When polled regarding the area they’d most like help, MoreCommerce merchants overwhelmingly responded the same: in marketing their products and increasing their sales volume. Countless factors along the way affect sales, like searchability or having the right product photography, so it’s not surprising that our merchants (who often work alone or as a part-time side job) would want a little help from the experts. We brought their query to two of our in-house authorities, who gave a few pointers on where to start building the foundation for more sales and more exposure.
HIGHLIGHT THE ‘WHY TO BUY’
When it comes to your product, what makes a shopper want to add it to their cart? Considering this question from multiple angles, like price and product name, is the first step in communicating details that can land in a sale, and Andrew Pavoni, MoreCommerce’s EVP, Revenue & Merchandising, says it’s the building block of a successful product listing.
“A merchant should make sure they are always providing the shopper with the ‘why to buy’ rationale whenever they can, using [product title, descriptions, images and price] to answer the question,” he says.
One helpful way to begin brainstorming this is to think about benefit — what problem might your customer have that your product is the solution for? Start there, and you’ll be on your way to writing powerful descriptions, product titles and more.
HAVE THE RIGHT PRODUCT…
Before investing a ton of money, make sure your product is something people actually want. To weed out possible under-performers, Hannah Rich, MoreCommerce’s Merchant Success Lead, suggests asking a few things about your product to start:
Is it an item that was trending, but now is starting to run cold? (Think items like fidget spinners, whose prime has passed.)
Does it make sense with the current season? You wouldn’t want to market outdoor patio furniture in winter or snowshoes in summer, for instance.
And finally, are you targeting the right demographic? If the answer is no, it’s time to reevaluate your product or the market you’re zeroing in on.
...AT THE RIGHT PRICE
Hannah says having the right product is not enough though — it has to be available at the right price to appeal to people, too. All too often she says she sees merchants over-price items to compensate for things like an increased marketing spend.
“The 'right price' aspect comes up all the time internally with merchants that opt in to things like the Boost Catalog,” she says. “Merchants often opt into this higher rate marketing option, where the extra percentage is used for marketing efforts, but simply increase their shopper price points to account for it. Putting marketing dollars behind any item with an inflated price point, although it may lead to some sales, is a misstep.”
If you haven’t been seeing the sales you want, revisit your pricing formula and see if there are tweaks to be made.
WANT MORE WAYS TO BOOST SALES & EXPOSURE?
Have you met Boost? The Boost service is MoreCommerce’s managed solution to merchants’ number one ask: to increase sales volume and amp up marketing efforts. Boost users see three times the sales compared to merchants without a marketing strategy!
With two programs to opt into (product campaigns or catalog campaigns) each opens up access to new channels, advertising opportunities and more. For example, through a product campaign you choose the featured product and set a budget and we’ll take care of emailing your best deals to our list and exposing your items via Facebook advertising. When you opt into a catalog campaign, you’ll get added benefits like no-risk pay for performance (paying only when your products actually sell) and tapping into the power of top influencers/bloggers on top of Google shopping and targeted emails. Want to learn more? Check out Boost here.