How to boost business sales

Every commercial business is looking for the next big shortcut to boost sales. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts, but there are some simple practices and good habits that any business can introduce. 

Following these simple tips will bring a boost to your business sales:

• Focus on your copy.
• Show off customer reviews.
• Create a sense of urgency.
• Offer an airtight refund policy.
• Have fewer choices.
• Accept more payment options.
• Use decoy pricing.
• Start sending “empty cart” emails.
• Create a seamless checkout process.
• Improve the customer experience.
• Improve your online marketing.
• Don’t forget traditional marketing.

This guide will mainly focus on marketing strategies. If you’d like some information about actually closing sales, check out our other article, “How to close a sale in business”.

Copy is any written text that customers will see. A lot of business owners don’t think about it too much, but it makes a big difference. 

Everything you produce that a customer reads reinforces your brand identity. Here are some general tips for writing good copy. 

• Keep it honest and authentic. 
• Avoid industry jargon.
• Write everything in the same tone of voice. 
• Keep it short, punchy, and easy to understand. 
• Use commonly searched words and phrases (keywords) in your online copy to improve search engine optimisation (SEO).

It can take a while to get right, but you’ll notice a huge difference when you get it right.

Although finding new customers is important, taking care of the customers you already have should be your top priority. 

Returning customers spend more money than new customers, and treating them right will make them more likely to recommend you to their friends and family. 

Offer rewards to your loyal customers, like discounts, early access, and freebies to keep them coming back. 

You can talk all day about how great your business is, but hearing it from satisfied customers is much more convincing. Encourage your customers to leave online reviews on your website and on Google. 

Don’t be too aggressive, but applying some gentle pressure will help convince customers who are on the fence.

Advertise time-sensitive discounts and promotions on different products. Just make you change the cycle of products you’re offering deals on. Otherwise, it might come across as an underhanded tactic.

Customers are often hesitant about buying products, especially when they’re new customers or shopping online. 

Offer a full refund for any unsatisfied customers to convince them to try your product. 

It may sound counterintuitive, but having too many options can be overwhelming for customers. 

Streamline your product page by segmenting everything into categories and submenus. 

Guide your customers to the specific thing they want rather than showing them everything at once and making them choose. 

Decoy pricing involves a little bit of psychological trickery. For example, have you ever noticed how most charities have three different donation options, a low, medium, and high option?

Well, they don’t really expect anybody to choose the low or high options. They’re just there to guide you to their actual goal, the medium one. This is referred to as the decoy effect. You don’t want to spend too much, but you also don’t want the cheapest option, so the large majority of people opt for the middle ground. 

You can use this tip for your product pricing too. Offer three different price options for different levels of service. Some people will buy the least/most expensive options, and that’s fine, but most people will settle on the medium price. 

Have you ever been online shopping, added things to your cart, then gotten distracted by something else and completely forgotten about it? 

It happens all the time, and that’s where automated emails come in. You can set up an automated email system to email customers whenever customers leave your site with items still in their cart. 

It won’t work all the time, but it can be enough to convince some customers to come back and finish their shopping. 

Online checkout is the final hurdle for online shoppers, so it’d be such a shame for them to abandon their purchase because of a slow or clunky checkout system. 

Try to make your online checkout a smooth experience by covering these bases:

• Break down customer info sections into smaller parts to avoid overwhelming your customers. 
• Offer to remember details for a smoother checkout next time.
• Provide a guest checkout option for customers who don’t want to make an account.
• Send email confirmation of their purchase. 
• Accept multiple payment options. 

One negative interaction can ruin the customer experience, so make sure every customer-facing role performs excellently. 

For example, have your customer service teams focus on soft skills, like empathy and active listening, and make sure they’re prepared to deal with any technical questions. 

Marketing is the driving force that attracts new customers. Constantly review your marketing strategy using feedback and analytics, then find areas to improve. 

Set yourself clear goals and outcomes, so your whole team has a common goal. Plus, it’ll make it much easier to measure the success of your marketing campaign. 

Cash flow shows exactly how much money is coming into your business compared to how much you’re spending, so it’s important to track it if you want to measure your sales performance. For the most accurate information, you can track your cash flow with the Countingup app. 

While other business accounts may offer cash flow insights once linked up with your accounting software, Countingup is unique because it’s a two-in-one business current account and accounting software. And it shows you your accurate cash flow status in real time. 

But it’s not just cash flow insights. Countingup is the business current account with built-in accounting software that allows you to manage all your financial data in one place. With features like automatic expense categorisation, invoicing on the go, receipt capture tools, and tax estimates, you can confidently keep on top of your business finances wherever you are. 

You can also share your bookkeeping with your accountant instantly without worrying about duplication errors, data lags or inaccuracies. Seamless, simple, and straightforward! 

Find out more here.