Attracting new customers might seem a bit frightening for your e-commerce business, especially right after creating a business website, logo, and branding in a world of ever-growing competition, but don’t let that scare you. You can get customers online to patronize your business.  There are many eCommerce websites in Nigeria and we understand how difficult it can be to gain recognition. And so, this article provides you with the 10 simple ways you can gain new customers online!

How To Attract New Customers to Your Store?

1. Have an Attractive Website or Blog

Having an attractive website that is optimized and easy to navigate is important. Besides recommendations from friends and family, an internet search is how most customers will find you.

By searching and using keywords related to your business, new customers can come across your website when in need of the service you provide. Through your website or blog, they will be able to read a summary of your business, see the pictures and descriptions of your products and services, as well as find any information they will need in order to contact you.

It is vital that important information is easy to find on your website and that it includes everything your customers might need (location, phone number, email, opening hours).

Aside from beautiful websites, blogs are also of equal importance. They provide an avenue to write content that your customers can read and comment on. These comments can provide valuable insight into how your customers see your business, and you can also respond to them and build a good relationship with your customers.

2. Make Use of Social Media 

Having social media helps to increase and support brand awareness, as almost half the world’s population now has social media accounts. It also provides the avenue to interact with your customers and shows the face behind your brand/business. 

You can ask them for their opinions, help them should they need help, share content they might enjoy, and find relatable. This is how you create a bond with your customers and humanize your brand.

Social media also provides a good opportunity to gain traffic to your website or blog without paying anything. By having an attractive Instagram profile, people will be more intrigued by clicking the link to the website you provided in the description.

3. Give Free Offers and Contests

Nothing attracts people more than the word “free”. Psychologically speaking, people want to feel they are getting value, or better still, they are paying less for more and if it’s free, it makes it more enticing. 

Social media provides a great platform that you can use for free offers and competitions.  They present an excellent way to gain new customers and exposure which are advantageous for both your business and the customers.

Try offering free samples of your product or services or even free shipping of the products you sell. Your followers can share your posts with other people, providing you with exposure and maybe even new loyal customers.

Contests can be found on all kinds of social media, make them fun for your followers and you will keep them for life and you might even attract new ones as well. Make sure that the prize you offer is related to your brand or business because that’s the main reason people follow you. 

4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Have you created a website for your business but you are getting no clicks? The solution to this problem is having good search engine optimization or SEO, which consists of multiple techniques and strategies that can improve your website’s position in search engines.

By having a website with quality headings and links, optimized and unique content, and no grammatical errors, search engines will recognize your website as ‘legit’ in the sea of fake websites.

SEO is very important in business and it should be incorporated into your strategy if it isn’t because with SEO your website or blog becomes more visible, which means customers can easily see you when they are in need of the service you provide. So more traffic equals more opportunities to convert prospects or potential customers into actual paying customers.

5. Customer Reviews

Constant interaction with your customers is very critical. Instantaneous replies to customer’s comments alone make the customers feel valuable which in turn can motivate them to leave a good review of your business. 

Cultivate the habit of responding to people on your blog, check your email regularly, be in the comment section of your social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), reply to direct messages(DM). 

GMB, or Google My Business, is a free service where you can provide adequate information about your business, which can make your business easier to find and it’s also where customers can leave reviews. But an even better source of reviews and recommendations is social media.

Encourage customers to tag your business after they receive your product or try your service. This way, when people search for your business on social media or google, they will see all these pleased customers who might even provide pictures and videos of them using your brand. 

Nothing says ‘this business is verified” like good reviews.

6. Marketing campaigns

Marketing campaigns are guaranteed to attract new customers and keep them if done right. A lot of big-time companies invest millions into their marketing campaign because they know how important it is.

Before starting a marketing campaign, make sure you know who your customers are and what their interests are, identify keywords that are related to your business that people are looking up, and which social media your target audience uses the most.

This helps you create and tailor your marketing campaign to customers who are looking for you.  For example, if you sell to or you are trying to sell/ attract millennials, your marketing campaign would be something interesting, trendy, and might even involve a celebrity or any social media influencer to drive home the point.  

So understanding your customers first will help you know which marketing campaign to use.

7. Email marketing

Email marketing provides a super effective way to connect with customers. Even if people don’t use social media accounts, they use emails. And by making use of email marketing, you can reach a large number of people for the cost of almost nothing. 

Email marketing requires no revenue compared to traditional media of spending on printing flyers and brochures and provides all important information that your customers need: a link to your website, an address, a phone number, and any other means of communication.

Email marketing campaigns can also be used to inform your customers about sales, special deals,  and new products.

And the best part of email marketing is personalization. You can customize each email that you send and address people by their names. According to research from Campaign monitor, emails are 26% more likely to be opened if they contain the name of the recipient as the subject line.

8. Partnerships

You’ve seen it even if you didn’t know what it was. On Instagram, there is usually a small banner that shows “paid partnership” when someone talks about a product or a business on their profile. That is an example of partnership.

By working/partnering with other businesses, you can learn about new techniques and methods, have access to new resources, which can capture the interest of new customers and reach new markets.

Partnerships are beneficial for both sides: the business you’re working with can reach your audience and you can reach theirs. It also helps build your business awareness and credibility, as you will be featured on their website, blog, and social media accounts. The number of services you offer will expand as well, so it is good to partner up with a business that offers a product similar to yours.

You can also partner with influencers to help showcase your products thereby creating awareness and maybe conversion for your products.

9. Tap Into The Power of Subscriptions

A one-time purchase is great, but there is no assurance that you will get more revenue from that customer in the future.

When you only sell a product, there’s no guarantee that customers will come back. But with a subscription service, you are sure of recurring revenue that generates new sales each month. An analysis by AdWeek noted that subscription models help businesses scale and predict revenue, as many customers view these services as a convenient, budget-friendly shopping model.

This isn’t to say that you should completely change to a subscription-based service. However, the success of digital software applications and monthly subscription boxes for products as diverse as food and makeup highlights the significant prospect of this business model.

10. Add Value With Content Marketing

Your business has to be more than just the products you sell. The most successful brick-and-mortar stores are still around because they have created a great experience for their customers. 

You need to find ways to do the same on your own site, whether that’s through blog posts, video tutorials, website, or otherwise. When you consistently generate interesting content, you’ll have more avenues for new customers to discover your business.

Content marketing continues to be a powerful tool that helps build a community around your business. Comedian Basketmouth creates content through his videos, GTbank creates content too through all forms of media.

Imploring content marketing in your strategy serves as a great way to generate leads, find new sponsorship opportunities, increase awareness or just simply create new conversation starters on social media.

Whatever the content might be, the key is to provide value to your target audience. News, facts, and tips help you form real connections with current and potential customers and it’s a surefire way to keep them coming back for more.

As you can see, you do not need millions to attract clients to your online store. The most important thing is to be creative and know which channels to use. As you use these tactics to gain more customers—including the high-value customers who can become loyal brand advocates—you will be able to grow your sales.

Now that you have that knowledge, go ahead and start promoting your business!

Be creative and unique and you will rock it!

Good luck!