7 Tips for Attracting First Customers to Your New Online Store

7 Tips for Attracting First Customers to Your New Online Store You’ve launched an awesome website, but where are the customers? Find out how to attract your first customers with these easy tips.

Congratulations on opening up your new online store. Now, the real challenge begins.

If you want to succeed, you need to generate enough interest to give yourself a great head start on orders. While your competitors are battling to retain customers, you’re battling to obtain customers.

These processes are both important, but they’re vastly different.

You’ve built it, but now it’s time for them to come. There are several ways to get the customers there.

1. Have a Sale

A lot of people are hesitant to try something new, especially if they already have a favorite in a particular category.

More likely than not, you’re challenging their favorite.

If you want them to be more open to the idea of giving you a shot, make it as cheap and easy as possible.

People are a little more eager to make a purchase when the product or service they’re receiving comes at a nice discount.

If you can launch with a decent sale, the prices may be too appealing for potential customers to resist. If they’re happy with what they received, they might tell their friends or even come back for more. Sales help to generate the interest you need for a successful launch.

2. Start an Email List

Promotional materials, triggered emails for cart abandonment, loyalty, and customer retention are all easily handled with email lists.

Entice people with a signup discount, a freebie, or even a birthday perk to encourage them to sign up for your email list. Even if they don’t become customers on their first visit, you’ll wind up with an easy way to remind them to complete a purchase with you. Keep them on the hook, show them what you have to offer, and turn your visitors into customers.

You can even start an email list before the shop has opened.

If your social media profiles have already been established, post sneak peeks of products or services leading up to the launch day. Offer the people who sign up before your online store is open something special for getting on board so early. They’ll already be waiting to become customers.

3. Try Influencer Marketing

Newer companies often reach out to prominent influencers to promote their products.

People with large social media followings are typically the best kinds of influencers to help sell things on the internet. If your online store is small and you’re working with a startup budget, you may not be able to afford to work with influencers who have follower counts close to a million. This doesn’t mean you’re out of options.

Some influencers will accept products for free on the condition that they’re able to provide an unbiased review. If you can find an influencer with an interest or a prominent standing in your industry, reach out and ask. Just make sure that the person you choose to work with is trustworthy and that videos, photos, or reviews will be posted at the appropriate time.

4. Utilize a Strong Communication Strategy

When your store is new, you don’t have an established reputation.

There may not be a lot of information about your products or services readily available on the internet. This void of information and reputation might make visitors hesitant to become customers. You can combat this hesitancy by communicating with your visitors from the moment they arrive.

Live chat tools give you the chance to create a personalized experience for everyone who visits. If there’s something they don’t understand, they can ask for help and get it instantly. This is especially useful for online stores that sell products that involve a lot of specifications, like measurements or tech specs. Live support staff can help customers find something as close to custom tailored as possible, all while improving user experience and establishing a stronger brand relationship.

5. Focus on Social Media

A strong social media strategy will work to help you amass a significant amount of followers. The more followers you have, the more potential customers you’ll obtain.

A great social media strategy will focus both on ads and posts, and the type of posts largely depends on the platform being used. Instagram is best for pictures and short videos, where Facebook gives enough text space for lengthier, useful posts. Snapchat is great for fun marketing content, as it disappears at the end of the day.

With ads, try highly tailoring your audience.

Facebook has excellent tools for demographic targeting with their ad system. You can choose very specific age groups, locations, and common interests when targeting your ads. The more specific your ads are, the more likely the right people are to find your online store. As long as you truly understand your demographics, you’re bound to stumble upon some eager leads.

6. Create an Atmosphere of Exclusivity

Terms like “for a limited time” and “while supplies last” and “VIP” get people moving.

They want to know what’s so special, and more importantly, they want to be a part of that special group.

If your first 100 customers received some sort of elite status or special gift, people will rush to the front of the line. They’ll want to be a member of the group that gets superior treatment. If you let them know that group is available, they’ll be interested in receiving the benefits of membership.

Visitors will become customers, because the exclusivity is a lot more exciting than purchasing a simple product.

7. By Holding a Contest

Many online stores hold contests where posting or sharing content relevant to the brand or its industry enters customers in some kind of drawing or giveaway for a high cost item.

If people want to participate in these contests, they need to interact with your brand. This usually means they’re sharing hashtags or tagging the brand to their audience, driving more people to your website. The buzz from a contest will spread far and wide, getting the word out to anyone involved in your industry. The right people will find you.

Don’t feel discouraged if customers don’t immediately rush in. It takes time to develop a loyal customer base. Just keep working at it and watch the results come in.

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by Chris London of Pixel Productions Inc. The Everything Design Company