep enough, set a budget for videos. This can be particularly effective for providing value-based descriptions and showing off 360 degrees product views in an incredible visual format.  

#4. PROVIDE SOCIAL PROOF 

Even before the emergence of the social media, humans were naturally social. For this reason, they are influenced by their peers, especially if they highly regard them. Its social proof that makes your customer to base their buying action on the actions of those around them.  

Studies have shown that 7 out of 10 online shoppers trust online reviews. Moreover, over 6 out of 10 online shoppers are motivated by positive reviews to buy a product. Share counts, reviews, testimonials, and ratings contribute immensely to the social proof.  

Invite customers to give written reviews both positive and negative. Although it’s very tempting to remove the negatives reviews, you are better off letting them stay on your site. This is because customers will become suspicious if they only find positive reviews on your site. Instead of weeding out the negative reviews respond to them in a more constructive way. It helps to clear your brand image and enhance the user experience.  

In addition, it’s important to pay attention to what others say about your brand outside your site. Visit sites that exist explicitly for product reviews in a specific industry. Respond promptly to all the valid complaints.  

#5. LIKENESS 

Customers are simply tempted to say yes to a product they like. This is influenced by two factors; one is the physical attraction. Studies have shown that if something or someone is physically attractive it is more persuasive. Two is a similarity. Customers are persuaded by products they can familiarize with.  

When it comes to ecommerce, the two factors can be translated into your store design. If you have a cleaner and more attractive site design, it will help you to convert quite easily.   

#6. ATTENTION BIAS 

Online shoppers feel more attached to emotionally stimulating factors. They pay more attention to such product and downplay the others. So where do your products fall? Do they stimulate emotions? Or have you attached an emotion-evoking visual and messages to them? 

Conduct rigorous qualitative research and determine the emotional state of the visitors arriving on your site. Are they desperate or stressed when seeking the right solution? This will enable you to either take advantage of the visitors’ natural emotional state or change it to perfectly convince them to buy. Focus your energy on writing copies that will make an effective emotional appeal. 

In addition, customize your product images, font, and color since they hold an incredible emotional value. Be purposeful and authoritative when choosing these factors.   

#7. PAMPER YOUR EXISTING CUSTOMERS 

Existing customers are the most valuable asset you have. Therefore, as you pursue more conversions do not overlook their importance. Studies have consistently shown that it’s easier and less expensive to convince your existing customers to buy than it is to attract new clients.  

For this reason, it’s important to sweet talk your existing customers. Make follow-ups after the customer purchase and thank them for their action. Add all the existing customers to an autoresponder sales funnel. This will make it easier for them to take advantage of the product offers, enjoy discounts, buy upgrades, or be part of a reward based referral program.  

#8. CREATE A BUZZ 

Your product might not sell without being advertised. High-quality marketing campaigns convince more customers to buy. Actually, products that sell best are backed by a strong marketing strategy.  

By generating a buzz around the product, you make it known and create credible traffic to your site. Some of the best way to generate excitement include; publishing press releases, content marketing, email marketing, influencer shares, and pulling PR stunts.  

#9. CONSISTENCY 

This is very important if you are looking to maintain momentum. It’s as simple as the name suggests, once you commit to offering something you should maintain your stance. Customers buy more from sites with actions and thoughts that are aligned.  

Remember once a customer makes a commitment they start engaging in self-persuasion. They justify their actions not only to themselves but also to their peers. One of the best ways of maintaining consistency is listing your business beliefs and attracting customers of similar ideas. If the beliefs resonate with your visitors, they will be convinced to buy. 

#10. BE REACHABLE 

If you want to record more conversion, you must be easily reachable. Provide the exact and correct name of your business and the contact details. In addition, provide the link to your social media links to help your customers to stay in touch.  If you are easy to find customer will frequently visit your site at the expense of your competitor. Get the right support channel for your online business and the benefit will trickle down to the conversion rate.  

CONCLUSION 

It’s not easy to turn visitors or potential customers into buyers or faithful customers. However, if you come up with a robust strategy based on the highlighted actions you will be amazed by the results.  

All the strategies are in line with the basics of your ecommerce conversion. But do not be inclined to neglecting them, they play an important role. They have the ability to make or break the growth of your business. The strategies form the foundation for some of the fancier conversion tricks. Once you have them in place you will be in a stronger position to attract more customer, retain existing ones and convert more easily.  

The strategies have proved their importance in ecommerce and are truly worth experimenting with. If you want to stand out and go beyond the regular, the strategies above give you the best way to build customer loyalty and increase the conversion rate.  

How to Increase Participation in Your Loyalty Program

Are your customers captivated with your loyalty program? On the other hand, have they lost interest? Perhaps you have a loyalty program with a large membership, but they never use it. Alternatively, are you struggling to get people to join the rewards program?

If your members never use the loyalty program, they may have lost interest in what you offer. If this has happened, what is the point of having a loyalty program in first place? So how do you rectify this problem? How do you increase participation in a loyalty program and how do you keep customers engaged to spend more.

The Two Hurdles of a Loyalty Program

A loyalty program comprises of two main obstacles. The first part is enrollment when a customer joins your program. And once they join, it does not mean your customer will keep shopping to earn rewards. I’ve come across several articles all indicating the same stats, most enrollments end up being inactive!

Customers join loyalty programs for different reasons. Maybe you offered members a great incentive when signing up for an account. After receiving their reward, participation plays an important role in a loyalty program. This is the part where you need to keep your customers engaged wanting to come back for more.

Are your customers intrigued with your program? If not you can try the following.

How to Boost Your Loyalty Program Efficiency

You want to get members attracted to your loyalty program and need them to get involved. Here you can find different ways to encourage your members to take part in the program.

  • Is your loyalty program personalized?

How friendly is your loyalty program? Do your members feel important and needed? A loyalty program is one of the best ways to make your customers feel welcome and appreciated. They have signed up for your program have they not? Then they want to get involved.

They are more than happy to do the task to earn points the least you can do is to tailor the program around what they want. However, for this to take place your loyalty program needs to be smart. This means you need a system that collects data based on what your customer likes.

Showing customers what they might like can lead to a member buying more than one product at a time. By using this principle in your program is an excellent starting point.

  • Be Crystal-Clear

How clear is your loyalty program to understand? If you want to keep, your customers taking part in the program they need to know how it works. They need to know how they can earn points and exchange it for rewards.

Make sure, you have a dedicated area on your site informing customers of how they can earn rewards for different actions made.

Always be clear about how many points customers can earn with each purchase. Further, they need to know how many points they need to redeem it for a reward.

  • Train Employees

The most important promoter you have is your employees. Educate them to know the loyalty program, as they are the ones promoting the program.

The staff needs to be in the loop at all times. When you change the program, your staff needs and update about these changes. Further, they need to be educated to handle any question a customer has.

Show them how the reward structure works and keep them informed about the auto rewards and promotions you send to the members.

  • Variation is the tool for engagement

If you want your customer participating in the loyalty program, you need to create different ways for them to earn rewards. Never let a purchase be the only way for your customer to earn points.

Further, do not only have one way available for them to redeem the points they have accumulated. Give your customer an option to choose from a wide selection of rewards as this keeps your member engaged. This gives your customer the choice of deciding for them, which rewards best fitting for them.

Think of it in this way, if you only received free shipping what would you do? You would look for a cheaper vendor to buy a product from.

  • Do your customers know about your program

You have an online shop right! Who is informing your member of the great rewards you are dishing out? Do you have a cashier greeting them and asking them if they want to collect their points when making a purchase NO?

This is why you need to set up reminders and prompts across your site. Mention it at the homepage or show it at the checkout page! Further, you need to make it easier for them to use keeping them engaged all the time.

  • Outbound Reminders

Is your customer visiting your website? The probability is that you do not know the answer. What does this mean for your loyalty program? This means that your customers are not seeing the reminders spread all over the website.

This is where outbound reminders as email marketing are an effective way to get the word out. Make a super campaign of it by combining your loyalty program with your email marketing.

Send the members emails when they earn or spend their points. This keeps them reminded of how active they are with the program. Another great way is to send your customers material informing them if they make a purchase this coming weekend they can earn 100 bonus points.

You can even email non-member with information about the loyalty program giving them a great reason to join.

Stay Connected with your Customers

For long-term engagement, you need to stay connected to your customers. Communication is one of the most important parts when it comes to any type of business. As soon as a customer joins your loyalty program, they want to make contact with you. This is the door to success as you connect with clients who are spending their time and money in your online shop. Grab the opportunity with both hands and keep your customers engaged, as it will make your loyalty program exist for longer and make your business a success online.

Fundamentals of a Loyalty Program

What captivates your client? How can you inspire them to become devoted brand supporters who keep using your service or your products? What can you do ensuring that your customers recommend your brand to others? These are significant questions to ask when you own an eCommerce business.

The key thing is that you need to answer these questions to make your online business a thriving one. One way of keeping your customers happy is a successful loyalty program. Maybe you already have one in place, but how effective is it. What can you do to add more value to your loyal customers?

We are here to answer this important question. Here you can find fundamentals of a loyalty program to make yours perfect.

The Essentials to help make your Loyalty Program Perfect

The great thing about using a loyalty program is that it does not have to be the same as your competitors or the shop next door. Use your customer’s individuality and competitive landscape to create programs that work for both of you.

Yes, you want to test other leading programs to see what may fit in with your budget and plan. Social media can be one of your important elements, but the reliability of a customer’s not only built into a plastic card or your brand.

When choosing a loyalty program, look at the bigger picture. Start with fresh ideas in your plan, such as a mobile app, but the importance is to keep the fundamental values of your business.

No matter what type of loyalty program you use a Tier, Point System, Value-based, VIP Benefits to a Grouping program the following essentials will help make your program function flawless.

Keep it Simple

When starting your loyalty program the key is to keep it simple. Using a basic program gives you a great success once launched compared to one loaded with features. By keeping your loyalty structure simple it helps:

  • Prevent confusion with your customers, as it’s important not to overwhelm them from the start. By starting easy your clients can understand the program. You can add extra features over a time as your customers are accustomed to the loyalty program.
  • It provides a great marketing potential as you have loads of surprises lined up for your customer to wow them in the future.
  • Further, it allows for customer feedback as they help you with improving the program. This helps you to determine what is effective in the early stage of the program and what is not effective.
  • Another reason for keeping it simple is that you can launch the program quickly compared to waiting for weeks or months down the road.

Make Power of Communication your Focal Point

For a successful business, the most important thing is communication and clarify. If you do not have clear and regular communication you and your customer, the loyalty program will become redundant.

Keep in touch with your top priority customers when developing your own loyalty program. You need to make your clientele feel treasured and valued. Get feedback from the top 5% of your customers, as ultimately, those are the most important ones!

There is nothing worse than receiving emails from online business with undisclosed receivers make it personal as this will make them feel important and valued. They will respect you for this and turn into loyal customers leading to an ROI.

Another way to communicate with your clientele is to use a loyalty strategy built into your Point of Sale System. Send them pumping messages with attractive offers to bring them to your store. Start a Newsletter to build your client base sending them a personal email with special offers.

One more great marketing tool is social media outlets and very effective to stay in touch with your customers. The big thing is to keep your posts active, interesting, and relevant.

The Customer Comes First

If you want your loyalty program to be a success, understand that your customer always comes first. In every step of your business, make sure you offer an outstanding client experience throughout their journey with you.

Your client base is what makes your business work. Knowing what they like and dislike is the key element.

Always keep your customer feedback in mind when planning your next strategic move. The importance is to place your customer’s needs first when designing your program.

This is beneficial for you and the customer. This ensures the success of your of the program and helps you to retain more customers.

A Friendly and Professional Service

Nobody wants to feel irritated when contacting your customer service for advice or when having problems with a product. Always be friendly and professional in everything you do from taking a phone call to answering an email. Follow up with your clients the best you can make sure they are happy with your service and products.

Inform your customers with a courtesy email on their loyalty points and other related discounts and gifts. Reply in a timely manner and never leave your clients waiting.

Keep Your Loyalty Program Interesting

The important thing about your loyalty program is that you need to keep it updated and interesting to boost sales frequently. Are you using a point-based program? Present customers with relevant rewards such as a discount on the products your customers are interested in, that perhaps they have purchased in the past.

If your customers like to save money and enjoy receiving big rewards offer them a reward schedule making sure they take advantage in saving points. Does your client have a short attention span? If they do have, do not make it difficult for them to get their first reward.

You can reward them with enough points to exchange for something they would need or use with their next purchase when signing up with the program. This keeps your customers motivated all the time and keeps your program interesting.

Tap into different network resources available and see what you can do to kick some dust in your competitions eyes. Always stay ahead of them and offer something new and refreshing.

Conclusion, Make Your Value Proposition Clearly Seen

The aim of a loyalty program is to extend the value of your customers. Your customers need to clearly know what is the value within the program. Furthermore, they need to effortlessly understand what they stand to win if they provide you with their loyalty. This is why it is important to make your value proposition clearly noticeable and easy to understand.

If they know the value you are offering, and how they can achieve their rewards, whether free shipping on their orders to discounts on certain products the chances are they will come back for more. Once you have your loyalty program in place and have these fundamentals in place, do not neglect to measure the success by checking the stats. If you don’t see progress, change the program. If you still don’t see progress, scrap the program and try again.

You need to know what your return on investment is. You do this by measuring how frequently customers spend in a lifetime vs the cost to run the program and the cost of the rewards. This gives you a better idea if your current loyalty program is worth it or not.

 

How to increase your Loyalty Program Enrollment Rate

Loyalty programs can prompt meritorious financial results via guest engagement and creation of astounding incentives to embolden more frequent clients and increased spending. Every triumphant loyalty program begins with a robust foundation of effective enrollment. This is the cornerstone element that fuels growth and initiates a steady stream of profitable long-term results.

Setting up a credible loyalty program is essential and a proper strategy to continually acquire new guests is equally important. Unfortunately, many online businesses disregard the importance of managing the foundational elements hence make their loyalty program to languish.

A good loyalty program should be able to build a significant amount of loyal customers who visit frequently and spend higher amounts than the occasional guest. According to statistics, a top performing loyalty program has a customer base that generates approximately 25% to 30% of all the customers’ checkouts.  Reaching such a level is a truly daunting task, it demands constant attention on building a membership base. You must adopt a multifaceted strategy to beat competitors and sustain a proper membership growth.

For this reason, we have compiled a set of laudable options that will help you encourage more clients to enrol into your loyalty program. On average a customer enrols into 13.7 loyalty programs, but only remain active in 6.7 of the programs. So how do you ensure your program remain in the positive echelon?

CREATE A SIMPLE AND MEANINGFUL LOYALTY PROGRAM

Customers are known to be very rigid with their habits. For this reason, it will be in your best interest to come up with a program that will marry the existing behavioural pattern of the customers. Make the enrollment process as simple as possible. In most cases, customers run away from complex systems. Most of them are on the go and have little time to enrol. Some customers hate complex process so much that they prefer forfeiting their rewards in a bid to avoid the tedious enrollment tasks.

Remember enrollment is an impulse decision for your clients and you have a brief instant to impress. Let your program answer the question “why should I join?” in a flash, come up with a wow elevator pitch and make use of a catchy name to energize your slogan and reinforce the key benefits of the program. Make it easy for your client to easily articulate, understand, and readily remember all the benefits.

Explaining your loyalty program on the website will make customer get a better understanding. Give a vivid impression of what the customer will earn. Whenever they spend and how they will redeem the loyalty points. Develop an explainer page and explain all the values of the loyalty program and all the benefits the customer will derive from the initiative.

BE TRANSPARENT

Studies have shown that an easily understood loyalty program records a higher level of participation. According to one study by Colloquv Loyalty, an astonishing 81% of those interviewed said a simple loyalty program motivates them to continue participating. So how do you make a bigger percentage of your customers to participate?

One way of achieving credibility and simplicity is making your program as transparent as possible. Let all the members know virtually everything they should to actively participate. This entails making all details about earning and spending points clear enough and easily accessible.

PROPER CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENTS

The simplicity of your program should also be reflected in the registration process. The signage for your program should be well placed to excite, inform, and stimulate actions. Leverage all guest interactions points to relay a simple, consistent message so as to encourage more guest to join. If the signage is used appropriately for you concept it will capture the attention of many guests.

Moreover, your program should only collect only the relevant information about the guests. For example, if your program utilizes phone number as the customer ID, it means all you require is the name and the phone number. Including irrelevant details will make the enrollment process long and complex.

PAMPER YOUR CUSTOMERS

A good program will make all member feel they belong to a class of special people. Making all members feel their opportunities are equal to those of other shoppers, will allow them to continue participating. Once you members enjoy the loyalty program, it will be the best chance to turn their enthusiasm into advocacy. Their genuine fondness will be a potent influence on other customers to enrol into your loyalty program. At this point, you can ask them to refer friends, and even reward them for their actions.

Additionally, provide reasonable returns to all the participants if you want them to spend reasonably. The best way of engaging new members is keeping the hurdle to the initial reward low. This will make it attainable for all guest and build excitement about your program.

Another, fascinating trick to make more guest enrol is incorporating a welcome incentive for your guests. Set up a welcome promotion that will be emailed or texted to all new members, so as to gain a credible basis to impress guests and make them enrol. Making this promotion fast, easy, valuable, and highly effective will enormously increase the number of guests participating in your loyalty program.

Moreover, you should remember we are living in a digital world and things are changing very fast. For this reason, you need to come up with lots of ways through which members can earn points. The reason customers enrol in many loyalty programs and only remain active in few of them is that they quickly get tired of earning points through purchases. They want a program that will present a bunch of creative options to earn points.

RUN CASHIER AND SERVER CONTESTS

This will be a magnificent strategy especially if you perform in store enrolments. Create a competition for your staff and place a precious reward for the person who registers most new members. These contest should be conducted quarterly or bi-annually so as to make it more fun and provide a regular boost to your enrollment process.

EMPLOY PROPER MARKETING

Although massive advertisement is effective, you should employ other techniques to constantly remind consumers about the loyalty program. Use all assets at your disposal including checkout process, website, and product page to keep your program at the top of your customers’ agenda. If new guests understand the value of the loyalty program, constant prompting will end up increasing the enrollment rate of your program. In the modern world, you do not have to employ a cashier to request everyone who checks out to enrol. Be creative enough and employ reminders all over your websites. If you find a room to mention your loyalty program on the homepage, do it. This will give you an edge over your competitors. It might be the key to an increased rate of enrollment.

Typically, if most new guests feel appreciated, they will feel obliged to subscribe to the email list so as to receive next promotions and latest brand news. Once they leave their email, the next step will be persuading them to be members of your loyalty program. In most cases, email is an important channel of communicating the value proposition of your loyalty program.

Another intriguing marketing strategy is incorporating social media into your program. When you promote your loyalty program on your consumers’ favourite social media platform you boost its presence and reach thereby encouraging participation. It gives you an opportunity to create conversations with the customers and better your enrollment rate.

You can also create a blog for your loyalty program. Although blogs are used for many other reasons, they can be an important channel to promote your program and encourage enrollments. A blog will give you the freedom to explain your program and demonstrate its value to customers.

PERFORM ANALYSIS

Despite the strategy used to encourage enrollment, it’s imperative that you conduct an analysis of your sources of enrollments. Understand all your tactics and determine those that result in better enrollment rates. Take your time and resource to track all participant with surveys to determine what works best and what doesn’t. Some of the best ways of measuring the success of the loyalty program include; repeat purchase rate, customer lifetime value, and the net promoter score. You can also gauge success using the redemption rate which gives a ratio of issued points and those that are converted. If your program is good enough, many members will participate and spend their loyalty points.

This will be important to help you tailor your loyalty program to meet the need of your customers. Surveys, give you a deep insight into the success of your loyalty program making it easier to focus your budget and energy on things that bring desirable results.

CONCLUSION

The above tactics will help you increase the enrollment rate of your loyalty program. However, it should be noted that when enrollment rate of a program is put in a balance there is no silver bullet to guarantee immediate success. For this reason, you will have to apply different strategies before finding the one that will work best for your program. In most cases, a combination of tactics is all it takes to record any conspicuous growth in enrollment.

How to create a Loyalty Program for Your Online Business

A recent study by Experian Marketing services has conspicuously shown that approximately 7 out of 10 businesses with a Loyalty program experience the incredibly powerful revenue flow of repeat customers. This clearly shows that the power of loyalty program for online business cannot be underestimated, but it should also be noted that not all are rewarding.

It takes laudable efforts and highly innovative strategies to come up with a loyalty program that will give you a praise-worthy return on investment. When done well, a loyalty program can be a gift but when done wrong it will be a burden to your customers and a waste of time for the business.

So are you planning to create a Loyalty program? Here are some facts to consider.

ENROLLMENT

A good loyalty program should be unique for your business. Taking cues from businesses similar to yours is okay but to build a unique brand you must come up with a unique loyalty program.

The key to the success of any loyalty program is understanding your customer. Once you understand who your customers are, you need to devise the best way to getting the customers enrol to the program.

The first step in getting customers to sign up to your loyalty program is educating your employees. This will make it easy for the staff to conveniently promote and enrol many customers in the loyalty program. The best way to get the enrollment done faster is rewarding your employees based on the number of customers they enrol.

You can also engage you customers in the sites they visit most. You can add sign up links to the online ordering forms or your merchant’s homepage to create attention to the loyalty program. This will increase your signups by up to 4 times. Moreover, you can engage your customers at checkouts. This is usually the best time to approach the customers and introduce the loyalty program to them. Since there is a great potential that the customers will be rewarded with their purchase it makes a lot of sense to mention the loyalty program at this point.

Loyalty program for online business and email list

Alternatively, you can promote your loyalty program via email. If you already have a compiled email list use it as a paragon to generate sign ups for your program. Statistics have shown that most successful loyalty programs utilize emails to send signup reminders and incentives.

Above all, you should make the signup process to be very easy. Once a customer develops the interest in your loyalty program the next step is asking for their contact. This should be done in the simplest way possible, otherwise, the opportunity will be passed on to the customers.

 

Loyalty program for online business

REDEMPTION REWARD

Customers enjoy the benefit of being registered in a loyalty reward when they redeem a reward. According to statistics, about a third of all the loyalty program points go unredeemed.  So, as you craft a loyalty program you must come up with ways to make your customers redeem the points they get.

Some online stores impose point’s expiry or high spending threshold as a way of making customers redeem. However, this might not be a good way. Customers might get frustrated when their points expire before they cash them in.  Some have also resulted in long-term expiration but without the pressure to redeem the points, customer loyalty might fade. So how do you get the best out of the power of redeeming points and at the same time maintain the customer base? You must come up with a good plan that will strike a good balance.

Reward redemption boosts sales. If a customer is motivated to make the decision to redeem a reward it will impact positively on their buying behaviour before and after the redemption. Actually, redemption creates positive feelings and attitudes that make members of a loyalty program buy more frequently so as to increase the number of program points.

POINT BASED SYSTEM PROGRAM

One of the most crucial nitty-gritty details of a loyalty program for online business is the points to reward. Coming up with a comprehensive point based system program will require you to make two very important decisions. First, you will have to decide the actions to reward. The biggest reward should be assigned to the most important customer action. To encourage repeat clients you should aim to reward all check-ins handsomely.  In case your objective is to encourage your clients to spend more when they visit your online store, award the highest points for each amount spent.

Secondly, you need to pick the point’s ratio. A good way of setting the best point’s ratio is first deciding what the rewards are. Both a low-value ratio (a point for each dollar) and a high-value ratio (100 points for every dollar) will have a huge psychological impact on your customers. If your goal is to attract more casual clients the high point ratio will work magic for your business. On the other hand, the low point ratio will work best when looking to encourage power customers.

Statistics show that high points ratio overwhelm customers no matter how close they are to the reward. But on the flip side, this type of point’s ratio is tougher and abstract to track. For this reason, you should settle for such a plan only if you have a good base of loyal customers.

If your business has a gained a wider appeal but only attract casual customers then a low point ratio will work effectively.

DISCOUNT ON PRODUCTS AS REWARDS

Discounts have the highest caliber of universal appeal because it’s easier to apply them to many products.

For long they have been the backbone of loyalty programs because they make terrific rewards. Furthermore, discounts are impressive because they do not give businesses the tiresome task of performing rigorous monitoring. Typically, most loyalty programs provide enticing discounts to members than to the non-members get. This helps the business to build a strong base of customers since most of them are encouraged to join in order to receive the discount.

But a good loyalty program should not only focus on discount on the product as a reward. This is because, to some extent, discount does not impact on all the purchasing behaviour of the customers. Thereby, failing to affirm the ultimate goal of improving business revenue. So, if you thought creating a loyalty program is a puzzle, then discounts are a piece of it.

Just like any other rational reward, discounts should be coupled with a number of experimental rewards. So the loyalty program to stand a good chance. This will make the program more effective since it will address emotional and rational needs of your customers. However, to arrive at the right balance will require some testing and experimentation.

FREEBIES AS REWARDS

Most of the loyalty programs present a great opportunity for members to earn rewards. One of the most enticing rewards is freebies. When setting up a loyalty program you should try to come up with the most effective way of awarding freebies as rewards.

One of the best ways is awarding freebies to the most frequent purchaser of a particular good. This will develop a desire for all loyalty members to buy a certain product frequently. They will hope to earn the freebie in return. The freebie should also be an attractive reward which appeals most to your customer.

CREATION OF VARIOUS CUSTOMER LEVEL BASED ON SENIORITY OR CUSTOMER IMPORTANCE

Segmentation of customers will bring 3 indispensable advantages to your loyalty program. The first, creation of different customer levels will help you to send more relevant and personalized content to a specific group thereby generating better engagement, yields, and conversion.

Second, you will be able to establish the group of customers that contribute most profits to the program. And finally, it will give you the freedom to combine customer intelligence with the predictive analysis to expand the scope of your business.

When creating customer groups you should focus beyond purchase history and demographics. Be creative and highly innovative to come up with customer groups based on either customer importance or seniority. You can also classify your customers as either offer induced customers, offer denied customers, offer necessary customers, or offer adverse customers.

GAMIFICATION

Gamification helps online businesses to get the best out of the fundamental aspects of human behaviour. When implemented well, it will make the mundane activities of your business generate enthusiasm thereby creating the desire and motivation for your customers to keep “playing”.

Gamification taps into the human need for social interaction and competition. By nature, human beings are hard-wired to love winning. Everyone loves to achieve more than their friend and become the best in whatever they are doing. Applying this psychology in the online retail space has become a popular marketing tactic.

This is because customers feel more satisfied to participate in game oriented shopping rather than being tricked to purchase. This aspect gives the shopping process a new dimension, and the retailer is utilizing the art of gamification to boost customer loyalty and engagement.

The best way to incorporate gamification into your loyalty program is using a tiered reward program. Such a program will encourage your customers to take certain actions and reach a specific milestone to claim their reward. Every time the customer buys anything from your online shop they will get closer to the goal of ‘winning’.

However, caution must be taken when adopting gamification into your marketing strategies. A bad plan might end up pulling your customers away from the primary goal of your products in favour of misplaced rewards.

Do you want to find out more about Loyalty Programs for Retails? Check out our article 5 Loyalty Programs in Retail that add value to Online Shopping

 

5 Loyalty Programs in Retail that add value to Online Shopping

If there is one thing, technology has made easier for everybody it is the ease of online shopping. This is great as you lie on your bed with a mobile device or sit at your desk with your shoes kicked out and do shopping in one place online. There is no standing in long lines as you can have your order delivered to your door. Now that is what we call outstanding. Loyalty program cam make it even more interesting not only for the shop owner but also for the shoppers.

However, if you are the owner of an e-commerce shop gaining new clients is not as easy as you would like it to be. It takes time and effort leaving you with other tasks heaping up on your desk. The fact remains you need new business to grow your e-commerce that needs fewer resources and time. Sounds like an excellent idea, right?

Therefore, what is the solution? Easy you use a customer loyalty program. In fact, new clients do not spend the same amount as your current customers. Statistics show that your repeat customers spend over 67% more than a new client. However, turning your new client into a repeat one is not an automatic process. This is why you need to consider one of the 5 loyalty programs for your retail and add value to your online shopping business.

By selecting the right one your clients will keep coming back to your online shop and purchase from you. In this post, we’ll guide you through five different loyalty programs to help you make an informed choice in which one is best for your e-commerce business.

What is a Loyalty Program?

The loyalty program is a way to reward your repeat customer, encouraging them to stay devoted. Using a great loyalty program is not about only giving away free stuff it is a channel to strengthen your customer relationships with them. There is much e-commerce, loyalty programs and choices are endless. So today, we will show you the top five programs on how to use them in your online shopping with great benefits.

Five different Loyalty Programs

There are different ways to implement a loyalty program and can do it as follow:

1. The Tier Loyalty Program

You have an online shop and your business has some exceptional customers. You have your regulars who visit your site at least once a day, week or during the month. These are your important clients and bring in the most revenue. Why not make it worth their while in the Tier Loyalty Program.

The tier systems a unique program based on your customers’ levels of loyalty to your brand. The program offers customers higher rewards when they spend more. This will give your clients a great reason to visit your online store often. The tier system is great for both the travel industry and other related industries. The size of the rewards increases over time for long-term clients and encourages them to use your service often.

You can set the tier loyalty program up as follows with different levels related to your client’s loyalty: Blue, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Whenever your customers make a purchase, they receive points. The more they buy the higher level they will reach and the more rewarding it is for you and them.

The important thing is to find a balance for customers to reach the next level and needs to be realistic for them to achieve that. Set up different milestones, as it can be anything. You can offer clients special benefits like 25% more points with every purchase they make or include free shipping. You can even offer them discounts on your high-end items you are selling. The choices are endless with this loyalty program.

2. The Trouble-Free Point System

The point system is a trouble-free loyalty program based on the more your customer spends the more they receive. This is a great setup of your brick and mortar store or online shop. Why every time a client makes a purchase, they receive a certain amount of points based on the size of purchase they make.

Do not make the system complicated and keep it simple for your clients to understand and calculate. For example, one point could be a $1. You can also make a point count for every $5 – $10 spent. This helps your client to see the value and they do not need to grab the calculator to work out how many points they have earned with each purchase.

You can decide on which products you want to use the point system. For example, you can use the point system on buying beauty products. On the other hand, you can use it on each product available in your online shop. When the customer makes another purchase, they can redeem these points for discounts. This increases the average spends per customer and encourages them to invest in your brand.

3. The Value-based Loyalty Program

The value-based loyalty program is an excellent system for your online shop. This program is a more charitable related system. You need to structure your program around the values of your client. So how would you use this program to reward your client? Excellent question as you first need to define the values.

Whether you own an eco-friendly product store, bookstore, music equipment store, or online pet store your audience’s values count. For example, if you own a pet store and sell pet products you can start a loyalty program where client’s purchases render into currency or points.

Every time a client makes a purchase of $50, you can donate $5 to an organization that deals with different animal rescues. Here you need to keep your client updated on all the donations you have made to the organization and what is still due to them. No matter what form of e-commerce business you own you can support different organizations.

Further, you will help organizations and create a chance to connect with your client on a deeper level. This helps you to build a stronger relationship with them.

4. Charge Upfront Fees for VIP Benefits

This loyalty programs simple as customers pay a monthly or annual fee to join your VIP benefits club. The biggest concern with this program is you need a solid client base. This will help to keep your current clients and frequent buyers coming back for more. You need to make your paid program exceptional and valuable to your exclusive members or they will lose interest. Make sure that your membership fees are affordable. Further, you need to offer customers discounts, free shipping, and other great benefits that are valuable for clients to use.

5. The Grouping Program 

Are you the owner of a beauty product online store, pet food, or any other interesting brand online? This is where the grouping loyalty program can work for your business. This system offers customers with a more flexible reward. As a beauty product or a pet food supplier, you can collaborate with other online business to create a program beneficial for both of you and your customers.

If you own a beauty store, you can use a point base system and collaborate with different other fashion businesses to spend their points on a diverse range of products. Even collaborating with a salon is a great idea as the points earned can pay for a wash and a cut. The same applies to a pet store, as grouping with a local pet salon or veterinarian is a great advantage for both businesses.

Further, the more your customers spend the higher-priced product they receive. This creates brand awareness and drives revenue for all involved in the program.

Final Thoughts

If you implement any of the above 5 loyalty programs with care and thought, they will add value to your online shopping business. Further, you will see positive results, build a bigger customer base, and build a connection between you and your client. The results may not be instantaneous, but the results will astound you. Keep those retail businesses of yours going, as we cannot live without it anymore.

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