I’ve seen lots of people asking about how to sell more products over the past few months. I’m by no means a sales expert – but I’ve tried a lot during my years creating and selling products. I know not everything will work for everyone – but here are a few different ideas you could try and see if they give your sales a boost.
1. Run a sale or promotion
I know this is a simple one – but it can work! Could you offer a limited time discount on the product(s you’d like to sell more of? I suggest making the offer as generous as you can but limiting it – i.e. rather than having a permanent ‘sale price’ (as I see a lot on Amazon), offer a decent discount for a really short period of time or on a limited number of sales. (i.e. 25% off for the first 10 customers.) A little bit of urgency can help!
2. Share on social media
Whether you’re running a sale or not – when was the last time you posted about your products? I see lots of product businesses who create some great posts – but not many about what they sell and how to buy it! I have a great podcast episode on selling your products on social media. Remember you can share your products in other places too (where appropriate) – such as your personal social media profile and in groups. My own Facebook group has a special post every week just for members to share their products and offers!
3. Email your mailing list
If you have an email list (and if not, why not?) why not use it? Especially if you’re running a sale or promotion. Even if not, you could share any new products, or perhaps ones that are due to be discontinued, ask people to share with friends, give useful information (perhaps advice relevant to your product(s) or just remind them who you are and what you sell!
4. Give a code for email sign up
If you don’t yet have an email list, here’s a way to build one! Why not offer a discount code, or free product, with every email sign up. You could promote this via a pop-up on your website, or on social media. You might want to give the code a short expiry date (i.e. within 14 days), so people are incentivised to buy soon!
5. Give a discount for repeat purchases
Ok, this does mean you have to be getting some sales already – but including a flyer or card with a discount for anyone who buys from you again is worth considering. This works on Amazon too by the way – and is great if you want to encourage customers to your own website rather than ordering from another marketplace.
6. Work with influencers
I won’t say much about this, as I’m definitely not an expert – but I do have an entire podcast episode (or blog post if you prefer) about working with influencers to sell your products, with Donna Jackson, The Curious Mummy.
7. Use your networks
How often do you ask your friends, family and current customers to share your products? Probably not that often. Why not spend some time on a great social media post (or perhaps even a Reel!) and encourage people to share it? Or, ask people to share their own photos of them using your products and tag you in? You could even offer a discount, or a little freebie for anyone who does this.
8. Try something new
This one is possibly a bit more work than the rest – but how about trying something different? For example, selling on a different online marketplace (ensuring anywhere you try is a good fit and worth investing in), attending a market, or including your products in a pop up shop?
Ideas for selling on Amazon
Moving on now to the things you can do if you’re selling on Amazon to help increase your sales there.
9. Review your product listing
This first one is one of the fundamentals of selling on Amazon – you need to have a great listing. I’ve talked about this a lot, so won’t repeat myself here, but this really is the first thing to do if you feel you should be selling more.
10. Experiment with Amazon Prime
If you’re currently fulfilling orders on Amazon yourself, then you might want to see if trialling Amazon FBA helps with your sales. I never suggest sending in loads of stock initially, but it’s definitely worth trying. At the least, if you’re not already, offer free shipping on Amazon (even if you need to increase your product price to accommodate this!), so it’s comparable. (In terms of shipping cost at least.)
11. Try using Amazon Sponsored Products for Advertising
If you’re not running any ads on Amazon now, it could be worth giving them a try. As I’ve said before, it can be really hard to get those first sales on Amazon and investing a little in the short-term can really help get things going. There are lots of advertising options now. If you’re just starting out, I suggest sticking with keyword targeting and a low daily budget initially.
12. Deals
If your products are eligible (and they’re not always) you can take part in Amazon Deals. These can be Lightning deals (a good discount, over a period of a few days), to deals for Prime Day and Black Friday. To take part in these you will need to be using Amazon FBA and you’ll have to give a minimum discount on a set number of products. (Criteria that Amazon will set out before you commit to anything.) Your offer will be included on the Amazon Deals page – although you can’t specify how prominent this is.
13. Promotions
Whether you’re using Amazon FBA, or fulfilling orders yourself, you can always set up promotions. You can either offer a discount off your product(s) or set up a buy-one-get-one-free deal. These are displayed on the product listing and might be a way of encouraging a sale – particularly if the offer is time-limited (which I always recommend). You can set these up so you need a code to redeem the offer (you could include it in an email newsletter, or in your packaging, for example, to encourage a repeat purchase) or it can be available to everyone.
14. Vouchers
You can always set up a voucher, which will be displayed on your product listing, and gives a discount at the checkout. These work in a similar way to Promotions, although, by default, these are open to all customers.
15. Vine – reviews
Finally, I’m a big fan of products having reviews, as they really do help customers choose to buy from you. If you’re struggling to get them (I know it’s not easy), then Amazon Vine could be an option. You need to have FBA stock in order to apply and be willing to give some products away to reviewers – but it can really increase your review count (albeit for a small fee) in an Amazon-approved way.
What am I missing? I’m almost certain that you have better ideas than me and I’d love to hear them! My previous podcast guests have lots of great ideas and experiences too – so I do recommend listening and seeing what inspires you!