Four tips to avoid stagnating sales

Spring is almost here, which means Easter is just around the corner. Many consumers still feel worn out from the hype, advertising avalanche and countless discount offers at Christmas. Your sales figures don't have to suffer just because your customers aren't in the mood yet. Our Shopware technology partner Amazon Pay has contributed the following article with tips to help you avoid sales dips and get right back into the saddle.

Four tips to prevent stagnating sales

1. Customer-friendly return policy

Returns play an important role in the online sector: one in 8 online purchases gets returned today.ⁱ The majority of customers expect returns to be free of charge. Many customers also say that a return fee would be a reason for them not to buy from a specific online shop.ⁱⁱ Revise your return policy and extend the return period, or offer free return shipping during the first months of the year.

2. Be memorable

Relate to the past Christmas season or other recent holidays to give your customers a reason to come back to your online shop. It might already be enough to ask customers for feedback on their last purchase – and offer them a special deal or a voucher as a little 'Thank You'. Another option to contact past customers and make them aware of current promotions in your shop are targeted pay-per-click adverts. The average per-click costs are quite low at this time of year. Customers who have lengthy wish lists saved may just need a little nudge to get them to finalise a purchase.

3. Retargeting for customer maintenance

Doing some advertising with your existing customers will cost you a fraction of what you would have to spend to get new ones. And you will be focusing on a target group that has already shown interest in your products.

The objective: staying in contact and reinforcing ties with the customer. You could, for example, use retargeting pixels on your website, which will deliver relevant information about which products customers were looking at. You can then use that information in your communications.

4. Optimised checkout

The biggest nemesis of conversion rates is a lengthy form to fill out. Customers who have to go through the hassle of having to type in credit card information, billing address and delivery address are more likely to cancel a purchase. And never mind the new password they will have to remember.

You should think about offering alternative payment methods to ensure returning customers don't have to log in and new customers don't have to create a customer account. Amazon Pay can help improve the conversion rate in your shop, as you can reduce the process steps at the checkout for hundreds of millions of shoppers who already have an Amazon account. Convenience + Trust = Higher Conversion Rates.

ⁱ (German only): Bitcom und Welt, Das beliebteste Produkt der Deutschen ist die Retoure, December 2018
ⁱⁱ Return Magic, Returns Survey (Survey on returns), 2018