How to Grow Your E-Commerce Business in 2023 and Beyond
eCommerce Business is Booming, and You Have a BIG Opportunity for Growth…
COVID-19 changed the way we shop. Demand for at home orders increased and stayed. eCommerce thrived and it continues to grow. In 2022, eCommerce sales are expected to reach nearly $5.5 trillion. That figure is expected to hit over $7 trillion by 2025. Yes, business is booming! If you’re looking to grow your eCommerce business, that’s great news! And also, not so great news…
There’s a big chance for you to ride the wave and increase your sales right now. But new online stores are popping up everywhere. That means more competition for you. So, how do you go about growing your eCommerce store with all this competition?
Here are our top tips on How to Grow your eCommerce Business in 2023. And how to stand out amongst the ever-growing crowd!
9 Ways to Grow your eCommerce Business in 2023
1. Provide the best customer service
There’s a reason this is number 1. You can have all the marketing tricks in the world. However, great customer service is still the foundation for eCommerce growth. Offering stellar service to your customers builds trust. Your buyers will have confidence if they know they can easily contact you with their queries. This assurance and trust is likely to increase the chances of them buying from you again.
Ship Tip: Get to know your current and potential buyers. This will paint a clear picture of your target market. Then, you’ll really be able to stand out in your niche. You’ll have valuable data that you can use to tailor your product offerings to your buyers. And from here, you can create a strong digital strategy to grow your eCommerce business.
2. Focus on keeping existing customers
When we talk about growing an eCommerce business, we automatically think of getting new customers. But what about the current customers?
Did you know it could cost you nearly 5x more to get a new customer than to keep an existing one? And that you’re 50% more likely to sell to an existing customer? So, focus on fostering those relationships with your current customers. Because that’s where the money’s at.
Ship Tip: One great way to retain customers and keep them buying is to offer a rewards or loyalty program. Buyers are over 60% more likely to spend money on your products if you do. We can help with that. At Ship.com, we offer a simple rewards tool that allows you to create an easy-to-use loyalty program. Say hello to satisfied, regular buyers and eCommerce store growth!
3. Create a great customer experience
Nowadays, the expectation for a great online shopping experience is higher than ever. Offering a great experience means customers will spend more time in your online store. And they’ll then be likely to keep on coming through that virtual door.
Here are some Ship Tips on how to create a super customer experience that will help your eCommerce business grow:
Use 360-degree videos.
Post beautiful photos of your products. Use multiple angles and shots.
Reduce the load speed on your web pages. 53% of visitors may leave your site for competition if the load time is longer than 3 seconds.
Answer FAQs on your site. Your answers will give visitors the confidence they need to buy your product.
Have information about free shipping, moneyback guarantees and returns on your homepage. This will give visitors the confidence they need to continue.
4. Use customer reviews
What do you do before you buy something yourself? Check the reviews to see that the product is good, and the seller is credible. Unless you’re the 1 exception. Research shows that 9 in 10 people read customer reviewers to help them make a buying decision.
So, make sure customers can easily leave a review on your product pages. And on your brands social media pages. Get your current customers to review and write some testimonials. This evidence gives potential customers the confidence to buy your product. As well as that, it also builds that trust with your current buyers.
Ship Tip: You can even use customer testimonials on your cart page. This encourages customers who may doubt and ditch at this stage to push on to the checkout page.
5. Take advantage of the tried and true method of email marketing
There are new and innovative methods you can use to boost eCommerce business growth. But there are tried and true techniques that never go out of fashion. One of them is email marketing. Used correctly, email marketing is a $36 ROI for every dollar you invest. Plus, email subscribers signed up because they want to get messages from you. They are your loyal audience.
It’s a great channel to send personalized emails with your latest offers, info about new products and news. And it gives you the opportunity to follow-up with buyers and encourage retention. Growing your email list can then also lead to higher conversion rates and more sales.
Ship Tip: Put email sign-up forms on your website. From here, you can create an email list. Then, with Ship.com’s email marketing tool make use of personalized automated messaging. As well as email marketing templates that you can quickly customize.
6. Harness social media’s marketing power
The marketing power of social media is no secret. Potential buyers spend nearly 2 and a half hours every day on social media. And there are over 270 million active social media in the US. Essentially, there are plenty of fish in the sea and they spend a lot of time there.
So, make use of platforms like Facebook and Instagram to market your product. They have huge potential to increase brand awareness, bring people to your website and to grow your eCommerce business.
Ship Tip: To develop awareness of your eCommerce store, post awesome content you know your buyers will love. And post every day. Offer giveaways, update people on promotions, share blog posts, give top tips. Whatever it is that you think your audience will love, share it.
Don’t just post about your products and offers. Remember, you’re building connections and trust. People will buy if you put the relationship with your customers first.
7. Put an SEO strategy in place
Technical words like SEO can seem terrifying. But SEO is pretty simple. And a basic SEO strategy can do wonders when it comes to growing your eCommerce business.
According to research from Backlinko, over 75% of people click on the first 3 Google search results. So, your online store has to be up there. This will up your site’s visibility, which means more traffic and more sales for your eCommerce business.
Ship Tip: If you have the money to hire a marketing agency to boost your SEO performance, that’s an option. However, if you want to give it a go yourself, Yoast has excellent SEO courses for beginners. They make SEO super easy. Also, their beginner course is free – win!
8. Implement a content marketing strategy
On SEO, let’s talk about content marketing. Creating and posting quality content on your site’s blog is a great way to boost organic SEO. People will begin to trust you as a voice of authority in your area. Then, you’ll attract more customers and people will spend more time on your site. As a result, you’ll likely see an upturn in sales for your eCommerce business.
Ship Tip: Remember our social media content tip. The same applies for blog content on your site. Make sure it’s something your buyers will love. Share tips, how to’s, checklists or guest posts. And post often! We recommend weekly. You can also use quotes and tips from your blog as content for social media. It’s not cheating, you wrote it.
9. Make your e-commerce business mobile friendly
Almost 80% of people now buy through their phones when shopping online. Therefore, it’s wise to make sure that your store is up to scratch for mobile eCommerce. This is SO important for customer experience. If the mobile experience isn’t great, it could negatively impact the growth of your eCommerce business.
Ship Tip: Have a look at how your site looks on your mobile. Imagine you’re a visitor. What’s the loading speed like? Is the information displayed in a user-friendly way? See what changes need to be made. Then make them.
Bonus tip: Include autofill suggestions and clickable hyperlinks to improve the mobile experience for customers!
Final Words: Don’t Sit Still and Stagnate
It’s not time to sit still. The eCommerce market is expanding and so is the competition. Now is the time to focus on growing your eCommerce business. Make use of the tips above. Innovate, don’t stagnate. Ship.com is cheering you on all the way.
Grow your eCommerce Store with Ship.com
We’d love to be a part of your eCommerce business’s story of growth and success. After all, we exist to help small businesses and boutiques succeed.
Remember our awesome live selling platform that we mentioned above? We’d like to offer you a 14 DAY FREE TRIAL of our all-in-one small business platform to save you time, increase your sales and grow your eCommerce store. All the incredible features mentioned above are included. And it’s so easy to get started with.
Go win 2023 and rock the eCommerce world.