Optimizing an ecommerce store according to the trend is a great way to boost your Shopify sales, and it holds especially true for certain times of the year. Especially when the festive season is just around the corner, there is no better time to gear up and polish your website to welcome a huge influx of buyers.
If you look at the recent trends in shopping, online stores have become a prominent feature in this industry, and the COVID-19 pandemic has a lot to do with it. However, the global catastrophe led most of us to one of the most impressive innovations, in the form of the ecommerce boom.
Now, everyone wants a piece of it, and especially if you’re a Shopify store owner, the optimization options to lift your sales are pretty much endless.
This post will look at some of the best optimization techniques to boost your sales, especially when you know that a buyer is just around the corner.
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Why Optimization Can Pay Off
It’s that time of the year when people start saving to spend on offers and sales opportunities. Yet, according to some stats, more than one-third of the US who shopped in-store on Black Friday did not shop physically last year.
Likewise, many others were severely affected due to the pandemic, so it affected their shopping patterns during this time of the year in 2020.
It’s clear evidence that people are shifting quickly towards online shopping, which gives you more advantage as a Shopify store owner. So, if you can optimize according to what the buyer wants, you might be in for some heavy sales.
Optimizing Your Shopify Store
Thanks to a wide range of integrations and support features, optimizing a Shopify store is no longer a tedious job. Instead, some simple optimization tactics can yield impressive results. So, here are some simple hacks that can help you convert big time with your Shopify store.
Especially during events like Black Friday sales, online shoppers can wreak havoc on your online stores. As more customers land on your website, there will be an extra load on the servers, so testing them in advance is a good idea.
In the worst case, your website can crash, and you will lose valuable web traffic as a result. So, performing a load test is a good option to test the rush handling capacity of your servers.
When you put your system through a comprehensive load test, you eke out important information like
- The maximum capacity that the system can handle without crashing.
- Analyze whether your current system can handle the estimated customers.
- How well can your system sustain the total load on the website?
Once you understand the effects of load testing, it gives you critical insights into the scalability solutions that may apply to your Shopify store.
Search Engine Optimization
No marketing campaign can be complete without search engine optimization. SEO has the power to propel your online business to new heights. In the recent past, SEO has been the game changer for online stores.
It doesn’t matter if your store sells the best products. It will only appear to the customers if it ranks well on the SEO. So, add relevant content and images to get a better ranking for your online store. Generally, words like ‘sales,’ ‘discount,’ are quite widely searched during these seasons.
Therefore, keyword research will form a valuable part of your web content to ensure that you’re reaching out to your potential customers.
No Compromise on Security
While your marketing game needs to be on point, it’s equally important that your website isn’t vulnerable to cyberattacks. Unfortunately, especially during the seasonal sales, the rate of cybercrimes also rises considerably.
These guys may be after your store products, or the account details, etc. On the other hand, some cybercriminals may want to hack your website completely.
However, it’s interesting that many business owners don’t think of website security as something important. As a result, data breaches, hacks, and loss of critical information are some common consequences in the cyber world.
But if you want to sneak past these issues, try these basic fixes to strengthen your website security.
HTTPS is the Way to Go
HTTPS is the way forward for website security. So, it’s time to get one for your website too. But, in case you’re happy with HTTP, an attack might be just around the corner.
In addition to HTTPS, you can accommodate Secure Sockets Layer authentication. This is a good idea because your customers know that their information is in safe hands.
When you acquire SSL, the customers can see a lock icon next to the address bar, indicating that things are quite safe in your online store.
Perform a Website Security Audit
Check for the security of critical data on your website. It includes elements like online transactions, customer logins, network access points, etc. If you find anything fishy, it’s best to consult your web hosting service straight away.
Cyber Attack Test
Check the website security through self-run cyberattacks. Here, it is important to use traditional and recent cyberattack tactics to understand your website security better. Upon the analysis, it should be easier to understand the security gaps to fill them with your network admins.
Evaluate Your Web Hosting Service
Hosting service is an important element to effective website performance. Normally, new startups make the basic mistake of choosing shared hosting, which leads to poor setup configurations. As a result, it’s your ecommerce store that suffers, eventually bringing down your sales.
During an expected high-sale season, you cannot afford to fall behind because of poor hosting. Generally, shared hosting is suited for normal-day applications where you don’t expect a high influx of buyers at a time. Even if it’s a medium-sized business, it may not possibly handle high traffic, which means it’s about time you shift to a different hosting service.
Cloud hosting is probably the most viable solution if you want to boost your ecommerce Shopify sales. Whether it’s about speed, performance, scalability, or security, these services are ideal for any business size.
It’s quite simple to find the best hosting services. Generally, cloud-based services are all good if they provide constant support. So, if you’re getting 24 x 7 expert support, any cloud hosting service would do.
You can’t rely on services without regular support because a downtime of just a few minutes can cost you a huge amount of sales.
Device Optimization is Key
If your website is not optimized for mobile devices, you’re losing the biggest chunk of your potential market. This year, nearly 70% of US customers have shopped online. Nearly 25% of them shop online at least once a month.
Interestingly, nearly 67% of mobile users window shop for fun. It means that they are more likely to buy something during the sales season. So, if your website is optimized for PCs and mobile devices like smartphones, tabs, and pads, you’re stepping in the right direction.
If not, you know what to do. First, after optimization, it’s best to test the entire shopping process to be sure how the user sees it.
Create CTAs In Your Promotional Emails
You cannot underestimate the power of CTAs. When you’re sending out automated marketing emails, they need an impactful call to action to intrigue your website customer. So, your sales offers must accompany a CTA button, and it’s best to use Sign up forms to get customer details.
CTAs provide a lot of convenience to the customers, and you don’t want them to search you in their browser to make a purchase. So, make it easier for them by using sales-relevant CTA buttons.
Also, make sure that there are enough CTAs available on your website so that the customer can easily view their cart, access the checkout page, and add payment details. This way, your chances of converting a visitor to a buyer are much higher.
Social Media Optimization
Everyone’s on social media, so your Shopify store needs to be there too. Thankfully, Shopify provides various integration tools to optimize your experience on social platforms, so it’s easier to design tailored ads for Facebook, Instagram, etc.
Market your sales offers through social media posts. Especially during the sales season, users are looking for different discount offers and higher sales percentages. So, optimizing your marketing plan for social media is a critical factor that will convert.
Gamification
Gamification is a tried and tested method to increase your online sales. So, why not add a couple of simple games to your website to increase customer engagement. Add gift items, coupons, and points using Tada’s exit intent and gamified pop ups to entice the customers through the game.
For a concept so simple, gamification is a powerful tool that can help you convert big time.
Conclusion
With Black Friday sales approaching, the customers are gearing up to buy stuff for the rest of the year. As an ecommerce store, there is no better opportunity to boost your Shopify sales. Interestingly, it’s much simpler than it sounds.
Tighter security, optimal website performance, and intriguing offers are just the tools you need to take your sales game to the next level.