Genius Ways to Increase Sales Without Launching New Products with Steve Chou, Ep #28

Are you trying to find ways to increase your sales without going the nightmarish route of launching a new product? Are you stuck treading water, unsure which direction to take? All entrepreneurs at some point or another hit a point where their product seems to be stalling. Steve Chou joins Kevin in this episode of Maximizing Ecommerce to fill you in on some of his best-kept secrets to combat this problem.

When Steve’s wife was pregnant with their first child, she wanted to quit her job. Armed with a desire to replace her income—and after stumbling upon the perfect product—they launched their first Ecommerce business and the “My Wife Quit Her Job” blog. Steve branched out into podcasting and is the co-founder of the Sellers Summit. He’s got some great ideas, listen to hear them!

Outline of This Episode [3:15] How Steve got into Ecommerce [5:45] Day-to-day running the business [7:30] Starting a Conference [9:10] Grow your business with these 3 tips [14:20] Driving traffic to your website [19:00] White hat options to generate traffic [27:05] Steve’s top tips for upselling [34:20] Scarcity and the fear of missing out [36:30] Find ways to reframe the product [41:05] Connect with Steve Three ways to grow your business

People often continue adding products to their stock to increase revenue—but it’s a lot of hassle. You have to decide on a product, find a manufacturer, and deal with production. Why not work with what you already have? Steve says there are 3 key things you need to focus on to leverage your current product(s).

Increase traffic to your product Increase repeat business Increase order size

It is far easier to implement these three things instead of creating new products. If you want to hear Steve’s favorite way to get repeat business from an Amazon customer, keep listening!

White hat options to increase your traffic

There are some great options to generate traffic to your website that are off Amazon. Steve’s favorite recommendations are: 

Pay for ads: If your product is searchable, use Google Shopping ads. If your product is something people don’t typically search for, then a Facebook ad may be a better fit.  Content Strategy: Blogging, producing videos, and podcasts are all great options. Write content that you can rank in search and help you build a following. Get people to sign up for your emails and market directly to them.  Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Consciously create content. It’s a long-term play and you will see results down the road. Take your SEO content and run ads with it. 

Steve and Kevin go into detail with each of these recommendations. To gain more insight into the process, keep listening. 

If you don’t ask, you won’t receive

It’s all about the upsell. To increase your average order value, there are some great things you can do. You control how products are listed on your own website—so move the product that generates the most income to the top of your sales page. Stop organizing from the lowest price to the highest!

Remember that people like to buy in bulk. They also tend to choose items that are bundled together versus purchasing separately. You can connect with customers who make bulk orders (because YOU get their information when you sell on your site). You can offer them a discount if they continue to purchase from you in the future. 

Put automated sequences into place that immediately sends purchasers an email with an upsell. Perhaps there are matching napkins in a different size or another product that pairs well. Shopify users can use Zipify—it’s a one-click upsell that offers double what they just ordered for a discounted price. 

Fear of Missing out and Scarcity

The fear of missing out—now popularized as “FOMO”—is a powerful driver. When faced with making a purchase, or losing out on the option altogether most people will buy. It’s a tactic that works on both Kevin and Steve—so why not implement it on your website? 

Amazon will often tell you (in bright red) that there are only a few items left of the product you’re looking at. Some people implement countdown timers. If the timer runs out, you lose your ‘hold’ on that product. Grocery stores give you strict time periods for deals: “Buy 2 get 1 free ends in two days”. 

Steve talks about how you can reframe your product and shares more tips and tricks. Listen to the whole episode of Maximizing Ecommerce for details!

Resources & People Mentioned Brand Accelerator Live Seller Summit 2020 Click & Carry Shopify Zipify Connect with Steve Chou LinkedIn Twitter My Wife Quit Her Job Profitable Online Store Connect With Kevin Sanderson www.YouTube.com/maximizingecommerce www.Facebook.com/maximizingecommerce www.Twitter.com/maxecom

Subscribe to Maximizing Ecommerce on
Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, PlayerFM