Mind Reading
I’m evolving my mind-reading game.
It’s a much needed skill for anyone advising clients remotely. Help me give it a try:
Close your eyes and make a business wish for 2025.
Don’t hold back. Pour all your psychic strength into it.
I’m feeling it. The force is strong with this one.
I can almost see it!
Done!
Was it “Sell more”?
75%
For three out of four businesses, it is:
Seventy-three percent of small business owners expect next year’s revenue to increase—identical to last quarter and the highest number recorded since the Index began in 2017. Similarly, more than two in five (44%) anticipate increasing staff in the next year, which is near Q2 2023’s high water mark (47%). (Source)
According to the latest Small Business Index Report there’s “continued optimism”, “bullish expectations” and “upbeat plans for next year’s headcount”.
Looking good.
One hundred empty billboards
We can agree that when it comes to ecommerce, among the many tactics available, there are two essential ways to grow your sales.
- Brand reach growth equals more traffic equals more sales.
- Or you manage to grow conversions with your current customer base and traffic.
Our industry is so fixated on the first that we tend to neglect — sometimes simply ignore — the latter.
A way to easily improve sales without breaking the bank or doing a replatform or redesign (don’t do both at the same time) is to simply take advantage of what you already have available at your disposal.
Every pixel in your content is a billboard. Here are some real life examples:
Post-sale banners on “my account”
You often go back to your account to double-check the status of your package. Your buyers too. It’s an ideal place to drive folks to the next step in their experience. Warranty registration, training, incentivizing reviews, inviting to a user generated contest, surveys, upsell opportunities and more.
Turn content into orders
Add links, CTAs or banners in your content that lead straight to the checkout. You worked a fantastic influencer interview on how they use your product? Add a “Shop the look/kit/set” button, and turn your piece into a direct-to-sales landing page.
Bars, banners and codes
Persistent messaging can turn a “maybe” into an “I’m in”. Work on your brand codes to unify visuals, voice and tone. Display your narrative consistently and incentivize conversion across every page of your website: top bar personalized messaging, visually appealing hero sections with a strong on-brand copy, banners and visually rich sections on products that tackle objections and make honest and attractive promises.
Reordering categories for best conversion
Products that are arranged smartly are ads on their own, in the sense that they can funnel the casual visitor browsing. Make sure your best performers are shown first. Some platforms keep you tied to their constraints on what to show and on which order, but smart AI-driven tools like AdvancedCommerce’s Merchandising feature allow you to choose your top items, and let the AI figure out, based on specific customer behavior and profiling, which one sells best on which position.
Make transactional emails marketing emails, too
What invitation, incentive, or opportunity can you create when you send those boring, flat emails with status updates, invoices or confirmations?
Spice them up, test, send and measure.
Get’em while they’re hot
Have a rich, beautiful “thank you” page that directs people to interesting content so new subscribers can continue connecting with you. Show appreciation and give them an unexpected extra mile in the form of content, discounts or ideas.
What’s on the menu?
Navigation is more than a list of links. It’s a way to connect the dots and ease the customer experience. Make it visual. A small subset of your products are making you the most money. Show them proudly in a beautiful interactive menu section. Make it smooth and remember to adapt as boldly and beautifully to mobile.
Nobody likes pop-ups.
Wrong. Nobody likes generic, intrusive, annoying pop-ups. Devote some time to craft copy, design and human connection, and these pop-ups will drive engagement, leads & conversion. Split-test and have different contents for different stages of the journey.
Lifestyle and storytelling are ads too
A lot of people will research online and purchase offline. Work on your storytelling and it will most definitely have an impact, not only on direct sale but also on conversion attributed to other channels (dealers, distributors, marketplaces, etc.).
SEO is getting harder. Ads don’t pay off anymore. Perhaps we should prioritize having the best, most beautiful and consistently convincing website we can.
So there you have it: A hundred billboards on your website, ready for the taking. Fill them with ads and put a spell on your visitors
Until next time.
Santiago.-
