Within any marketing strategy, you can define numerous short, mid, and long-term goals. Some goals are geared towards generating leads and retaining customers, others to building up your brand and digital presence, while some are completely geared to boosting your sales. Of course, you can optimize your marketing to achieve all of these goals and more, but when it comes to growing your business through enhanced sales, you need to employ specific tools and tactics.
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Concretely and most importantly for the new normal, you need to create an omni-channel approach to sales that will allow you to engage with your customers through every possible touchpoint. This will not only show them that you’re focusing on providing a holistic experience, but that they can engage with your brand on their own terms, which is imperative nowadays.
Alright, let’s put all of this in perspective and give you the five tips on how you can boost customer acquisition and repeat conversions through a well-designed omni-channel sales approach.
Use live chat and automation to your advantage
The modern consumer market, both online and offline, emphasizes expedience and prompt brand-consumer interaction above all else. In other words, if you’re not readily available to chat to your customers and process their orders in real time, you’re wasting sales opportunities. Make no mistake, the modern customer will venture to your competitors’ website if they see that they can’t get a hold of you right then and there. This is why enabling live chat on a 24/7 basis is so important nowadays.
A live chat function allows people to ask the important questions before placing an order, and it allows them to order a product directly in the chat. However, live chat can put a heavy strain on your resources, which is why implementing AI-driven solutions is also a wise choice.
Be sure to integrate a chatbot to handle menial and repetitive queries and tasks. The chatbot can process orders for you directly in the chat and provide all the information the customer might need without incurring any additional expenses for your company.
Sell more by engaging with customers via messaging apps
Much like you should use live chat to engage with customers, you should also leverage direct messaging features and apps to get in touch with customers both online and offline. Keep in mind that social media sales have become immensely popular nowadays, and that selling through social media chats is one of the best ways to boost your sales campaigns, especially in the new normal.
That said, it’s not just about chatting with people on social media, it’s also about reaching out and communicating via messaging apps and even good old SMS. You can communicate special deals and discounts, and use storytelling to inspire your customers to make a purchase simply by replying to your message. Remember, selling through direct messaging is about convenience, so be specific and don’t force them to check out your site – let them make a quick purchase right then and there.
Manage sales orders from a centralized location
An omni-channel sales strategy can be challenging to execute and maintain if you don’t have a centralized sales management system in your hands. Pooling, organizing, and processing orders from a variety of sales channels manually is next to impossible, and it requires a whole team of professionals to avoid making one of the many mistakes that can easily occur. Even then, the risk of human error is too high.
Take the ever-complicated manufacturing industry as a prime example. Managing sales in manufacturing is a complex process due to the large number of channels and customer types, which is why cloud-based manufacturing software for small business has become so popular in this field in recent years. A cloud sales management platform is a centralized location where you can organize, manage, and process sales orders and data.
The main benefit of this software is that it allows you to manage your inventory from one dashboard and process sales information in real time, eliminating the risks associated with running multiple sales channels. Regardless of the industry you’re in, this type of software will make your omni-channel sales more viable in the long run.
Leverage email for laser-precise sales opportunities
It should go without saying that email marketing is one of the most powerful digital marketing tools in your arsenal. However, it’s also one of the best sales channels at your disposal. You can and should use email marketing during the COVID-19 crisis to achieve your sales goals by establishing a direct line of communication with the target customer. Make sure that your emails offer personalized, sales-oriented copy, and allow your customers to place an order by replying directly to your email.
Optimize sales for mobile commerce
Last but certainly not least, you need to leverage mobile for sales as much as you can. It’s important to note that Mcommerce is on the rise around the world, and that more people are shopping from their mobile devices than ever before.
If you want to maximize conversions in 2021 and beyond, then you need to optimize your website and your checkout process for seamless mobile shopping and browsing. Be sure to use accelerated mobile pages to rank higher on Google as well and make your website perform better on all mobile devices.
Wrapping up
Nowadays, you can’t force a customer to place an order in a way that suits you – they need and want to shop on their own terms. Be sure to use these tips to build an omni-channel sales approach that will help you maximize conversions by leveraging multiple customer touchpoints in the online and offline worlds.