Learn how to double (or triple) your Ecommerce brand without losing your money on advertising.
When talking about ecommerce growth tactics, you probably heard things like:
- You need more traffic
- You need more leads
- Your margins are too low
- You can’t scale a low ticket product
- Your product won’t work with paid media
- Etc…
Chances are you listened to at least one of them. And this is haunting you. You may even have been getting sales, but you can’t scale your campaigns because your margin is too thin. I get it. I used to think like that.
Let me clarify one thing. If you want to grow your business, you need a positive cash flow. Paying for ads to get a return in 30-60 days is not a good way to do that. Giving 10% to Amazon and not getting customer information is not either.
You need to own your business and run it cash flow positive to be able to scale.
The formula below is the trick to double (maybe triple) your ecommerce business.
Traffic x Leads x Customers x Margin x Frequency = Growth Potential
Very simple, double any of the variables of this formula — double your growth potential. But let’s get real. You may not be able to double any of them, but you may be able to increase all of them a little, creating a snowball effect on your growth.
Now that you have the formula and some background on it, let’s go over how to improve these variables; one by one.
Traffic
Bringing traffic to your website today is easy and cheap. You can pay Facebook and Google for sponsor spots on their platform, and with a compelling message (that you learned on the first training “Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen”), you will get clicks.
When it comes to traffic, there are 3 main Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) you should be watching closely:
- Quantity (Click-Through-Rate)
- Retention (Bounce-Rate)
- Quality (Conversion-Rate)
If any of these is not working well, it doesn’t matter how much you invest in marketing, you won’t be able to scale your ecommerce business.
Let’s start by discussing quantity — which is how you bring to your website. There are several achieve, such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Content Marketing, Influencers Campaign, Press Releases, Public Relations, Media Buying, and the list goes on…
Organic traffic is great because once you build the engine, there is no cost. The traffic retention and quality are usually higher due to its organic nature — people are looking for you. The issue with organic traffic is that it can take months (or years) to see results, and the initial cost is extremely high. Not optimal for cash flow, but it can increase your profit margin in the long run.
Paid traffic will allow you to grow at your own pace — think of it as a faucet that you can turn on and off whenever you need it. Need more leads? Run ads. Too many leads? Pause them. Media buying is also great because you can analyze the quality and health of your campaigns by watching your CTR (Click-Through-Rate) and CPC (Cost-Per-Click).
Before you start dumping cash into ads, know that there are two main types of media buying; and one always will perform best for your business. Here are them:
The Two Types of Media Buying:
Keyword-Based (i.e. Google Ads): This type of media buying target people who are actively searching for keywords. You, as a business, enter for an action to win a spot on the platform based on the keywords you choose to compete. And the best performing advert wins. This works best for ecommerce brands with products people are actively searching for. Campaigns using this method are considered “Pull Campaigns.”
Interest/Behavior-Based (i.e. Facebook/Instagram): This type of media buying target people who have an interest or have demonstrated behavior towards a specific topic. Your advert will compete with others to be shown to people who are not necessarily searching for the topic. This works extremely well for ecommerce brands with an innovative product no one heard of, a solution people are not searching for, or a product with the “wow!” effect. Campaigns using this method are called “Push Campaigns.”
As a note, both types of media buying have language, geographic, device, demographics, and other targeting capabilities. Choose one that makes sense to your personas.
Now that you have traffic, you must retain it — reducing your bounce rate. Once people land on your website or landing page, you need to make sure they stay there. One easy way to make that is to tell them that they are in the right place. Your advert look, feel, and the copy must match the page you are sending people to. Otherwise, people will think that they are in the wrong place and leave.
Next, make sure your content is engaging, and you provide a good user experience. A clean website, well-written copy, high-quality imagery (make sure to optimize for web), and a well-designed typography set will do it.
Make it responsive so it works on all screen sizes, and optimized so it loads fast!
This is really important as your retention drops by 50% for every extra second your website takes to load. Strive for 3 seconds or less.
Lastly, you need high-quality traffic. — traffic that converts. I’ve seen it countless times. Websites with dozens of thousands of clicks per month and no sales. If you have a good offer and a conversion-focused website, you should be able to convert it. Sometimes, traffic from media buying based on CPC (Cost-per-Click) can be deceiving. For instance, you can write a clickbait copy and get lots of traffic that won’t convert. Or your organic strategy can be what we call “Buzzfeed style.” Engaging content but weak or no offer.
Make sure you optimize your campaigns for conversions. Add only one Call-to-Action (CTA) on your landing page and focus on sales.
I am sure if you work on these tactics you will increase your Traffic variable.
Leads
Accordingly, getting quality leads is the next variable that comes into play with your growth potential. If you want to increase the leads you’re getting, you need to have the following:
- Lead Magnet
- Increased Lead Magnets
- Quality Lead Magnets
What’s a lead magnet, you ask? You see them all the time on the Internet, you just don’t realize it when they’re good ones. Simply put, a lead magnet is an offer that viewers can’t say no to – usually it offers a great, specific value in exchange for a filled-out contact information form.
What makes a great lead magnet stand out from the not-so-great ones is specificity. In just about any instance, a lead magnet won’t perform well if it’s not solving a problem that is specific enough.
When a lead magnet is done right, on the other hand, it can convert more than 60% of its traffic into leads.
In case you don’t have any lead magnets yet, this is the first place to start in order to increase your number of leads coming in.
Have a lead magnet out there, is it bringing the leads you wish for? If you’re acquiring leads but simply not enough, go ahead and create more lead magnets. Try creating lead magnets that offer solutions to a few different, specific problems in order to expand your audience reach.
If you have lead magnets floating around on the Internet, but they’re not bringing in the kind of leads you’re looking for, you might want to reassess.
Again, make them better by making them more specific.
Customers
Know that, just because you increase the number of customers to your online store, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re increasing your profits.
In some cases, acquiring a higher number of customers/buyers could result in negative cash flow to your business. However, working on the Customer variable in this formula isn’t about doubling profits. It’s about activating and adding customers to your pool.
When you want to bring in more customers than ever before, you’ve got to use what we call a Tripwire Offer.
Here’s an amazing article where Ryan Deiss describes the 5-Key points of an effective tripwire.
Essentially, this means you’re offering them something so irresistible that they’ll have no choice but to take it.
For example, a Tripwire Offer could offer a copy of a book at half-price or a useful monthly service for just pennies. It puts something on the table that’s high value and creates an incredibly low barrier to get it.
When the barrier is low enough, you’ll be amazed at the number of new customers you can acquire.
Keep in mind, you’re not looking to become crazy profitable from these offers. You’re just creating a tantalizing offer in order to get more buyers on board.
If you want to become more profitable on every sale, on the other hand, your margin is where you should be focusing your attention.
Margin
When you’re looking to increase the profit margin of your ecommerce site, you need to start off by asking yourself one important question:
“What else can I sell to the same customers?”
Now that you have more traffic, leads, and customers, it’s time to start making the most of each one.
When you design your Tripwire offer, ask yourself what additional offers you can make during the sign-up process.
By cross-selling, up-selling, and bundling your products and services, you can increase the profit you make off of each customer.
Frequency
For the last variable of the formula, you’ll want to increase your customers’ purchase frequency.
If you could get your customers to buy your products twice as often as they currently do, you could potentially double your sales.
In order to make that happen, you’ve got to be constantly communicating with them via a strategic return path.
There are a few different kinds of a return path that you can create for your buyers. These include:
- Ad Retargeting – This means you’ll show ads to prospects that show related digital behavior
- Exit Offers – This means you’ll create a pop-up with an offer when a visitor tries to leave your site or exit the buying page
- Email Automation – This means your digital marketing plan kicks into gear with emails in order to bring previous buyers and current leads back to the site
The most effective tactic of a return path in ecommerce, by far, is the email automation tactic. When you communicate well with your audience pool, you’re more likely to reach them and bring them back to your site with something relevant.
Check out your training: “Increase Customer Lifetime Value with Strategic Email Marketing” for ecommerce tactics you can apply in your business today!
To make sure your email marketing is serving this purpose, make sure every email sent serves one of the following purposes:
- Indoctrinate Them – Educate them on who you are as a brand
- Engage Them – Make them excited about your brand
- Ascend Them – Make them buy more, more often
- Segment Them – Send personalized offers based on behavior and demographics
- Re-Engage Them – Reactivate subscribers who haven’t engaged in a while
Without a return path, customers that have bought from you previously won’t have a viable way back to you. Conversely, with solid return paths, you can create various opportunities to draw them back in time and time again.
Ecommerce Growth Formula — In Summary
Have your sales stalled out, or are you looking for a new perspective on how to increase already great sales?
If you want to double (or triple) your business’ growth potential, you’ll need to hone in on at least one of the five key variables. Focus on increasing your:
- Traffic
- Leads
- Customers
- Margin
- Frequency
As a result, you’ll be able to grow your ecommerce business at rates never imagined.
In essence, bringing traffic is the easiest part. There are a number of ways to do it, but often the simplest and quickest ways are in media buying. By focusing on your KPIs and purchasing the right kinds of ads, you’ll get your business in front of the right people.
Moreover, create quality leads by adding lead magnets or creating better ones. By offering an incredible value as a solution to a specific problem without requiring much in return, you’ll put something in front of your target audience that they won’t be able to say no to.
Besides, to activate more customers than ever, create a Tripwire offer that puts an incredibly low barrier in place for them to cross. With this, you’ll increase your total number of customers and will have the opportunity to offer them more down the road.
Once you have the customers where you want them, increase your profit margin by up-selling, cross-selling, and bundling offers before checkout.
Lastly, increase your buyers’ frequency with a strategic return path to bring them back to you.
