6 Successful Upselling Tactics You Can Borrow From Amazon

Amazon is arguably the largest eCommerce store in the world.

Selling products from thousands of retailers means consumers can look for the best deal possible in a matter of clicks and scrolls.

It is just human nature that we will trawl everywhere to see our hard-earned money stretch further.

Amazon has mastered the art of upselling and taken it to a whole new level. Sure, some have worked better than others, and that is what we intend to find out in this article.

How you can implement successful upselling tactics, just as Amazon did. By tapping into human behavior and emotions, and the insights into the impressions from other consumers, you can boost your sales.

Let’s explore 10 successful upselling tactics you can borrow from Amazon, and how by introducing some, if not, all, of these tactics, you can achieve the best possible results.

1. “Customers Who Bought This Also Bought This”

As you scroll through the page of your chosen product, you can’t miss the “customers who bought this item, also bought these” section. This is perhaps the mastery of all upselling tactics, as it delves into the human psyche and says “well if I end up purchasing this product, maybe some of these will go well with it”. In fact, according to CXL, when the company introduced and implemented this particular strategy in 2006, its sales grew by 35%!

Say for instance you purchase a mobile phone off Amazon and scroll down to take a look at its specs and features. Just underneath, you’ll see a choice of cases for that particular phone. Sure, they might be a bit more expensive than others you can buy, but why not save time and add it to your cart right away? This is what has allowed Amazon to be so successful with this technique in particular.

By implementing a section to your individual product pages like this, you will be adding to the ease of use for consumers, and therefore they will be more likely to click through and purchase.

2. Recommend relevant products

Just like the above point, Amazon does an excellent job at adding items to a general search which may not even be what you’re searching for.

What do I mean by this? Well, let’s take an example of a search for “iPhone 11”. As well as the selection of relevant search products iPhone 11’s, we can also see some additional products listed such as necessary electronics, cases, and other accessories that may come in handy.

By doing this, it gets the consumer to think they may need some additional items without even having to click on the desired product first. Again, convenience for the consumer can result in a higher conversion rate.

3. “Selling Fast” and “Limited Stock Available” tactics

We have all seen this slapped on products before, not just on Amazon, for services such as hotel rooms or flights. Is it true, or is it just a marketing strategy?

Whatever the answer, it prompts consumers to act quickly as they might miss out! Unfortunately, it can be used unethically very easily. If it is not true, and indeed you do have a lot of stock, it is considered false advertising and could result in dire consequences for your business.

If you have a product in your store which usually sells out fast, you could consider labelling it as such, to let consumers know to act quickly or it will be gone until the next batch arrives. This benefits both you and the consumer, as you are more likely to make a sale, and the consumer is informed that they may have to decide quicker to purchase or not.

4. Use a rating system

Consumers love reassurance – that is a fact. If a potential customer notices two products next to each other, one with reviews and one without, which one will they click on? If people can trust the product they are about to purchase, you’ve done your job.

Studies suggest that 94% of customers avoid a store or products as a result of reviews. It is human nature to be attracted to a product with even just a few positive reviews, as opposed to a product without any.

Implementing a rating system for your products can help bolster sales without really needing to delve further into upselling if you don’t want to. Allowing your clients to talk for you will automatically help potential clients click through and purchase.

Which mobile device are you choosing?

5. Exaggerate what people want

Free Shipping? $10 discount? What more could you possibly want, add it to the cart immediately!

By exaggerating what consumers want, or maybe didn’t even think about but would be a great bonus, you will grab their attention. Free shipping is a major selling point, as people could head to the old brick and mortar shops and purchase a similar product with no shipping fee, so why should they pay extra?

Of course, if the item is quite awkward and heavy such as a refrigerator or heater, shipping will have to be compulsory, but if you are selling most tech, cookware, clothing, and accessories, free shipping could really boost your sales. Not to mention consumers may opt to purchase more items as there is no added cost of transportation.

As per the example below, there is free delivery on orders over $39 and the pan comes in at just under half of that. As humans, we will search the rest of Amazon to try and make up that all important $23 just to save on shipping costs.

6. Make use of the add to cart or add to wishlist icon

If a consumer has the opportunity to add any preferred items to a “wishlist” or straight to their cart and continue shopping, this can positively impact further sales.

Even if the item is not purchased right away, if the consumer can rest easy knowing that their desired product is safely tucked away, they can continue shopping and purchase all items at once. As a result, their shipping costs are drastically reduced, hence they will be prepared to spend more on actual products or services.

Final thoughts

Amazon has tapped into the minds of consumers to attract different products to the same people, or ones who may be interested. Sure, they might be using backend techniques that use coding and algorithms, but on the face of it, the strategies they have implemented are quite simple.

One important thing to remember whilst enhancing your upselling game, is to put yourself in the shoes of a consumer and ask yourself “what would make you want to stick around and shop more?” Whatever the answer, note it down, strategize, and execute these plans.

Many of these techniques don’t even cost a penny but will help in seeing those penny’s quickly add up as shoppers keep on shopping. By introducing some, if not, all, of the aforementioned upselling techniques, you can bolster your sales.

Guest author: Jake Leavy is a writer for CandyBar and ReferralCandy. He is an SEO enthusiast and has traveled around the world immersed in the realm of digital marketing and content. Specializing in content for the eCommerce, travel and wellbeing industries, Jake enjoys taking new topics and transforming them into compelling and eye-catching reads for his audience. If you are interested in his services, please reach out to him on LinkedIn.

The post 6 Successful Upselling Tactics You Can Borrow From Amazon appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

source https://www.jeffbullas.com/upselling-tactics/

Why These Local Email Marketing Strategies Could Revolutionize Your Business

Local email marketing is a technique for local companies to connect with potential customers and drive sales.

Even though this marketing technique is a great way to connect with customers directly, it is often underused.

A Statista.com study highlights that the total number of global email users increased to 3.9 billion in 2019 and it is expected to increase to 4.48 billion by 2024. Around 80 percent of marketers have shown a rise in email engagement over the past 12 months.

According to a 2018 eMarketer email report, email marketing has an ROI of 59 percent, which is more than social media and display ads.

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Emails are a personal and convenient means of contact to keep your customers informed about your business.

Sending localized emails to your customers helps you communicate in their language and boosts customer engagement. For example, if you have a café in Spain, sending an email in Spanish about new offers or special additions to the menu to the locals, enhances the customer experience and builds loyalty for your brand.  

Local email marketing is an effective way of getting your company’s message directly to prospective customers for a specific geographic area. It is a cost-effective marketing technique that helps to send clear, relevant and compelling marketing messages to prospective buyers and keep them informed about new products, services, relevant updates or special offers.

So, to promote your local business with email marketing, begin with creating a local email list.

Building a local email list

There are two ways of building a local email list, online and offline.  Having a local email list helps you implement the right email marketing strategy.

Online methods:

• Categorize your existing contacts. A business will already have an existing list of potential buyers. Segment this list into smaller groups on the basis of locations using a tool, or you can do this manually.
• Check your website. You can get a list of customers from your website pop- up or sign up forms. You can also get a customer list from landing pages and chatbots. Newsletters and email subscriptions for your blog is another effective way to get contact details and start your email marketing strategy.

Offline methods:

• Promote subscription. Apart from online subscription, a face-to-face subscription in your store or office is a way of encouraging potential customers to know more about your business. Make sure to use a mobile or tablet to collect information about your customers instead of asking the customers to write down their information as it may not be very legible.
• Host or attend local events. Identify the events that your potential customers attend or host events to get more subscribers and gain new prospects. Collect their details on an electronic device or hand out your business cards, or provide short URLs that mention your website.
• Collaborate with other local businesses. Businesses, especially small businesses, should collaborate with other local businesses. For example, if you own a garment shop, you can collaborate with a nearby jewelry shop to sell some of your garment pieces that go with the jewelry. This can get direct customers to your store and it is a great way to get an email list of prospective buyers.

Local email marketing strategies

Once you have your email list ready, you can implement local email strategies:

• Give new offers to promote your products or services. If you have a new product or service, then promote it through email. Give new offers or vouchers to entice your customers. Promotional emails are a great way of advertising your products or services. Consider that your garment shop is introducing garments for men, you can send out emails to potential customers along with discount coupons that are valid for a certain period. Here is an example from the Banana Republic that invites customers to open the email.

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The Banana Republic provides you a place to start browsing from by curating some of their products in this promotional email, in case these winter clothes catch your eye. These types of emails help build a friendly conversation with your customers and also make the recipients want to open the email.

• Add a personal touch. Adding a personal touch to the emails provides 6 times higher transaction rates than generic emails. Personalized emails include specific details that attract prospective buyers. Let us consider a case study – Yard & Corp, a Manchester-based restaurant that added a personal touch to their local email marketing campaign by offering recipients free drinks in exchange for donations to the local food bank. This caught the attention of several customers and also created a sense of urgency that made customers donate to the food bank.

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• Get feedback and reviews from your customers. To retain your customers and attract new ones, it is important to know your customers’ wants and preferences. Ask for feedback and reviews from your customers to know how they feel about your business. You can send emails to your customers after your service like “How did we do today” and ask them to score on a 1 to 5 scale. This will give you a brief idea about what they want, and areas that need to be improved. According to a study, 91 percent of customers read online reviews and 84 percent of customers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. For example, below is a review template from Adidas that requests customers to review their recent purchases.

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• Write a stunning subject line. Make sure to use catchy subject lines for your customers like “Exciting offers for Newbies” to capture their attention. Using terms like free and discounts in the subject line can have a higher open rate. Huge companies send out mass email copy whereas a local company marketing team can use local language to communicate with customers on a deeper level. Emails with personalized subject lines generate 50 percent higher open rates. For example, Living Social Deals sent personalized emails featuring art-related offers to a customer who bought Paint Nite and pottery deals in the past.

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• Help customers to subscribe easily. To engage your customers and make them more inclined to sign up for your newsletter, make the subscription process simple. To make it easier, landing pages or forms should have only three elements – call to action, shareability and a simple form. Similarly, make unsubscribing also easy with just a few clicks and it decreases your spam complaint rates. Subscription options should be clearly labeled on a web page and it should have two main fields, name, and email id. For example, the following is the sign up for the National Geographic Newsletter. They offer newsletters on various topics based on the interest of the readers.

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• Categorize your audience. To personalize emails and improve customer experience, you can segment your email list into smaller groups based on characteristics like age or hobbies. This segmentation helps to make better decisions and gather more details about customers’ interests. Let us consider another case study – when Sony PlayStation wanted to sell a new game console model to their new as well as existing users, they used an email marketing campaign. The company segmented its customers to target customers with different needs and localization to provide offers that they could redeem either via in-store coupons or Amazon vouchers. For each euro spent on the campaign, Sony earned 580 euros, and more than 9,000 people purchased the new console.

Other tips for effective local email marketing

• Analyze your data and test your emails. Use split testing or A/B testing to test multiple versions of the same email to know which one works better and the one that performs well can be sent to your customers. Make sure to analyze your data like click-through-rate, unsubscribe rates, open rates, etc. to optimize your local email marketing campaign.
• Emails should be mobile optimized. Today, most consumers have smartphones – 49% of all emails are opened on mobile devices. So, make sure that your emails can be opened on mobile phones. This will help your customers enjoy a better user experience and enable you to improve relationships.
• Measure response. Consider email analytics to measure open rates and clicks. Find out which emails perform best, and then use those strategies for future campaigns.

What not to do in local email marketing

Just as it is important to know what strategies should be used, it is also important to know what not to do in local email marketing:

• Sending out donotreply [at] yourdomain.com. Sending these emails is highly unwelcoming. These types of emails have a very low open rate. So emails should be sent from the recognizable name of the company.
• Complicating your email. Do not make your emails complicated with many topics. Keep it clear with one message and one call to action. Sending out an email with several messages can confuse the recipients, making them less likely to buy the product.
• Ignoring mobile optimization. If your email is not mobile optimized, then many people will not be able to read it and your company will be losing out on many potential customers.
• “One size fits all” approach. Make sure to tailor your email content based on what your customers want.

Wrapping up

All the above-mentioned allows your customers to get your emails seen in the right location at the right time.

Local email marketing is an affordable and effective tool for local businesses to improve their sales.

Follow the above strategies to develop a strong local email marketing campaign that appeals to your target audience and also helps boost your business.

Guest author: Rajeev Rajagopal is the owner of Managed Outsource Solutions which runs its digital marketing division through MedResponsive since 2003.  As someone who has developed businesses in several industry segments, he loves strategizing and coming up with innovative solutions for businesses that are hitting a roadblock with their online strategy. He is adept at creating campaigns that mesh your business’s traditional and digital plans and make them work together. Spearheading the digital marketing division, he works with his team of talented and dynamic designers, programmers, writers, search engineers, and Social media experts to make businesses tick. Whenever possible he loves to write engaging content related to SEO and its evolution, sharing his ideas and insights with others. In his spare time, he likes to read, watch sports. play badminton, golf, and travel with his family. 

The post Why These Local Email Marketing Strategies Could Revolutionize Your Business appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

source https://www.jeffbullas.com/local-email-marketing/

6 Reasons Why Small Business Social Media Pages Fail

One of the biggest tools at the disposal of any small business is social media.

Unfortunately, I’ve seen a lot of small businesses struggling with their social media profile.

Usually, they’re well-intentioned and don’t understand what they’re missing.

Based on what I’ve seen in the industry, here are six reasons why small business social media pages fail.

Reason #1: Inconsistency

The first reason is inconsistency. That can turn up in a number of ways. The biggest one is usually that a small business gets really enthusiastic about social media or has a team member willing to take it on, then that team member leaves or the enthusiasm changes.

I get it. When you’re busy, it’s hard to make social media a priority. Oftentimes, it’s the first thing to fall by the wayside.

You’ve probably heard it before but make a plan. Schedule out your content so that even when work is busy, you have something going out automatically. Take a look at how a big brand like Coca-Cola does it. They have a really consistent idea for their Instagram. Their audience knows what to expect.

Another way that inconsistency can turn up is with the content you’re posting. If you post tons of new events and then suddenly stop to share articles instead, that’s like a bait and switch. Your audience is following you because they expect a certain kind of content. Now, that doesn’t mean you should only post one thing all the time. Just make sure you’re always providing what your audience wants to see.

The last way inconsistency shows up, will hopefully never happen to you. However, I’ve seen it far too many times. Make sure you know who has access to your social media and that there’s a plan in place should someone with access leave the company. I’ve seen too many clients come to me wanting a social media account when one already exists, and they just don’t have the password anymore. Don’t lose the audience you built over time. Getting those people to find you again with a new username is going to be an uphill battle. Stay consistent with your profile.

Reason #2: Not following the rules of the platform

It might seem like a basic principle but I’ve definitely seen small businesses fail on social media because they aren’t following the rules of the platform they’re posting on.

I can’t even believe we’re still seeing this but don’t have a personal page for your business on Facebook. Make sure it’s a business page. At any point, Facebook has the right to ask for proof of identification on a personal page. Since your driver’s license is going to say your name and not a business name, they can shut down the entire profile. You’ll lose all of those connections. You have so many more features as a business anyway. It’d be silly not to use those to your advantage.

The rules aren’t just the basics of how to properly set up an account though. There are also etiquette rules involved with each platform. For instance, don’t add links to your captions on Instagram, unless they’re easy to type in, because they aren’t clickable. Instead, you can do something like what Etsy does. They have a link in their bio that provides the shopping links to the various items they feature on their Instagram. Etsy built the page directly on their website but there are plenty of tools that will help you have an Instagram link landing page.

Keep in mind that the rules change. Social media platforms are constantly updating. Do your best to stay up-to-date and learn as much as you can about each platform that you’re on if you want to succeed. Some small businesses think that learning about social media is just for big businesses or marketing firms. It should be a part of a small-scale strategy as well.

Reason #3: Not engaging with your audience

Getting consistent, rule-abiding content is the hard part. Once that’s done, a lot of small businesses breathe a sigh of relief and decide they don’t need to think about social media anymore.

Unfortunately, that’s just not true. Social media is increasingly an extension of your customer service. If someone emailed your company a question, you’d want to respond. The same applies for comments and messages.

Even if a comment is something basic like saying, “Yummy” on a picture of food, a response like, “We hope you can try it out sometime,” helps to foster good feelings.

When you’re a small business, your community is more important than ever. Your audience might be able to get what you’re selling on Amazon for cheaper. The way that you can stand out from a giant like Amazon is by making direct connections with your customers. They want to feel important and like they know you. Engage with your audience. Don’t let things go ignored.

It’s especially important for damage control. Leaving a comment sitting out there from an upset customer is not only a bad way to treat the commenter, it also shows others viewing your page that this comment has been unaddressed. They might start to believe the negativity too. A positive response makes a huge difference.

Reason #4: Not having a plan or any research to back one up

We talked about the importance of a plan to avoid inconsistency. It’s also important to have a general social media plan backed by some research.

Even as a small business, you should know your target audience. Do some research on what platforms that demographic uses the most. Why would you ever spend time on a TikTok account if your audience is high-level CEOs?

Ask customers or clients that you currently work with what platforms they use and cross-reference that with data from sites like PewResearch or Statista. There’s plenty of research already done out there for you. Don’t invest your time and money into something that won’t make you money in the long run. If you do your research, you can figure out what will work best for your audience.

Let’s look at Apple for instance. They make and sell products, but if you look through their Instagram feed, they hardly ever show any of these products. Alternatively, their Facebook page is filled with products. They probably have research to back up that policy and you can start doing some research too.

Reason #5: Expecting people to find your page organically

Some small businesses take the “if you build it, they will come” approach to social media. They expect that people will just find their profile organically. In reality, that’s rarely how it happens.

You have to encourage people who come into your business, read your emails, visit your website, or otherwise engage with you to also check out your various social media profiles. Add your social icons to your business card and your email signature.

If a company as ubiquitous as Starbucks still includes all their social media icons at the bottom of their website, small businesses should definitely do it too.

If you’re still struggling to get followers and likes after all of that, you might need to consider investing some capital. Social media is a great free tool, but at the end of the day, Facebook cares more about their own bottom line than yours. Sometimes you have to put a bit of money into Facebook or Instagram ads to get the most out of your social media profile.

It doesn’t have to be a lot at first. Just test out a $50 boost and see how it does. Then you can start testing more campaign styles and price points until you’re happy with how your page is performing. 

Reason #6: Not using the tools available to you

Like we said earlier, you should learn as much about the platforms as you can. Part of that means learning more about the various tools each platform gives you. If you haven’t checked your Facebook Insights in a while, now is a good time to click around in there. If you’re wanting to schedule content on Instagram, why not try out Facebook’s Creator Studio? For B2B, have you thought about using LinkedIn messaging ads?

The more you learn about the tools each social media platform offers the better off you’ll be. You’ll be able to do cool things that help your business stand out from the competition, you’ll understand what your audience wants to see more of, and you’ll be able to innovate when you need to.

Facebook usually lets you know when new tools are available for you to try. Pay attention to those pop-ups at the top of your page or the notifications that you get from platforms. You can learn a lot by just paying attention.

Don’t let your small business social media fail

Overall, being a small business doesn’t mean that you get to ignore all the intricacies of social media. There are plenty of free tools and information available to you. If you put in some work ahead of time, you will be much more successful in the long term.

Guest author: Rachael Flores is the owner of Fiori Marketing in Spokane, WA. She completed a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations from Pepperdine University. Originally, she started her career working in the marketing department of various universities and then moved on to agency life, eventually starting her own firm. Feel free to connect with her on LinkedIn. 

The post 6 Reasons Why Small Business Social Media Pages Fail appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

source https://www.jeffbullas.com/small-business-social-media-pages/

Why Search Intent is the Key to SEO and Content Marketing Success

In years gone by, all you needed to perform well in Google was to build more backlinks than your competitors and repeat the keyword you wanted to rank for many times.

In 2020, as the search engine’s algorithms have matured, their natural language processors have become more developed and search engines use search intent to help them understand what the searcher is trying to achieve via a query.

Search intent is thus crucial for SEO and content marketing success, as it closely aligns with the well-defined stages of the buyer’s journey.

Why does search intent lead to success?

Better website optimisation for search intent means that more relevant/qualified traffic is being funnelled to your website. This means that you will achieve higher conversion rates on your transaction pages and more informational traffic to pages designed to inform.

Secondary benefits mean your website will experience a lower bounce rate and more overall views as whole.

Search intent can be categorised into three main types:

#1. Informational Search Intent

Informational searches are the most common searches a search engine handles, making up as much as 80% of searches. Informational search terms are primarily used when the searcher is aiming to find information to answer a question. These are sometimes referred to as “know” searches. By definition, these search phrases are general in nature. An example of an informational search is “How many people are there in the world”.

Informational search terms are at the beginning of the buyer’s journey. That is, the buyer is starting to research what they are interested in, without having a definitive conclusion as to what they want. These searches typically display rich snippets from Google such as a knowledge panel, people always ask, etc.

Informational searches are often highly sought after by marketers due to their high search volume, but this can be a bad strategy, for a couple of reasons that are highlighted below. Take the keyword “Running shoes” This search term has over 200k monthly searches:

The issue with targeting informational “know” keywords is two-fold:

1. Too generic – People searching for running shoes are likely searching for the types and brands of running shoes, whether they make a difference to running, etc. At this stage of the buyer’s journey, the searcher isn’t ready to buy, and as such there will be a low conversion rate.

2. Too competitive – As you can see from the image above, these informational search keywords are very competitive (difficult). Unless you are an established brand, with a powerful website, it’s unlikely your site will be ranked for such a broad search term.

Informational keywords are however a good way to establish your brand and let searchers know what your business can offer to solve the searcher’s problem. That is, you are building your website’s presence in the searcher’s mind for future consideration.

If you do decide to optimize your website for informational keywords, phrases that include “What”, “How”, “History” and “Meaning” are good choices to include in your website copy. It’s a good idea to use these questions in the page title, header tags and meta description of your page.

#2. Navigational Search Intent

Navigational (or “go”) keywords are used by those searchers looking for the website of an organization they already know. These makeup around 10% of searches. Navigational searches are considered “Mixed” or partially generic keywords. An example of a navigational search term is the keyword “Facebook”.

Navigational keywords are important for your site’s branding, as it’s important that your website ranks for its own brand. These search terms will drive a lot of targeted traffic to your website and as such, it’s crucial that your website is optimized for navigational or branded search terms.

#3. Transactional Search Intent

Transactional search terms are at the middle or end of the buyer’s journey, where the searcher effectively knows what they are looking for and is ready to buy. These are often referred to as “do” searches. At this phase of the buyer’s journey, the searcher is using specific long-tail keywords in their searches, such as “Nike Pegasus 33 size 10 price”.

Transactional search terms make up around 10% of all searches, but these are without a doubt the most valuable keywords, as they convert at a high rate.

How to optimize for transactional keywords

Pick keywords that have a high commercial/transactional intent and use them on your “money” pages, ie those that you want to rank for that generate leads/sales.

Some sample keywords to include…

For eCommerce sites:

• Buy
• Vs
• Cheap
• Cost
• Price
• Packages
• Reviews

For service or lead oriented businesses:

• Call
• Email
• Visit
• Contact

Physical locations (country/city/state/local area) are also important to include, as locations signify a transactional rather than informational intent.

Ensure landing pages are created and optimized for these transactional terms and allow the visitor, where possible to convert straight from the landing page, by offering a signup form or cart directly on that page.

It’s important to include a clear call-to-action (CTA) on your landing pages, so it’s reinforced the action that you want your visitor to take.

Wrapping up

Search intent and the buyer’s journey are critical to understand and implement to achieve success with SEO and content marketing in 2020 and beyond.

Guest author: David Sorauer is the director of Evolocity, a SEO & Digital Marketing agency in Sydney, Australia. David is passionate about helping small and medium businesses succeed online.

The post Why Search Intent is the Key to SEO and Content Marketing Success appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

source https://www.jeffbullas.com/search-intent/