Quick Tips to Make Your First Shopify Sales

It’s pretty exciting launching your first eCommerce store so congratulations! Now, it’s time to make a sale. Making your first sale is the next big step! From being a store owner, you will now have the role of a digital marketer, graphic artist, and shopkeeper all in one. It’s a little taxing but hard work does pay off.

Before you can even sell anything, you need to get people on your site. This is the first step and the next is to provide such a great experience that will make them push through with a purchase.

1. Give them something they can’t resist

When you’re starting, try to offer a launch or a welcome voucher to get people on your site. Everybody likes a deal and by giving them a really good one, it just might be the push they need to make that first purchase.

Depending on your product or service, a few things you could try are:

• Free shipping;
• Free gift with purchase;
• Or 10-15% discount on bestsellers or high ticket items

It works because people love to get things for FREE. Of course, when you do these types of promotions, you have to take into account all the costs and don’t go over your budget so you remain profitable. These should be limited and exclusive. Such promotions are set over a short period of time so that it can create a sense of urgency and exclusivity. It also subtly shows that this is not something that you offer all the time.

Remember, anything you offer should be valuable to your customer. It should also raise your brand value.

2. Let people know what you’re offering

Providing discounts and gifts are not enough, they need to know about it too! A few ways to go about it is through online advertisements. Some great tools to do this are Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Instagram, and Youtube.

Putting a generic ad for your product or service is not ideal. You need to really think about it and put some effort into it. Hard selling doesn’t really cut it these days, you need people to feel something about your product. Emotions. That’s what sells. How will they feel when they get your product? How does your product make a difference in their lives? Questions like these can help you craft an ad that works for you.

Some greats things to note are that video is still king. The reason is that people can see your product in use or from different angles. It can also show them how to use it and what they would look like using it. It just gives them a better perspective. Plus, a video lets you paint a picture or tell a story. So, get creative with it!

3. Sell to the people around you

Try to connect with people in your family or circle who might be interested in your product. It works well if you can meet with in person and bring the product with you. This way, you give it a personal touch and they can really see you working. Selling to family and friends can get tough, a few may not believe in your product, some may not be interested at all. Just think of them as really important customers, and if you do successfully sell to at least one of them, they may even get your free marketing without knowing it by telling their own circle of friends. That’s word-of-mouth marketing right there.

If you can’t connect in person, friends and family discount can work as well. Give them a special code, not a generic one you give to the public, so it feels more exclusive.

You can also try seeing who’s active on social media. If they post a lot about their interests and activities, there may be one who might align with your product. It doesn’t hurt to send a message and reach out to them personally. This way they may be more inclined to post or talk about your product and again, you get word-of-mouth.

Just be sure to keep things professional and though they may be friends and family, they are still your customers. Selling to them is just as important as selling to anyone, maybe even more so.

4. Try to take advantage of other marketplaces

Because this is the internet, of course, there are many other marketplaces available online. Selling across different channels lets reach more audiences since these websites have numerous users and these users are there with the intent to buy. Some channels you can check out are:

eBay: With a database of over 100 million active buyers, selling on eBay can really get your product out there. Fortunately, Shopify merchants have access to tools that let you integrate publishing products on eBay all from your Shopify account. This is great because eBay has a lot of buyers who only shop from a few websites, including theirs. It can also help your products appear on search engine results. Plus, eBay is backed by policies that protect you and the buyers so it’s a win-win

Facebook shop: If you have a good network, you can create a business page and use Facebook shops to start selling from there. Shopify also integrates with Facebook so you can interact and sell using one catalog. Facebook messenger can also be used as chat support for customer inquiries and messages. This is a great tool to use as you can even promote items through ads, and bring color to your brand by making engaging Facebook posts.

Instagram shopping: Right now, Instagram is great for business if your market is young. Think millennials and gen-z age bracket. It’s great because visual is key here, there are millions of users, ads are short and if they like what they see, it’s very easy to be redirected to your Shopify store.

5. Give paid shoutouts a try

As mentioned, Instagram is all about the visuals. It helps when people see your products on different Instagram pages apart from the usual Instagram ad. In the past few years, influencers have been on the rise because of their large reach. But nowadays, just the number of followers is not enough, they have to be creating engaging content where their followers are actually interested in what they post, and they have to be in line with your brand.

If you are selling fitness apparel, you could target fitness influencers, coaches, and celebrities who like to workout. You also need to check if their followers are real, and if these are the people you’d think will be interested in what you offer.

There are many ways to collaborate with influencers, a few of them is get them to post a good image with your product and a caption that you approve of, a video and mention on Instagram Story; or a full product feature on Instagram TV, and all of the above, if you have the budget for it. Prices may differ depending on the number of followers, engagement rate, and the product but it will be worth your while if you find a good one.

Now, these are just a few things to get you selling and moving your inventory. Providing great service all throughout is what will get them to return or refer your store. This is very important because a referral from someone a customer knows converts better than an ad. The first few sales may be hard but don’t be afraid to experiment and find what works best for you. You will spend a little bit of money on marketing and advertising but even just 10 sales can get a momentum going.

If you need help building, designing, or marketing your Shopify store, you can contact your Shopify experts at Webinopoly today.