Now that your online store is set up and loaded with inventory, you need to get customers to your site.
Keeping a steady stream of website visits is an absolute must. So remember
You always need to be marketing your online consignment store.
Think about when you visit an online store; sometimes you are there just to browse, sometimes you may pick out a few items but get sidetracked or lose interest, and then occasionally make a purchase. This is same process your online customers will go through, so getting new visitors and keeping customers coming back is absolutely necessary.
Be Social
Social media is going to be your best option available to get traffic to your site and long term customers. Many stores have already adopted social media into marketing their current store or for their own personal use, but should take much more consideration as to what and how you are posting when marketing your online store. The biggest mistake business owners make is not putting enough thought into what they are posting, how it is being viewed, and what the exact outcome they want from it.
You want to make sure that you are offering very clear “Calls to Action” for each of your post, and to vary these across all your posts and social media platforms. Of course you are going to want to focus posts on buying specific items, but making that the bulk of all your posts across your Facebook and Instagram pages will dilute the interest of your social followers. LIke we mentioned before, everyone coming to your site is not always going to want to make a purchase every time, so make sure to think about this when making your social media posts.
Spend Money to Make Money
The days of being able to generate sales and customers from social media without having to invest in advertising or post boosts are quickly starting to fade away, and with how saturated the online market has become, stores need to start allocating marketing funds to social ads and online advertising. On average, 2-5% of your website visitors are going to make a purchase from your site, so you need to maximize your site traffic as much as possible to stay profitable.
Do some research into different social advertising opportunities and see what works best for your store and your budget. All sites allow you to focus your ads on very specific groups of people, so make sure to utilize these features to make sure you are spending your advertising budget on the people who will be visiting your site.
Expand Your Reach
Social media marketing and advertising will bring your customers to your site, but you need to make sure to be putting effort into bringing customers back to your site. These could be customers who have made a single purchase, or even visitors who came to your site, put item into their online shopping cart, and then left your page. Focusing your marketing efforts on these visitors is crucial because they have shown the most interest in your website and your products.
Utilizing email services like Mailchimp and Constant Contact is a great way to keep in contact with your customers and having them continue to come back to your site. These mail services also allow you create email lists so you can divide your customers into different groups to personalize marketing emails about specific products they may be interested in. Also, researching more advanced options like retargeting social ads will help with customers who may have abandoned their shopping carts before the checkout process can can help get back those lost sales. Though some of these concepts maybe new to you, sending time researching them in more detail could be what keeps your online store busy and profitable.
