It’s the goal of any ecommerce site – increasing online sales, but it’s not always as easy as it sounds.
You’ve probably tried different marketing methods and offered discounts. The results still aren’t as impressive as you would like.
While it might sound like a simple solution, WordPress plugins could be the solution to your sales problem. The right plugin makes your site easier to manage and better for your customers.
Why Your Sales Are Down
Before diving into which plugins to use, let’s take a look at why your sales are down. You have great products, but visitors aren’t converting into customers.
One of the problems might be that visitors forget about your site. Most visitors won’t make a purchase immediately, but instead, they’ll do a little research first. If you offer a limited time discount in exchange for their email address, you’re able to contact visitors long after they’ve left your site and remind them to come back.
Another issue stems from complicated or unsecured checkout processes. The easier it is for a visitor to make a purchase, the more likely they are to follow through instead of abandoning their carts.
Finally, your site may not be showcasing your products in the best light. Videos, images and engaging descriptions are what persuade customers to buy something. Think about it like this. Would you be more likely to buy clothing online with multiple images from different angles or a single small image? You’d want to see multiple images before making a choice.
Three Changes To Make Right Now
The first big change you need to make is offering a way for visitors to sign up for emails. This is how you stay in contact with visitors and continue to make sales. Opt-in forms that are easy to exit work best. TemplateMonster increased signups by 600% after adding an easy exit signup form. Of course, you also need to offer value in your emails, such as discounts and items related to what they’ve viewed on your site.
The second change is simplifying and securing the checkout process. You need a few simple steps and a valid SSL certificate to encrypt customer data. Your checkout process also needs to offer multiple ways to pay, such as credit card or online payments, such as PayPal.
The final change is to optimise your product pages. Better descriptions, 360 degree videos or images of products and zoomable images help boost sales.
Increase Sales With WordPress Plugins
Increasing online sales might sound complicated, but WordPress plugins make it easy. For best results, use an all-in-one ecommerce plugin that also works with other services, such as email newsletters. These plugins help take care of all the major problems listed above.
The most popular by far is WooCommerce. It currently powers 39% of all ecommerce stores. The plugin makes it easy to manage your store, offer secure checkouts, accept various payment types, and it integrates with other services.
WP eCommerce is the second most popular ecommerce plugin. While it’s not quite as feature rich as WooCommerce, it works well for simple ecommerce stores.
If your ecommerce site only offers digital downloads, Easy Digital Downloads may work best for you. It offers powerful reporting, easy integration with other services and makes it easy for customers to make and receive their purchases.
Among these three, most stores still choose WooCommerce since it’s already compatible with a variety of other services, such as PayPal and MailChimp. Think of a WordPress plugin as your secret weapon to increasing sales online. When it’s easier to manage your store and easier for customers to interact with your store, sales increase.
Boost Your Sales Now
It doesn’t matter what type of marketing you use if your online store isn’t powered by a reliable WordPress plugin. When you want to make a great impression on visitors and keep them coming back for more, you need a store that offers everything a visitor wants, such as smooth checkouts, easy email signups and great ways to views products. You could do it all manually or rely on a plugin to do the heavy lifting for you.
Ready to implement a WordPress plugin to improve your ecommerce store? Contact StuartMedia today to see how to get started.
Image: Crew
