How to drive traffic to your online shop

As an e-commerce entrepreneur, you really only care about 2 things when it comes to your online shop:

1. You want people to visit your shop
2. You want them to buy something

This is what we call “Traffic” and “Conversion”, respectively. When we talk about driving traffic to our websites we are speaking generally to two types of traffic: new visitors and returning visitors. In this week’s video we will explore some basic techniques to get new visitors into your shop and getting previous buyers to come back and buy something new.

Jump directly to the following topics in the video:

00:51  Blogs and why creating value through information leads to better sales
02:48 Social sharing on your product pages
03:22  Email marketing to bring old customers back
05:05 Selling the experience not the product

Blogs

As the internet evolves, online retailers are undergoing a transformation from delivering a purely transactional service to providing actual experiences for their shoppers. This is why online shops and brands are producing high quality videos and blogs; when you provide your customers with value beyond your products, when you make a real connection, they are more likely to buy from you.

So, how can Lightspeed eCom help you deliver value beyond your products to shoppers? A very easy way is to start a blog.

By creating a blog you…

• Demonstrate that you are an expert in your field
• Drive organic traffic
• Increase social shares
• Create another touchpoint for explaining your product
• Let others passionate about your field find you – opening up the door for recruitment and business opportunities
• Make yourself stand out from the competition
• Potentially open up the floor for comments and a conversation
• Keep your website fresh, giving readers a reason to come back!

Tips for writing an article

• Include at least 1 image in an article
• Avoid spelling and grammatical mistakes (this boosts trust)
• Write something entirely new (don’t copy other blog ideas or duplicate copy from other articles)
• Write new articles regularly, obviously depending on your industry
• Share within your social network
• Share with newsletter subscribers
• Keep the language consistent with your readers style of reading

00:51  Blogs and why creating value through information leads to better sales

Social Sharing

Social networks have become an integral part of the online experience because they add value to a brand and build social proof that can help support a shopper’s decision to buy. When we see our friends do something we’re more likely to do it ourselves.

By enabling social sharing on your online store, you allow your shoppers to add value to items they’ve purchased by sharing them with others. Essentially, they act as your promoters! It can also introduce a new audience to some of the great things you sell by displaying them in the daily feed on these social networks.

02:48 Social sharing on your product pages

Email marketing

As your customers check out on your shop, they might choose to opt into your newsletter. As your shop gains momentum, your list of recipients will also grow. The logic is simple: When we market to these subscribers, we are asking them to come back to shop again — so give them a good reason to do so. There are a few messages you can communicate to these shoppers.

• Tell them about similar products they purchased before
• Tell them about currently active promotions
• Tell them about upcoming product releases
• Tell them about new collections and products
• Tell them about new blog posts

Mailchimp is the best place to manage this marketing.

03:22  Email marketing to bring old customers back

The first step to making a sale is to get someone into your shop. Attracting customers to an online shops often depends on whether you’re able to offer an experience and value beyond our products. We add value to our brand by providing shoppers with entertainment and information through our blog, social sharing within our shopper’s networks, and reminding shoppers about how great our brand is through email marketing.