The first step in building an e-commerce business is to open an online store. It can be tough to make your first sale.
You’ve set up your online store, made it look the way you want it to, and added items to it. If that happens, you might not know what to do next. Just wait for sales to come in? No, to make the first sale, you should bring people to your store and products. So, how are you going to reach this goal? This article will show you of the best ways to get help.
How to make your first purchase
Running an online store is all about getting people to buy things. After getting your first order, you might have more energy and courage to keep going. You want to reach this goal right away, which makes sense. You can do this in at least 10 of the following ways:
Keep your website design simple
By making your website’s design simpler, you can make it easier for people who might buy from you to use. It is the key to turning interested visitors into e-commerce customers, or making your first sale!
The first thing it can do is cut down on how many products are shown on its page. Customers might get tired of taking too long to figure out what they want to buy. You should make sure that your website’s interface is easy to use so that people don’t have to work hard to find what they’re looking for. It’s one reason why you should have a big search bar and clear menu options to make it easy to check.
You can leave spaces empty for some buttons that you need. That means you should get rid of anything that is distracting or not needed, and don’t give in to the urge to put too much information on each product page. It’s better to leave only the clicks that are necessary, like “call to action buttons” like “Add to cart” and “Buy it now,” etc. Not least of all. It’s important to make sure your store display works well on mobile devices. The mobile phone is the most common way for people to place orders. So make sure that mobile phones can access your site.
Make your website easy for customers to use
Keep in mind that most sales may be made in 3 seconds or less. So, the first impression of your website is important when people are placing orders
Your site might not look as good if it has a complicated layout and mix of colors. So, when you’re making your website, you can look for successful online stores, like the ones in our article on the Best Shopify Dropshipping Stores in 2023, and study how they’re set up. But don’t forget to choose the one that fits your products the best.
Post Blogs
The blog is another way to get people to come to your store. It’s also a place where you can show people your products in a better way. If you can get more people to visit your website, you’re more likely to make a sale.
Here are some examples of blog posts you can make on your site:
- How-to articles for your products.
- Post a message telling people what the best solution is to a certain problem. That means the good things your products do.
- People who might be interested in your product can find answers to their questions in the FAQs.
Make the product description better
You won’t get your first order until your site lets people know what you sell and what they will get out of it. The description of a product should include all the important details and specs, as well as high-quality pictures and videos.
Based on the description, some new users might decide to buy the item. So it’s important to tell your visitors directly what they want to know, like the price, coupons, shipping, how to pay, what the product does, etc.
Make sure that users can find out everything they need to know about your product without having to look for it on your website. To do this, you need to know what questions your target audience is likely to have and answer them in your product.
Give things away
Everyone wants things that are free. You can use this to get people to your site when you are trying to make your first sale. When people who might buy your products go to your website, free things bring much-needed attention to your products. This doesn’t mean you have to give away your most expensive items. Instead, you just need to be willing to give away a few products to get things started. A simple way that works, right?
Giveaways can help get people interested in your products because you can draw their attention to the paid products you sell. Participants can also tell their friends and network about how they used your products or what they learned about the gift itself.
Give Coupons
Since you’re just starting out and don’t have a lot of money. This way might work better. Instead of giving things away, you only have to offer discounts to potential customers.
If you don’t have a good reputation or reviews from past customers, it may be hard for new customers to see why they should buy from your store at full price. Offering some of the best or most affordable products at reasonable discounts can be a powerful way to reduce risks and bring people to you.
Social media can help you build your brand.
Everyone knows that social media is a good way to bring people to your online business. Creating a brand on social media makes it easier for potential customers to find your brand and learn about your business.
You can get people’s attention on social media by occasionally sharing something related to your brand. But remember that you shouldn’t share just to share. The goods that are shown on these platforms should be ones that customers might be interested in.
Also, there are a lot of groups for people with different interests and needs. You can join these groups to find them and then share content that is relevant to them. When they know enough about your brand, they might buy something from your e-commerce site.
You could read The Benefits of Social Media Advertising to learn more about the good things about social media.
Promote with people you know
Most likely, your family and close friends will be your first customers. Since you know them and know what they need to solve their problems, you can figure out what makes your products stand out.
It’s the same as telling people you don’t know about your products. You can tell them about your products, show them how they work and what they can do for them, and let them try out your goods. Even better, you can give them some free samples.
Sell to B2B customers
You can also make your first sale by selling your products to other businesses instead of (or in addition to) selling directly to customers. At the end of the day, you need to get your product into the hands of customers, no matter who they are.
You could sell to wholesale stores locally, nationally, or even internationally. Selling to businesses may not bring in a lot of money, but it does get your products in front of the right people. Once your brand has been seen enough, you can go straight to customers.
Go to business fairs
Even though you have an online store, you still need to advertise offline. Local and national events may be important to your market and audience. A trade show is one of these great ways to reach the people you want to reach.
You will meet both individual customers and wholesale suppliers at these events. You can get them to come to your booth by giving away free samples, coupons, or discount codes to anyone who stops by.
Provide Extra Services
Customer service needs to be done professionally and on time.
Customers might look at your website to learn more about your products before making a purchase. Answers to the questions that visitors have are given by professional support services. Also, these pre-sale services can help you figure out what your potential customers want. Then, they will get help from support services to make their final choice.
Shipment is another type of service. Free shipping is a very important way to attract customers. When you offer free shipping to first-time customers, they are more likely to place an order because it can help them save money.
One Last Thing
Getting started in the online world might not seem hard, but getting your first order for your online store can be hard. But once you get the hang of it, you’ll know just what to do to keep your stock going. Check how well it works for you whenever you try a new way to get people to visit your website, whether it’s online or not. Optimization is the most important thing that affects online marketing.