10 Ways to Turn Website Traffic Into Sales
(Episode 2 of 2 with Chloe Thomas)
Welcome back to another episode with Chloe Thomas. In the last episode, we discussed five e-commerce tips and today, we will dive into e-commerce marketing, specifically 10 ways we can turn our website traffic into sales.
Key Takeaways
In today’s episode, we will cover the following key takeaways:
- Over the last 20 years, consumers have increasingly moved towards an online experience.
- eCommerce marketing makes it easier for us to track a sale.
- Email marketing is so important because we have control of it. It’s where we can build relationships with our customers.
- Search engine optimization is key for building branding awareness.
- If we want to grow at any kind of speed, we should be doing some form of paid marketing.
- We can use website templates to build our website. We don’t have to start from scratch. We should also remember to tie in stories and emotion when building our website.
- As we prioritize the customer at every step of the customer journey, we will have much more success in gaining repeat customers.
Why should we add eCommerce?
Before taking the step towards e-commerce, we should think hard about it. Going online isn’t as simple as building a website. It takes maintenance. It will require us to add another business model.
“You’re going to need to pay some attention to [your e-commerce site] even if you’re running a small fashion boutique, and you’re thinking it’d be quite handy to have it,” Chloe said. “Please don’t think this is going to be a ‘flick the switch and away we go.’”
Yet, while going online will take extra time, effort, and resources, it is likely a smart choice for us if we want to grow. Over the last 20 years, consumers have increasingly moved towards an online experience. People expect to be able to buy online. This has accelerated massively due to the pandemic and it likely isn’t going to go away. In fact, Chloe recently saw a stat saying that the average consumer is anticipating they’re going to do at least half of their Christmas shopping online.
eCommerce marketing also makes it easier for us to track a sale. “The best thing about e-commerce marketing is that you can see the money,” Chloe said. “You get to track through to the actual sale because . . . their decision making cycles are so much shorter and you’re seeing the traffic come in.”
10 eCommerce Marketing Methods
In Chloe’s book, eCommerce Marketing: How to Get Traffic that Buys to Your Website, she lists 10 ways to turn website traffic into sales:
- Email Marketing
- Search Engine Optimization
- Search Engine Advertising: Keywords
- Search Engine Advertising: Products
- Online Advertising
- Partnerships: Affiliate and Influencer Marketing
- Content Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Web Push Notifications and Facebook Messenger Marketing
- Offline Marketing (catalogues, direct mail, billboards, TV ads, etc.)
Today, we will go over the first five methods — the core marketing methods. The first is email marketing.
“You need to be using email marketing because it’s the one you have control of; it’s where you can build that relationship with the customer and no one can take [it] from you,” Chloe said. “Email is essential to build almost from day one. If you get it right . . . then you’re going to see overall sales improve and therefore you’re going to see the impact of all your marketing improves.”
When we get our customers’ email or other contact information, we give ourselves more control. Even if our social media account gets hacked or our website crashes, we have direct contact with our customers. We don’t have to wait for them to come to us. We can use their emails to send our welcome campaign to get the first sale and we can send post purchase emails. These have become really powerful in getting repeat purchases and referral purchases.
The next foundation marketing method is search engine optimization. If our customers have a problem we can solve, but they don’t know of our business yet, they need to be able to find us. This is where search engine advertising: keywords and products come in.
“Consumers will forget the name of your business, but they will remember your product. You need to make sure they can [find] you,” Chloe said. “[Use] basics of SEO from day one so people who are looking for you can find you.”
Next, we should use online advertising. We likely will have to pay for traffic. Most people use Facebook or Google ads to advertise their website and brand. We can get an expert to set up our online campaigns for us or we can get expert training to learn how to do it ourselves. We might even want to outsource it.
“If you want to grow at any kind of speed, you need to be doing some form of paid marketing,” Chloe said.
How to Create a Great Website
An essential part of any e-commerce marketing method is building a great website. One of the most common myths with website building is that we have to start from scratch.
“[Don’t] overthink it and please, please, please don’t build something custom,” Chloe said. “There are some amazing e-commerce platforms out there . . . there’s so much you can do without building something custom.”
Creating our own website from scratch can take weeks of work to put together. If we’re not already trained in design, it can take even longer. There are layouts and templates we can use to help us get started that work great. With a template, we can still make our pages unique to our brand without going through all the effort.
Chloe also reminds us to not overlook the story and emotion of our brand when building our website. “You need to get your story, your emotion, [and] that customer connection on every page of the site,” she said. “Get that across the site to build that emotional connection despite the fact people are online.”
On our website, we can also use tools to optimize our strategies. We just have to take the time to find the right tools for our business. Usually, it comes down to what we integrate with and how important each channel is.
For SRM and email marketing tools, Chloe recommends looking at Klaviyo and Omnisend. For onsite personalization tools, she recommends Klevu, Doofinder, Segmentify, or Nosto. These onsite personalization tools can help us personalize the customer experience on the website so they see products related to their previous purchases.
How to Turn One-Time Customers into Repeat Customers
To create a repeat customer, it comes down to the very first interaction they have with our business, whether they hear about our business from a friend or see our ad online. We should strive to make a good impression at every point of the customer journey. After the first interaction, it’s our job to re-enforce that positive first impression.
“If you start making a good impression and that impression is reinforced and consolidated through every contact they have with your business so that consistent message comes through to them loud and clear, that is really going to help you,” Chloe said.
Even after the point of purchase, we should continue to create a positive experience. We should make the delivery, shipping, and unboxing of our product a positive experience. We can send out order delivery confirmation emails and updates on shipping. We can also create a beautiful unboxing experience so that people want to share it with their friends and post about it online.
A lot of companies put in the post-purchase sequence. They give the customer content on how to get the most out of their product, before it even arrives. Paper Republic, a company based in Austria, creates leather journal covers. Chloe ordered from them and before her package arrived, they provided her with videos on how to put the journal together. This helped her feel more excited about the product.
As we prioritize the customer at every step of the customer journey, we will have much more success in gaining repeat customers.
Connect with Chloe
Thank you so much Chloe for sharing your stories and insights with us today. To learn more about or connect with Chloe:
Next Steps
- Get a free ebook about passion marketing, and learn how to become a top priority of your ideal customers at PassionMarketing.com.
- Subscribe to Monetization Nation on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, our Facebook Group, and on your favorite podcast platform.
