Drive sales on autopilot with ecommerce-focused features
See FeaturesGenerating sales on Shopify can be challenging, whether you’re a newcomer or an existing seller. With fierce competition in nearly every niche, it’s easy to feel like your store is destined for failure.
Fortunately, this isn’t the case! There are plenty of techniques you can implement to rise above the competition and achieve the sales your business deserves.
In this article, we’ll outline the best strategies that you can implement to generate your first sale or increase the sales you’re already making.
Why am I not getting sales on Shopify?
There are plenty of reasons why your store may not be bringing in as many sales as you’d have hoped, including:
- Lack of marketing: If people aren’t aware of your brand, they’re not going to buy from you, so make sure you put adequate effort into brand marketing
- Ineffective pricing strategy: Customers are unlikely to risk spending over the odds for a product from a brand they don’t fully trust
- Unsuitable product images/descriptions: Professionalism is vital for experiencing success with your business, so if your pictures and descriptions are below par, people won’t take you seriously
- Poor customer service: Inadequate customer service will harm your brand’s reputation, resulting in customers feeling undervalued and being less likely to return
- Bad SEO: Not optimizing your SEO will mean that you won’t be seen on search engines, resulting in low traffic to your store
- Poor branding: Brands with a strong ethos, page theme, and aesthetic are more appealing to first-time customers
Key strategies for making your first sale on Shopify
1. Optimize product listings for SEO
To boost your store’s visibility, it’s essential to ensure your site ranks on search engines. That’s where SEO (search engine optimization) comes in. Paying attention to this key aspect is crucial, starting with using relevant keywords.
Find relevant keywords that relate to the products you sell and include them in all of your Shopify written content:
- Product descriptions
- Page titles
- Collection titles and descriptions
- Image alt text
While the use of keywords is important, you shouldn’t overuse them, as that will detract from the intention of the content you’re writing. Product and collection descriptions should always remain clear and concise.
You should optimize your site’s meta description, which is the brief text that appears underneath your store title on the SERP (search engine results page). Ensure it highlights exactly what customers can expect from your store while ensuring it isn’t too long.
2. Leverage social media marketing
Social media has become the primary marketing space for small businesses in recent years. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as it’s the ideal place to find like-minded people who may be interested in your store. That’s why, if you want to start generating sales, it’s the perfect starting point.
Here’s a brief overview of why you should start leveraging your marketing efforts on social media:
- Increasing brand awareness: Social media gives you the opportunity to directly promote your brand’s name and aesthetic to potential customers. As sites like Instagram are image-based, you can easily control how people see your brand, attracting people who understand your vision.
- Saving money on marketing: Small Shopify businesses are unlikely to be able to afford a large-scale marketing campaign. However, you can advertise on social media for considerably less, and if your content is consistent enough to build a following, you can advertise for free.
- Engaging with customers: Social media is the ideal tool for building customer relationships, as it simplifies one-to-one interactions. This will lead to increased brand loyalty from customers and more repeat sales.

3. Offer a welcome discount
Let’s be honest — it’s hard to resist making a purchase when you’re offered a discount, whether it’s 50% or 5%.
Customers will often be hesitant to buy from a business that they’re unfamiliar with, which is why welcome discounts are a useful tool. They don’t have to be huge, a 10% can be a good start. They just have to persuade new visitors to follow through with their purchase.

Discounts also encourage people to spend more, which will increase order values.
Shopify makes offering welcome discounts easy, as you can create simple popups offering codes to new visitors. You can even require customers to sign up to your email list to gain access to the code, which is great for future marketing.
4. Add social proof through reviews
Before buying a product, customers often browse through reviews to ensure they’re not about to waste their money on a poor-quality item. Having social proof that your products live up to expectations will only improve your chances of securing further sales.

The big problem is that not every customer is guaranteed to leave you a review — positive or negative.
That’s why it’s important to give your customers a bit of encouragement to leave you a review. A personalized note in the package or a follow-up email after delivery can go a long way in encouraging feedback.
You could even offer discounts to customers who leave reviews on your Shopify site, further increasing the chances of repeat purchases.
5. Use influencer partnerships
While influencers have gained a mixed reputation among social media users, they can be beneficial for generating initial sales of your products.
When you’re first starting out, you’ll want to target smaller influencers in the niche you are trying to embed yourself into. This way, your product will be seen by the exact audience that will want to buy your products, increasing the chances of purchases. All it involves is sending them a couple of your products to review.
If you were to strike up a partnership with a well-established influencer, you would likely have to pay a fee alongside sending out free products. Smaller influencers don’t tend to command a fee to review products, making it a win-win situation for you and them.

Advanced strategies to increase Shopify sales for established stores
6. Email marketing with Omnisend
Email marketing is highly effective for generating leads and closing sales. Yet, many Shopify store owners see it as time-consuming and technical.
With Omnisend, though, there’s no steep learning curve, so anyone — from rookies to experts — will start seeing benefits in no time.
Omnisend allows users to segment their audience and send out targeted emails to individuals based on their previous shopping behaviors. By personalizing your emails, you’ll cater directly to what the customer wants from your store and make them feel valued and appreciated.
Omnisend can also help you send cart recovery emails to customers who have left your page without buying the products they added to their cart. This is a powerful tool for transforming unsure customers into keen, paying customers, increasing your sales and profits.
So, with the help of Omnisend, you can personalize emails without having to trawl through data and keep an eye on customer behavior yourself.

To get an even clearer picture of what Omnisend can offer you, check out this video:
7. Upsell and cross-sell related products
Increasing order value is essential for businesses for several reasons, the most important of which is its direct impact on revenue. When customers buy more products, sales naturally grow to drive profits.
One of the most effective ways to increase order values is to upsell products related to what the customer is interested in buying. By offering an upgrade, you give the customer the satisfaction of receiving an improved product while increasing your sales revenue.
Cross-selling products is also effective, offering your customers extra items they might be interested in. You can cross-sell at checkout for last-minute purchases or display relevant items alongside a product that someone has clicked on.
8. Add customer testimonials and case studies
When someone buys a product from your store, inviting them to leave you a review can help you sell more products moving forward. Whether you have five or 500 reviews, customer feedback plays a key role in building trust with potential buyers.
Reviews create a sense of reassurance for new customers, as they can see others’ positive experiences with your products. This reduces their perceived risk of making a purchase, making it more likely that they’ll choose your business.
Reviews will also help you gauge which of your products are a hit and inform you of areas for improvement.
9. Offer loyalty and referral programs
If your store is struggling to secure repeat customers, it may be worth considering starting a loyalty or referral program. These programs offer customers incentives to return or invite friends to purchase from you.
How can loyalty programs help your business?
Loyalty programs are a highly effective method of generating repeat business. Offering rewards to people for repeat purchases gives them an incentive to return to your company and spend more money in your store.
How can referral programs help your business?
Offering referral incentives, such as store discounts, can be an excellent way to promote your store. The original customer is motivated to spend more, while new customers are introduced to your brand. All you have to do is offer an incentive that makes the deal worthwhile for both parties.
10. Set up retargeting ads
When running a Shopify store, you are likely to encounter your fair share of customers who have shown interest but left without completing the purchase. While this is undeniably frustrating, you can mitigate the issue by setting up retargeting ads.
These are tailored ads targeting former store visitors, reminding them of the items left behind in their carts. The goal is to refresh the customer’s memory of the products they almost bought.
Retargeting ads are a good way of further nibbling at those who haven’t responded to your retargeting emails. By displaying your ads across various online platforms, you’ll keep your brand top of mind.
Non-ad strategies to drive Shopify sales growth
11. Create helpful product-centric content
The more information related to a particular product a customer can consume, the more likely they are to eventually buy it. By producing blog posts or videos centered around your products, you’ll iron out any queries or hesitancies your customers might have.
High-quality content can also help improve organic traffic to your website. When your content resonates with your audience, it naturally draws people in. By maintaining consistency, you’ll build a loyal following that is more likely to consider your products when it’s time to make a purchase.
Engaging content will also help you develop a relationship with your customers, instilling your brand’s voice, attitude, and ethos into their minds.

12. Implement live chat for real-time support
Implementing a live chat feature will help you boost conversions, as you’ll be able to answer any queries holding people back from buying. But that’s not all — integrating real-time support offers several other advantages, including:
- Customer satisfaction: Answering customer questions promptly will improve the overall customer experience and help you strengthen your relationship with customers
- Insights: If you keep receiving similar questions, it can give you an insight into information that needs to be made clearer on your site
- Speeding up the process: The longer a customer waits for answers, the more time they have to second-guess their decision and reconsider making a purchase
Although live chat support requires time and effort, it will ultimately lead to increased sales.

13. Build a community around your brand
The internet has helped bring like-minded people together, wherever they may be. Use this to your advantage, creating a community of customers and followers centered around your brand.
Having a community of people brought together by your brand will increase brand loyalty. Customers will feel connected to you, seeing your store as the first port of call when they need a particular product.
They will also help you improve certain aspects of your business by leaving comments in forums or online groups. This will help you tailor your businesses to the needs of the people that matter most: the customers.
Lastly, building a community around your brand will help your business grow. When people feel connected to your brand’s vision, they’re more likely to share it with friends, family, or other groups they belong to. Being part of a strong, supportive community will only broaden your brand’s horizons.

14. Improve site speed and mobile experience
Customers crave convenience, so they won’t take too kindly to an online store that takes ages to load and isn’t optimized for mobile use. After all, unless your product is truly groundbreaking, they can always hop to another site selling an alternative.
To ensure the customer chooses your site and your product, prioritize creating a seamless and user-friendly website experience.
In addition to having a smooth-running desktop store, the mobile element of your site is vital. People are shopping on their mobile phones more frequently than ever, so don’t take mobile optimization lightly.
15. Add urgency with countdown timers
Creating a sense of urgency is an excellent tool for converting sales. This means that customers won’t have the time to dwell on whether or not they should buy a product. You can create this urgency by:
- Creating countdown timers: People won’t want to miss out on a deal, especially if they’re on the fence about buying your product. Putting an ever-decreasing countdown timer on an offer can transform them from hesitating to taking action.
- Alerting customers of limited supply: If you let customers know that stock for a product is low, they won’t wait a day or two before buying it. This also lets them know that a product is popular, raising its worth in their minds.

Additional strategies to get consistent sales on Shopify
16. Optimize checkout experience
The process of securing a sale isn’t complete until the customer has clicked on the confirm payment button. That’s why you should make every step of their shopping experience as simple and straightforward as possible, including the checkout experience.
There are a handful of ways in which you can optimize your checkout experience, including:
- Offer guest checkout: Giving new customers the chance to purchase an item without creating an account will streamline their checkout process
- Enable auto-fill: Customers want to fill out as few forms as possible, which is why you should always enable auto-fill for billing addresses, payment details, and so on
- Use progress indicators: Letting your customers know exactly where they are in the checkout process will stop them from becoming fed up and abandoning their cart
17. Create bundles or special offers
Creating bundles or special, limited-time offers can boost your sales on Shopify. These strategies allow you to offer your customers great value while increasing order value and clearing your inventory. If the offers last for a limited time only, they will create a sense of urgency to inspire customers to take quicker action.
For maximum effectiveness, specially curated bundles and special offers can be utilized around certain times of the year, such as Christmas and Easter.
When creating these offers and bundles, it’s important to offer relevant products, otherwise, customers will have no interest in adding to their original purchase.
18. Use email retargeting to reduce cart abandonment

There are few things more frustrating for owners of online stores than seeing full carts abandoned by customers before the checkout process. However, with the power of email retargeting, you can throw out one final life ring before the customer is lost forever.
Retargeting emails are specific to the person you are sending them to, alerting them of the exact items they have left behind.
This approach will help to jog the memories of those who forgot about the items rather than those who had a last-minute change of heart. It’s highly effective in clawing back those almost-customers and turning potential interest into closed sales.
19. Run seasonal or holiday sales
‘Tis the season to make heaps of money from your Shopify store. Running seasonal or holiday sales will keep your store relevant throughout the year as people try to keep up with the appropriate mood.

There are plenty of examples of how this works in the physical retail world, like how people flock to their nearest coffee shop chain to get a taste of pumpkin spice as soon as the first leaf falls in autumn.
The same goes for online stores — people can’t wait to jump on a seasonal trend, especially if it looks great on Instagram.
So, get ahead of the game by preparing in advance for every holiday and season, and launch your exclusive, limited-edition products to catch their attention.
20. Include FAQs on product pages
Including an FAQ section on your product pages will answer any questions a potential customer may have about a product. This can turn someone hesitant about taking a chance on your product into someone who can barely keep their wallet in their pocket.
In general, FAQ sections will also help with your store’s SEO. They can provide further information to search engines about the role of your store, as well as allowing you to include more keywords.

You can also include links to other products within your FAQ section, encouraging customers to browse more of your products and visit areas of your store they may not have been to previously.
21. Personalize the shopping experience
Remember that in the world of online retail, catering to your audience’s desires isn’t just acceptable — it’s a savvy strategy to stay ahead of the competition. Personalize their experience in every way possible, starting with showing them relevant products based on their interactions with your store.
Next, send them a few personalized emails with their name front and center, letting them know they’ll love the new product line you’re about to drop.
22. Use interactive content like quizzes
Unfortunately, the internet has left many users with shorter attention spans, meaning audience engagement is more important than ever. That means you have to provide them with interactive content.

This type of content can include popup quizzes that can provide you with extra information about what your customers are looking for. For example, you could set up a quiz around the types of products in your store.
This could help you find out what garners more interest in your store than others.
23. Improve product photography and descriptions
The 2000s are long gone, so there is no longer an excuse to be posting product photos that look like they were taken with a flip phone.
Make sure the lighting is right, you capture shots from multiple angles, and have a good balance between creative and clean product shots.

You’ll also want to put some effort into your product descriptions. You don’t need to channel Shakespeare — “to sell or not to sell” isn’t the question here. Instead, keep things nice and concise, use some keywords, and iron out any spelling mistakes.
24. Simplify the navigation and search features
If you want to get the most out of your Shopify store, make sure you create it with the customer experience in mind.
Don’t drag your customers down digital alleyways — make sure each click gets them exactly where they want, with each part of your store labeled simply and correctly.
Keep your menus streamlined, put relevant products together, and use Shopify’s collections feature. There are plenty of ways to craft your store to make it simple to use.
25. Create and test limited-edition products
Creating limited-edition products can help you inject intrigue into your store, as customers won’t want to miss out on a shiny new product. However, the benefits don’t stop there because these special releases can also drive significant sales growth:
- Scarcity: The clue’s in the name, as limited-edition products won’t stay on the digital shelves for long. This creates a sense of urgency for customers who won’t want to miss out.
- Maintaining engagement: Limited-edition products are exciting for customers, especially those who have followed your brand for a while. This can further increase engagement with your brand.
- Creates interest: Having limited-edition products creates interest surrounding your brand. Soon-to-be-gone products are far more intriguing than products that have remained part of your store since the beginning.

Conclusion
Getting sales on Shopify may feel like a struggle when you’re first starting out. But by implementing some of these Shopify tips, you’ll be able to boost your profile and get the ball rolling on sales.
Ultimately, you cannot rely solely on the quality of your products to bring you success in such a saturated online retail market. You will have to put in the extra legwork to attract customers and close sales.
From optimizing your SEO to sending out well-crafted marketing emails with the help of Omnisend, anyone can generate success with their Shopify store. Add simple marketing techniques to perseverance and consistency, and you will undoubtedly be on to a winner.
Get more sales on Shopify FAQs
You can improve the speed at which you generate sales on Shopify by offering customers incentives to choose to buy from your business. These incentives can range from offering free shipping to first-time buyer discounts and having a strong brand identity.
There are multiple reasons why your store gets views but no sales. You may be targeting the wrong audience, offering a below-par user experience, or failing to have adequate product pictures and descriptions. It may also be due to high shipping fees and slow shipping times.
There are various Shopify apps that can assist you in increasing sales. One of these is Omnisend, which allows you to segment your customer base and send them targeted emails about their interactions with your store.
There is no guaranteed time to achieve your first sale on Shopify. Some Shopify stores will receive sales within days if their branding is good and their products are high-quality. It may take other stores upwards of 60 days to start generating sales.
Offering customers free shipping can increase both sales and order value. It helps improve conversion rates, as well customer satisfaction, which will often lead to loyalty and repeat purchases. It’s a highly effective way to encourage customers to try your store for the first time.
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