Every small business owner desires to gain more sales regardless of what they might be selling. Markets exist for the exchange of value and the exchange can never be balanced without selling. You can’t stay in business without selling. Selling brings in revenue for the business. Selling is the main source of resources that power the machinery of everyday business activities to speak technically. If the business is an agent of change in society, selling is the fuel that powers it.

Sales don’t just come automatically because you have a good product or a good intention. Sales come because you have to buy customers.  We can all agree that the more customers you have the more sales you would likely procure. Getting more sales is based on how well you know your way around customers including; knowing where to find your customers, getting their attention with your product, and retaining them. 

Target Your Customers Where They Are:

This is very important, it is easy to just post your product on any social media platform for just posting sake. But in actually securing customers, it takes more than just posting, of course, you would eventually get to that. But you must be sure that you are posting to your targeted customers. A little research would help you with this. 

According to Buffer 2019 Statistics, 73% of online marketers believe that their social media marketing efforts have been “somewhat effective” or “very effective” for their business.

According to the stat above, it is not out of place for you to make use of social media in showcasing your products as far as your showing it to your target customers.

How do you resolve your target market issue?

Just ask yourself, who are the people that would buy my product. Then the next question is where can they be found is it on Instagram, Facebook, are they on your contact (Whatsapp) or TikTok.

Also, note, that many selling platforms already have the potential customers that you might be looking for, you can leverage these already existing networks to post your products on. Most of these selling platforms online are free but you need to register on them. Some examples include Jumia, Amazon, eBay, YouShop, etc.

No doubt, a good presentation attracts more online customers; So Invest in Quality Product Images. 

“Across social channels, photo and imagery posts are the most-used content type to increase audience engagement.” (HubSpot, 2020)

Pictures are a visual representation of your product. The best and worst impression a potential customer online would have of your product is largely based on your picture. Remember that the customers are not right in front of you and they cannot see the product. The customers rely solely on the pictures you post to make a purchase decision. The pictures show the customer what you are selling. 

Therefore it is very important to create the best possible picture for your products. As visual creatures, we process information based on what we see. 

Studies show that people take in 80% of what they see and 20% of what they read.

Also, for a more streamlined targeting use hashtags to niche down on content your customers will likely follow and get your friends to engage with and reshare your content. This will allow Instagram and Facebook post ranking algorithms to bump you up for more visibility.

Example: Hello there! Find my latest collection of handbags. #fashionweeklagos #GTBfoodanddrinks #lagosfashion…

In a nutshell, take a quality picture, it doesn’t cost much to do this. A good phone camera and proper lightning can produce a quality picture that can be used for your online sales. If you have the means to take a professional picture using professional means,  why not!

Simply take pictures that would catch the eyes of your target customers

Run Paid Ads.

The moment you can clearly identify your target audience, you already have 70% of what you need to convert your customers. Do you know why? Because to run ads on Facebook and Instagram or on google, during your setup, you will have to set your audience and their demography, including having to write copies that will appeal to them. By running paid ads you can accelerate achieving your business goals twice as fast with as little as $288 for a starting budget if you’re running google ads. You must be thinking why that amount? Well, the fact is there was a recent update on google ads that now allows marketers to use the google AI bot to run split testing within a pool of 15 different headlines which used to be 3 and 4 different descriptions which used to be one. The split testing will need a minimum of 1 month for the bot to collect enough data to know what headline resonates the best with your audience and can help you drive the best result for your business.

Be tactical with your price 

Online marketing provides customers with more than enough choice, this can make the customers feel overwhelmed with the choices available. So, most of them will choose based on their key value drivers. Others will base their decisions on price.

The reality is your target customer would be of a certain range of persona. Having a proper understanding of this persona and also your competitors would help you have balanced pricing that will not chase customers away.

Your pricing has to be realistic enough. 

Most people do a price comparison before buying whatever product they desire. Your pricing has to be competitive and attractive enough. You may have a wonderful product everyone needs. However, if your price is high compared to your competitor, you are going to find it tough to make sales.

 According to Business Insider, approximately $4 TRILLION worth of online merchandise was abandoned in incomplete shopping carts last year alone, of which 63% was potentially recoverable. 

Manage your business remotely

Importantly, finding a way to manage your entire business on the go, whether online if you are into drop shipping or offline if you have an existing inventory you sell from, either ways I will recommend you use youshop, a retail management app that lets you sell all that you have online or offline and manage sales even on the road, in a party or on vacation.

There are ways you can sell better online using youshop, you give your dropshipping business not just the right packaging it needs but more importantly the right boost that can make your business blow.  

Lastly;

Reducing friction in your checkout process 

This can have an incredible impact on your conversion rates. Now you have targeted the right customers, they have acknowledged your product as fit and the price as reasonable. Now they want to make a purchase, it is in your best interest to eliminate any unnecessary steps in your checkout process that could dissuade a prospect from converting. Again I will recommend you use youshop, with an easy way to checkout, you can receive payment anyhow your customer would like to pay, something that comes in handy to make your customers love shopping from you,

In conclusion, these are a few concrete ways you can get more sales as you explore the online market. You have gotten your foot to the door, that is great!! You simply have to be a bit more strategic with these few steps to start cashing in. 

Good luck!