[DATA UNIVERSITY]: HOW TO INCREASE YOUR ECOMMERCE REVENUE

While there are countless types of online businesses and an infinite number of product categories, there's one common goal that every e-commerce owner shares: to make more money.

Let's go over a few ways that you can actually get this "making more money" thing done!

•  Expanding your product line to include additional items that complement your current offerings (e.g. a shoe store may want to add socks in their inventory). Products are typically always on a scale of improvement especially in the technology space.
•  It's tricky to get to an optimal price point, but experiment with price segmentation. Do you have customers who are willing to pay more for a higher quality product or a service bundled with the product? If you lower your prices for a week does your volume skyrocket to more than make up for the loss on margin? This could easily be a topic for an entire novel, but it's definitely an important part of the revenue picture. As a general rule: make sure what you're charging is more than your cost.
•  Are you using SEM / SEO or other traditional marketing channels to drive traffic to your site? How does your brand stack up to the competition in the marketplace? You might want to ramp up your promotional efforts.
• Take a look at where your store is getting visibility, what your target customer demographic is, and where your sales are getting the most traction and the least exposure. Is your product accessible quickly and cheaply? If shipping costs more than the product, it's often a deterrent to purchase.
•  If your store primarily sells products, perhaps it's time to add on services. Gift wrapping, overnight shipping, handwritten notes or phone or chat support  can add a personal touch to the experience of shopping in your store, and generally go a long way in increasing customer happiness with minimal effort. Best of all, you can even pass on most if not all of these costs to the customer.
•  Keep Your Current Customers! Send your loyal customers emails to stay in touch with them. Every now and then send along a "We missed you.. here's 10% off" for being a great customer coupon. It's always cheaper to keep an old customer than to acquire a new one!
•  Building up your customer base is one of the surefire ways to continue on your growth trajectory towards e-commerce prosperity. Think about your current customer base, the niche you're in, and how you can expand on the current niche...or even into a new one!

There are many more ideas out there, but unfortunately, there is no one formula for your business. As you figure out your own best strategy, don't be afraid to experiment with a new market, a different customer acquisition strategy or a different type of product all together. Keep your core business strong, but growth more often than not is spawned from innovation and creativity--not doing the same ole thing.