According to HostingPill, there will be over 2 billion online customers by 2020. What is more encouraging is the fact that the average web site conversion rate is 2.86%. This gives us a fair idea of how eCommerce sales are expanding. 

The way people are shopping is changing. Competition online is steeper and the advertising rates are higher and there are many new challenges involved.

Larger retailers or companies with huge budgets have money to spend on advertising and marketing.

Luckily, there are plenty of ways to drive traffic to an eCommerce site without even spending a penny.

Here are the MOST EFFECTIVE 7 ways to increase eCommerce store traffic FOR FREE keeping customers in mind.

1.  Sell benefits, not features.

Through advertisements, customers already know our product. What is required is to link benefits to the features. This will motivate the customer to buy the product.

For eg, if you sell pen then you can emphasize how smooth your pen feel to write, and the comfort they provide to palm, how it will benefit students who have to keep on writing numerous things, etc.

Have a unique USP which states how our product is different from others and not just how you are the best.

In short, try to give your visitors a reason to trust that your product is the only one that can solve their problem. Only then they will actually think of buying your product.

2. Build Trust with your customers

When you are selling face to face, you know your customers personally and it is easy to build trust. 

But when you are selling goods on the eCommerce platform you need to move a step ahead to build trust.

In order to win the trust of your customers, you should have a secured online payment system.

It’s very important to display your security badges prominently on your site to build trust with your online customers.

3.  Create Urgency

Human beings take action only when there is an urgency to do a thing. Include the terms such as ‘ last few pieces left’,’ sale ends in 1 day’ etc to create a feeling of urgency in minds of people. This is how they will be motivated to take action.

This is so because visitors who leave your site without purchasing, planning to come back later, rarely complete the sale.

Urgency offers a compelling reason to purchase.

4.  Add CTA buttons

What to do once you have motivated your customers to take action? Help them out. Include CTA buttons on your site like “ Buy now”, ‘claim your copy now’, ‘subscribe’ etc depending on your need.

Try to run A/B tests to determine which color button works best for you and try to personalize it.

5. Offer reward points and use referral marketing

A recommendation from a friend or family member heavily influences our buying decisions. 

Whenever we are new to the product, we often ask the real user about their views. You can take benefit of this strategy in your eCommerce store too!

So try to include a referral program in your eCommerce store.

Where ever possible try to give existing customer reward points for their purchases or referrals in the form of free tickets, coupons, discounts, etc. This will keep them motivated to stick to your store.

6.  Upsell

If you have used Amazon for purchasing something you must have seen that depending on your preferences, it suggests you more items to buy. It labels them as “ customers who bought this, also had a look at…”

It is possible that they may buy the additional product suggested by you. It is very easy to boost sales by selling to an existing customer rather than to find a new one. The key is to keep on upselling.

7.  Simplify the checkout process

Sometimes we check out on an eCommerce site and abandon the cart because the checkout process is so frustrating.

Try eliminating unnecessary procedures, forms, and buttons. Making the site more friendly and easy to exit will give a better experience to the customer and there is a possibility that he may return to your store for all future purchases.

CONCLUSION:

Different tactics work for different brands. There cannot be a standard SOP for all products. Try to search for a tactic that works best for your brand.