How To Increase eCommerce Sales: 35 Proven Ideas

What is the best way to increase eCommerce sales? Well, actually, there are two ways:

→ The quick way – apply sales strategies in key areas to boost eCommerce sales

→ The longer way – fix everything on and off your store to drive sales

After years of helping online store owners increase eCommerce sales, we’ve put together this go-to guide. Here are 35 proven eCommerce sales strategies that actually get results, quickly.

Quick eCommerce Sales Strategies: 35 Tested Ideas for 2025

1. Play smart with the price

2. Get your upsell timing & positioning right

3. Offer personalization at critical touchpoints

4. Create a selling strategy with Instagram influencers

5. Offer incentives to repeat customers

6. Improve your sales funnel

7. Improve how you present “bestseller” product listings

8. Create a strong retargeting strategy

9. Strategize your peak season marketing efforts

10. Nurture new shoppers with purchase incentives

11. Assess the relevance of your content strategy

12. Offer customer service to nudge towards conversions

13. Run A/B tests to arrive at insights

14. Prevent product page drop-offs

15. Make space for future sales across segments

16. Use visual cues to get shoppers’ attention

17. Clear customer doubts – fast

18. Use your brand story to build a connection 

19. Let shoppers create & customize

20. Improve eCommerce sales with a smart discount strategy

21. Make those Thank You emails sharper

22. Improve eCommerce sales through loyalty programs

23. Target high-intent customers with paid ads

24. Feature user generated content to hook shoppers

25. Recover carts without being super pushy

26. Don’t overdo the cart page *nudges*

27. Make your eCommerce site *mobile first*

28. Get more “high-intent” email subscribers

29. Offer more payment options to reduce pre-purchase anxiety

30. Reinforce decisions with reviews

31. Use scarcity as a motivator to drive sales

32. Use product comparisons to reduce decision fatigue

33. Upgrade your category pages

34. Make your checkout feel shorter than it is

35. Collect feedback through pop-ups

1. Play smart with the price

You want people to see the price and feel excited. 

✅ Price products in a way that customers gravitate towards the higher-priced one. For example, show a $100 product with extremely good features—next to $90 product—and the shopper will choose the $100 one 

✅ Don't discount the highest price products—discount the lowest ones instead. This way, you drive more units sold of the lowest options when the discount is active (while your ideal shoppers will gravitate towards the higher options, because of the premium appeal)

Beauty Pie uses pricing actively as one of its sales strategies. They don’t just challenge traditional market prices but also create a clear distinction between member pricing and non-member pricing to promote online sales:

Further Reading: eCommerce Pricing Strategy: How These 9 Brands Are Nailing It

2. Get your upsell timing & positioning right

Where you upsell is as important as when you upsell. For example:

→ On the homepage, to a new visitor – not a great idea ❌

→ On the homepage, to a returning product page viewer – awesome idea ✅

Which pages to pick so you can increase eCommerce sales quickly? Simple: Pick the most high-intent pages where sales actually happen: 

✅ Upsell subtly on the product page—above or below the ‘add to cart button’ 

Use dynamic microcopy – for example, if someone’s picking a six-month subscription, offer them an option to save “X% more” if they subscribe for 12 months. 

✅ Upsell on the cart page—through non-intrusive pop-ups

Instead of making them scroll, pop out a message like “Add this for 20% off on your entire order” as soon as a customer hits the checkout button

Tip: If you do decide to upsell post-checkout, do it on the order confirmation page and make sure it takes shoppers just a click to buy the items (Shopify’s One Click upsell is famous for this.)

Further Reading: Shopify Upselling Ideas for Product page, Cart, Checkout

3. Offer personalization at critical touchpoints

‘Aha, this brand knows just what I need!’ is all you need your shoppers to feel. 

Here’s how you use personalization as an online sales strategy for your eCommerce store:

✅ Feature dynamic content across high-intent pages—show custom ‘welcome back’ pop-ups, or use geo targeting to pick up shipping location, & show delivery pricing, etc.

✅ Display location-based pricing—we don’t mean using only zip codes, we also mean using traffic source to show a suitable price (for example, traffic from your store’s ad on search results is likely to spend more than those who find it on display advertising)

✅ Personalize search results—tap into cross-sell suggestions based on what the shopper has bought right before, or even nudge people who’ve been buying regularly towards products that feature the subscription benefit

✅ Customize discounts based on behavior—for example, you may want to offer a BOGO deal on a product that you’ve noticed a shopper has been picking up month on month, which reinforces the positives of engaging with and buying from your brand

4. Create a selling strategy with Instagram influencers

If 90% of your shoppers are already doomscrolling on Instagram, why not reach them there? Without being salesy.

How to increase eCommerce sales with influencers on Instagram:

✅ Feature collaboration content with experts & make them shoppable—think: tips, tricks, use cases, and seasonal applications 

✅ Maintain an overarching “theme” around the content you feature—for example, Mejuri features styling photos as the norm, and even picks UGC accordingly

✅ Announce Instagram-only exclusive discounts—this way, you get engaging audiences to keep coming back just to check on offers that aren’t available anywhere else

eCommerce brand Gymshark creates unique promo codes to make their Instagram-exclusive offers count and create more buzz (read: repeat visitors)

Further Reading: 36 Powerful Instagram Strategies to Drive eCommerce Sales (+Tips & Trends)

5. Offer incentives to repeat customers

Your eCommerce sales strategy is incomplete without being appealing to those who’ve been buying from you for a while. 

Your repeat buyers are those who finally contribute to improving your customer lifetime value—and that means you’ll have to create & preserve them. Remember: 90% of shoppers hold the post-purchase experience at the same level as the quality of products.

Here are some strategies on how to increase eCommerce sales:

✅ Incentivize a second purchase quickly with personalized offers and packaging—like notes thanking them for their first purchase or a discount code for the next purchase (remember: more the time between the first buy and second buy, the harder it gets to re-engage the shopper) 

✅ Show a price slash on a payment method they’ve used before—acts as an unobtrusive nudge for repeat shoppers, plus you can also pair this with quantity discounts to prompt the increase of AOV

✅ Segment your post-purchase emails based on recent buying behavior—sync the timing and content of these to ensure shoppers neither feel too pushed nor distant. For example, nurture frequent buyers with recommendations within a few days of buying – while, for first-time buyers, send helpful content around their purchase

eCommerce brand Veja features a self-explanatory FAQ page with highlights of sections that shoppers ask the most questions on—the brand also sends post-purchase advice on how to maintain and care for sneakers:

6. Improve your sales funnel

The idea here: use past sales data to fix where shoppers stop in their tracks.

Here are some sales strategies to create a highly successful eCommerce sales funnel:

✅ Optimize the way entry points work—this means you have to know where and how high-intent shoppers arrive, so you can customize different landing pages for shoppers from different traffic sources, and also nurture them accordingly (by source and intent)

✅ Make it more engaging to consider a purchase—think: comparison charts between your own product ranges (or your competitor’s ranges), on-site and email retargeting on categories a shopper browsed earlier 

✅ Refine customer experience after they add to cart—check on how intuitive the checkout flow is, whether upsell recommendations are really creating value or not, and how fast a shopper is able to pay and get out once they hit the actual checkout page

To increase eCommerce sales, mattress brand Casper intelligently optimizes their whole sales funnel by featuring a quiz for the discovery phase, buying guides for the consideration phase, and even a 100-day free satisfaction trial for the desire phase.

Their buying guide, for example, is super comprehensive, taking into account product size, audience preferences, and even overlooked aspects like the following:

Further Reading: 5 Stages of an eCommerce Conversion Funnel (+Examples)

7. Improve how you present “bestseller” product listings

Shoppers trust what other people buy, so why not use it to grow sales in your store?

Here are some ideas to add to your eCommerce sales strategy:

‍✅ Experiment with a “Didn’t find what you were looking for” pop-up—display your hero product & drive an on-the-spot discount with it

‍✅ Rotate bestsellers based on real-time performance—for example, if your real-time data reveals a bestseller is selling 2X at the moment and aligns with customer preferences, prioritize showing it in the “Trending” list

‍✅ A/B test between evergreen favorites & currently trending products—this is a great variant test to run and can reveal significant insights whether you’re in your peak season selling efforts or not

eCommerce brand Sephora uses a highly evolved bestseller display strategy where they not only feature important labels but also rank the products in hierarchy:

Further Reading: Why Is Your Conversion Rate Low: Possible Causes + Solutions

8. Create a strong retargeting strategy

Most eCommerce retargeting feels lazy. One ad. Same product image. 

Instead, try these retargeting eCommerce sales strategies:

✅ Retarget on social media ads with “why people bought this”—or, “X shoppers switched to this because…”, this helps shift the context and drive more sales

✅ Use scarcity when retargeting—like a “Just 2 left in your size” ad for someone who viewed a certain product variant that’s running low on stock

✅ Use on-site retargeting on most-browsed products—and make them more attractive through a seasonal discount to get your paid traffic to act instantly

This is what plant protein brand Aloha does, especially when they combine promotions with new arrivals—and even trigger an additional discount pop-up if the shopper goes idle:

9. Strategize your peak season marketing efforts

Flash sales and early bird deals take time to plan. The smart way to boost eCommerce sales and improve revenue? Get your store ready to sell, before the seasonal rush hits.

Here are some seasonal ecommerce sales strategies to consider:

✅ Bring out BNPL nudges—on the hero header on the homepage, a prominent & separate ticker on the product page etc., to have your audience’s attention 

✅ Retarget before peak season on emails and ads—for products that have seasonal popularity (sunscreen), say “Back just in time—beat the rush:

✅ Prominently display gift cards—as well as seasonal favorites, in your primary navigation.

✅ Use a more nuanced filtering system—for example, you may consider what attributes a typical shopper would be more interested to apply during this time, or even color code in-season products differently

10. Nurture new shoppers with purchase incentives

The idea: turn new email subscribers into high-intent shoppers.

Here are some eCommerce sales strategies you can try:

✅ Ask for preferences around what content they’d like to receive—this can be helpful for you to optimize your emails in a way that opens, clickthroughs, and conversions are more eventually

✅ Feature complimentary products (and offer a discount)—when done over email, this tactic is ideal because you can then tailor the messaging based on the exact segment you’re targeting

✅ Tease shoppers with cashback incentives when they complete orders—say “complete in XX:XX:XX to get assured $X cashback”

✅ Make the return /refund/ exchange policy easy to read, understand, and take action on—a complicated policy pushing shoppers to spend extra time on support calls is bad news for your eCommerce sales

11. Assess the relevance of your content strategy

Since every conversion funnel starts with awareness and ends with a purchase, your content needs to bridge these two points to increase eCommerce sales. 

Having said that, your eCommerce sales strategy needs to be about revisiting the content you create—what worked in 2020 will likely not work in 2025!

Here are few questions to ask so you can increase eCommerce sales:

✅ Is your content resolving customer objections?—check out what kind of questions shoppers are raising on social media or even in reviews, and answer them as blogs, FAQs etc. 

✅ Are you offering suggestions to social media queries?—one commonly used eCommerce sales strategy is to respond with alternate product recommendations if a specific product is out of stock

✅ Is your video content “human” enough?—it’s great that your product pages feature videos around use cases, but are you also cherry-picking UGC videos and BTS video content?

✅ Does the content on your site cover the entire conversion funnel?—run an audit on your blogs & learning resources, comparison charts & guides, and check how comprehensive your product descriptions are

✅ How helpful are your email sequences?—as shoppers mature, they also want to see non-salesy communication from your brand to strengthen their conviction about long-term buying

✅ How effective is your gated content?—how visitors behave after downloading gated content can tell you if it’s impacted them positively. For example, are they visiting more of your product pages, browsing more categories, or adding more products to cart?

Further Reading: Gated content: 10 Dos & Don'ts that eCommerce Founders Must Know

12. Offer customer service to nudge towards conversions

89% of customers have confirmed they will come back for another purchase if they’re happy with the support they’ve received. 

Here are some strategies on how to increase ecommerce sales:

✅ Self-help resources—Make the FAQ page super accessible, ensure your product pages & product descriptions answer a lot of questions etc.

✅ A call-back option—especially if you’re in different time zones than the customer or don’t have live chat representatives available around the clock

✅ Customer feedback—If multiple buyers have asked you to change the way checkout works, then you’ve got to pay attention

✅ Initiate live chat on product pages—trigger the chat from your end, ask  something specific like “Have questions about the <product name>?”

✅ Show “as answered by our customer service team” under FAQs—for added trust

✅ Offer a ‘help me choose’ option in your live chat and category pages—this’ll help you act like a style guide and narrow by  use cases like “outfits for work”

✅ Monitor which products have the highest pre-purchase support queries—inject the answers directly into the PDP layout

One eCommerce brand that has imbued customer support in the very business model they work with is skincare brand Prose—one look at this snapshot and you’ll know:

13. Run A/B tests to arrive at insights

UX across your funnel deserves constant improvement. 

And A/B testing can really help in that department when you’re trying to boost eCommerce sales. 

When amplifying your sales strategy overall, consider A/B tests.

Here are some A/B testing strategies on how to increase eCommerce sales:

✅ Homepage: 

The navigation menu—test between a single large mega menu and dropdown menus for every major category featured on the menu panel. Also test different promotion placements and “quick links”. 

The hero header—test between value propositions, with and without microcopy, CTA placements as well as different kinds of imagery. 

The recommendation sections—test between prioritizing bestsellers vs. saving bundles or bestsellers vs. currently trending products. 

Don’t skip: Testing social proof placement and type to see what drives clicks, higher page read time etc.

✅ Category page:  

Product grid layout—test between grid sizes, image sizes as well as information density.

Product card info—test between various labels, product highlights, pricing attractors and availability nudges.

Filtering & sorting—test filter visibility and sorting parameters to check on the effectiveness of product discovery.

Don’t skip: Testing the quick view functionality, especially between a basic and a more advanced variant, in which the latter can help shoppers check multiple images and similar product recommendations within the modal. 

✅ Product page: 

Above the fold details—test the order of information, pricing with and without highlights as well as CTA color and text. 

Product description flow & layout—test between collapsible and single flow structures as well as featuring icons and without featuring them. 

Product recommendations—test between different positions, section name call-outs and number of such sections. 

Don’t skip: Testing the image gallery layout, structure and zoom functionality. 

✅ Mini cart / cart page: 

Order summary info—test between different layouts, flow of the info as well as between versions with and without progress bars. 

Cart abandonment nudges—test between wishlist placements & types, last-minute offers as well as coupons / coupon fields. 

Cart recommendations: Test between cheaper last-minute add-ons and similar product suggestions. Also test between the number of featured recommendations. 

Don’t skip: Testing between single CTA and multiple CTA scenarios with “continue shopping” as an option to track further engagement / cart abandonment etc. 

✅ Checkout page:

Checkout flow—test between multi-page and single page layouts as well as different numbers & sections around form fields. 

Order review format—test between quantity editing options and between auto applying discounts & featuring coupon fields. 

Payment options—test between showing logos of only major payment providers and showing logos of BNPL options too, test the placement and express checkout options too. 

Don’t skip: Testing between various checkout options like guest checkout, account creation and social media logins. 

For more ideas, check: 153 A/B Testing Ideas for eCommerce (Homepage, PDP, Cart, Checkout)

14. Prevent product page drop-offs

In the conversion funnel, the product page is where sales most happen—but people also keep dropping off without buying. 

And this means creating assurance becomes a priority here. Here’s how you do it:

✅ Highlight a positive review—a callout in the first fold is enough

✅ Drive trust through the product description—for example, talk about where you source your materials from

✅ Create links to all important policies—mention the return policy link, shipping policy link and link to FAQ if it’s on a separate, detailed page—make your microcopy do this

✅ Say what’s great through icons—like health brand Ritual does:

✅ Feature contact info way up—right below the first fold is good positioning

✅ Show the price differently for product variations—if one variant has an ongoing discount, label it in the thumbnail

✅ Offer images & videos in reviews—visuals help relay more information like fit, color, fall, and effect

✅ Show some videos and rich product images—this helps drive sales faster than anything (as shoppers see details up close)

Recommended reading: 30 Ways to Build Trust FAST (On Your eCommerce Store)

15. Make space for future sales across segments

You don’t need to keep launching new products to grow sales on your eCommerce store.

Here’s how to stay future-ready to increase ecommerce sales:

✅ Track and stock up on categories with larger search volumes—look for search queries that drive views to product pages and add to carts (searches landing on blog content ain’t that high intent)

✅ Spot steady trends, not one-hit spikes—use Google Trends, but look for repeat signals. If a trend keeps showing up (like a seasonal ingredient or emerging need), that’s your cue to tweak product features or launch a new line seasonally

✅ Interlink tactfully to create a funnel—when new launches happen, update your blogs and guides. This way, you can control how and what shoppers discover

Just a caveat: Go easy on the number of links, something that Plant People consistently maintains, leading to better credibility and trust:

16. Use visual cues to get shoppers’ attention

The idea is to make your shoppers experience a subconscious connection with your products. 

So, yes, one of the best ways to increase eCommerce sales is to bring in labels.

✅ Use authentic copy:

→ “What our customers love”

→ “<Insert brand name>’s favorites”

→ “Frequently out of stock! Get it now!”

→ “Critics love it!”

→ “Highest rated”

✅ Use swatches instead of duplicate listings on product pages—gives the sense of variety and saves space:

✅ Clarify expectations with callouts on category pages—call out things like “Runs Large,” “Inclusive Sizing,” or “Vegan Formula” so shoppers don’t guess – here’s one example from Asos:

✅Show warranties and guarantees through emblems—visuals stand out over text, especially when multiple elements are competing for attention (plus limited time warranties and guarantees work especially well for increasing sales)

17. Clear customer doubts – fast

If higher eCommerce sales were just about great discounts, most stores would have an excellent conversion rate. 

However, in our free audits, we’ve often noticed the best eCommerce sales strategies resolve customer objections one by one. 

Here are some strategies on how to increase eCommerce sales:

✅ Highlight reviews for items on sale / clearance—people second-guess clearance products, so it’s wise to show the “review count” above the fold on category pages

✅ Lead with relatable concerns—prioritize copy based on what most buyers care about—if you're a women’s hygiene brand, “painful periods” speaks to the core emotion (and problem), more than “thyroid-based infertility” does

✅ Nail your brand's first impression—shoppers scan fast. If your hero header doesn’t clearly say what makes your brand different... you’re invisible

Take inspiration from how Love Goods features their brand value proposition right up on the hero header:

18. Use your brand story to build a connection 

According to a 2015 study, 55% of people will buy from a brand whose brand story they’ve found compelling. 

Good enough reason for you to create *stickiness* in your brand narrative and increase eCommerce sales, with:

✅ Introduce the “personal” element to make it more “human” (famously enough, how Warby Parker’s beginnings are pinned on the founders wanting to make prescription glasses available more widely)

✅ Bring out the people who make your brand (why they’re around, what they do, what kind of effectiveness or innovation they drive—shoppers find it extremely worthwhile to connect with the authentic story of a brand)

✅ Spruce up your “about us” page—this may well be the most authoritative page for you to write company info at length and build customer trust in the process

✅ Find a way to feature more social proof across—use them in surprising ways like in pop-ups or as product image labels

19. Let shoppers create & customize

As much as early awareness shoppers are bent on product discovery, those later in the funnel are roaring to go and make “choices” to add to cart. 

So giving them the power to create and customize will definitely increase eCommerce sales for you. 

Here are some strategies on how to increase eCommerce sales:

✅ Let them “build a bundle”—enable clickable, category-wise selections on a separate bundling page, and keep it frictionless — think radio buttons, swatches, or pre-filled starter kits

✅ Offer shareable wishlists—this is a great micro-conversion anytime of the year, but can also help pick your sales up at the peak of holiday season

✅ Frame your copy to solve friction—for example, “Dry Skin Rescue Kit” > “3-pack deal” or “Save $3/item” > “Get 10% off”

✅ Feature ‘projects to try’, ‘style it with’, or ‘complete the look’ cross-sells on your product pages—this way, shoppers can feel the value of the product

✅ Help them participate in the “creation” through a quiz—this way, you let shoppers tell you what they want—so cross-sells hit the mark

Function of Beauty nails this with separate quiz flows for different shopper segments to customize more closely:

20. Improve eCommerce sales with a smart discount strategy

The goal: make your pitch sound better than your competitors’.

Here’s how you strike the sweet spot with discounts and improve eCommerce sales:

✅ Reduced shipping rate window for shoppers who don’t qualify for free shipping

Art supplies brand Blick does this to get more sales while not impacting margins by offering this benefit for a price range:

✅ Offer a discount on taking a survey—enhances the non-transactional connection between the customer & brand, while helping you increase eCommerce revenue

✅ Discount on what shoppers actually want—like discounts on what a shopper shopped before

✅ Link the discount with a seasonal event—for example, you may choose to offer a special Christmas discount, but offer it only to those on your email list. 

Youth to the People, for example, combines a New Year discount with an auto-replenish nudge and boosts it with the added benefit of free shipping:

Further Reading: 18 Proven Strategies To Grow eCommerce Profit Margin (For 2025)

21. Make those Thank You emails sharper

Saying ‘thank you’ is a basic instinct. Showing it for real, though? Gets you sales.

Here are some strategies on how to boost eCommerce sales with thank you emails:

✅ Feature content related to the purchase—this’ll help the receiver use the product they’ve just bought

✅ Show add-ons as recommendations—in fact, if you just nudge the recipient, they’re more likely to consider them during future purchases

✅ Offer an instant, tangible benefit—this approach can especially be critical to retaining loyal customers. Something that subscription brand Birchbox understands, and says “Thank You” through a “customer appreciation” offer:

Further Reading: Top 20 eCommerce Thank You Email Examples That Convert

22. Improve eCommerce sales through loyalty programs

No matter how many wonderful offers you create for customers, there’s a limit to how many you can keep giving. 

Not the case when you sign them up for your loyalty program—if you’ve been thinking of how to boost your eCommerce sales, consider:

✅ Replacing other nudges with loyalty program nudges—the best way to do this: highlight the price differential between what the usual customer would pay vs. what a member would

That’s exactly what Dossier does on their product pages: 

‍

✅ Clarify why your membership program trumps competitor programs—some of the best “fair price” eCommerce brands like Beauty Pie do this as one of the types of sales strategies: 

23. Target high-intent customers with paid ads

Wondering how to boost eCommerce sales but using just paid ads to drive traffic to your site?

Here are some eCommerce growth strategies on how to increase eCommerce sales:

✅ Create highly specific meta tags & meta descriptions—and don’t forget to align them with your landing pages

This ad and related landing page from Sova Health targets people who are really looking to buy:

✅ Show an ad in a relevant newsletter—for example, if you show furniture, round up newsletters that write about interiors or home decor

✅ Single out all “negative keywords” you don’t want Google to show results for—basically, these are broad keywords you wouldn’t want to rank for as they don’t serve the search intent of more mature audiences

Further Reading: 33 High-Converting Product Landing Page Examples

24. Feature user generated content to hook shoppers

Since only 46% trust sponsored content, you’re better off being strategic about UGC while applying eCommerce strategies to grow sales. 

To make the best of the user-generated content on your site, here are some strategies on how to increase eCommerce sales:

✅ Maximize the placement (a review snapshot in the first fold, for example, works wonders)

✅ Make social shares shoppable (hotspot your images so that upon hover, product names become visible)

✅ Feature product recommendations along with social proof highlights—here’s an example of how Patagonia Provisions does it: 

25. Recover carts without being super pushy

Yes, you need that sale, but you still don’t have the license to annoy them 🙂

Here are a few cart recovery strategies to try for increasing eCommerce sales:

✅ Offer discounts to your most frequent shopper segments (eCommerce brand Death Wish Coffee offers in-cart discounts to teachers, fire responders & military personnel among a few others).

✅ Indicate that the shopper will find a special discount auto-applied at checkout—this is exactly what eCommerce helmet brand Ruroc highlights to increase sales:

✅ Instead of the classic “save for later” prompt, experiment with “mail this cart to me”—which when clicked should ask them for their email address so that you can send a cart abandonment email

✅ Trigger “bundle & save” popups before they bounce—say “Wait! Add 1 more item to unlock 15% off” to recover attention before abandonment

✅ Use scarcity logic tied to delivery—e.g., “Order in the next 2 hours for Friday delivery”—combine with location-based data for even better targeting

Further Reading: 24 Scientific Strategies to Increase your eCommerce Conversion Rate

26. Don’t overdo cart page *nudges*

Shoppers can only handle so much at once. If your cart’s crammed with nudges, most will ignore.

Instead: 

✅ Show a stock/delivery nudge—a simple “Only 3 left” or “order in the next x hours and y minutes to get guaranteed delivery by <date>” –this, pushes action without being pushy, and is how you catch impulse buyers

✅ Test add-ons vs. product recs—sometimes, a down-sell add-on works better than full-blown suggestions. (“Want to add a case?” > “You might also like…”)

✅ Space out payment nudges—Nordstrom nails this with their four cart nudges:

• Left: cards they accept + shipping note
• Right: financing + loyalty callout

27. Make your eCommerce site *mobile first*

People shopping on mobile phones have the attention span of a goldfish because the Instagram app is right next door. 

Here’s how you can do it:

✅ Ditch disruptive popups—Google’s already said it — intrusive mobile popups hurt rankings and experience. Use scroll or timer-based pop-ups, and keep them subtle (instead of full-screen ones)

✅ Support pinch + tap gestures—40% of eComm stores still don’t. Shoppers want to zoom in, double tap, and inspect before buying. Don’t make them work for it.

✅ Avoid full-screen pop-ups on mobile—make it small, easy to exit, and let some of the page peek through. Even better? If they keep scrolling, let the popup fade — means, they’re clearly not interested

Further Reading: 30 Mobile Optimization Tips For eCommerce (+ Examples)

28. Get more “high-intent” email subscribers 

The “get 10% off your first order” won’t attract people who actually want to buy.

Here’s how you can attract subscribers worth nurturing and boost sales:

✅ Place opt-ins at logical friction points—e.g., right before size selection, after viewing 2+ product images, or after filter usage on category pages (not just on homepage exit)  

✅ Ask choice-based questions (like, “What products will you like discounts on”) in your pop-ups—then auto-segment subscribers by response  

✅ Don’t hide lead magnets on mobile—anchor sticky email bars convert better when kept contextual (like “Get 10% off when you buy today” after 60s idle) 

✅ Guide shoppers to your ongoing clearance sales (you get signups without offering any extra discount)

✅ Test offers like giveaways, access to archive sales—over the standard discount:

29. Offer more payment options to reduce pre-purchase anxiety

You don’t want shoppers to hit pause once they reach the payment stage.

Ensure you:

✅ Add Apple Pay / Google Pay as one-tap express checkouts on mobile—so people don’t stop on checkout and think “should I really buy this”

✅ Offer Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) selectively on higher AOV items—helps with sticker shock and makes them feel “well, this is gonna last for some time”

✅ Showcase your accepted payment methods right on the product page—this’ll prime shoppers early on about which options they have for payment

30. Reinforce decisions with reviews

Yes, even if it means showing negative reviews. 

How to make reviews drive sales without losing trust:

✅ Show top-rated product features in reviews (e.g., “Soft material,” “Great for summer”) to sum up reviews 

✅ Trigger “Review Highlights” sections on product comparison pages or category listings – show both positives and negatives (so shoppers don’t go out looking for negative reviews)

✅ Use Q&A style review modules—let prospective shoppers search past buyer questions (here’s how Supergoop does it):

31. Use scarcity as a motivator to drive sales

The goal: replicate that feeling of almost missing out on a deal.

To increase sales with scarcity, show:

✅ Personalized size stock counters (e.g., “Only 2 left in size M”) 

✅ Limited-time discount for new launches

✅ Limited time free gift on cart and timed checkout (for abandoners)

✅ Free shipping cutoff countdown (seasonal products)

32. Use product comparisons to reduce decision fatigue

You don’t want shoppers to ask ChatGPT for help in decoding specs or benefits. What you can do:

✅ Show a “Compare” sticky button on category listings for products in the same range or ones that are similar (but not identical)

✅ Create inline comparison charts that are visible before they click a product

✅ Highlight the best choice by use case with labels:

• “Best for sensitive skin”
• “Best for under $50”
• “Editor’s pick”

33. Upgrade your category pages 

Too often, brands have awesome products—but they either bury them in the nav bar or on the homepage. Instead, help shoppers find the right products faster:

✅ Use intent-based filters—instead of “By Product Type,” organize by goals—e.g., “Hydration,” “Anti-Aging,” or “Ships Tomorrow”

✅ Enable quick view that actually sells—Include image zoom, product reviews, “similar items,” and “frequently bought with” — right inside the modal

✅  Call attention to limited-time collections via timers—or through image labels (“X Left”)

✅ Show product features visually—check how this eCommerce brand does this to induce clicks:

34. Make your checkout feel shorter than it is

All your checkout needs to do: tell them when the package’ll arrive and collect the cash. 

Here’s how you do it, without seeming scammy:

✅ Prefill some form fields to cut friction—like area, pin-code, country with ready-to-pick pin-code-based suggestions and live validation (e.g., “Phone number must be 10 digits”)

✅ Test single-page vs. multi-step—single-page with collapsible sections often feels faster. But for high-AOV purchases, a multi-step one may convert better

✅ Auto-apply coupons, don’t make them search—if a user’s eligible, highlight the discount upfront instead of showing a “Have a promo code?” box

✅ Feature payment nudges with context—e.g., “Get 5% cashback via XYZ card” or show “most popular payment method” (you can also test the placement of BNPL options like Klarna or Shop Pay)

35. Collect feedback through pop-ups

Why assume, when you can just ask what stopped them from buying?

Here’s how you can drive eCommerce sales by collecting feedback:

✅ Offer three to four options on exit-intent or idle popups—when someone’s about to bounce, ask ‘why’ – offer clear options like “too expensive”, “Couldn’t find what I wanted”, “Just browsing”, “Shipping was too high” 

✅ Once they pick, trigger a fix / offer and ask for their email—base the fix / offer on what they picked, for example, a discount / a better recommendation / content relevant to their pain points (this way you can nurture shoppers over email)

5 Metrics to Track Your eCommerce Sales More Effectively

When you’re trying to increase eCommerce revenue, it’s absolutely important that you track the right metrics—they essentially tell you what marketing efforts are working and what you’ll need to focus on more:

1. Average Order Value

What it is: shows how much revenue the average order brings in

Why is it important: helps analyze spending behavior and then identify marketing efforts that can potentially contribute to increased spending

eCommerce Sales Strategies to Improve Average Order Value

• Last-minute mini cart subscription nudge with discount
• Post-purchase one-click upsells
• Push bundles that are closer in price to single items 
• Offer an increase in discounts as the quantity chosen increases
• Unlock limited-time VIP product offers when the cart reaches a $X threshold

2. Customer Acquisition Cost

What it is: cost for acquiring new customers for a time period

Why is it important: shows which sales strategies are cost-effective and keeps converting shoppers

eCommerce Sales Strategies to Reduce Customer Acquisition Cost

• Optimize content & email marketing for the whole funnel
• Improve UGC marketing for various customer segments
• Rely on a strong referral marketing strategy 
• Make post-purchase smooth & rewarding
• Avoid cold targeting through paid ads

3. Customer Lifetime Value

What it is: the total (projected) revenue a customer can generate for a business during the entire duration of the business relationship

Why is it important: shows if the loyalty program is doing okay, and if there’s scope for improvement in terms of the products and their value proposition

eCommerce Sales Strategies to Enhance Customer Lifetime Value

• Create greater transparency through comparison charts & material sourcing info
• Feature a VIP membership program that really helps shoppers save
• Launch member-only capsules & collections
• Display different pre-made shopping lists to different segments
• Clearly anchor the member price against the regular price

4. Cart Abandonment Rate

What it is: shows how many checkouts get abandoned (completed checkout – total no. of add to carts)

Why is it important: helps increase sales on eCommerce websites by looking at major friction areas on the cart to checkout

eCommerce Sales Strategies to Reduce Cart Abandonment Rate

• Optimize exit intent based on exact stage of customer journey
• Declare free shipping (but make sure to include it in the cost) along with a threshold
• Show express checkout options on the product page itself
• Display delivery date or window clearly as microcopy
• Send smart recovery emails on “saved carts”

5. Returning Customer Rate

What it is: shows how many customers keep coming back

Why is it important: tells businesses if their positioning is even worth coming back to, and also figure out if certain promotions pick up (like RCR going up during Black Friday)

eCommerce Sales Strategies to Increase Returning Customer Rate

• Offer seamless customer support integration across platforms
• Craft offers based on the buying intent of returning customers 
• Create social media giveaways & community challenges
• Feature exclusive channel-only offers based on the most active usage
• Optimize the send times of reorder nudges & refills

eCommerce Sales 101

1. What are the 4 Cs of eCommerce sales?

The 4 Cs responsible for higher eCommerce sales are:

Choice

In eCommerce, shoppers need a sense of choice first and foremost to feel fulfilled about a buying experience.

On a website, this means multiple aspects, including:

- A detailed navigation system with categories and sub-categories that create no confusion

- Product recommendations that match a customer's mindset and journey so far

- Offers that make immediate buying more atrractive to a shopper

- Payment options that are well-known, trusted, and easy to use

- The ability to pick opt-in preferences

Communication

The component of communication in eCommerce is meant to create trust, assurance, and anticipation in shoppers as against doubt, confusion and frustration.

To make this C work for your business, you need to ensure:

- Immediate help (in the form of live chat, on-call support with a professional, chat with a support professional etc.)

- Self help (this includes the ability to view FAQ easily, search for top asked questions within a live chat, gain information through detailed product descriptions)

- Channel alternatives (the ability for the shopper to try out various channels to seek clarification and support—let's say if a support professional isn't available, they should find an email accessible to write in to the business)

- Call-back options (activate this with a touch of a button within the live chat feature—specify how long a call-back can take in case of delays)

Convenience

How easily and how fast a shopper can convert into a customer has a direct impact on eCommerce sales.

Convenience in a sales context can look like:

- Finding products of choice on the homepage itself

- Finding it easy to decide on a purchase (because of labels, trust signals and price clarifications)

- Finding it easy to continue a shopping experience if it ended abruptly earlier

- Finding it convenient to "save for later" and not buy right away

Customization

Effective segmentation is the reason behind this C of eCommerce.

To bring in effective customization, focus on:

- Browsing and purchase history

- Content that can help future purchases

- Offers & freebies that will retain the customer

2. What are the 5 whys for better eCommerce sales?

Why should you care? → Understand real problems potential shoppers face

Why should they change? → Spot what’s missing (not just in product development but also in the way you cater to existing and new customers)

Why you? → Know what sets you apart

Why now? → Tap into urgency that shoppers face

Why is it important? → Get to the ‘root’ need

Asking the 5 Whys can significantly change your relationship with customers and lead to increased conversions and better retention.

3. What is an eCommerce sales strategy?

It’s how you bring in new customers and keep existing ones, and increase sales.

The best eCommerce sales strategies integrate:

• Social and content marketing
• Personalization and upselling to improve AOV
• Mobile-first UX
• SEO that actually drives discovery

Don't forget to check out: 31 Brilliant Examples of eCommerce Personalization

4. What is the most cost effective eCommerce sales strategy?

Email marketing. Period. 

• Everyone checks it (5 hrs/day on average)
• 61% want weekly promos
• Email buyers spend 138% more

This makes email have a steady and well-defined ROI—something that can instantly add to your sales strategy without breaking the bank.

Recommended reading:

38 insanely powerful online sales promotion ideas for eCommerce

eCommerce Subscriptions: 15 Amazing Examples (+ Ways to Increase Subscription Sales)

eCommerce Newsletter: 20 Ways To Stand Out And Actually Drive Sales

Increasing Sales Through Email Marketing: The No-Nonsense Guide

Before you go...

98% of visitors who visit an eCommerce site—drop off without buying anything.

Why: user experience issues that cause friction for visitors.

And this is the problem Convertcart solves.

We've helped 500+ eCommerce stores (in the US) improve user experience—and 2X their conversions.

How we can help you:

Our conversion experts can audit your site—identify UX issues, and suggest changes to improve conversions.