A moment all entrepreneurs remember is making their first sale. Achieving that first sale is a significant milestone and one that deserves to be celebrated, but how do you get there?
Whether you are starting a brand-new business or transitioning your physical store online, this article will share the strategies you need to make your first online sale.
Promote Your Business Online
As a brand-new business owner, it can be easy to nit-pick everything from your brand colours and fonts to your logo and pricing. Too many entrepreneurs get so caught up in reworking the minor details that they never start selling their products.
Your first sale is only possible when you tell other people your business exists. Online promotion is the best way to do this. Utilise social media channels, brand partnerships, and email marketing to your advantage. All these methods can be used to directly contact potential customers and encourage traffic to your site.
The more you promote your business, the more people will see it and pay attention, and the higher your chances of making your first sale.
Offer a range of payment options
When you run an online business, you don’t want to be restricted by unnecessary limitations. The trickier it is for customers to make a payment, the higher the rate of cart abandonments and your products going unsold.
As well as accepting the range of bank cards and PayPal, it’s important that you also have the facility to accept credit card payments. It is one of the best ways to provide a great customer experience, attract more sales, and receive positive reviews.
Being flexible and accepting multiple payment solutions is one of the best ways to encourage that first sale. If you sell offline as well as online then make sure that your systems are synchronized. Contactless systems allow you to securely accept contactless payments from anywhere, making online shopping easy, convenient, and enjoyable.
Create a Store that Looks the Part
“Building a great website can help improve your organic search rankings so potential customers can find you when they’re searching for the products that you sell.” – Huboo
That being said, it will almost certainly be worth your while also having a shopfront on one of the main sales platforms that’s known as a go-to for the type of products you sell. So if your business is hand-made artisanal products, check out Etsy and Notonthehighstreet. If you have a more traditional store then eBay or Amazon may be the place for you. Then there are platforms for industries like weddings, fashion, sports and so on. Do your research.
It is always sensible to maintain your own independent website as well. Platforms can change policies very quickly destroying your business model overnight. Try not to ever be 100% dependent on them.
For your own site, remember that first impressions are everything (especially online!). Visitors need to be drawn in by your website. It must be easy to navigate. Products should be beautifully displayed. And online payments must be easy.
Spending the time, in the beginning, making sure your online store looks the part is crucial to achieving your first sale. And once you’ve made one sale and received a great review, it doesn’t take long for more to come flooding in.
Work with Social Media Influencers
Influencer marketing is the driving force behind a huge number of online purchases and the marketing spend on influencers now exceeds that of print marketing.
Most big brands are harnessing the benefits of influencer endorsements to market their products successfully to their target audiences’.
Influencers are a great way to promote your brand, attract more traffic to your site, and boost sales. If you don’t have the finance at this stage to hire an influencer, send them a free product sample and hope they mention it on one of their platforms.
Influencers work from every social channel, from TikTok and YouTube through to Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. They have large followings and can tap into their existing fanbase to promote your products and help you achieve that first sale.
Attract Interest Through Blogging
Blogging is essentially free advertising. It’s also a very powerful way of improving the search engine performance of your website as a whole. If you don’t have a blog associated with your website, then you are missing out on its marketing potential.
The best way to achieve a sale from blogging is by providing value to your customers. You can do this by writing articles on frequently asked questions people have about your products and industry. This shows your customers that you care, helps them find out more about your products, and drives them towards a purchase.
If you create valuable content on a regular basis, you will begin to see the impact content marketing can have on the success of your business. Over time and through social media shares, your content will help you rank better in search engines, increase traffic, and boost sales.
Publish a Press Release to Promote Your Products
Writing a press release is a great way to attract media attention. This method isn’t as widely used as some of the others we have listed in this article, but it can be extremely effective.
Taking the time to write a high-quality press release lets you shout about your brand from the rooftops. You want your press release to be concise and professional but exciting. It must attract positive attention and present your business in the best light to win those first sales. There is a high chance that the local press will be interested in running a positive press story about a new local business.
Final Words
Making your first sale is always a huge cause for celebration, but making it happen takes a lot of effort behind the scenes.
Thankfully, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. It’s about trying out different strategies and discovering what works for you. The best thing you can do is get your store out there. It’s the only way to make your first sale and grow your business. We hope the above tips help you on your way!