You can increase chances that people want to buy from you through more than having a good site layout and checkout procedures. Two other things to consider are pricing and copywriting. Both can help your sales a lot...

Pricing Strategies

(1) Special Offers and Deals – Scarcity

A special offer is a great way to encourage more people to buy your products and if you price this offer correctly then the increase in turnover should help to increase your profits ultimately. In other words, you might lose out on each individual item but by selling more items you can still increase overall earnings.

But special offers and deals also have another effect – they introduce time pressure. People know that offers last only for a finite amount of time and thus, by introducing special offers and deals, you will automatically make people want to buy more quickly instead of going away to ‘think about it’.

This in turn is very valuable for you. Why? Because people are most likely to buy things when they act impulsively. People buy most of the time based on emotion – not reason. So if you can get them to act quickly, they’ll be much more likely to spend the cash than if you give them time to go away and mull it over. By using an incentive to act faster, you thereby make them more likely to act impulsively. And as such, they become more likely to buy from you.

Another way to make your audience act quicker is to make the products limited in stock. This creates ‘scarcity’ and doing that in turn also makes your items more valuable and thus desirable. People want things that no one else can have!

(2) Contrast

We talked about color contrast earlier and making your products physically stand out on your digital shelf. But there’s another type of contrast to consider too – and that’s the contrast between your price points.

Whether we like it or not, our brains tend to automatically judge the value of something by comparing and contrasting it with other things. Something expensive only seems expensive (often) insofar as it is expensive compared to other things.

What this means is that you can easily make something look a lot more affordable by putting it next to something very expensive. And at the same time, doing this can also help make the expensive item seem more ‘premium’ and thereby luxury and desirable.

And furthermore, this means that you’ll have more luck selling ‘point of sale’ options and upselling when the customer is already spending more. When someone is spending $500 on your website, they won’t think much about adding $10 extra for a discounted product. But if they’re only spending $5, then they’ll be unlikely to want to add another $10 to the order. Think about this when choosing what to upsell and how to utilize POS.

(3) Bundling

Another option is to let your customers create their own ‘bundles’. Bundling essentially means that your customers can choose precisely which items they want and which ones they don’t need and thereby save money by buying in bulk but not end up with items they don’t want.

Bundling is very effective because it ensures you have at least one option for every type of buyer. At the same time, it makes people feel as though they’re getting a better deal while actually encouraging them to spend more in your store. It’s a genuine win-win scenario.

(4) High Ticket Items

When pricing your products, you might decide to include a ‘high ticket’ item that will land you a large amount of profit per sale. The aim is that just a couple of sales of this item will be enough to keep you in profit and in this regard, you might actually use your other products in order to encourage sales of those high ticket items.

For example, if you sell a lot of expensive products, consider adding something cheap so your customers can get used to shopping with you in a low-risk manner. This way you can overcome the barrier to sale, so that all you have left to do is encourage your visitors to spend the money on that product.

Now on to Copywriting tips...

Persuasive Writing

Another thing that can make a big difference is the way you write the descriptions for your products, otherwise known as the practice of copywriting. Here, your objective is to make sure that people act on impulse and are moved to spend the money right there and then rather than going away to think about it.

To that end, good persuasive writing for sales will need to focus on the emotional aspect of the product. And this means that you’re going to emphasize the ‘value proposition’.

A value proposition basically describes how a product will improve someone’s life. In other words, don’t just look at the sum of the parts but what people actually want to gain from spending the money.

For example, people don’t buy dumbbells because they need something heavy. People by dumbbells because they want to be strong, toned, healthy, attractive and confident.

This is what you need to emphasize in your pitch because it will ensure that your prospective customers start imagining what life could be like after they purchase your item.

Meanwhile, try to get people to imagine what your product will be like to own (companies like Apple always use words like ‘feel’ and ‘touch’ a lot) and emphasize how quickly they can get their hands on it.

These techniques are not hard to grasp nor implement, and they will definitely help your sales, as has been shown over time and with many different niche products...

There is one additional thing that can help you greatly I want to discuess before we end this tutorial...That is testing...A very important aspect of any online marketing business...



Join the Discussion
Write something…
Recent messages
philaccardo Premium
Hi Dave:
I Have a couple of questions for you. Related to Subdomain which I think I prefer over a new domain:
Once I have created a subdomain for eCommerce, will I advertise that subdomain or will I advertise the main domain?
Can I call the subd. shop.mydomainname.com or myproducts.mydomainname.com
Is there a special way to link them together? Or are they just naturally linked?
Thanks again
Best
Reply
DaveSw Premium
Hi, Phil!...If you're looking to get prospects directly to your store, you can use either the sub-domain link as is, or if desired, and perhaps better, use a tool to change the link name to whatever best fits, i.e. a cloaked link...This way there will be no confusion...Certainly, you can link the two together through banners, ads, links within posts, etc. Cheers! Dave : )
Reply
philaccardo Premium
thank you, Dave.
Unfortunately I do not understand this : "use a tool to change the link name to whatever best fits, i.e. a cloaked link..."
Can you explain, please?
Best
Reply
DaveSw Premium
Sure...

If you go to a link cloaking tool like bitly dot com (replace the "dot" with a period) you can then create a shortened link or a link that relates to where you are sending the person clicking on the link...

Have a look at the image and I have created a simple sample and screenshot to show you what I mean...

This screenshot I have here is what will come up after you click on create a link from the bitly home page and when type in the link you want to change...

In the screenshot, you see three arrows...

(1) The first at the top shoe the original link as created by bitly after you add the link you are trying to change/shorten...

(2) The second arrow points to what I want the link to look like...i.e. instead of the shortened url as shown in arrow one...

(3) The third points to the "create" button, which when I click on it will then create my cloaked link which will look like you see where arrow 2 points to...

My result would look like this:
...bitly/memories

Note that the free version of the bitly tool will NOT allow you to create a modified cloaked link, it will assign a random file name, as what you see at the first arrow of the screenshot...

There are however many options out there you can use for this, many of them free. I use a tracker pixel tool and it will do the same thing for me (this is a paid tool)...

If you do a simple google search you will see some - check them out and see which would work best for you...

In our case, since we are tracking what is happening with our sales campaigns and ads, pages, and websites, the tracking tool works well and the cloaking of links feature is just a plus as part of this tool...

The reasons for using this kind of tool are many...

The links look nicer in many cases, they fit better to the subject or content, they hide affiliate information when you are promoting something, and they create a better impression to the prospects...

To tell you the truth, I do not think you would have to cloak the link for your subdomain unless you wanted to make it look better somehow. You could create a cloaked link and test it with a link that is NOT cloaked to see which gets a better response from prospects, and then go with what works better...

Cheers! Dave
Reply
philaccardo Premium
Thank you much, Dave. Eveything OK now.
Best
Reply
addgypsee83 Premium
good question! I would like to know this one too. Of course i haven't gotten to the part that I can have a sub domain for my store. even better.
Reply
philaccardo Premium
Hi Dave:
please explain, this "If you did choose to move to this theme, the store that is created will ‘replace’ the website you already have."
Does this mean that you loose your original theme you chose to start with to create your store?
If this is the case, it doesnt matter what initial theme to install WP would be, Right?
In this case what initial theme would be better?
Also, you write:
"You might want to use a subdomain or a separate secondary domain for your shop and create a separate website, then link the two together rather than install the entire theme on your current blog website".
Where can I learn how to do that?
Thanks
Best
Reply
DaveSw Premium
Hu, Phil!

Thanks for the questions and let me get you some answers...

When you start a website using a domain and WordPress, the first installation will add automatically a couple of themes that come standard...

After you have uploaded the WooCommerce theme you can activate and then delete the unneeded themes. I would leave at least one so you can switch if you need to...

As you say, it really does not matter. I would likely add a second WooCommerce supported theme so the store would be up and running if you do have problems...

Keep it there as a back-up, it might save you losing down time if something happened with the main theme you use...Also, I would create entire site backups often, daily or more if possible...

On to the next question...How to set up a subdomain here using SiteRubix...There is some training if you check out this tutorial it will help you get it done - this works, by the way, I have set one up here in the past... If you have any problems, just put a support ticket in (I had to as well because I was getting a specific theme set up and it required access from a third party)...The folks will help and quickly!

Cheers!
Dave : )
Reply
philaccardo Premium
Thank you much, Sir.
Best
Reply
DaveSw Premium
Not a problem at all...If you have more questions, drop them here, I do try to look in here regularly as possible! Cheers! Dave : )
Reply
karden Premium
Dave,

Thanks for taking the time to create this training, you did an amazing job.

I do have a question, maybe you can help. I already have a Paypal account that was previously setup for personal use. Can I use the same account or do I have to create a Business Paypal Account?

Does it cost anything to setup Paypal Business Account?

I am also not sure if I have to setup a Braintree account also?

Sorry for all the questions.

Thanks for all your help it's much appreciated. :)

Ann & Alex
Reply
Labman Premium Plus
You can convert your personal Pay Pal to a business account easily.
Reply
karden Premium
So I do need to have a Paypal Business Account. Correct?
Reply
Labman Premium Plus
Yes, I would recommend that you do that.
Reply
DaveSw Premium
Yes, that is correct...Easy to change over....
Reply
karden Premium
Ok Thanks :)
Reply
DaveSw Premium
Hi Folks! No probs at all, I am glad this may have helped...E-Commerce works, so many are doing it these days, me too! Cheers! Dave : )
Reply
Sophie5391 Premium Plus
Hi Dave, thank you for making this tutorial. i just added the woocommerce plug in, because of my theme it is active as a link, but is very easy to access from my web page. this may seem like a silly question but how do i verify where the funds go, once a client makes a purchase? i found the wording in the setting options a bit confusing, so i wanted to be sure before i added product.... thank you for your help:)
Reply
DaveSw Premium
Hi, Sophie...

When you set up your payment routing system you should be able to check it out to make sure it is working properly. PayPal has a sandbox tool where you can test everything to make sure it is working properly...

If you are using another payment system, I would make a test order just to make sure it all is working OK...Maybe have a friend make the order, reimburse them, and you will know...

We used the second method when testing the Thailand operation out, but for Germany, we used the sandbox testing...Both worked well and we had the peace of mind that all was OK...

When you do this testing, you will also see that the email series is working properly (i,e, thank you and order confirmation, shipping confirmation, update messages, support, etc)...

It is all about the customer experience, and this is an important piece of that...We have also added a checkout process plugin, so the clients can see their progress as they go through checkout (we have to activate this after switching themes)...

Best of luck!
Cheers!
Dave : )
Reply
Sophie5391 Premium Plus
Hi Dave, thankyou for the detailed feedback, I will go through it all again to check it and then test it. That's a great idea... I appreciate you taking the time to respond to my questions.
Reply
DaveSw Premium
Not a problem at all Sophie!! : )
Reply
jvranjes Premium
Dave, a few questions, again. I shall definitely use WooCommerce, so just trying to find a way.

Would it make sense using WooCommerce for selling Amazon stuff (as a start, for one site)? This means I would not need its all features, only some of them. Is there possibility to show updated price?

Product descriptions in such sites are usually short, so can one really rank with it? Earlier you replied to me by saying this was the usual SEO.

Are those pages or posts? If pages, there is a limit of pages in ordinary WP site menu (it is 80, know it for sure, I reached the limit once and could not continue, had to convert pages to posts). How is it with WC site?

Thank you in advance. Jovo
Reply
DaveSw Premium
Hi, Jovo...

Sorry so long to get back to you on your questions, I missed the notification I guess on my email....

I have not tried selling Amazon products using WooCommerce, but I do not see why not...

Here is an article that will give you some insight on options...

https://shopitpress.com/blog/woocommerce-setup/top-3-ways-to-integrate-your-woocommerce-store-with-ebay-and-amazon/

There are add-on plugins that will help you import the data I do know that...I just have not used them (I do not like the commission rates, I know they do build over time and can be significant, but...).

Regarding SEO, yes e-commerce stores typically have short descriptions and the keywords are in the title, the meta description, maybe the tags, and maybe the image information...

Maybe try to link a review article to the WooCommerce product page (not sure if this makes sense over sending directly to Amazon product page), maybe do some testing to see which works better?

On page limits so far no issue at all...We have 140 product pages and these have between a simple product with one item all the way up to 6/7 variations (size or color differences)...

We are in the process of adding an additional 160 items and some of these also have variations (i.e. T-Shirts) so at the end of the day, we will have almost 500 line items...

The other factor with this scenario is that we are adding German translation pages for each item too...That is a work in progress and each dau we are doing 4-5 pages...

With the auto translation tools such as Google Translate that the Chrome browser has, I am not sure this is worth the effort as of now - we will see (we are doing manually ourselves inhouse, after 4 external "experts" screwed the pooch badly for us)...

The WooCommerce product pages are also separate from the normal pages on the theme we use (all we have used to now too), and you manage these separately...There may also be a limit, but so far we have not run up against that (I believe I read somewhere that 500 was the magic number but not positive that is correct)...

I hope this is not too late to make any difference Jovo, and apologize again for taking so long to get back to you!

Cheers!
Dave : )
Reply
jvranjes Premium
Many thanks Dave, no need to apologize.
Reply
DaveSw Premium
Cheers Jovo! : )
Reply
Top