Making that first sale on Shopify is much more elusive than you think! This is an exciting time and many store owners refresh their admin area for hours hoping to see just one sale – the very first sale – happen. Often times I work with people who are under the impression that if you build it, they will come. But that is just not the case these days. Businesses online are fighting for consumers attention and ponying up the big bucks to get it. So keep in mind that while yes, it will happen you have to be prepared to work for it. Here are some of the ways that you can increase your chances of getting that first sale sooner.
Your family & friends
Your family and friends are going to be an invaluable marketing tool when you first launch your store. They may want to buy products from you themselves, just to support you, but more likely they’ll tell their friends and eventually someone will need something that you’re offering. Any sales organization will tell you that you start with your family and friends and then network from there.
Advertising
Advertising used to be something that only the most successful businesses could do because it was expensive to advertise on television, radio or newspaper. But with the Internet, advertising has gotten quite a bit cheaper. You may be able to find a website that appeals directly to your customers and advertise there for a very low price. In addition, there is Facebook advertising, Google Adwords and various other low-cost methods of getting the word out there.
Deeply discount or give away products
Another method that you can use to get your first sale is to give out huge discounts. Obviously, when you make your first sale you aren’t going to make very much money on it and in fact may lose money. However, the word will spread and you may be able to make a profit on other products that you are discounting. Giving away products doesn’t seem to make sense either but some companies set aside a certain budget for marketing and then use that to make up the cost of the items that they’re giving away. Then they advertise the free items and describe them as “for a limited time only†which usually brings quite a bit of traffic, some of which may be something else.
Make some YouTube videos
Finally, you could make some YouTube videos. They can be advice videos or you could just be talking about how you are able to get your store off the ground. Adding links to your store may bring in traffic that will give you your sale.
