Shopify is often used as the ‘go-to’ platform for people looking to get their products to market that may have little experience in e-commerce. In contrast, it’s also used by established retailers as a trusted platform.

Despite its popularity, ease of use, and the fact it’s quick to get up and running, a challenge can be the fact that there is much competition. So, merely building a store, then expecting people to flock to it, is unrealistic. Much effort needs to be made in advertising and offering something unique. 

7 Low Risk and Affordable Ways to Grow Your Store

1. Optimize for Mobile

There was a time when desktop was responsible for most online traffic. Now, mobile leads the way. Not offering customers a mobile app means half your chances to engage or convert your visitors are lost. In Shopify, be sure to use the mobile theme. You’ll benefit from better sales, improved user experience and fewer bounces.

2. Diversify Your Offering

When Amazon set up their 24/7 book store, they experienced great success, simply because they carried much more stock than your average book store. You can do this yourself, offering complementary and popular products. Do your research on Google, Facebook and Amazon to discover high selling products.

3. Look After Old Customers

65% of sales are gained from existing customers. You should keep in contact with old customers to keep them engaged. For example, by offering a message or coupon code on their birthday, entering them into competitions or using retargeting ads on Facebook or Google. This kind of contact often results in customers coming back to you when they’re ready to purchase once more.

 4. Develop an Email List

Email communications are one of the most effective advertising strategies out there and can really boost traffic to your site. To capture customer emails, consider using a tool like Gleam Capture, which displays custom popups on your homepage, allowing people to sign up. When people see your quality content, they can’t fail to visit your site once more.

 5. Use Great Content

The return on investment for content marketing is up to eight times better than traditional forms of marketing. Video content, in particular, is very effective. In fact, 64% of people admit to buying as a result of watching a video. Great product descriptions and high-quality product imagery are equally important, as is a recommendation for linked products.

 6. Tell Stories

As customers seek personal connections, they are more likely to buy from companies they like, or ones they feel engaged by. Skinny Me Tea is a perfect example of this. On their homepage, they display customer success stories, while in other parts of the site, describe brand stories of healthy lifestyles. As a result of doing this, they enjoy healthy sales.

7. Use Interactive Content

By engaging customers with only a couple of questions in the form of an online quiz, Zenni Optical were able to generate more than one million dollars in revenue, which goes to show the effectiveness of interactive content. Quizzes alone generate up to 29,140 conversions, and the typical quiz is shared nearly 2,000 times on social media. In other words, if you’re looking for a great way to drive sales and traffic, use some form of interactive content.