This is the 2nd part of the post “15 Ways to Increase eCommerce Sales“. In the first post we looked at 8 web design features and techniques to increase sales on your eCommerce website. Here are the 7 more features you can add to your website to influence sales.

9. Featured Products

Featured products or recommended/suggested products are different to special offers or products on sale. It allows you to showcase specific products on your website with the aim of encouraging sales. It can be very useful for your business as it encourages the sale of products that are crucial for your business. You can use it to generate fresh interest in items that you need to sell quickly e.g. to promote old stock or items that are not selling well as well as other items that require a quick sale.

It is typically displayed on your homepage or as a widget in the side-bar of your website.

10. Product Reviews

Product reviews improves the usability of your e-commerce website. Positive reviews can provide a boost to your sales by influencing the buying decisions of customers.

Reviews also supplements product information displayed on your website and enables customers to make informed decisions. It also promotes trust and confidence in your products.

11. Social Sharing

Using social media effectively to promote your business and products is vital for the success of your e-commerce business. Studies have proved that social media plays a key role in influencing buying decisions of consumers.

Social sharing may not improve sales immediately. However if done correctly, over time it can result in significant increase in your online visibility and eventually improve sales.

Simply promoting products on your own social profiles is not enough. You need to engage with customers and make it easy for them to share your products if you want to be successful.

12. Free Shipping

Free shipping is a great way to entice customers to buy from your website. In the highly competitive world of e-commerce where a customer can easily go to a competitor’s website to purchase the same product, offering free delivery can make a big difference and help seal the deal.

A perfect example of this is Amazon which has achieved great success with its free shipping model. Similarly, you may have to set a minimum purchase amount in order to be profitable, but this can be even better for your business as a a minimum purchase amount will encourage customers to spend more in order to get free shipping. If done correctly, this can boost your conversion rate.

13. Related Products

Related Products feature is another way to improve eCommerce sales as it helps cross selling of related products Automatically displaying products that may be of interest to your customers also improves the shopping experience .

It is however important to only display products that are genuinely related in order to maintain trust and authority. Related products are typically displayed on product detail pages. See example below.

14. Top Sellers

Listing your top selling products can be effective for improving sales by showcasing your most popular items. It lets you highlight your best selling items which can generate further interest in the products and encourage others to buy. You can display it on the homepage or on the side-bar.

Furthermore, cross selling features such as featured products, top sellers or related products also helps to retain visitors on website for longer. The more time users spend on your website, more likely they are to purchase.

15. Effective Use of Cookies

Cookie is a small piece of code placed by the website on the user’s browser so the website can remember information about the user next time the user visits the website. This simple technology provides several opportunities for improving the user’s shopping experience on your website which can in-turn have an impact on sales.

E.g. cookie can be used to remember the login credentials of the user so when they visit again, this information can be per-filled for them. Similarly, if the shopping process is incomplete or interrupted for any reason, the website can remember the shopping cart content, so when they visit the website again, they can start from where they had left rather than starting again.

BONUS TIPS:

Here are a few more tips for improving ecommerce sales based on the findings of recent studies:

16. Create a Festive Feel During Major Festivals

According to a report published on eConsultancy, nearly 42% of shoppers said they enjoyed the atmosphere of stores during the holidays. Ecommerce websites can use this and benefit by creating a similar atmosphere on their sites. Creating a festive atmosphere during important holiday events such as Christmas and New Year is fairly standard and adopted by many websites, both small and large.

The changes do not have to be major. Simple changes like adding images of gifts, and holiday specific / festive colours can make a difference.  See example below.

17. Create Tactile (Real) Shopping Experience on Website

The eConsultancy report also found that 50% of shoppers preferred the ability to see and touch items in physical stores which is not available online. Ecommerce websites can overcome this challenge by using technology to create as real experience for shoppers as possible.

The perfect example of this is Atol, the French glasses and contact lenses provider that offers a tool on its website that allows buyers to visualise how specific glasses would look on them. See image below.

18. Custom Landing Pages

Most businesses use online marketing campaigns to promote products and services. This includes direct advertising, pay per click ads, banners, articles, blog posts, etc, that promotes specific products. Directing users to custom landing pages instead of the homepage allows you to tailor and personalise your messages to specific audiences and can be very effective for boosting conversions.

Many businesses e.g. Gap, also use custom search-driven landing pages that involves directing users to specific sections or pages based on their search query.