7 Powerful Strategies to Boost eCommerce Profitability In 2023

There is a lot of hype as to how much money you can earn by running an eCommerce business. In a way it’s true, you can earn lots of revenue through an eCommerce store. 

But the major challenge here is Profitability, especially for new stores and stores that initiated their business with small budgets. 

With the competition lurking in the eCommerce industry, getting a cozy spot in the market is hard, but it is necessary if you want to earn profits. 

So, if you own an eCommerce store and are looking to boost your profit margins, here are the 7 best Profitability tweaks that can propel your business in the market. 

1. Design a robust website

Your website is the face of your business, and its design must be enticing enough to lure any customer into your eCommerce store. If you can’t impress them with your design, their purchase chances are lower. 

Ever heard of the 15-second rule? It takes a customer 15 seconds to glance through your website. 

They'll bounce if you can’t grab their attention in that window. Check your Bounce rate; if it is higher, you must redesign.  

Here is the Homepage of Adidas. The navigation is simple, the banner looks attractive and has enticing content that’ll make the visitor click.

Ecommerce websites are about easy navigation, don’t make the visitors search for the menus, and keep it easily accessible if you want conversion.

Speaking about the design, another major conversion aspect is your product page, you must nail it there.

Ensure you include high-definition images or videos of the products, well-crafted descriptions and bright CTA buttons to persuade the customers to click on them. 

But sometimes customers want something more than the design, which is your history. Yes, they want to know who you are and your reputation, authenticity, etc, before they make a purchase. 

And where do they go? Right to your About Us page. The About Us page has a conversion rate of 33%, you shouldn’t miss out on this one. 

As per a survey by KoMarketing, 52% of customers said that the About Us page is the first thing they want to see when they land on a website. 

So, design your About us page persuasively to increase your conversions.

2. Reinforce with Email marketing

The key to getting your customers to purchase at your store is engagement. Better engagement leads to trust, which helps you foster customer loyalty and increases profitability. 

So, you must find a way to engage with the customers cost-effectively and promote your store through the same engagement medium. 

The only medium that can do it is Email; email marketing is the easiest way to promote your eCommerce store. 

You need Email marketing because it has a better reach than any other social media platform. Also, it is one of the cost-effective ways to communicate with the customer. 

Besides being cost-effective, email marketing brings the highest ROI across other marketing platforms, says Oberlo.

You can send email newsletters to inform your customers about new products, updates and even educate your customers about your store.

You can send coupons, and discount flyers and create a personalized connection with your customers. This will influence your customer to build trust in your store and offer their loyalty, increasing profitability. 

Here is the list of emails you can send as part of your email marketing campaign to create a connection with your customers, 

●      Welcome Email

●      Thank You Email

●      Newsletter Email

●      Offer Email

●      Abandoned cart Email

●      Referral Email

Abandoned cart emails can bring your lost customers back to your store. Email marketing can bring a plethora of profits to your store if you use it the right way.

3. Upsell and Cross-sell

One of the lucrative strategies used by prominent eCommerce stores to increase their average order value and profits is Upselling & Cross-selling. 

Even though they are slightly different, they are used for a similar purpose, to increase the value of the customer’s cart. 

Upsell is a marketing tactic where you suggest a product that is better and more expensive than the product selected by the customer. 

Cross-sell is where you recommend products that are complementary

to the product chosen by the customer.

The above example from Foundr might jog your memory, right? How many times have we seen it ourselves? 

The ultimate goal of an eCommerce store is to give the customers the best products and increase your profits simultaneously. 

And what better way is there than Upselling and Cross-selling to persuade the customer into adding more value to their cart without them even knowing it? 

The best practice is to act on the customer's impulse, where they are most likely to listen to your suggestions, which brings us to the Cart/Checkout page. 

The above image is from Amazon, ‘Product related to this item’, a classic cross-sell strategy to make customers purchase more. 

When you scroll down, you’ll see ‘Compare with similar items,’ which roughly translates, 'hey here are a few better items than the ones you selected’. 

These comparisons will trigger the customer to go for the better expensive product, thus increasing your profit. 

Remember, once upon a time, you had to do these comparisons manually by surfing through Google, but now eCommerce stores do it themselves, and you know why. 

So, go ahead, and start recommending similar and expensive products to persuade the customers to purchase them, they get a better product, and you get a better profit.

4. Personalize their shopping experience

Nothing motivates eCommerce more than a personalized email or discounts. Personalization has proven to influence better customer conversions. 

As we said before, eCommerce stores are looming on every corner, so if you want your store to stand out, you must create an unforgettable moment for your customers. 

Imagine a customer entering a store and seeing his name on the homepage banner; wouldn’t that be awesome? 

You might wonder, what’s so special about this? It’s just a name. 

What’s so special here is that it shows how much you care for your customer’s presence in your store; it fosters customer loyalty. 

Here are some cool facts about personalization from Optinmonster, 

Ecommerce personalization is not just limited to displaying names; here are a few personalization tactics that you can employ in your store, 

●      Offer personalized discounts based on purchase history

●      Recommend products based on search history

●      Offer Free shipping or discounts based on the location

●      Add the customer’s name to the email newsletters and subject lines.

●      Send birthday or special day wishes based on personal details.

●      Display products based on customers’ interests.

●      Offer rewards to repeat customers 

These are some common personalization tactics used by eCommerce stores around the world to create a custom shopping experience.

Personalization is already the key to higher profits; it is time you get your hands on some of the best personalization tactics and boost your profitability.

5. Offer better deals and discounts

Nothing like a good holiday deal or discount attracts traffic to an eCommerce store. It’s like customers are always waiting for that moment. 

Yes, customers love discounts; you can use them to motivate them to drive repeated sales in your store and increase customer loyalty, boosting your profitability. 

You can Nike announces it in their homepage banner; this entices the customers to visit the page and purchase. 

One thing a customer always wants is their favorite products at lower prices, they would get mad if they miss them, so make sure you display your offers in your store to let them know you are offering discounts. 

Also, this might be the time to use a little FOMO to fuel a customer's impulse to purchase. 

Jcrew does it perfectly; look how they have created a sense of scarcity, and now the customer will be forced to make a purchase or miss the product. 

Similarly, you can create a sense of urgency by displaying a countdown timer on the cart page. 

There’s another deal that drives people happy, Free shipping. Yes, most customers love free shipping more than any other discounts.

Statistics say that 93% of people would purchase more if the store offered Free shipping. Shipping rates are also one of the major reasons for cart abandonment. 

So, if you want to curb your losses and double your profits simultaneously, then Free shipping might be a great tactic.

6. Streamline your checkout

When a customer visits your store and decides to purchase a product, the last thing he wants is a long checkout process. 

Once a customer decides to purchase, they want the checkout process to be over soon. Checkout is the worst place to make a customer wait in an eCommerce store. 

More people have abandoned their carts due to the long and complex checkout process than not having enough discounts. 

So, it is necessary to keep your checkout process streamlined and smooth, bring it under a page, use collapsible menus if the form is long, and don't make the navigations tough for the customers. 

Use progress indicators so customers can know where they are in the process; keeping it all under a page is better. 

Like the eCommerce checkout process, payment options also play a huge role in cart abandonment. 

Make sure you have multiple payment options, reports say that 13% of customers abandon their carts due to lack of multiple payment options. 

Avoid making these mistakes; without a streamlined checkout process, you’ll not be able to boost your profitability. So, make sure you keep your checkout process smooth and secure.

7. Leverage your social proof

Lastly, if you have good reviews and customer testimonials, don’t be shy to show them off. 

Nothing convinces customers like a word from their peers or fellow purchasers. Leverage your reviews, it’ll motivate the customer to develop trust in your store and purchase more. 

Reports say that 72% of people read online reviews before they make a purchase decision. 

It doesn’t matter if there are positive or negative reviews; displaying them in your store will show how transparent you are with your customer, which is a chance to increase customer loyalty. 

Here is the review page of Nike, similarly, you can also showcase your reviews and convince your customers that your store is the right destination for them. 

Here are some benefits that you can earn by displaying reviews and testimonials, 

●      Increased trust and loyalty

●      Better customer engagement

●      Increased conversions and sales

●      Higher revenue

●      Low cart abandonment

And these are just the tip of the iceberg, there is more to it than meets the eye. Leveraging your social proof is the easiest way to increase your profits, so never miss out on that. 

Wrapping up

Profitability is the major challenge that every eCommerce store has to face or has faced. You can reach the mountain top without climbing it, so you need to face this obstacle one way or another. 

And that’s why this article was crafted to give you a considerable hand in clearing the obstacle and achieving eCommerce profitability.