How to Attract Customers to your Online Store?

Aesthetic Design

The design of your online store is essential for attracting and retaining customers. If a user lands on your website and it’s ugly or hard to navigate, they will simply leave and find something else.

With so many options available online today, users can afford to be picky.

Take some time to think carefully about the design of your online store. It should be a reflection of the products you sell and the overall branding and vibe of your business.

Think about it – if you land on a plain, muddled, and unprofessional-looking website you’re going to presume that the products for sale are like this too.

On the other hand, builders like Wix provide a sleek and visually appealing website that fills potential customers with confidence in your brand and products.

Most of the popular ecommerce website builders provide you with various theme options and customizable features, allowing you to ensure your online store is immersive and visually appealing to customers.

Optimized Product Listings

Customers can’t buy something that they can’t find, and even once they’ve landed on your website, you need to make sure it’s as easy as possible for them to discover the product they’re looking for.

Your product listings are the easiest way for customers to find your products – therefore you need to make sure they’re optimized for the best possible results.

Some of the key things to implement on your product listings are:

• Optimize product titles for search and include product and brand names as well as key details such as size and color
• Ensure your product descriptions are detailed with the information customers actually need
• Include shipping information and costs
• Feature customer reviews within your product listings

Make sure you choose the right products by validating your products ideas. Learn how in our guide.

High-Quality Product Photos

Customers need to see what it is that they’re buying. Put yourself in their shoes – would you be willing to spend money on an item that you haven’t seen a photograph of? We doubt it.

High-quality product photos allow you to accurately showcase your items to customers. When taking product photographs for your online store there’s a lot to think about, which is why we’ve listed some of our top tips below.

• Use a high-quality camera or phone to ensure the image is clear.
• Make sure the item and area are well-lit with no shadow.
• Take multiple photos of the item from different angles.
• Consider shooting your items in different set-ups – for example, flat lays and on a model.

Brand Identity

Creating a strong brand identity is key if you want to attract customers to your online store instead of competitor sites.

Think about some of your favorite online brands. We bet they all have a strong brand identity that makes them instantly recognizable – whether it’s a set color scheme, the use of a specific font, or a tone of voice that represents their ethos.

Creating a brand identity will allow customers to connect with your online store. A strong brand also stays in people’s minds, ensuring that customers return to your online store again and again.

Social Media

Social Media is one of the best ways to market your products and attract customers to your online store.

Platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram can all be utilized to attract customers.

The key to success on social media is producing high-quality and engaging content that converts followers into customers.

Encouraging people to follow you and engage with your content will in turn direct them to your online store to make a purchase.

So what should you be doing on social media to attract customers to your online store? We’ve put some ideas together to help you get started:

• Post regularly to keep your audience engaged
• Select relevant social platforms that have the audience you’re looking to target
• Showcase your products using imagery and videos
• Engage your audience by asking questions, setting up polls, and posting interactive content

Email Marketing

Email marketing can be a cheap and effective way of attracting customers to your online store.

Building up an email list is a great way of keeping in contact with your customers, as well as those who have visited your site but have yet to make a purchase.

The great thing about email is that it offers you a direct line of communication, whether you’re looking at remarketing or retargeting your audience.

Sometimes one email featuring engaging content or a discount proves too much to refuse and your email subscribers will convert into customers.

Some ideas for your email marketing include:

• Showcase new products
• Offer bespoke incentives, sales, and discounts for subscribers
• Send emails featuring similar products when customers make a purchase
• Create content around styling and using your products in order to inspire customers

Customer Data Analysis

Keeping a close eye on customer data can be useful when it comes to attracting customers back to your online store.

Collecting data allows you to see how customers behave online and gives you insight into things such as what they’re searching for, how long they’re spending on your website, and at what point you’re losing customers who abandon their carts.

You can then use this data to tailor the experience of each individual customer, targeting them on the right platforms and offering them incentives to complete their purchase.

SEO

A key way of driving traffic to any website is Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and online stores are no different.

The higher up you appear in results for relevant search terms, the more traffic you’ll be able to direct to your online store.

For example, if you’re selling pet supplies you may want to rank for terms such as “colorful dog collar” or “unique cat food bowls”. People searching for these terms are clearly making a transactional search, which means they’re looking for a product to buy.

Some of the best ways to boost the SEO of your website include keyword optimization, growing a backlink profile, and creating high-quality and relevant blog content.

Make sure you check out our post on optimizing your blog posts for SEO for more guidance and ideas.

Find Out More

Not too confident with what SEO actually means? Our guide on What Is SEO covers all the basics, including what keywords and backlinks are, as well as why it’s important and key trends to know about.

Customer Support

Providing excellent customer service and support is essential to any business and your online shop is no different.

Customers want to know that they can access 24/7 customer support for any query they have. Offering a live chat or chatbot service is a great way to showcase to customers that you’re on hand to help at every stage of the customer lifecycle.

Customer support also extends to the services you offer such as returns and shipping. Ensuring that these processes are as simple as possible will help to encourage customers to return to you time and time again.

Promotions and Discounts

Everyone loves a discount. Whether it’s a 10% off code that’s landed in their inbox or a site-wide sale, running various promotions and discounts throughout the year is a great incentive for customers.

You don’t need to drop your prices hugely or run sales constantly, but by providing customers with a discount code or promoting a new sale to your social media followers, you will help to encourage people that now is the time to make a purchase from your store. You can even expand on this and create a customer loyalty program.

Free Shipping

When it comes to online shopping, often the final hurdle for customers is shipping costs. Most abandoned baskets are left behind because customers don’t want to pay high shipping fees in order to receive their goods.

Whilst it’s not always feasible to do so, offering free or discounted shipping can be a great way to encourage customers to complete their purchase. There is also the option of introducing the choice of curbside pickup.

Some stores choose to offer free shipping for orders over a certain amount, which can prompt customers to add more to their basket in order to gain the benefit. Some stores also offer cash on delivery, which is another flexible payment method that gives customers more choice.

You can also offer free shipping for a limited time as a special promotion. If you decide on this route then make sure you promote the offer through your social media and email marketing.

Attracting customers to your online store is crucial if you want to make sales and grow your business.

Once you’ve set up your online store, customers aren’t just going to flock to your website (unless you’re very lucky), and instead, you need to actively undertake steps to attract them.

To recap, some of the key things you can do to help attract customers to your online store include:

• Create an aesthetic website
• Optimize your product listings
• Use high-quality product images
• Market your store using email marketing, social media, and SEO
• Provide an excellent customer experience and support service
• Provide them with alternative choices for purchasing your product.

If you follow these steps then your online store will be inundated with customers. If you try out any of these tips make sure you let us know your results in the comments!