9 Effective Growth Hacks for Your Retail or eCommerce Business

September 3, 2021 - 11 minutes read

Tips and ideas that can increase revenue.

Growth hacking is a form of digital marketing that combines high-value yet low-cost strategies designed to not only grab the attention of more shoppers but also transform them into loyal repeat customers. Once you gain growth hacking momentum, you can acquire and retain new customers (add link to new article when it’s published) at scale.

To enjoy growth hacking success, you need to be forward-thinking, creative, and analytical.

This may sound daunting, but growth hacking an eCommerce or retail business is easier than you think.

Let’s explore the 12 essential growth hacks that will accelerate the success of your business

1. Tap into FOMO

FOMO is the “fear of missing out.” As a common physiological driver, FOMO creates a sense of urgency and increases the chances of someone committing to your service or product.

To add a dash of FOMO to your landing pages, email communications, or product descriptions, you can:

Place a “limited stock remaining” or “almost sold out” tag on certain products or service offerings.
Add a visual countdown timer to a deal or discount you’re offering to your customers.
Create product descriptions focused on the rarity or exclusivity of particular products or items you believe are likely to sell the best using your consumer data to guide your decisions.

For more insights on tapping into consumer psychology, read about using cognitive bias to your retail or eCommerce store’s advantage.

2. Create comparison guides

Eighty percent of people shop online to find the best price before making purchases. Based on that notion, creating simple comparison guides for similar sets of products or subscription packages, offering a detailed breakdown of costs, features, and benefits will inspire more sales.

By being able to directly compare certain products, you will keep shoppers engaged while offering them valuable information (a big trust and loyalty builder), which will result in more sales.

Comparison guides work online as well as in-store, and you can use them as a valuable opportunity to upsell or cross-sell your products.

3. Chase your abandoned carts

In today’s fast-paced digital age, shopping cart abandonment is rife. These days, consumers are drowning in choices, and the slightest distraction can cause them to abandon their purchase.

In addition to ensuring your payment journey is as seamless as possible, chasing up cart abandonments is a highly effective growth hacking tactic.

Reaching out to customers that have abandoned their purchases and offering them an incentive (free shipping or an exclusive discount) will not only close the sale but also likely result in repeat purchases.

If you make this a standard practice, you will be amazed at how many additional customers you will win over and keep.

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4. Get influential

Eighty-nine percent of leading markers confirm the ROI from influencer marketing is comparable to or better than their other marketing channels.

Influencer marketing is a powerful promotional force that will help you accelerate the growth of your business significantly through high levels of engagement and boosted brand awareness.

Work with the right social media influencers, and you will put your eCommerce or retail business on the map. Our essential tips for working with social media influencers will tell you all you need to know to get started.

5. Create a referral program

Eighty-three percent of shoppers are willing to refer friends and family to a brand or business after a positive experience.

Referral programs are incredibly effective for growth hacking, especially if the incentive you’re offering aligns with your customers’ preferences and interests.

Dropbox, for instance, offers its customers a free account upgrade for referring friends or family—an approach that earned the brand around four million customers in a little over a year.

By segmenting your customers according to demographics or buying behaviors and researching which incentives will resonate with each branch of your audience the most, you will accelerate your business growth through the power of referrals.

6. Showcase your social proof

Ninety-two percent of people are more likely to trust non-paid reviews or recommendations than any other type of advertising.

To growth-hack your business with consistency, you should lean on social proof as much as possible. Offer your customers the chance to leave reviews, feedback, and testimonials across every channel or touchpoint.

Not only will your customer reviews and testimonials provide invaluable information on how to improve your business, but by showcasing your reviews, ratings, and customer comments via your website or social media, you will build trust, encouraging more people to buy from you.

7. Be a thought leader

Another potential approach lies in thought leadership. Today’s consumers are attracted to eCommerce and retail brands that showcase authority in their niche or field of expertise.

If you create content (blog posts, articles, infographics, eBooks, whitepapers, and videos) that offers a fresh angle or more depth than your competitor’s efforts, you will become more visible on search engines while raising your brand profile. Then, you will see your popularity (and sales) soar.

Our definitive guide to creating thought-leading content for your business will help you grab attention and push yourself ahead of the pack.

8. Offer personalization interaction

Personalization is no longer an add-on for eCommerce or retail businesses—today’s consumers expect content and services tailored to their needs.

To take your personalization efforts a step further and boost your business growth, giving shoppers a chance to choose their preferences in a way that’s engaging and interactive is the best way forward.

Forward-thinking online retailer Thread, for instance, gives consumers a visually appealing means of choosing their style preferences, promising to deliver suggestions and content tailored to their specific needs in return:
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Thread’s clean, grid-based design is simple to scan, and its above-the-fold messaging prompts people to take action without having to hesitate or scour through endless product pages.

The interactive style offers consumers deep personal value while creating a level of engagement that leads to more sales and increased customer loyalty.

9. Shine a light on your bestsellers

Honing in on slower-selling products and promoting them better is definitely worthwhile, but when it comes to driving growth and finding your momentum, shining additional light on your bestsellers is essential.

People are drawn to products that other people are buying in droves (this is another form of social proof and validation), so the more you shout about them, the more sales (and buzz) you’re likely to generate.

To shine a light on your bestsellers and generate more sales, you can build dedicated landing pages that include additional images, videos, product copy, and testimonials.

Plugging these dedicated landing pages through email and social media will help you build more buzz and reach a wider audience.

Now that we’ve covered the best growth hacks for your retail and eCommerce business, we’re going to share three additional quick-fire tips:

Maintain your website performance: A slow-loading webpage will prompt people to bounce off your store or website and go elsewhere. Maintaining consistently solid loading performance is a hack that will ensure consumers engage with your site more consistently. You can use free page load performance tools to identify any issues. Removing redundant code and content will also help.
Use A/B testing: A/B testing will help you compare two versions of a web or landing page and gather data to decide on the best version. Frequently testing your designs and content will ensure you provide the best possible customer experience (CX) and help you close more sales.
Streamline your paid advertising strategies: Taking a more focused approach to your paid advertising efforts and investing in retargeting is a growth hack that will offer a consistently high return on investment (ROI). Explore our paid advertising guide for essential tips and ideas.

“It is impossible to progress without change, and those who do not change their minds cannot change anything.” —George Bernard Shaw

By being consistent, focusing on the needs of your audience, and committing to pushing creative boundaries, you will accelerate your commercial success with these essential growth hacks. Try them out, persevere, see which tactics work best for you, and you’ll be ahead of the competition in no time.

For more advice on standing out in your niche, here’s your definitive guide to small business trend marketing.