Many people start a Shopify store with hopes of earning a nice profit and maybe retiring early to some island in the Caribbean.
Sure, setting up with Shopify is quick and easy…
… but turning a profit isn't always as simple.
Table of Contents
Factors Impeding You From Earning Shopify Profits
Increase Email Sign-ups And Email Marketing
Optimize Ads On Social Media Platforms
Create High-Converting Landing Pages
Get Your Products Listed In Blogs
How To Increase Trust & Security
Reduce Shipping Costs With Buku’s App IntelliRate
Be Mobile-Friendly & Use SMS To Boost Revenue
Final Thoughts On Increasing Profit On Shopify
The average success rate of any eCommerce business is around 10%. So why do so many entrepreneurs find themselves abandoning their dreams so quickly?
A big issue for eCommerce stores is that selling is not enough – you must also be profit-driven. If your expenditures are outweighing your sales volume, then you will soon close up shop. To turn the scales in your favor, you must find ways to increase profit, which means making more sales and mitigating operational costs at the same time.
The good news is that Shopify stores already have an advantage because they get access to a host of built-in tools and features.
There is no secret formula for success when it comes to operating any business. Every entrepreneur’s experience will vary depending on the industry, products, and competition.
However, understanding how to achieve profitability is the key to success, and fortunately, there are strategies that can make this happen!
A profit margin is a measure of your business’s profitability. It’s the difference between the amount of money you make in revenue compared to the cost of doing business… basically, what’s left over after expenses.
This article discusses how to get more sales and increase your Shopify store’s profit, while offering advice on how to build a successful eCommerce business.
Part of what makes eCommerce so challenging is the stiff competition.
Just consider that there are over 7 million eCommerce sites worldwide, not to mention big players like Amazon – a company that holds almost 50% of the eCommerce market share in the U.S.
Your customers are not limited in their choice of where to shop online. So, to earn and keep your slice of the market, you will need to do some careful planning and put in some work.
To understand how to increase Shopify profits, you need to understand the factors that are keeping your profits low in the first place. Let’s look at a few of the most common reasons that can cause your net revenue to decrease:
Visitors who navigate to your Shopify store expect two things - a clean, well-designed site that looks professional and a fast load time. Finding a careful balance of both is important because failure to provide either gives shoppers plenty of reason to click away from your site. Make sure to include a call-to-action (CTA) on every page to help direct visitors to the right place.
ECommerce stores rely on images and descriptions to sell their products, so make sure you are using high-quality images – and lots of them. Compress your image files for faster loading speed and give them descriptive names.
Your Shopify store should have a cohesive look that screams professionalism. Use a banner at the top of every page so visitors remember where they are. Choose a color scheme and logos that communicate your brand identity.
Chase down those shoppers who abandon their carts before making a purchase. You can use Shopify’s built-in tools to identify visitors who left with items still in their cart and send automatic emails to persuade them to return and finalize their purchase.
Having a multi-channel marketing strategy is the best way to reach potential customers where they are likely to be. Email marketing is a powerful way to build leads and increase loyalty. Content marketing, like blogging & social media content, helps build brand awareness and draws people to your site.
Also, you need to get your products out there in front of potential customers with advertising. Paid advertising will cost you money; but with a proper ad strategy, the return on investment will help you turn a profit and cover your advertising costs.
Selling the right product to the right people is a better way to ensure success than simply throwing a bunch of products up for sale and hoping for the best. Operating within a niche helps identify your target market and limits your competition.
Repeat business is more profitable in the long run. Focus on keeping current customers happy and give them a reason to come back rather than only chasing new business around.
Understanding the roadblocks to your success is the first step to building any business. Then, it’s just a matter of putting the right strategies in place.
Continue reading for the 7 best methods that immediately increase your Shopify store profits!
Believe it or not, email marketing still tops the list as one of the most cost-effective and efficient ways to increase Shopify profits.
Email marketing is a targeted approach to reach leads and convert them into customers, maintain the loyalty of existing customers, and boost your brand awareness.
As the highest average return on investment (ROI) of any marketing channel by far (42:1), this means for every dollar spent, you get an average return of $42!
What makes email marketing so great?
Email service providers (ESPs) can help you create, send, and track your email marketing campaign. ESPs can send automated emails based on triggered actions taken (or not taken) by your visitors without you even having to think about it.
Over 4.2 billion people worldwide use email, and despite the rising popularity of social media, that number is expected to keep growing. Email remains the most effective way to reach a wide audience.
Emails allow you the opportunity to make your customers feel like they’re a part of the conversation. And studies show that personalized emails get higher open, click-through, and transaction rates than generalized ones.
Most ESPs provide built-in tracking tools that help you measure the success of your email marketing campaign. This allows valuable insights into how well your strategy is working and pinpoints areas where changes could make a big difference.
By creating segmented lists based on your customer’s demographics and habits, you can send targeted emails that have a greater chance of creating conversions. A study by HubSpot found that 78% of marketers say email list segmentation is the most effective strategy for an email campaign.
There are many ways to use email marketing and using it correctly will increase your chances of success. Here are some examples of the types of emails to use:
Social media platforms have become one of the most powerful marketing channels out there.
There are over 4.4 billion social media users globally, and that percentage increased by 13% over the last year!
One of the best ways to get the most out of any marketing campaign is to reach customers where they "live" – and right now, social media is where a lot of your customers are.
Advertising on social media is a great way to boost brand awareness and build a loyal following. It provides a way for you to interact directly with customers, which is something that eCommerce stores struggle with.
Also, let’s not forget that it provides a cost-effective (and even free) way to market your products to potential buyers by posting quality content about your company & products.
More importantly, social media is a way for you to provide real value to your customers. It's not just about selling…
…it's about interaction.
Here are our best tips to increase your Shopify profits by optimizing your social media platforms:
The more creative, engaging, and useful the content you share is, the more likely your followers are to pay attention and share that content with others. Use images, videos, and creative copy to spark interest.
Social media campaigns require almost constant monitoring. The last thing you want to do is set up a professional company profile and then not update it for months. Your customers will trust your brand more if you maintain a regular presence.
You can choose to create a social media page and just post for free. To maximize your visibility and get the most from your efforts, paid advertising is the way to go. The key to success is to plan your ad campaign.
Using the right platforms for the right reasons is the key to success in social media marketing. Here are some of the main differences between the platforms, as well as why you should choose each one.
Facebook – Facebook remains one of the most popular social networking platforms with more than 2.7 billion users. You will find the most success here by engaging followers, sharing useful information, and using video in your advertising strategy.
Instagram – Instagram has become a powerful marketing tool since its early beginnings. Instagram offers paid advertising as well, and it allows easy reach to younger generations, who make up most of its users.
Twitter – Twitter centers around short, quick, micro-blogs (280-character limit) and provides a way for brands to quickly and easily engage with customers regularly.
TikTok – TikTok’s popularity has grown exponentially over the past several years, especially among the youth. Although paid advertising on TikTok has great potential, creating authentic & creative content that catches people’s attention is more effective.
LinkedIn – LinkedIn is more popular among professionals looking to network and promote themselves. However, brands can still maintain a presence and utilize paid advertising on this platform. LinkedIn is especially popular among B2B businesses or brands that market their products to other businesses.
The best way to immediately increase a Shopify store’s profit is to optimize the conversion rate – meaning converting the traffic into paying customers.
Landing pages are one of the most effective ways to accomplish this, and research shows that a well-crafted landing page has an average conversion rate of almost 10%.
A landing page is different from your Shopify store's homepage. It is essentially a singular page created with a specific approach to a specific target group.
Let’s say you run an advertising campaign for the latest product collection. When a customer clicks on that advertisement, you will want to funnel them to a landing page that is built to cater to that audience and provide information on that promotion.
This allows you to funnel the traffic and nudge the visitors to purchase your product.
Landing pages are a quick and easy way to move a customer to exactly where you want them to be and give them a clear reason to act.
Below, you will find clear instructions on how to create clear and concise landing pages that are sure to increase conversions:
Keep it clear and concise - A landing page should provide a clear and easy-to-understand message about your particular offering. Only include language that serves that one purpose.
Target a specific demographic – Like your advertising strategy, your landing pages should target a specific audience. This increases the effectiveness of your messaging.
Write a compelling headline – A landing page needs to grab your visitor’s attention and hook them quickly. The headline is likely the first thing their eyes will land on, so make sure it’s compelling, concise, and captivating.
Use a vibrant image – Including images that help communicate your message or display your product is a great way to capture your audience's attention.
Include a CTA – Without a clear call-to-action, your visitors might be confused as to what they’re supposed to do next. Communicate your message, tell your audience what they need to know, and then direct them on what to do next with a visible and easy-to-follow CTA.
You can increase organic traffic to your site by getting your product listed in blogs.
Blogs are one of the most cost-effective ways to drive customer traffic without paying for advertising. And you get the benefit of increasing your brand visibility, building trust with your customers, and gaining authenticity at the same time!
Blogging is a powerful marketing tool that helps customers find your products. Statistics show that companies who blog get an average of 67% more leads compared with companies that don’t.
How you go about gaining visibility through blogs will depend on your specific industry. You will want to focus on blogs that get readership from your audience. For example, if you sell athletic gear, then getting your brand featured in a blog for readers in the tech industry won’t do a lot of good. But getting your brand listed in a blog targeted to outdoor enthusiasts will.
How do you harness the power of blogs? You do it by targeting the people who are searching for what you’re selling. Blogs are about more than selling – they answer people’s questions and provide valuable content. You can take advantage of the popularity of blogs by placing your brand in the right place and in front of the right audience. Keep reading for tips on how to do it.
Target the industry – Choose publications that cater to your niche market. You can do a simple Google search using keywords related to your specific market to identify publications that align with your products and audience.
Send your pitch – If you’re reaching out directly to publications, you will get the most success by creating a personalized message to the decision maker for that publication. Check the contact page for information regarding where to send your pitch and try to get as much information as possible about the person you are contacting beforehand.
Give them a reason – Asking for your brand to be featured in a blog will require you to give the publication a good reason to do so. Use compelling messaging that showcases the reason your brand will be interesting or useful to its readers.
Write your own blog – You don't always need to partner with an existing publication to reap the benefits of blogging. Start your own blog to increase visibility and gain organic traffic to your site.
Another factor in increasing your Shopify profits is to successfully build trust with your customers.
Ecommerce stores face unique challenges when it comes to providing customers with a sense of security. After all, your customers trust you not only with their hard-earned money, but also with their personal financial information.
Online shoppers won't trust a brand that doesn't take steps to protect them during every step of the process. Building trust with customers requires attention to a lot of details.
Below are the most important steps e-commerce stores can take to build trust with their customers:
Your customers will be looking for specific information that proves your trustworthiness when deciding to purchase from your company. Displaying trust badges at the checkout page will ensure that customers understand you took the necessary steps to protect their information. Some examples are the Shopify Secure Badge and TrustedSite Badge.
Have a clear and understandable return policy and be sure to communicate the requirements and restrictions with customers before the final purchase so there will be no misunderstandings.
Be truthful and upfront when crafting your product descriptions. Ensuring customers have no misconceptions about what they’re purchasing will reduce the chances of them being unhappy with your company.
Some customers prefer one payment method over another for multiple reasons, and won’t buy from your Shopify store unless their preferred method is available.
When you make the effort to answer your customers' most frequently asked questions up front, it helps create a sense of transparency. Customers who can access all the details about your company easily will feel like they can trust you more because you have nothing to hide.
Customer relationships are the backbone of a business. When you provide customers with authentic and trustworthy content, it increases your authority in the industry.
For eCommerce businesses, shipping is one of the biggest and most expensive operating costs, and one that can take a big bite out of your profit margins.
Finding better and more cost-effective shipping methods is one area that deserves your attention, especially if you are trying to increase Shopify profits.
The percentage of shoppers who expect a “free shipping” option is staggering – over 75%.
Studies also show that shipping convenience is highly important to 83% of online shoppers, which means offering fast and dependable shipping options.
Here are some tips on how to reduce shipping costs in your Shopify store:
Reduce packaging – Try to use the smallest, slimmest, and most light-weight packaging options available, while still ensuring that products arrive safely and undamaged.
Choose reliable carriers – Once a package is on its way to the customer, delivery is out of your hands. Make sure you choose reliable carriers with a good reputation for on-time delivery and include a variety of options in case one carrier is out of service or backlogged. BUKU partners with a variety of high quality carriers that give you and your customers the best experience possible.
The best way to get the most out of your shipping process is to choose a tool that makes it easy, and the best tool available for Shopify stores is BUKU’s app IntelliRate.
IntelliRate provides the best possible experience for your customers, while at the same time providing you with clear choices, up-front pricing, and easy-to-use tools to build the best possible processes every step of the way.
To run a successful e-commerce business with a positive cash flow, you will need to make sure your website is optimized for mobile device users. There's just no way around it at this point.
More than half of all internet users are shopping from their mobile devices.
The downfall of many eCommerce retailers is that they don't take steps to make sure their site works just as well on a mobile device as it does on a desktop computer.
Studies show that 40% of users will abandon a site if they have a negative experience on their mobile devices.
If you want potential customers to turn into paying customers, you need to make sure your Shopify site looks and works great on every device. And here's how to do it:
You can use text messaging as another effective marketing tool that directs a targeted message right into the hands of your customers, literally.
97% of text messages are read within only 15 minutes, meaning it’s almost guaranteed that your messaging will be seen quickly. As a bonus, you can use SMS messages to bolster the success of other marketing strategies, like directing users to your social media or reminding them to check their email for promotional messages.
You can even use SMS marketing to engage with and solicit feedback from your customers, or send an automated text message to follow up with customers who abandon carts at the checkout.
There are many ways to leverage SMS messages to engage with customers – from offering information on limited-time sales and promotions to notifying them when you launch new products.
If you are looking for ways to increase your Shopify store’s overall profits, then you need to look at the building blocks of your eCommerce business first.
This means you must take action on every front – from optimizing your site & make it easier for shoppers to browse through your product offerings, to lowering your shipping costs with BUKU’s app IntelliRate.
You are responsible for your success, and with a bit of knowledge and work, you can make sure that your Shopify store is successful!
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