Apuntando los pasos para conseguir primeras ventas
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First steps to get your first sales

The first sales can be the hardest. Without experience in social media, email, or SMS marketing, it can feel daunting. If you’re reading this then you may even be wondering what is SMS marketing… What is ecommerce!? 

We’re here to help. All ecommerce owners start somewhere; we have the first few steps to go from writing to promoting, including social media and Shopify email marketing. As long as your Shopify store is populated with some great products, you can start working toward excellent email and SMS marketing.

So what do you need to do to get your first sales? Let’s go step by step.

  • Build short-form content (bonus: use ecommerce SEO)

You’ll need some blog-style content to populate your website and social media. These needn’t be long, 400 words is plenty! All they need to do is offer genuine advice that solves problems for your audience. If you can slip in your product as a solution, even better. 

At this stage, it’s not imperative you master ecommerce SEO — you can revisit the content later to optimize. However, if you do add in words that will attract more people to your site, called keywords, check out Semrush and include your chosen keyword phrases in your blogs, social media, and product descriptions. This will help in the medium to long-term.

Next bit of writing? Write your product descriptions carefully, use formatting to break up long paragraphs (Grammarly has great tips for non-writers) and then rope in your friends to proofread.

Why your friends? You don’t need expert copywriters to tell you something is unclear, or to help you explain products. You need real people. They’re your “focus group” so give them a free product from your store, then ask them to post an image and tag your company on social media.

That leads us onto the next step.

  • Get proficient with social media

Your first customers will come mostly from organic outreach, word of mouth recommendations, and your existing contacts. The way to take advantage of this is to build a social media presence. 

As well as sharing photos of your products, those short blogs you already wrote, and fun tips with your audience, your focus group can share photos of themselves using your store’s wares and tag the company. This provides social proof which is key in any kind of marketing. If they add one of your ecommerce SEO keywords, even better! 

Next, you’ll want to start a small campaign to gather more contacts. Share a tempting message like “be the first to hear when we launch” on your social channels and DM those that interact to ask for their email address or phone number.

A note like: “Interested in hearing about special offers? Drop your cell here!” with a link to a simple Typeform or Google Form for them to fill in their information will get you the data you need to start SMS marketing. Be sparing, don’t ask for more than 2 or 3 data points or your followers will lose interest.

  • Plan incentives and promote them with SMS marketing

What is ecommerce and what is SMS marketing? What do they have to do with each other? Ecommerce means selling products online, via a digital store like Shopify, Squarespace, or WooCommerce. Email and SMS marketing are the top ways that ecommerce businesses reach their first customers via digital messages, and also keep them coming back to their store.

So, now you want to get started with SMS marketing, you’ll need to collect phone numbers of your customers. By adding a checkbox to their delivery options “I agree to be contacted with special offers” you can politely share offers with people who have bought from you before.

To get those new customers, you need to go to the list you gathered from social media, and send them a carefully written message sharing a discount code, or another benefit like free shipping if they buy that week. Remember:

  1. Set a time limit on the discount code.
  2. Make it a tempting percentage for your price point.
  3. Express gratitude for their support of your small business.
  4. Keep it below 160 characters.

Now you have an incentive plan and SMS marketing ready to go!

  • Set up some Shopify email marketing

Lastly, perhaps with the same message or a more extensive explanation of the offer and your store, plan an email marketing campaign. Shopify email marketing is especially easy with Aument, because all you need to do is connect your store and a Shopify email, and let the automations bring in your first sales. 

Prefer to go it alone? Here’s how to go about it:

  1. Offer personalized discount codes, easily created within Shopify. 
  2. Make it a tempting percentage for your price point.
  3. Express gratitude for their support of your small business.
  4. Provide a clear call to action to redeem the discount.
  5. Add a photo or 2 of your best sellers.
  6. Keep it below 150 words. 

Step 6 sounds hard, right? But short and sweet email and SMS marketing gets people’s attention, and they will seek out more information if they’re interested by clicking on the link you provide. 

Next steps to get even more customers

Once you’ve mastered these basics, or even before, there’s a toolbox of plug-and-play growth actions that will bring in more sales, repeat purchases, and win back lost customers. Check out the best-in-class marketing automations for small businesses on Shopify. 

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