Ep 153: Top 3 PROVEN Strategies To Grow Your Ecommerce Business (That Nobody Is Talking About)

Scaling an ecommerce business can be hard, but only if you let it. Hey, this is Jaryd Krause, host of the Buying Online Businesses podcast. And in this episode, I'm doing a solo podcast talking about three proven strategies to grow your ecommerce business. Strategies that I and my clients have personally used to get great results. We'll be talking about why selling more products as an ecommerce business owner is actually a curse and what you should be doing instead.

We'll also be talking about how to not buy into the marketing hype and the next best thing you need to do to grow your business. We also talk about what you can do to save money on ad spend as an ecommerce business owner and how you can work less but save yourself a lot of stress at the same time while making the same amount of money or a little bit more if you understand these principles. We also talk about how to build trust the right way with your audience and how to make more money every time you make a sale.

There's so much in this episode, but let's get stuck into the goodness. Today's episode is brought to us by Niche Website Builders, which is a company a few of my clients are using and have used for content creation and link building services that are everything from start to finish.

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Do you want to start investing in websites but don't want to drop $20,000 on your first investment? Check out Odys, where you can buy premium age domains to build a website on and add Odys done for you affiliate site package to help you grow your website and get seen. Instead of buying a crummy website that's been built to sell with no authority, buy a premium domain with built in authority, great SEO, and fresh, quality content for your website. Head to odys.global to check out their great deals. That's O-D-Y-S-dot-G-L-O-B-A-L. The link will be in the description, too. Hello and welcome back to another Buying Online Businesses podcast episode. I want to talk about ecommerce businesses, and I have three key and main strategies that you can use to grow your ecommerce business that most people aren't talking about.

Most people are talking about flashy things; you should be doing this type of digital marketing. You should be doing a remarketing campaign like this. You should be structuring your ads in this way. You should be using this ad platform or selling on this ad platform and talking a lot about marketing in terms of paid marketing.

And there are some really smart ways you can grow your ecommerce business without even paying for ads, so these are three proven strategies that I've used in my business, in my ecommerce business, and in multiple ecommerce businesses with those who I'm helping to grow their ecommerce businesses. And we've seen great results.

Now, when people come to me to grow their ecommerce business or they're about to buy an ecommerce business, the number one growth strategy they come to me with for their ecommerce business is to add more products to their store. And I often ask them, Hey, what do you want to do? How do you think you're going to be able to grow your business? What's the best way to do it? What opportunities do you see for growing your business? And it's always to add more products to the store.

And as much as it makes me want to shake some sense into people, I can't help but realize that I once thought the same thing when I wanted to grow my ecommerce business or when I was looking at buying ecommerce businesses as well, I used to think, Well, if this is working, let's just get more products on the store. Let's just sell more products. So we need more products to sell, and we'll just make more money. It makes sense logically. Right?

But the opposite is true. In fact, more products mean more work. It means more things to focus on and often worse results. So how do you grow anything? Not even just the business. But how do you get growth in any aspect of your life? The number one thing is focus, right? So what happens when You Have An Ecommerce business and You Have 100 products?

You have to try to sell 100 products. You have to have customer service for 100 products. You have to do marketing for 100 products. You can have 100 different pages. Product pages. There are 100 things to optimize. So there are 100 marketing funnels, ad campaigns, pages, and listings to optimize.

There's a lot going on. There's a lot to work on. What we should be doing is focusing on less and working on our best sellers. So often, people come to me with all these products. I was speaking to somebody just the other day who said, I've got 144 SKUs coming out, and they've sold a bunch of them before. I was like, Great. Cool. Why? Well, that's what we do; typically, we find ones that work and ones that don't work. And I said, That's awesome.

That's a really good starting point. So why do you even bother with the ones that don't work? Why do you even try to find more? Why don't you just focus on what is working already? And then you don't need to relaunch new products. You Don't Need to make new campaigns, new listings, or optimize other listings. You can just focus on the best things that are working and make them even better and provide better value.

Make the product better, make the customer journey for that product better, and make the experience for that customer superior to what it is now. And say you'll sell more of that one thing, those two things, or those three things.

So this is what I want you guys to think about. If you have an ecommerce business or you're thinking about buying one, don't go out there and broaden the store and sell more products; instead, focus down and find the top two to three best products and really focus on selling those, because that's your 80/20. That's the pareto principle. You've heard all of this before. We should be focusing on what's working. I've told you this so many times.

Spend more time focusing on what's working and less on what's not working, and just put your time and energy into making what's working superior and better. So let me give you an example. I had a client in the mastermind who was selling rugs on his business, on his online store, and he had rugs in different sports. So from football to basketball to many, many different sports and then different leagues. And from all of these rugs, there was one that sold really, really well. There was one team in one sport that just sold out. That's where he made the lion's share of his money.

And so he had so many ads running. But I decided, Look, why don't we just cut out what's not working, see what's working. This one rug is selling really, really well. Let's put more ad spend into that ad. Let's optimize that ad. Let's optimize the product page; let's make this even better and sell more of that one rug because we're doing what the audience is telling us to do by default. When you've got best selling products, basically the market you're selling to has the say, and they're telling you what they want.

And what they're clearly telling you is that you have one product, which is what everybody wants. It's like a really good product. It's the thing. So why are you trying to sell to that market things that they may not want to waste their time, waste your time, waste your energy, and waste your money. Focus on what they do want and give it to more people, because that's obviously what the market is after. So listen to the market, is what I'm saying. So that's what we did—we just optimized these product pages and ended up making more sales, right?

And you're able to stop spending so much on advertising. When you are trying to spend money on different types of products, when you're trying to test different types of products, or when you're trying to, launch different types of products, you can spend less on your ad spend and actually make more money by just focusing on the one product or the two or three products.

The market is saying, hey, we love this. Please give it to us. So that's one proven strategy that works really, really well to grow your ecommerce business that I just don't hear people talking about at all. The next one is increasing your average order value. Okay? So hard work isn't always the answer. And this is relatable to all of these three proven strategies to grow your ecommerce business. It's like the previous one of focusing and selling your best product.

The hard work of trying to find new products and find product market fit. That's not always the answer. Once you've got product, market fit and people know what they want and you know what they want, then focus on that. And it's the same when it comes to increasing your average order value.

So you're all right? So you should only work hard to get something done. And it should not be a sprint or a marathon. So what? I mean, sorry. It should be a sprint, not a marathon. And what I mean by that is when we have let's just say we've got the example of we've got an ecommerce business and we've got 150 products or 100 products.

What we could do is run a marathon, add more products, add more products, add more products, and just keep running this massive marathon instead. If we went the opposite way and decided to focus instead and remove a bunch of those products that aren't our particular best sellers or don't sell anything, stop spending our money on the ad spend, and then start optimizing our listing for the top three products, we could sprint towards that.

And when we sprint towards that, we can get more work done with a better course of action. And that allows you to work less over a longer period of time, right? And also, we're actually designed to do our best work when we've got energy to burn.

And we do it quickly and in short bursts. Right? We're not designed to do our burst work when we're burnt out or overtired because we've been running a marathon and running around in circles again and again and again. So, yeah, what you want to do is create a long term strategy that gets you the results you want just by doing short sprints each week. All right? You don't need to work more than 40 hours per week on your business. So I found that the less I worked when I started cutting down my work hours, the more money I made because I was refreshed.

And when I'm refreshed, I have better ideas, I create better products, and I create better work. I do better work. So What I Want You To Do when we're increasing our average order value is to go, All right, we've got our best selling products, our top three best selling products. Let's say our product is in the fishing niche, and we're selling a fishing rod. And you could have 150 fishing rods for sale. But there are three that are really popular fishing rods, and that's what makes up the lion's share of your sales on your ecommerce business.

So start focusing on those top three fishing rods. Then, when you come to the second point that I'm talking about now, which is increasing your average order value, think about how we can sell them more products. Not just to make money from them, but it's going to allow them to enjoy using their fishing rod more. So should we upsell them or downsell them? A reel of fishing line? What about a lure? What about a fishing rod holder that sits on your hip? What about an esky? What about a tackle box? What about some different things that make sense that go with that product?

And when you do that, say you've got a fishing rod. I don't know how much they cost. Maybe it cost $200. And then you got a tackle box or a tackle box that sells for, like, $50. You could give it to them for $30, give them a massive discount because they're coupling that together. Or maybe they get it when they sell. When you purchase the fishing rod for $200, maybe you can have one lure for $10 or five lures for $40. So you basically get one for free. You can have these different things, upsells and downsells to increase your average order value.

So it doesn't mean you need to work harder and sell more products. It's just a logical progression to move into when you've already purchased that product. If you're thinking about the customer journey, for myself, if I'm going to go to the surfboard shop because I need a new surfboard, there are a few things that I'm going to need.

Usually when I buy a surfboard, I'm definitely going to need a grip that goes on the back of my surfboard where I put my back foot, so it makes sense to sell me a surfboard grip that goes on the back if you're working at the surfboard shop. It's a tail pad, as they call it, that goes on the back of the surfboard. Just sell me one for, say, 20% off.

Of course, I'm going to buy that one if it's good. What about a leg rope that makes sure my board stays attached to my body? I'm going to need one of those as well. So there's these different things that just make logical sense that when I purchase a surfboard, there's a few other things that I'm going to need. Wax, surfboard wax. I'm especially going to need surfboard wax when I buy a surfboard.

So that's what you should be focusing on when increasing your average order value. Find out number one. Step one, find your top few best products, anywhere from one to three products, and then go all in on helping the person who's purchased that product have a better experience with that product by selling them something that goes with their product that they've just purchased.

That's what I believe works so well in your online business as an ecommerce business owner, is to make sure that when you are selling a product, you just make sure that the person who's purchasing has gotten everything they need. You don't want them to go away and purchase something and say, Cool, I've got this. But now I need to go shop for a tail pad, right? I bought this circle, but now I need to go shop for a tail pad.

Then I need to go somewhere to find a leg rope, and then somewhere to find wax. You want to give it to them all under one roof and at a good price. And it creates a better service when they're purchasing those products because they can buy it all under one roof.

They can get it all at a good price. And in turn, by helping them better, you end up making more money. And that's what they say about businesses. The businesses that provide the most value are the ones that end up winning. And that's what you're doing—you're providing them value by preventing them from having to go away and spend time, effort, and energy, maybe more money buying these other products elsewhere.

So increase them—sorry, increase your average order value by adding those as upsells, downsells, or cross sells. So that's the second proven strategy. And it's the same with Gary; when he was selling rugs, the gentleman I was talking about before, the mastermind, was selling a bunch of rugs. But what we realized is that, like rugs on tiles, they slip.

So he started selling non-slip pads that go underneath the bottom of the rugs, and that increased his average order value. So it's a logical thing. Someone who's going to buy a rug is generally going to need one of those non-slip pads that go on the bottom of the rug. I just want to pause this episode. for an immediate update.

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Okay, the third proven strategy to grow your ecommerce business is an awesome one. It's free. The reason it's free is because you should have already built an email list. So the third strategy is email marketing. Now, some people talk about email marketing and ecommerce businesses, but I just don't think it gets enough attention. The reason this email marketing is free is because you've already built this list, which is really cool.

Meaning you don't need to make hard pitches to people when they're on your email list. You don't need to do hard sales every single week or every single month. Your email list isn't about selling to your audience. That's not what your email list is actually for. Your email list is there to build a relationship with your audience. I think the goal of a good email list is to keep people in your realm, in your sphere, and in your world. So when they are ready to buy, the most logical decision is to purchase from you.

So, for example, if somebody is interested in fishing and they got on your email list because you sent them an ebook or a resource on how to catch trout, how to do deep sea fishing, or how to tie a line, I don't know much about fishing, but how to tie a hook on, a swivel, or a sinker.

If you've given them a free resource or something of value and they've come to your email list, they're in the world of fishing. And if you were to go away and, as soon as they join the email list, start selling them a $500 fishing rod, of course you're going to just ruin the relationship from the get go. Instead, what you want to do is know that eventually, down the track, they're going to be in the market to buy something related to fishing, like a fishing rod, a lure, a tackle box, or whatever it is.

So what you want to do is build the relationship. Don't burn out the relationship too quickly by selling to them too quickly. Build the relationship over time, and then when they're ready to purchase from you, they'll come and purchase from you. Okay, you need to think of this as a long term event. Chase Climber from Electrici IO is somebody who helps people scale ecommerce businesses to six and seven figures and beyond. He says that for good ecommerce businesses, 30% of their revenue should come from their email list. If they're not, they're doing something wrong with their email list.

So to get the best ROI from your email list in terms of input from email marketing compared to paid ads, what you want to do is make sure that you're actually emailing your list often. And the reason this is really valuable is because the more they hear from you, it's like branding; the more you see Coca Cola, the more likely you are going to buy Coca Cola over Pepsi, right?

So it's the same with your email list in the phishing space. The more they hear from you, the more they like and trust you. And then, when it comes to purchasing something, they're not going to jump on the internet and start searching for something. They kind of come to you and find out if you have those products because you've built up that reputation.

So they know they like and trust you. And you get the best ROI from email marketing because you don't need to spend money to get the attention or the eyeballs of those people who are interested in your products because you've already done the work there. You don't need to keep spending more money on paid ads.

So email marketing can provide you with an infinite return because you don't need to spend money to make those sales. And that's why email marketing is so damn powerful. I do have one. So that's a third proven strategy to grow your ecommerce business that I've used and that a lot of my clients have used. But I do have a bonus. I have a fourth one that I want to include for you, and that is around focus.

Like I talked about before, most people focus on the wrong things because of all the noise out there that's actually just distracting them. Like I said to you at the start of this podcast, People are telling you that you need to create better ads. You need to start marketing on this channel or that channel, or you're going to get left behind. You need to do this, and then you need to do that. The truth is, you can make so much more money with what you've already got, right? You can make so much more money with what you've already got. There's a really good book that I've got from J. Abraham, and it says to get everything you can out of all you've got.

That's the title of the book. And the principle of the book is that you should already have an email list. You've already got an ecommerce business that's selling products. Work out what's working. Do more of that. So step one, increase your average order value. Focus on building better relationships with your email list. The deeper the relationship, the better the relationship; the higher the trust, the more people will buy from you. I am a big believer that a lot of business owners, because of all of the noise out there, need to use my tool, do this, or buy my course.

Because a lot of business owners have been taught wrong and led down the wrong path, and it's really just a numbers game, right? That's what they think. It's just a numbers game. I need to do this, and I need to do that. And the reality is, it's not just a numbers game. You don't need to do more and more and more and more and more. Right? Let me give you an example. If you spend $1,000 and you get 100 leads and you make ten sales, then why not spend $2,000 and double it?

Well, sure. I mean, you could do that, right? That's the logical thing. And that's what everybody says. It's just a numbers game. To make this work, I just need to put more money into it once I've got it working. But why spend more money on ads when you could work on your sales process and convert 20 leads to sales from those hundred leads? So you could spend $100,000 on your ads and get 100 leads, but instead of making ten sales, you could make 20 sales.

Then not only do you make more money, but you also have a better ROI. So, essentially, you're working on the sales process first. That should be the first step. And optimizing that. And then, once that is optimized, put more money into marketing, right? But it's not just about more money, right? It's not just about putting more money into marketing. And then you're going to make more profits. What I said before is focusing on what's working. Do less of what's not working, do more of what's working, and optimize that process. So that's the real bonus there is really optimizing and realizing that it's not just a numbers game.

There are so many things out there that people are teaching you that are correct in some sense, but it's not the whole picture. And when we get fed that belief, or when we get fed that piece of information or piece of advice, we take it as though it's the whole picture and the Holy Grail, and then we block everything else out and go for gold with that. The reality is, there are so many other things at play. So think about it.

The three proven strategies for growing your business. Number one, don't sell more products. Sell fewer products, but do it better. Number two, increase your average order value. Number three, do email marketing. You'll get a better ROI, and you can spend less on paid ads. And then the fourth, the bonus one, is, understand that to get a better ROI, you don't need to put more money into your business.

To get a better ROI, you need to optimize your business. So that's the bonus. So those are the philosophies that I like to talk about, and I teach them to my coaching clients, and it's helped them double their businesses and set them up for massive wins.

So if you're interested in having me personally coach you, just email me at [email protected]. Honestly, though, don't just say, Just email me. Please email me. Let's chat. I'm certain I will be able to help or at least point you in the right direction of someone who can. If you're looking at growing your online business, that's it. See you guys.