How to increase your webstore sales

First off I should probably mention if you own a webstore - which is basically a catalog type website listing heaps of products with a shopping cart - then you're probably not selling as much as you could be. It seems to me that this is the most difficult way to sell online for the sole reason that you give the visitor too many choices. You basically make sales to people who know what they want while the browsers disappear through the cracks.

Now since most of the people who hit your website are browsers in the beginning you can see why this is a serious problem. Luckily there are several ways to increase your conversion rate of visitors to buyers. The biggest secret is to stop trying to sell everything and focus on particular products instead.

The truth is you don't want people to buy first time

Now this may sound like a weird statement but let's explore it. Approximately 1-2% of visitors who arrive on your website will buy the first time. So you have the choice to focus on the 2% of people who are impulse buyers or the 98% who aren't.

The good news is we can still sell to our 2% of people while maximising our results with the other 98% as well. All we have to do is add some form of data collection to our website so we can begin to build a relationship. Generally the most effective way to do this is to offer a gift in exchange for their email address but this process can also be done via social media like Facebook and Twitter.

Stop trying to get into their pants before you get their phone number!

If you walked up to a stranger on the street and asked them to have sex with you I'd say your odds of success are pretty slim unless money is involved. But if you started a pleasant conversation, got their phone number and went out on a few dates your chances increase significantly. It's exactly the same with visitors to your website.

Once you have a way to communicate with your visitors you can start to build a relationship with them. By offering them good value in the right way they will grow to like and trust you. And people are much more likely to buy from those that they like and trust.

Give them a reason to buy now

Most stores have hundreds of products available for the same price all day every day. It's far to easy for a visitor to your website to say "I like that but I'll buy it when..." You can insert whatever excuse you want at the end but the fact is people won't buy from you unless there's a reason.

If I sat on the footpath outside your house selling water I probably wouldn't have a very successful business. But if one day your house starts burning down I bet I'd have a very eager customer ready to buy everything I had. The product's the same... but suddenly your desire and urgency went through the roof.

Make them an offer they can't refuse

This is why all big retailers are always having sales. They know they need an urgent reason for you to come into the store. And once you're in the store you usually walk out with something.

You can do the same online by creating special offers of your own. You can take the obvious route and discount but you can also combine products together to make special packages. Then simply make those packages available for a limited time.

Just rinse and repeat

By making regular special offers on different items and packages you'll increase your sales dramatically. Part of what makes this so effective is people love a great bargain and hate missing out. But you don't need a degree in psychology to do this... you just have to watch your sales figures.

One week you might have a special appealing to a particular interest of your followers. The next week it could be something else. This way you also cover all the wants and needs of your subscriber base.

What you do next

Put together a special offer for your current subscribers or customer base. You should also read this post called 7 tips to improve website conversion today and make sure you hit all the points outlined there. Then just hit the send button and watch what happens.