Let’s face it, wading through sales metrics might not top your list of thrilling activities. But here’s the thing: your sales data is a goldmine of insights that can supercharge your B2B e-commerce performance. The more you understand your customers, the better you can tailor your online store to meet their needs and drive those all-important sales.
The concept is straightforward, but getting the most out of your sales data analysis requires a considered and methodological approach. We’ve put together this quick guide on how you can unlock the secrets of your data and massively ramp up your B2B sales rates.
How data drives e-commerce sales improvement
Knowledge, as the old saying goes, is power. In today’s digitized world, data is one of the most powerful resources a business has. Analyzing your sales data will give you a wealth of actionable insights that you can use to enhance every stage of your sales pipeline.
Data provides insights into customer behavior
Every action your customers make provides you with valuable data. Your customer’s browsing and purchasing behavior reveals their demographics, preferences, interests, and buying habits. Data helps you segment buyers into different categories so your teams can finely hone and personalize marketing efforts to uncover new leads and maximize cross-selling and upselling opportunities.
Data enables site optimization
A data-driven approach reveals how users interact with your site, which pages are most visited, and where potential bottlenecks may occur. You can leverage this information to enhance the website layout, navigation menus, and visual elements to create a more intuitive and engaging browsing experience.
Analyzing user behavior identifies pain points in the checkout journey. Checkout processes can be streamlined by simplifying forms and implementing guest checkout options and more intuitive payment gateways.
Data improve customer retention and acquisition
Tracking key metrics such as conversion rate, average order value, and customer lifetime value highlights areas for improvement. Drop-off points can be identified throughout the sales funnel. You can effectively tailor marketing strategies and provide personalized product recommendations. This all goes a long way in forging long-term relationships with your customers.
Collecting and interpreting data will show you what aspects of your sales process need improvement. But you’ll still need to develop data-driven strategies to increase online sales, resolve customer pain points, and maximize conversion opportunities.
Strategies to increase sales on your web store
Having terabytes of sales data won’t result in better sales team performance and improved win rates across the board if you don’t do anything with it. Your data should act as both the foundation and the driver of your marketing and sales strategies.
Increasing online sales is best achieved by taking actions that incorporate a multifaceted data-driven approach. Follow the strategies below and you can make the most of your sales data analysis.
Use diverse digital marketing channels
Leverage customer data to precisely target digital marketing campaigns across a diverse range of channels.
Focusing on your social media presence can help to spur customer interaction and build brand awareness. Customize your email marketing campaigns based on customer behavioral analysis and demographic insights . Tailoring your message to specific audiences can help develop potential customers and encourage existing customers to be more engaged.
Improve product pages
Insights from product performance analysis can show you how to better optimize product pages. Make sure you have clear, well-written product descriptions, high-quality images, and an easily navigable, intuitive interface.
Customize product pages to suit each customer’s known preferences. Position top-selling products in prominent areas and group associated products nearby. Informative and visually appealing product pages help funnel your customers right to the checkout stage.
Streamline checkout processes
Once your customer has filled up their cart, your data analysis can inform you how to ensure that it’s not abandoned at the checkout.
Use previous cart abandonment rates to identify any areas of friction and then act to simplify the steps required to complete a purchase. Optimize form fields with autocomplete and offer a range of guest checkout and payment options. Provide multiple payment options to reduce purchase barriers .
Streamlining the checkout process is essential for reducing cart abandonment and creating a smoother purchasing experience for customers.
Offer customized promotions
Promotions are another highly effective data-driven strategy to ramp up sales. Promotional campaigns can be precisely targeted to fit known preferences and needs. You can reward existing buyers and attract new customers by running promotional campaigns based on geographic and demographic data. Strategically timed launches based on sales data and market trends will maximize the impact of your promotional campaigns.
Continuously analyze sales data and customer feedback
Continuous analysis of sales data and customer feedback is critical for lasting success. Monitoring key performance metrics like conversion rates, average order value, and customer retention shows you what’s working and where adjustments are needed. Feedback from customers provides highly valuable insights into buyer preferences and pain points.
How to effectively trace sales drops on your web store
Whether it’s a sudden spiral downward or a slow gradual decrease, sales drops are never good news. The root cause of a drop in sales isn’t always obvious. Declining sales can be due to technical issues, changes in consumer behavior, or actions taken by your competitors.
The upside is that a drop in sales is an opportunity to gather valuable data. Taking a data-driven approach and carefully analyzing a drop in online sales will enable you to pinpoint the exact causes and implement targeted solutions. Business leaders can then make informed decisions to restore and enhance sales performance.
Instead of despairing over a downturn, you can be empowered to implement targeted solutions and optimize your e-commerce strategy to regain momentum and drive sustainable growth.
Review website analytics and sales data
When sales rates drop, it’s time to take a deep dive into your website analytics and sales data. Take note of any obvious fluctuations or trends in traffic, conversion rates, and revenue. Be on the lookout for any downward spikes in the number of website visitors and pay close attention to bounce rates and abandoned carts.
Sales data can show if any specific products or categories are experiencing a decline. These metrics can indicate that users are having difficulties with navigating the website or locating products.
Analyze customer feedback and support inquiries
Some of the best solutions to sales drop issues come from your customer’s problems. It’s important to pay extremely close attention to customer feedback and support inquiries. Analyzing this data can highlight the issues or concerns that are impacting sales.
Be sure to look out for any repeating patterns in customer complaints or requests for assistance related to product quality, shipping issues, payment problems, or website functionality.
Conduct A/B testing
A/B testing is an effective means of determining what might be causing sales drops. Compare elements of your website, marketing campaigns, or product offerings to determine their impact on sales figures.
When conducting A/B tests, focus on website layouts, navigation menus, and the placement and wording of call-to-action buttons. You can also perform A/B testing on various pricing strategies and promotional offers.
Effectively using automation in e-commerce sales
Automating the sales process in B2B e-commerce sites can significantly drive sales growth. Automated processes enable you to individually personalize marketing campaigns and deploy them quickly. Automation practically eliminates the likelihood of mistakes occurring because of human error, streamlines the purchase order process, and improves the overall customer experience. With the right automation in place, you can boost the average deal size and raise sales team performance rates.
Marketing automation tools
Automated email marketing tools can be used to launch highly targeted campaigns based on customer behavior, preferences, and purchase history. Emails can be sent at optimal times with tailored content to push leads through the sales funnel. Follow-up emails can be sent automatically after certain actions, such as completing an order, downloading a product brochure, or abandoning a cart.
Integrated e-commerce solutions
Integrated e-commerce platforms can unify data from various sources such as CRM, ERP, and inventory management systems. Having a centralized source of customer interactions and purchase history makes it easier for sales teams to manage customer relationships and allows marketing teams to precisely target buyers.
Predictive analytics
With a specialized data analytics tool, you can use historical data to forecast future sales trends. Predictive analytics can help your business manage inventory more efficiently and prepare for demand fluctuations.
Predictive analytics can also provide insights into customer behavior. High-value buyers who are likely to engage in repeat purchases can be identified. Sales and marketing teams can then focus their efforts on these customers.
Artificial intelligence (AI)
AI can be used to remove mundane tasks for both your internal teams and your customers. AI-powered chatbots can assist customers in real time and guide them through the purchase process. AI algorithms can accurately analyze customer behavior and preferences to develop personalized product recommendations.
Leveraging data can dramatically raise your win rates
Data analytics is an immensely powerful tool that any business can use to maximize growth.
Making smart use of sales data can supercharge your marketing campaigns, boost your sales, and help to convert prospective customers. Analyzing customer behavior allows you to identify weak areas in your purchase order process and locate drop-off areas in your sales funnel. Promotions and marketing campaigns can be personalized to suit individual customer preferences.
Data empowers stakeholders to make more informed decisions which leads to more efficient operations and higher rates of customer engagement and satisfaction.
Leveraging data will enable your e-commerce business to stay competitive, predict trends, and spur growth. With Sana Commerce Cloud, you can easily manage the most complex product catalogs and make the most of your web store data.
