There are a few of those obstacles that seem like a catalyst. Like if only I could overcome this one obstacle, everything else would be easier.
"How do I get customers to my website?" seems like one of those, no?
I don't know a single boutique owner that doesn't love waking up to sales that happened on their websites while they were sleeping.
However, after 5 years in the online boutique industry, I know that driving customers to a website can be WAY harder than it sounds. This can be especially frustrating if you have a loyal customer base that you are trying to move away from invoicing to automate your business a bit, or if you are trying to implement a website so you can utilize synclogic and drop shipping vendors.
There are two key things to remember when growing website sales:
- Humans are often slow to change their habits. If they are use to shopping live or being invoiced, many will initially resist using a website.
- Building a website doesn't generate sales. Driving traffic to the website generates sales.
Thankfully, the strategies to addressing these two things often overlap. Here are a list of some that I have found helpful.
- Purchase a domain name. It needs to be something that people can easily duplicate. Avoid "catchy" spellings that may be easy to mis-type. Put it everywhere, including your business page and VIP group cover photos.
- You need to put links to your website everywhere. Every time you post a wall drop of an item, post links in the comments that go directly to that item. Have your website link in your bio. Literally, put your link everywhere.
- If a customer tries to claim an item from a social media post, reply with a direct link to the item on your website.
- Continue to be consistent about reminding your customers that they need to checkout on the website with the above strategies.
- If you never "launched" your website, schedule one now. Create an event. Offer incentives for sharing the event, inviting friends, etc. Do a how to live video that shows folks how to create an account, find things and utilize payment features like paypal or sezzle that you may offer. Talk about how user friendly it is and how it allows them to shop at any time.
- Schedule a weekly drop or promo code that is only valid on the website. Give your customers reasons to check out there so they learn how easy it is to use.
- Utilize e-mail marketing. Shopify has some amazing apps. Klaviyo is my favorite, but I have also used Privvy or you can try out a program outside of shopify like MailChimp. Most have free or very low cost options for starting. Don't stress yourself out trying to be perfect here from the beginning. Start with a weekly email that offers some kind of value to your customers and beautiful images of product. You can always add automated flows, abandoned cart e-mails, etc. at a later date.
- If you have an active and engaged Instagram or Facebook Business Page, make sure you have connected these to your Shopify account. This will allow you to tag products and when customers see an item they like, they can click on it and purchase it from your store.
Just like with any change, you can't do everything at once. Just select a strategy or two and commit to using it for a month. Track your website visits ands sales and celebrate every little victory along the way and don't get discouraged if you don't see instant results. Remember, the industry average is 100 visits for every sale, so it takes consistency and time to grow your website sales.
You've got this and we love watching you succeed.