How to Get Sales on Shopify: 10 Steps to Success

Ever since Shopify came into the spotlight, it has changed the ecommerce industry as we know it and made starting an online store easier than ever. Now, millions of businesses use the Shopify platform to reach customers worldwide.

Yet launching a Shopify store is just a small step towards running a successful online business. Many Shopify merchants are just like you: fighting to get ahead of the competition. The most challenging part begins when you publish your first listings and want to stand out from the crowd.

So if you’re struggling to drive traffic to your store and are eager to master the art of selling on Shopify, you’re in the right place. Let’s uncover proven tactics and delve into actionable tips that will help you navigate how to get sales on Shopify.

8 reasons your store isn’t getting sales

Before we get into effective sales strategies, it’s essential to run a  health check on your Shopify store and understand the main areas for improvement.

Here are the most common reasons your store may not be getting enough sales:

Lack of traffic. You can’t make sales without traffic, so have you established a system for attracting customers through different channels and building a loyal audience?

Generic products. Are your products different from that of your competitors? If they don’t have any unique features, chances are customers will look for something more exciting and valuable elsewhere.

Generic images and descriptions. Stock images or dry product descriptions are rarely compelling or inspiring enough for customers to click and make a purchase.

Poor marketing strategies. You might have great products, but if you don’t have an effective marketing strategy and use social media, paid ads, or SEO, potential customers won’t find out about your offering.

No conversion strategies. Are you proactively working to capture and nurture your leads? Without sign-up forms and email marketing campaigns, you may be missing out on sales.

Confusing checkout process. Do you make it easy for your customers to complete a purchase? Limited payment options or too many checkout steps can lead to abandoned carts and lost sales.

No brand story. Visitors are more likely to become loyal customers and make repeated purchases if there’s a strong brand behind the products and meaningful values they can connect with.

No customer-centric content. Do you help customers resolve questions and concerns through engaging and useful blog articles or other types of content? Showing expertise and empathizing with potential customers can significantly drive sales for your ecommerce store.

If you nodded even once or twice while reading this list, your Shopify store’s performance may be falling behind. Don’t fret, there’s still time to revive it.

Source: Kindel Media

How to get sales on Shopify: 10 key tips

Now that you’ve gained a better idea of why you may not be getting as many sales on Shopify as you’d hoped for, it’s time to explore effective strategies to get your store back on track. These 10 tips will help you attract more customers, increase conversions, and ultimately grow your Shopify business.

1. Create compelling listing photos and descriptions

Visual appeal matters in ecommerce as much as in physical stores. High-quality photos not only help showcase your products in a more favorable light but can also give you a competitive edge as you highlight specific and unique features of your items.

To show you the true impact of product images, think about the fact that authentic and attention-grabbing photos can increase conversion rates up to 9%. And when you pair them with product descriptions that highlight problem-solving benefits or the value they bring, rather than just listing specifications, you create a winning formula. 

Silk Laundry is an excellent example of how to use high-quality product photos and detailed product descriptions.

Think about hiring a professional photographer and stylist if you don’t feel skilled enough to stand behind a camera and set the scene yourself. Not sure of what to write? A freelance copywriter can help you craft the right messaging. This is a one-time investment that will surely pay off in the long-term.

2. Optimize your product listings for SEO

Google is usually the first place people go to when they begin their search on the internet and want to discover new products. And if your product pages and online store are optimized for search engines, you can rank higher in search results, reach your target customers, and drive traffic to your website without relying on Google ads or other types of paid advertising.

Search engine optimization is such a game-changer in ecommerce because it can save you up to 400% on ad spending while generating the same amount of organic traffic.

Source: Myriam Jessier

Currently, the web is flooded with guides that show you how to master SEO for ecommerce stores. Even Shopify has created a simple checklist for optimizing your store’s performance. But don’t get overwhelmed by the amount of information or technical terms involved. Just focus on these key things first:

Identify long-tail keywords associated with your products that target more specific search queries. For example, “women’s t-shirts” may be too generic and be overrun by the major fashion brands in search results. Alternatively, “custom t-shirts for women” or “custom hoodies for couples” may be a lot less competitive and more available to new sellers.

Use primary keywords in your product titles, descriptions, tags, URL (if possible), and meta title (the page title that appears in search results).

Use secondary keywords when describing your products in detail as well as other content on your website to build authority and expertise in the niche.

Create a simple site structure so that all products can be reached within two or three clicks from the home page and interlink them where possible to boost each page’s individual authority.

Ensure a great user experience by offering a fast page speed, easy navigation, and engaging content. If you don’t focus on these things, high bounce rates can worsen the ranking of your Shopify store.

While there are other technical SEO aspects that could impact your organic reach, these content-related tactics will get you off to a good start and help you generate more sales.

For more in-depth information, check out our guide to SEO and how it works that includes insights into relevant SEO tools. 

3. Search for collaborations

The quote “If you want to go far, go together” is also true in the ecommerce sphere. Partnering with bloggers and influencers can help expose your products to new audiences, raise brand awareness, and build credibility. Such collaborations may be particularly beneficial if you’re still waiting for your first sale.

There are a variety of ways to get involved in a partnership. It could be a one-time review in the form of a blog article or a series of social media posts mentioning your Shopify store. The most successful Shopify stores (Soxfords is a good example), usually have a number of partnerships running simultaneously to ensure multiple streams of traffic.

Influencers are a great way to get your Shopify store some much-needed exposure. Source: Liza Summer

In many cases, bloggers and influencers are interested in trying out new products or supporting budding businesses in return for free samples or a small fee—as long as your brand matches their profile. So it’s important to invest your time in researching potential collaborators and prioritizing those with engaged audiences that resemble your existing customers.

Don’t be discouraged if the biggest names in the industry say no or are too expensive in the beginning. You should be ready to negotiate terms that suit both parties and maybe go for smaller influencers at first. In fact, smaller influencers often provide more authentic content and can help you build confidence with your audience, ultimately benefitting your Shopify store.

4. Grow your presence on social media and forums

It’s not enough to have other people talking about your products and engaging with your potential customers. You need to work on your online presence and connect with your target audience as well.

Social media platforms are the easiest way to do it. But don’t think you have to be everywhere and post something every single day. Research your audience and understand where they are most active. Then, check what they post about, analyze their pain points, and craft content that will resonate with them the most.

For example, if you offer custom clothing or fitness equipment, Instagram and TikTok will be your best bets since both are highly visual platforms. Alternatively, office supplies or B2B solutions may shine better on LinkedIn which is more for professional networking. Try to strike a balance between promoting your products and sharing valuable information. People will eventually get tired of ads and also won’t form a deeper connection with your business through purely promotional content.

Angelus Direct showcases behind-the-scenes, new products, product use cases, and other engaging content on their Instagram account.

In addition to social media platforms, you could also participate actively in forums like Reddit or niche Facebook groups where your clients look for advice and answers to common questions. These are great outlets for learning about your customers, engaging with them, sharing helpful content, and mentioning your Shopify store when it makes sense.

5. Create a strong marketing strategy

To attract and retain customers consistently, your social media efforts should be part of a comprehensive and integrated marketing strategy for your Shopify store. This includes paid advertising if you can swing it (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or Google ads), email marketing (promotional emails, funnels), as well as website notifications and pop-ups.

Each component within your strategy should work synergistically to bring more sales to your Shopify store. For email marketing, start by selecting a platform—Mailchimp, Omnisend, and Klaviyo are among the most popular ones—and put a sign-up form on your website to collect emails and generate targeted offers. Then, think about when and how you’ll send out promotional offers.

Nutrisend uses pop-ups to encourage store visitors to sign up for their newsletter.

Ad campaigns, in turn, can help you reach a huge number of potential buyers you wouldn’t normally capture as quickly and sometimes even for a relatively small investment. It all comes down to selecting the right audience and creating captivating copy. Different discounts, limited-time offers, and free shipping options can also draw more interest to your ads.

Each channel has some peculiarities that you can learn more about in these guides:

Google Ads Marketing Tips

Facebook Ads for Beginners

Driving More Sales with Instagram

6. Offer a loyalty program

People are creatures of habit and they like to return to stores that have previously satisfied their needs. Because of that, retaining existing clients is 25 times cheaper than acquiring new ones, and a customer loyalty program can certainly support that.

There are many ways to reward repeat customers and incentivize them to return to your Shopify store. You could offer exclusive discounts, early access to sales or limited availability products, or grant points for every purchase that can be exchanged for different perks.

To start a loyalty program, just add one of the many available loyalty apps to your store, and you won’t have to worry about manually rewarding your customers.

7. Build authority with blog articles

We’ve already covered SEO and how it’s important to optimize product pages. But commercial content is not the only type of text you should have on your website. Consider creating a dedicated blog section where to share company insights, helpful tips, and industry news that would resonate with your target customers.

Publishing informative and relevant blog articles can help solidify your expertise in your specific niche and attract more traffic organically. Valuable blog posts are also more likely to acquire backlinks and be shared by your store’s visitors, therefore extending your reach.

If you don’t know what to write about, turn to your competition and target customer block for ideas. You can also use tools like Ubersuggest or AlsoAsked to discover the most often asked questions related to your primary keywords and turn them into popular blog formats—how-to guides, comparison posts, or best product idea overviews.

Happy Flame is a great example of how to provide valuable, user-focused information that  also showcases your products in blog posts.

Of course, writing interesting and worthwhile pieces requires time and skills, so if you’re not a writer at heart, don’t shy away from outsourcing to a professional.If you can, though, try crafting a few articles yourself every now and then to give your content a more personal touch and strengthen the voice behind the brand.

8. Ensure safe payments

In the digital age with so many scammers out there, creating a secure and trustworthy space for online purchases is essential to increasing sales on Shopify. Different trust signals like a secure payments badge or sensitive information encryption can significantly boost confidence in your customers and encourage them to shop.

While thinking about how to accommodate your client needs and preferences, you may also implement multiple payment methods, including Paypal, by credit card, Apple Pay, and others. Offering free shipping and money-back guarantees can also play a critical role in persuading new customers to give your store a try.

Diamond Treats earns customer trust by allowing returns and displaying the Trusted Shops badge.

Trusted Sites and ShopClimb are among the many apps offering an easy way of adding trust badges to your product pages and helping to increase conversions.

9. Connect your store to other apps

Loyalty applications and trust badges are just some of the numerous apps that you could add to your Shopify store. Shopify’s extensive app store offers solutions that cater to nearly every aspect of ecommerce, from review collection and customer support to marketing automation and analytics. It can also be easily connected to print-on-demand services like Printful.

Integrating your store with various apps can significantly enhance its functionality, streamline operations, and reduce manual work. You could also consider adding a live chat to your website which will help provide excellent customer service and boost the number of happy clients.

[PULL QUOTE] Pro tip: Learn more about selling print-on-demand products and Shopify dropshipping in our guide How to Dropship on Shopify.

10. Reach out to fellow Shopify sellers

If you’re just starting out on Shopify, it’s only natural that you may not know all the tips and tricks, and you may get stuck wondering why your store isn’t converting. But trust me, the majority of the 4.4 billion Shopify store owners have most likely been in a similar situation and could help you get going.

Shopify has created a supportive community forum where you can network with other merchants to exchange insights, share strategies, find solutions, and collaborate on promotional efforts. Don’t hesitate to jump in discussions or start new ones because building relationships can eventually lead to valuable partnerships and mutual business growth.

Source: Shopify

Finally, if you learn best by seeing other great examples and all of the previously mentioned tips executed in real life rather than just reading about them, you can always research the top-performing Shopify stores and get inspired by their work.

Ready for more sales on Shopify?

Consistently getting sales on Shopify takes time and effort. After all, there are so many other sellers out there fighting for their piece of the pie. However, as long as you address common pain points, follow proven strategies, and continuously optimize your online store, you’ll be able to drive sales like a pro in no time.

Remember that you can’t build a successful ecommerce business overnight and the ecommerce landscape itself is ever-evolving, so be prepared to roll up your sleeves and adapt your strategy in the process. Consistency, perseverance, and flexibility are the key to maximizing your Shopify store’s potential for success.