In this uncertain economic time, It's tough times for sales right now. I have been doing all i can to get extra sales as well as supporting my fellow independent retailers and designers where ever i can. I have put together this blog post on 10 pieces of house keeping you can do on Shopify whilst you wait for those sales to roll in. The key point here is that you shouldn't be 'waiting' for those sales to roll in, but you can be taking actions to generate them.
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Audit and rewrite your product descriptions
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Go through your analytics
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Write a blog post
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Send out a newsletter
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Set up a Pinterest account
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Run some ads and promotions
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Request reviews
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Refresh images (product and banner)
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Commission or do a new photoshoot
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Research cost savings
1. Re-write your product descriptions
Your product descriptions make a huge diffrence to sales, it needs to be informative and contain all the facts but more than that, they need to emotionally connect with the buyer to capture their attention. This article on the Referral Candy blog explains 8 rules for writing effective product descriptions. Some of the key ones include:
- use power words that sell
- consider the language and tone you are using and ensure that it is on-brand
- know your audience and speak to them
- focus on the benefits of the product, not just the features
- make it easy to scan
- consider the SEO and use key words
2. Go through your analytics
Shopify has a great back end where you can dig deep into your analytics. Finding out the habits of your customers can give you insights which may influence your product mix, pricing and marketing efforts. Look at things like:
- where are your customers geographically located
- what gender and age are the majority of your customers
- are they accessing your site through desktop or mobile
- is there a particular day or time of day that people shop ?
- what websites were your best referrers?
Here below is a sample overview dashboard from shopify. (obviously not Goodorderings unfortunately)
3. Write a blog post
Writing regular blog posts is good housekeeping all the time, but if you do find yourself with a bit of spare time, content is always good to add to your shopify site as it boosts SEO. Some easy topics to get you started on blogging may include:
- behind the scenes article
- meet the maker - a bit about yourself and your business
- new products launch or news about your brand
- tutorial on something you know how to do
The key thing is to think of your audience and other things they might be interested in. It doesn't always need to be related only to your product or brand.
4. Send out a newsletter
If you don't already send out newsletters, it is a good habit to start. I sent out a weekly newsletter which is quite short and concise. I normally include my latest blog post and any information about promotions i have on at the moment or new products. If i have any news about coming events or products in development i may include them here. Using a template makes doing newsletters very quick and easy and also creates a familiar format for your subscribers to look at. Always include a 'shop' or 'buy now' section at the bottom, as ultimately you want your newsletter to result in sales.
5. Set up a Pinterest account
If you haven't already set up a Pinterest account, its free and a great way for your brand and products to reach new audiences. Pinterest is a social media platform not unlike instagram or facebook. Users can 'collect' images and put them into groups. Your products can be exposed to lots of people through Pinterest, especially if you have great photos and a niche or interesting product. Check out our Goodordering Pinterest page HERE.
6. Run some ads or promotions
If you don't have google ads or facebook ads already set up you can look into this. There are many tutorials which can help with this. Here is a link here which explains setting up facebook ads in shopify for beginners.
-https://www.shopify.co.uk/blog/facebook-ads
7. Request product reviews
Write to your customers and ask them to submit product reviews, you can use them on social media or you can add them to your product description. Go a step further and download a review app so the requests can be made automatically. On my website i use an app called Product Reviews but there are many on the market.
8. Refresh product images
Refresh your photography and images on your website. To start with, the banner images can do with refreshing every few weeks. If you don't have enough images to swap them with, then you can always just change the order of the images.
9. Commission or do a new photoshoot
If you don't have enough budget to do this, then you can always take some photos yourself or barter a shoot, think creatively. If you do have budget then i think that commissioning a photoshoot is a worthwhile expense. In order to keep the costs down its worth you getting very involved in the shoot. You can organise location, model, props etc to ensure that you get the photos that you want at the budget that you can afford. Here below is a part of a photoshoot brief that i prepared recently for a photoshoot for our Goodordering cycling bags involving fruit and vegetables with eyes. Check out the results here on our flikr site.
10. Research cost savings
There are 2 ways increase your profit margin and cash, one is to make more money, and the other is to save some money. Use your time to research ways to save money. Some ways you can save money include:
- negotiating product costs with suppliers
- look for cheaper alternatives for shipping
- research cheaper packaging materials