Can SMEs Encourage Customers To Spend More Online? U.S. spending is trickling down, falling for the first time in May this year. Rapid inflation and interest rate heights are responsible for complicating these matters.
People are being guarded with their finances for a good reason. Still, SMEs need to stay afloat despite the downturn. If you run one yourself, you should not feel guilty about trying to mine every cent possible from your customers in legal, business-savvy ways.
Sometimes, these solutions can simply come down to what payment methods you implement. For example, people using credit cards spend more liberally on everyday items. They can also be more tempted to buy something at a higher price than usual with a card too.
Of course, there is more to these efforts than this, especially when managing the online side of things. Here are some suggestions that might help you encourage your customers to spend more online.
Refine Online Credit Card Processing
There are many different types of digital payments for customers to enjoy. However, as previously mentioned, those with credit cards tend to spend more, so your online systems must embrace those payment methods efficiently.
Learn how to refine online credit card processing for small businesses by reading Nadapayments resources. Here you will understand what you need to get started and the costs of online credit card processing. They can also help you to facilitate on-the-go mobile payments too. Be as informed impossible, and there will be no surprises.
Credit cards can be a more convenient tool for customers when they shop at brick-and-mortar establishments. Nobody likes to be limited by the cash they have on their person. However, there is some wiggle room for people who utilize credit cards, so leaning into their use more is a good idea.
Curate a Loyalty Program
Credit card companies already have loyalty programs in place for their users. However, developing your own could be a worthwhile endeavor, too, giving customers a further incentive to shop with you and use their cards.
There are many possible routes to go down here, and you explore as many or as few of them as you deem appropriate. The most promising solutions include:
- Donating a portion of customer spending to charity and welfare organizations.
- Earning free products when using a credit card for a purchase.
- Encouraging customers to redeem any points they accumulate with every purchase.
- Offering a subscription or membership service for discounts or exclusive offers.
You could even feature all the above under a tiered loyalty program scheme. That way, there can be a sense of depth and progression in the consumer experience. As customers grow fonder of your brand, they will naturally become curious about what more it could offer.
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Present Quality Recommendations
Repeat business is vital. While brick-and-mortar stores can struggle to retain their customers, online businesses can appeal to their consumers directly and constantly with personalized recommendations.
A customer’s purchase history is more than just an interesting piece of trivia. It is data that you can use to facilitate more sales in future. The suggestions must be tailored and relevant, too. If a customer buys a spoon from you, your online algorithms should recommend knives, forks, plates, and anything else in that wheelhouse.
These suggestions should appear both on your website and ideally elsewhere, too, but your customers can only opt for the latter. Still, if you can stress that your recommendations will be relevant and useful, it may just convince them to sign up for those advertisements. And from there, repeat purchases are far more likely.
Despite targeted ads and recommendations being useful to some, not everybody appreciates them fully and prefers to maintain their privacy. Therefore, you should also take care not to over-rely on these solutions. People may opt in and out for any number of reasons, and your SME should respect that completely.
Cycle Through Limited-Time Offers
Online users can feel accomplished if a quick Google search for a product leads them to make great savings. They will keep returning for more if you regularly give them that adrenaline rush.
Most businesses, online or otherwise, will occasionally offer limited time offers. However, they make the mistake of taking that phrase too literally. While some deals should certainly come and go, it is best always to have some type of sale underway. Keep things balanced properly, and a constant surge of excitement can run through your online store.
You could cycle through various limited time offers and theme each one differently. Price cuts, two-for-one offers, bundled products, and seasonal deals can give customers an extra nudge to spend a little more than they would otherwise. Few people can truly turn their nose up at good value, so it is worth keeping that in mind with your online store.
Be sure to spread the good word about these events far and wide via your social media channels too. If the limited-time offers are outrageously tempting, web users will undoubtedly share your posts and promote your efforts on your behalf. Countdowns can also build anticipation for each new limited-time offer, amassing hype before it goes live.
Practice Honesty
Online shopping is immensely convenient for customers, but there is a lot of potential for misunderstandings to occur too. This is especially true when online stores embellish the nature of their products, whether it is through flowery copy or photoshopped imagery.
All too often, people purchase a product online that does not resemble the promotional images at all. Sadly, this only needs to happen once for the trust to be irreparably broken. Refunds and bad reviews will surely follow, too.
Therefore, your online store must honestly reflect what your SME provides. Once you fulfil that extremely basic obligation (and many online firms fail to), customers will return and feel more confident spending more flexibly on your goods. After all, some may only test the waters in the beginning and buy one item. If you pass, more spending will follow.
Keep the transaction process as straightforward as possible. Use SEO keywords to invigorate your product descriptions rather than bombard users with walls of misleading text. For images of products, publish multiple angles and provide zooming-in features. For clothing, having models wear the stock can also indicate trustworthiness.