Let's face it: setting up a Shopify store is the easy part. Making any decent sales? That's quite another matter. As a store owner or one looking to dive into your journey, you probably ask yourself one thing: how do I turn visitors into customers and actually reach my sales goals? Or how to get sales on Shopify? It is a generally shared problem, and the good news is that, if done with the right approaches, Shopify can be the source of gold for e-commerce.
In this article, we will show you tips to increase your shopify store sales, from setting smart strategic price discounts using applications like Discounty to optimizing product pages, running effective ad campaigns, and fostering customer loyalty.
Whether you're just starting an online business or are looking for advanced tips, we'll give you actionable steps to increase your sales and grow your business. So, let's cut to the chase and delve into the minute details of making your Shopify store thrive!
Why Your Shopify Store May Not Be Getting Sales
Before getting to the strategies and know how to get sales on Shopify, it's helpful to understand why sales drag in the first place. Knowing what holds you back can make it easier to choose which tactics are worth your focus.
Here are some of the most common culprits:
Low or Untargeted Traffic
You can have the best product out there, but if the right people aren't finding it, you're going to struggle with sales. The mistake many Shopify owners make is evolving into getting a lot of visitors instead of getting the right visitors. If you're a jewelry store, you want jewelry lovers and not some random clicks from all over the internet. Free sources of traffic, such as SEO and social media, are great, but targeting is what makes those clicks cash in.
Weak Product Pages
Try to put yourself in a store and see a very dusty product with no description whatsoever. Would you buy it? Probably not. All said, your product page is where the buyer's decision will be made, so it should look good and be loaded with the right information. High-quality images, clear descriptions, and a list of benefits make all the difference. This is no area in which to say, "Good enough." Think of it more like putting your product's best foot forward.
Lack of Trust Signals
People have to feel comfortable before they give you their money. Ever clicked on a site, seen no reviews, and immediately felt uneasy? You are not alone. Trust signals are things such as customer reviews, secure checkout badges, and clear return policies that help customers greenlight that it is safe to buy from you. Show them others have bought and loved your products. It's like a digital high-five that says, "Hey, you're in good hands."
Limited Customer Engagement
A visitor arrives on your website, browses around a bit, and then leaves. Ring any bells? So, the lack of engagement just totally kills sales. The hunch here is to make sure you answer "quick" questions with tools like live chat and send a friendly email when someone signs up—one of those things. More will come from the fact that the more you engage with visitors, the more likely they'll stay to purchase.
Confusing Checkout Process
Think about it: they're ready to purchase, and then they need to check out—but it's a lengthy and confusing process. They may even abandon it halfway through. Smoothing your checkout, allowing guest checkout, and providing a variety of payment options will prevent "cart abandonment." A seamless checkout experience will have them hitting "Confirm Purchase" rather than "Close Tab."
Ineffective Discount Strategies
We love getting a good deal, but not all discounts are created alike. Using discounts without a strategy will harm your bottom line. For example, offering deep discounts on items that already sell well may not be as effective as a targeted "Buy More, Save More" discount on slow-moving stock.
Proven Strategies to Get Sales on Shopify
Now that you know what the most common obstacles are, let's take a look at some actionable strategies to drive sales in your Shopify store.
If you’re new to Shopify, try starting with foundational strategies like first-time buyer discounts or SEO basics for product pages. These approaches require minimal technical setup and can help you see early sales without a major budget.
Leveraging Discounts and Promotions for Sales
Discounts can be a great motivator. The trick is to make sure that you use them strategically. Hence, they increase your conversions without affecting your profit margins.
Let's review some different manners of discounts and promotions that assist in gaining and retaining customers.
Percentage Discounts
This is a classic approach that can offer customers a certain percentage off their purchase. Definitely really easy to use but effective, especially on items at relatively higher price points. You could try "Buy 2, Get 10% Off" on more than one item. It's like offering them a little treat for your loyalty.
Fixed Amount Discounts
A flat dollar amount—say, $5 or $10—can be more attractive than the percentages, especially on smaller ticket items. Example: "Get $5 Off Your First Purchase" can create an added push for new customers still teetering on the fence.
Volume Discounts
This makes the customer buy more and save more. This will promote the moving of the slow stock. A very good example would be "Buy 3, Get 20% Off." This applies quite well to consumables or items that one customer may wish to have in multiples.
Check out this article to understand what volume discount is all about.
Tiered Discounts
Tiered discounts take volume discounts to the next level by offering multiple layers of savings based on how much the customer buys. For instance:
- Buy 2, Get 10% Off
- Buy 3, Get 15% Off
- Buy 5, Get 25% Off
This incentivizes the customer as they purchase more and increases the chances of increasing the size of the cart.
Cart Discounts
Cart-based discounts kick in when the customer reaches a certain cart total. For example, "Get 15% Off Orders Over $100" can help increase your average order value. It's a great incentive for customers who are just below the threshold to add an extra item or two.
Seasonal Discounts
Special seasonal discounts or offers around holidays, such as Black Friday, Christmas, or Valentine's Day, create a sense of urgency. These are usually short-term but effective, as customers expect deals around those times and will be more open to a sale. Consider this: You are joining the "holiday sales party" with your own special offers.
To make the most out of these opportunities, implementing discount pricing strategies for BFCM can significantly boost your Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. Additionally, exploring creative discount marketing ideas on Halloween can help engage customers and drive festive purchases. Together, these strategies ensure your promotions are aligned with peak shopping seasons, maximizing your sales potential.
Flash Sales
Flash sales are limited-time discounts designed so the customer will take action now. They really work in conjunction with a countdown offer to make it urgent. You might want to have a sale for 24 hours and offer 30% off on selected items. Flash sales are suitable for clearing stock or winning back lapsed customers.
First-Time Buyer Discounts
Give fresh visitors a reason to make that very first purchase with an exclusive discount. This is a well-used example: "Get 10% Off Your First Order".
Loyalty Discounts
Reward repeat customers with loyalty discounts. It could be as easy as "10% Off for Returning Customers," or a more major loyalty program in which they earn points toward future purchases.
Buy X, Get Y Free
This is a common strategy for consumable goods or complementary products. An example would be "Buy 2, get 1 Free", which works with a product like cosmetics, snacks, or even office supplies.
Bundle Discounts
You can offer bundles, like "Shampoo, Conditioner, and Hair Oil at 20% discount," to increase your average order size because people generally tend to buy related items together. It is like putting together ready-to-go packages that customers can easily add to their cart.
Quantity Break Discounts
Relate bulk buying to quantity breaks. For example, offer the "10% Discount on Orders of 3 or More" to get the customers ordering more at a time.
Gift with Purchase
Who doesn't love a little extra? Offering a small gift with a purchase, such as a sample product or accessory, can help urge the customer to buy. Example: "Receive a Free Lip Balm on Orders Over $50."
Special Occasion Discounts
Offer personalized discounts on birthdays, anniversaries, or customer milestones. Thank your customers by sending them a coupon on their birthday or after booking a tenth for them.
How Discounty Makes It Easy
You can set up all these kinds of discounts in Shopify, but it takes lots of time, whereas tools like Discounty do this work in a few clicks. With Discounty, you can set up everything from tiered discounts to seasonal promotions in just a few clicks. What's more, it provides options for customizing eye-catching sales badges so that customers will know exactly where to find the deals.
Traffic Generation Strategies
Driving targeted traffic is crucial. Even with brilliant discounts, you need people to see them! Free and paid promotions to attract the right kind of traffic to your Shopify store.
Free Traffic Sources:
SEO Optimization
Few things in investing pay off as well in the long run for traffic as SEO does. With each product page, make sure you use relevant keywords, strong descriptions, and high-quality lifestyle images. It's sort of like planting a tree—over time, your SEO will grow and steadily bring visitors to your site.
Content Marketing
This could be in the form of informative blog posts or guides that talk about the products you are selling. If you sell skincare, for example, a decent article would go the line of "How to Build a Skincare Routine for Dry Skin." Blog posts drive visitors who are looking for something.
Video Marketing
Engaging and shareable video content is ideal for showing off your products. You can manufacture YouTube tutorials, product demonstrations, or even behind-the-scenes videos, building a rapport with would-be buyers. It's like giving them a virtual tour of your brand.
Social Media Marketing
This will assist in creating brand awareness and driving consistent traffic by posting on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and X. Highlight new products and customer stories happening through the channels and occasionally run promotions. But remember, it's not all about selling; a mix of entertaining or educational content keeps followers engaged.
Pinterest Marketing
Pinterest is a visual search engine, making it great for discovery. Create boards that highlight products, lifestyle imagery, or how-to tutorials. Sell kitchenware? You can pin recipe ideas to go along with your cookware.
Paid Traffic Sources:
Google Ads
With Google Ads, your products can show up for people who are actively searching. Set up text ads or shopping ads to reach customers right at the moment they search for things you sell. Think of it like putting your store on the busiest street in town.
Facebook & Instagram Ads
You can target the location, interests, and behaviors of the target audience through social media ads. Supposing you are into the business related to fitness products, you can entail targeting those people whom you think would be interested in staying healthy and fit. With a small ad budget, test different ads and scale according to what works.
YouTube Ads
This means that you are going to reach active users on YouTube through video ads. You can run an ad before a video that's related to your product. For instance, a skincare ad before a beauty tutorial. Video ads have the propensity to bring a more personal feel to buyers.
LinkedIn Ads
If your ideal client or buyer is a professional or trades with other businesses, LinkedIn can be surprisingly effective. It is suitable for niche products for software or high-end office decor and other similar products that appeal more to a professional audience.
Deep Dive: The Profitability of Discounts and Promotions
While discounts are great for bringing in sales, they need to be done right to ensure they're profitable. Let's explore how to structure discounts strategically to grow sales without shrinking your margins.
Do you know the differences between discounts and promotions?
Smart Discount Structuring
Create discount thresholds that make sense. For example, only offer a discount after a specific cart total is reached to ensure you're covering costs. Also, consider the impact of discount timing and frequency—overusing discounts can make customers expect them all the time, which can erode your margins. Instead, aim to make discounts feel like special events, such as holiday sales or limited-time offers.
Profit Margins and Discount ROI
When setting discounts, always consider your product's profit margins. Offering a 50% discount might attract more buyers, but if your profit margin is only 30%, you'll lose money.
Calculate the return on investment (ROI) of each discount type to ensure you're maintaining a healthy balance between sales volume and profitability.
Using tools like Discounty can help you structure multiple discount tiers and set precise thresholds to keep discounts within profitable limits.
Here’s a deeper look into how different discount strategies affect profitability.
Value-Driven Discounts
Not all discounts have to be percentage-based or focused on lowering the price. Value-driven discounts, like "Buy One, Get One Free" (BOGO), allow you to move inventory without drastically cutting into profits. BOGO deals, for instance, work well for products with high margins or those you want to clear out quickly.
Final Words
You've now got a comprehensive toolkit for boosting sales on your Shopify store. Remember, consistency is key—testing, refining, and iterating on these strategies will help you find what works best for your store.
Start by implementing one or two of the strategies that resonate most with your current goals. For instance, if you want to increase average order value, experiment with tiered discounts or product bundles. If customer engagement is a challenge, consider launching a loyalty program or setting up a live chat feature.
To maximize your discount campaigns, give Discounty a try. Not only does it streamline campaign management, but it also lets you customize tiered and cart-based offers with a few clicks.
Here’s a quick start:
- Download Discounty from the Shopify App Store,
- Select your campaign type, and
- Customize your offer—watch as your Shopify sales increase with minimal effort
