How to increase sales in the online store

How to increase online store sales? Increase perceived value
Fighting competitors with just lower prices is a failed strategy. Imperceptibly, you can reach a level where you earn almost nothing, but spend a lot of energy on producing a large flow of cheap orders. It turned out to increase sales but did not begin to earn any more. It is more profitable to increase your value in the eyes of the client: when this value is high, cost ceases to be a decisive factor.

What is Perceived Value

We rarely know 100% in advance what exactly and in which store we will buy. Usually, we compare different offers and only then we place an order. How do we choose what or where to buy? As a rule, approximately according to this scheme: “I am ready to spend $ 200, 2 hours, and so much of that amount of energy to buy. What offer will I get the most benefit from at this cost? ” Of course, we do not formulate so literally, but we wonder how the value and costs correlate. Thus, we are not very consciously calculating what marketers call perceived value.

Imagine: Sasha needs to buy ceramic dishes as a gift. The budget is $ 150. Alex is ready to spend about 2 hours to choose from, and there is a week for delivery from the online store. He found two sites.

1. A small pottery workshop

Alex found her through a blogger – she noted the profile of the workshop in the photo. Alex trusts this blogger. In the workshop catalog, there is a division according to prices and objects – mugs, plates, bowls. There are ready-made gift sets of several items in the same style. The site has information about the brand, creators, addresses, and terms of delivery and return. True, the timing is inaccurate: from 5 to 10 days. Alex asks them on Instagram whether it will be possible to put the delivery in a week. They respond quickly, promise to help and deliver in a minimum of 5 days.

2. Brand home decor

Alex found out about him from an ad in Google and went to the site. All dishes are collected on one page of the catalog, division only into collections. There are no gift sets – you need to choose the matching items yourself, this is a long time. But prices are on average 15% lower. The site talks a lot about the values of the brand and its creators. Delivery times need to be clarified: it depends on the availability of goods in stock. Sasha calls on the specified phone – picks up an answering machine. Goes to the brand’s Instagram – it has not been updated for a long time.

What would you choose on the spot Alex? Surely the first option: the price is higher, but there are more values ​​in it. “The perceived value of the first sentence is higher,” in the language of marketing.

When a customer chooses less value

Typically, the buyer compares the benefits and costs, but sometimes still chooses a lower value. Two main reasons:

1. The budget is strictly limited. Yes, your offer is very cool and no one else on the market gives so much value for 8 thousand rubles. But if the buyer does not have these eight thousand, you can’t do anything.

2. The buyer is emotionally attached to a competitor brand. For example, this brand was created by his friends. There is little that can convince such a buyer. In other cases, you can try to lure the client – offering great value. First, let’s figure out how to determine this perceived value and what it consists of.

How to determine the perceived value

You need to know the opinions of customers, evaluate their experience. If you are already selling, interview existing customers. If the project is at the start, figure it out yourself, standing in the place of the buyer. You can also call friends who are closest to your target audience and ask them to compare:

“What am I spending?”

● money;
● Time;
● Strength;
● Emotions.

“What am I getting?”

● Product quality;
● Quality of related services – for example, delivery;
● Quality of service and the pleasure of communicating with staff;
● Company image.

It turns out this formula, it is very conditional:

Perceived Value = What the customer receives from the purchase – What he spends on it
These are not exact numbers: some points are difficult to evaluate in terms of values. Rather, you get a description of the sensations: is it worth the purchase of your money? Confidently I will give this amount or regret it? Will I be looking for the best option?

How to increase the perceived value

1. Define the target audience. You cannot move on without this point: you won’t know who to focus on, what values are important for these people, what benefits they need to offer, and what to improve.

2. Determine what perceived value is now. We figured out how to do this. Consider the example from the pottery workshop:

What is customer spending?

● Money – $ 150 for a gift set of dishes.
● Time – 1.5 hours for searching, choosing, communicating with employees and placing an order. You can evaluate how much time a client spends on a site in analytics services.
● It’s difficult to calculate the strengths and emotions. It is important that the client does not experience irritation and anger and does not encounter great difficulties on the way to purchase. You can evaluate it this way: ask customers how difficult it was to choose and buy a thing on a scale from 0 to 10.

What does the customer receive?

● Stylish ceramics without defects.
● Delivery within a week, beautiful packaging and a booklet with care tips, warranty.
● The answer to questions in social networks and by mail – within an hour.
● Good service: employees are ready to make concessions in an important situation for the client.
● Feeling like a person who feels trends and surrounds himself with stylish handmade things.

Requests of the target client are satisfied, and in some points even exceed expectations. Most likely, he will give this money with confidence, because the perceived value is high.
2. Compare with competitors’ offers. This was described in detail in the article “Analysis of competitors: how to conduct and what to do with it”. Your task is to determine what value they offer and for what amount.

3. Increase the value of what the customer receives. Let’s do more for the same money: a better product, better service, pleasant communication with consultants, a sense of belonging to the values ​​and image of the brand. These are small improvements and they do not need a large budget, but together they will affect the increase in sales in the store.

4. Reduce customer spending. Make a convenient site, think over the directory structure, quickly respond to messages and calls.

5. Create a value system and think over the path of the client. It is important that in every “contact” with the company, the client feels this value and knows what step to take next. Work with contact points and their chains will help here.

Discounts and promotions work well when you need to quickly and quickly increase sales in the online store. But if you want long-term growth, you should increase the value of the product, and not lower its price. This will give a more stable and confident result.