How To Increase Site Traffic and Revenues With The Best Online Sales Process 👩🏼💻
What can you do about your online sales process in order to get more people buying rather than just online window-shoppers? We are in the modern age, and you likely have an e-commerce platform for your business. As we have encountered in numerous cases, we can tell that there are two main areas of concern you’ll likely find yourself dealing with. One is drawing in traffic, and two is converting that traffic into sales.
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Getting clicks on your site is one accomplishment. The problem is though, only around 4% of site visitors actually make a purchase. E-commerce businesses, especially in B2B sales, will have to take further steps to get this number up.
In this series of articles, we will discuss the 3 major steps in an online sales process and how you can enhance each of these stages. We’ll also be showing you a bit about what goes on behind customers’ thought processes. You can use this knowledge to your advantage when planning out your e-commerce sales strategy.
At Taylor Wells, we believe that the online sales process should not be taken for granted. We argue that it is capable of driving significant growth in businesses. By the end, you’ll understand how to optimise each step of your online sales process.
Table of Contents:
I. How To Enhance Your Online Sales Process for Higher Profits
II. How To Improve Your Online Sales Through Personalised Selling
How To Enhance Your Online Sales Process for Higher Profits
Providing a personalised or customised experience to online customers can boost sales and expand your customer base. You may perform this as a component of your online sales process. A great online sales process can result from an unconventional business model, but it will undoubtedly assist your customers through the choosing and buying process.
What is an online sales process?
An online sales process is a set of iterative steps taken by sales and marketing teams to convert a prospect into a customer. A solid online sales process establishes a structure for salespersons to follow, allowing them to continuously close deals. Without them, your marketing team’s initiatives will likely fail. Thus, having a predefined online sales process boosts the potential for sales and may also assist less skilled reps in quickly catching up with best-in-class techniques and learning what to do at multiple sales phases.
Let’s look at the 3 major steps of an online sales process:
There are three major stages of the online sales process which are critical elements that will convert visitors to customers on your website or platform. By highlighting each phase and persuading your potential customers, you will be able to move your website purchases from losses to progress.
- Drawing in customers
- Converting shoppers to purchasers
- Gaining customer’s trust
Still, keep in mind that these steps develop on each other in an array of ways. A properly executed digital marketing strategy will clearly define an online sales process and how they are depicted on your website or platform. The method will then help you set achievable and realistic online sales goals. It will also enable you to build and influence other processes to keep your operations moving towards effective deal agreements.
Online Sales Process Step #1: Drawing In Customers Through Price Trend Analysis And Marketing
B2B sellers that have transitioned online, especially during the pandemic, need to learn how to draw in leads through their new channels. Previously, B2B sellers relied on finding new customers by going on sales calls and meetings. However, it’s clear now that remote B2B sales are here to stay.
B2B sales teams need to be technologically enabled to maximise lead generation. Currently, sales teams utilise platforms like Zoom or Microsoft Teams to supplement their interactions. However, this won’t be enough.
Sales teams need to go where the clients are – on social platforms. This includes LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. In a highly digitalised era, these are where the conversations are happening, and your team needs to be a part of that.
What You Need To Improve In Your Price Trend Analysis Online Sales Process To Draw In Customers
1. Build Your Team
In order to enter this new and highly competitive environment, your teams need to be capable of matching global standards. This means building a team with cross-functional skills that can find leads, engage with them, and ultimately close sales. They should also be capable of innovative marketing and content creation.
Some tips to note: leverage regional stakeholders, include feedback from sales and marketing teams, and align with all departments in terms of content creation.
2. Create Relevant Content
Once you have built a team capable of marketing and lead generation, it’s time to utilise their capabilities. Create innovative marketing content that speaks to your target audience while remaining aligned with your core values.
Content should be outcome-based, meaning that it should address your customer’s problems or gaps in the market rather than simply focusing on the product or service you are selling. Update your landing page and social media profiles regularly, since these are often the main areas that prospective customers check.
Establish your business as a leader in your industry, and make your messaging and tone consistent with your client base. Your sales teams should be able to leverage content as they connect with client prospects.
Lastly, stay up to date on key trends in your industry. Marketing strategies have greatly evolved over the past few years, and you’ll want to stay relevant to connect with a larger audience.
3. Measure Outcomes
Monitor the content your produce. Why you might ask? This is where customers gain the most valuable insights. The ability to constantly monitor what you put out there means that you can be aware of something that doesn’t resonate, and quickly change your plan.
Collected insights can also give you a sneak peek into a client’s patterns or behaviours, allowing you to prepare more thoroughly before meetings.
Online Sales Process Step #2: Converting Shoppers To Purchasers By Escorting Customers Throughout The Process
When you’re browsing an e-commerce site, how often do you actually make a purchase? If the answer is not too often, you’re not alone. Only a very small percentage of site hits actually translate to sales.
This is something businesses need to actively address in their strategies. Research suggests that the main barrier for customers is trust. When people trust your site and your product, they are more likely and willing to click buy.
However, getting over that trust barrier can be tricky, especially for new customers. For B2B companies, trust is traditionally built face-to-face during meetings. Despite the many advantages of online selling, this is one area that falls short.
Customers more or less have to rely on what your website tells them. However, they also often pick up information based on impressions too.
Online Sales Process Step #3: Gaining Trust By Building Credibility And Presenting Solutions to Customers’ Needs
One thing to remember is that impressions come from more than online content. A well-written copy won’t translate to a higher level of trust if your website is poorly set up.
Studies have shown that customers evaluate not only small variables like font style and colour scheme, but also whether a site has strong encryption, security measures, a good privacy policy, and return guarantees.
These are several psychological factors that influence customer’s trust:
Psychological Factors
Psychological factors play a big role in whether or not a customer decides to trust your site and make a purchase. People have to analyse whether or not your site seems reliable.
Psychologists say there are two main ways that people do this. The first is through logical or deliberate thinking – in which structures and rules are evaluated. The second is more intuitive or non-deliberate thinking. This includes personal experiences and gut feelings.
When decision making involves risk, meaning money, people tend to veer towards intuitive thinking. This is why it’s important to set up your site in a way that is friendly, clean, and inviting to users.
If the user experience and online sales processes of your site are complicated, people are more likely to associate this with higher risk, making them less likely to buy something. Research has shown that aesthetics are incredibly important to utilise in this scenario. This can make or break a sale. Good design sense makes your business visually more professional and appealing.
Unconventional Business Models Examples
Now, we take a look at some of the creative business models around the world in different industries to offer you some inspiration:
Skillshare started with professionals teaching online classes for $20-$25 on almost any topic. Then it changed its pricing structure to $10 a month as the platform gained more traction. following, and audience.
In 2008, Paperless Post disrupted the market by asking its customers to switch to email invitations and greeting cards. With free access to their website and dozens of customised design templates, it disrupted the US Postal Service’s customer base.
Hilti revolutionised its business model by transitioning to equipment rental where they charge customers a fee while taking care of tool maintenance.
Rent the Runway allows its customers to experience high-end seasonal offerings in the fashion industry. The brand remains competitive through its affordable pricing structure and accessible convenient features that customers love.
Zola simplified the long process of wedding registry through their extensively customised template designs/themes that promise its customers completion in an hour.
Most of these brands were creative enough to take risks by researching and analysing trends, customer behaviour and demographics. They thought outside of the box to set themselves apart in their respective industry much like Airbnb and Uber.
Price Trend Analysis
Price patterns are an essential part of any pricing function that correlates with price points. Past price patterns are usually an indicator of future patterns and actions. So, it helps identify the highs and lows or transition curves of price movement in terms of the sales volume of your product/service. This type of analysis is crucial to gauge current performance and forecast future market performance.
Reversal direction happens once a price pattern changes.
Continual direction is when your price pattern stays in a consistent movement.
For example, Trendlines are straight lines that detect the downwards slope of a price peak and an upward movement of price falls. Up trendline shows a higher trend of price rise and fall. While a downward trendline shows lesser price rise and fall. It also determines occurrences of price support and resistance when there is high demand and oversupply.
Price patterns can also be interpreted in different methods such as gaps, triangles, wedges, pennants, double tops, and flags.
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Conclusion
In conclusion, an effective and optimised sales process draws in new customers, gains their trust, and increases the chances of them actually buying from you. This is no walk in the park, and it will take a lot of time and effort. However, the return on investment is worthwhile. When you put in the time to make your eCommerce top-tier, customers will recognise that and this will gradually help establish your business as a leader in the industry.
How To Improve Your Online Sales Through Personalised Selling
Many businesses have already made the shift towards digitalisation by taking ques from personalisation algorithms. We have discussed how to set up your eCommerce platform. What happens after? Now, we’re moving to the next step. How do you improve your online sales? What do you need to avoid losing revenue?
A range of problems that can result in a loss of earnings for an online selling platform takes its roots from not having enough confidence in one’s product. Not properly personalising your site, complicated details about product features and benefits, and concealing your true prices, are a few of them. Is your platform facing any of these issues?
Though setting up your website and social media presence is vital, how you optimise your eCommerce Strategy will ultimately dictate how successful you are.
One of the most important things to note is the culture of personalisation.
Algorithms on various powerhouse platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, or Netflix provide users with a tailor-fit page based on their relevant interests, activities, and search history. This has changed the way people think. Consumers and buyers now expect this personalisation when shopping around for products and services.
What do the latest digital advancements mean for your business? At Taylor Wells, we believe that your sales tactics can immensely help you improve your online sales. In this article, we answer why developing an online sales strategy is important. We give you the most effective ways how you can tailor your approach to avoid losing profits and improve your online sales.
How To Improve Your Online Sales? What Are The Sources of New Product Ideas?
In Australia, internet shopping is gradually becoming mainstream with half of the population being technologically adept. More than 22 million Australians have internet access, thanks to a 93% smartphone penetration rate.
According to J.P Morgan, online sales in Australia have increased by 6.8% in recent years. In addition, Adobe says that 62% of Australians expect a variety of product offerings. This is owing to Australia’s large proportion of foreign-born residents. Citizens expect a wide range of merchandise from international stores.
It is also important to note that around 26% of the population in Australia belongs to the younger generation. This group has indicated a strong interest in fashion, health, and beauty. They also value customer feedback and endorsements.
The expansion of Australian eCommerce isn’t going to slow down anytime soon. And with retailers like Kogan, Woolworths, and Amazon, new goods may quickly reach the Australian market. So, how are you going to up your game?
Nowadays, most businesses’ primary objective is to boost online sales.
Generating sales through online channels is similar to hitting a home run, whether you own a small business or work for a large eCommerce corporation. It is not an easy task.
Fortunately, there are many techniques to increase online sales, many of which you can adopt right away. Let’s discuss some specific tactics you can implement, as well as some general suggestions.
First things first. Consider patterns and behaviours when strategising towards improving your online sales. What is currently happening in your industry? You have to be aware of what has become profitable and attractive to clients and consumers. What has become less relevant? Knowing these can help you identify your focus.
To improve your online sales, you must develop your personalised sales strategy.
Here are four important steps on how you can do so. We guide you starting from designing your sales strategy, planning your sales process, hiring the right people, and finally, analysing your results and forecasts.
1. Design your sales strategy
This is a way to position your business and get ahead of the competition. Ask what your sales goals are and how can you reach them while allocating expenses wisely. Set guidelines, targets, and priorities that the sales team can easily follow. You can massively improve your online sales by delivering personalised experiences.
To maximise and improve your online sales, you’ll need to provide a certain level of personalisation.
Adding a sense of thoughtfulness and insight can make your clients feel that they’re getting the most personal experiences. To leave lasting impressions on your clients, there are several ways you can provide relevant offers and quality services.
Better targeting is the first order of business — draw in your audience through strategic marketing. Before you can even provide quality service, you need the right customers to give it to. One of the ways that the most successful businesses are marketing themselves is through social media.
Not only is social media becoming the go-to channel for customers to look up businesses, but it is also a great way to gather insights into your demographics. The best sales and marketing strategies use this to refine their target market segmentation. This can help your business sift through “likely buyers” to those who are ready to buy.
Social media can also be utilised to generate new leads. How, you might ask? Through social media profiles. They can signal a lot about the intent, preferences, and behaviour of buyers. Sales teams should maximise this avenue to find people who are interested and ready to purchase. Some insights to look out for might even include people who have just entered new positions or just got a promotion.
2. Plan your sales process
You want your sales process to be targeting the right customers. What do your customer map and sales journey look like? A good sales process should come with an effective marketing plan and research too. Which areas would your products/services be most in demand? In fact, it’s just as important to look into your sales potential.
A better product understanding is a simple yet effective way to make your clients feel like you’re giving them top-tier service. You need to know what you are talking about. One common sentiment among buyers is how most salespeople don’t seem to truly understand the product or industry and are simply reading off a sales pitch strategy.
You can utilise what you learn about your clients by making insightful remarks and recommendations. Provided you make statements relevant to the sale and keep it professional, you’ll be surprised with how much impact you can make.
3. Hire the right people
Sales teams are the front lines of the sales process in the business. So, it makes sense to hire the people who fit the role the most. At the same time, you want to make sure that your sales culture has competent leaders who cross-function with other teams like marketing, pricing, and finance. They should also provide regular coaching, incentives for achieving sales targets, and reward systems.
Sales teams should be able to answer questions in-depth and provide more of a comprehensive background behind the value of the given product or service. Furthermore, and in tangent with the use of social media, salespeople can check clients’ profiles beforehand to prepare ahead for interactions.
Your business can also benefit by having a pricing team. With the right pricing team in place, incremental earnings gains can be observed in less than 12 weeks. After 6 months, the team can capture at least 1.0–2.25% more margin using better price management processes. After 9-12 months, you can generate between 3–7% additional margin as the team identifies more complex and previously unrealised opportunities, efficiencies, and risks.
4. Analyse your sales forecast and sales report
Research where you are currently and where you want to go. It helps you pinpoint what customers need through your product/services. Then, compare your sales report with previously achieved targets and collect data from customers. This can be done by interviewing customers through surveys to analyse buyer behaviour and patterns.
There are a lot of Psychology Selling Techniques behind the insights gained from analytics. Our advice is to invest in technology and specialists that can help you get the most out of your data, allowing you to improve your online sales in the long run.
Improve Your Wholesale and Online Sales Strategy With New Product Selling Ideas
You now know how to develop your sales strategy and general trends. Next, we talk about wholesale. Although wholesaling is most often linked with product distribution, it also exists in other economic areas such as energy and telecommunications. The industry has become diverse. Are you a wholesaler striving to grow your revenue?
There is no doubt that the landscape of B2B selling has changed dramatically. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, most B2B wholesalers met their target leads in industry conventions and trade shows. But amid the pandemic, many businesses had to adjust to thrive creatively. More and more B2B companies are shifting online to accommodate tech-savvy procurement teams.
There is no doubt, eCommerce is the way forward. Buyers are coming to procurement teams already informed and expect salespeople to provide more than a regular sales pitch.
Your business needs to learn how to improve online sales to maximise this medium. Follow these proven and effective ways to boost your wholesale profits:
1. Employ specials that offer retailers like bulk orders or discounts that are better than wholesale prices.
Also, freebies that give benefits and perks like free shipping for new customers can convert and retain returning customers.
Similarly, incentives like referrals and seasonal or limited-time special offers like holiday deals will push buyers to purchase immediately. In fact, customers are 4x more likely to buy after a referral with a 16% increase in value drivers. 83% will also refer your services to their common networks. Lastly, these combinations will often help you win a wholesale price war.
For instance, customers buy 1 item for $1
Or customers buy 40 items for $35
Customers buy 70 items for $60.99
2. Provide convenient and seamless ordering, attentive customer service, on-time delivery, and billing processes to your clients.
Transitioning to digital operations has never been more relevant these days. Similarly, create add-on services for more chances of upselling and cross-selling products/services. Prioritise quality service through improved and personalised product/service recommendations.
3. Effective marketing strategies should be like cold emailing or direct mail campaigns.
Likewise, you can send out product/service samples or trials. Then work with online retailers, so that you increase your visibility and presence in the market. In this way, more customers will buy your products/services from their website, otherwise known as “drop shipping.” You can also include your organisation in industry directories.
A better engagement is a hallmark feature of a mediocre sales process that starts with a lack of engagement with the client. It’s important to remember that with B2B selling, the goal is to create long-term client relationships.
Your engagement with a client shouldn’t stop after they have signed a contract or after you’ve answered their questions. The failure to maintain a constant dialogue with your client will result in them not feeling the need to maintain connections. Furthermore, the lack of engagement cuts off your feedback loop, meaning there will be fewer insights for you to build upon.
It’s also important to understand what type of information your client responds to and tailor your interactions accordingly. Email trackers can help you understand which content your clients open and ignore.
Bonus Tips – What are the Sources of New Product Ideas? Improve Your Online Sales
Still not sure what strategy you can use to improve your online sales?
Or maybe your business is doing good but you want to be better? Either way, we got you covered. We provide you with additional tips and things to keep in mind: top-down selling, measuring impact, and social selling.
1. Top-Down Selling
Online businesses can hugely benefit from top-down selling. This means that executives and leaders of a company must be actively involved and heard throughout your business content. By doing so, executives can promote a culture of connectedness and a reputation for authenticity.
Some examples can be as simple as monthly newsletters or even social media presence and content posts by executives (such as photos and videos). This allows clients and viewers to hear the voice of those on top, making the business feel more personal and less corporate.
2. Measuring Impact
Measuring the impact of your efforts is crucial. This helps you see whether your strategy and approaches are working or not, or whether you need to take a different route. Realising that something doesn’t work can reduce wasting time on efforts that bring limited impact.
Invest in a team that can measure and analyse interactions, bookings, sale closings, and website or social media traffic.
3. Social Selling
The last, but arguably the most important tip is to utilise social selling which is essentially how social media gains insight into clients and finds leads. We basically want to drive this idea home – that social media has quickly become the best tool for sales teams to interact with prospects. So, utilise the various platforms available and connect with old colleagues, companies, and scope out people that are looking for your particular product or service.
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Bottomline
In conclusion, there are many ways to improve sales on your eCommerce platforms. They don’t have to involve complicated algorithms. To improve your online sales, you need to establish an effective e-commerce strategy. This should include optimising your website for maximum visibility and usability, creating appealing content and offers, implementing effective marketing campaigns, boosting customer loyalty, and building relationships with customers.
It is important to make sure that the design of your website reflects the overall aesthetic of your business and that it is optimized for easy navigation. You should also ensure that you include relevant content such as product descriptions, reviews, testimonials, and promotional offers to engage customers.
Tailor your selling approach coupled with pricing analysis by utilising the numerous digital channels. Social selling can make a big difference in your numbers — but most importantly, this method will make your clients feel valued, generating more loyal customers.
Marketing campaigns are an important part of improving online sales because they can help draw attention to your products and build brand awareness.
This includes email campaigns, social media campaigns, paid search ads, and display advertising. Additionally, you should use customer loyalty programs to reward customers for purchasing from your website.
Building relationships with customers is crucial for improving online sales because it establishes trust and encourages repeat purchases. You can do this by responding quickly to inquiries, providing a personalized customer service experience, and organizing contests and giveaways.
By following these tips, you can improve your online sales and make the most of e-commerce opportunities. It is important to stay up-to-date on trends in the industry and be open to experimenting with new strategies. With the right strategy in place, you will be well on your way to achieving success.
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Make your pricing world class!
There is definately a lot to find out about this subject. I like all the points you made