Every potential customer is different, but regardless of their shopping habits everyone can be encouraged to make an impulse purchase!
Impulse buyers are individuals who make a purchase even though they may not have originally been aware of a product or set out to purchase it, but after receiving the right marketing they immediately visit the website and buy!
You have probably done it yourself, you’ll look on a website and find something you really like, only to see a retargeting advert on Facebook or Instagram a few days later informing you that there is a sale on the product you looked at! It makes you feel that you would be foolish not to make the purchase right now. If anything you’re actually saving money by doing so. It’s an easy but effective social media marketing tactic all eCommerce websites should be using.
Impulse buys are great for your business. It’s so cost-effective and easy to get them to make a purchase compared to targeting someone who’s completely unaware of your brand or product. Impulse buyers are likely to convert extremely quickly. But how do you target these impulse buyers? How do you encourage them to make a purchase?
By creating the right advert, with create creatives and content, you can influence your target audience to make an impulse purchase whenever you are looking for a boost in sales. A study in 2018 found that British people spend on average £144,000 on impulse purchases in their lifetime, so if you can tap into this audience then you could be making a lot of extra sales!
FOMO! Fear Of Missing Out
FOMO of the “fear of missing out” is a very real, something you have probably experienced yourself and also a very powerful marketing tool.
For those that are unfamiliar with the term, FOMO refers to the fear that someone can feel if they don’t do something, or aren’t part of something. This could be going out with their friends, being part of the latest craze, picking a certain meal, and in the world of eCommerce, making an online purchase. In 2023 the biggest example of this is the Prime drink which some people are selling for £100 and people are paying it to be part of the craze so they don’t miss out!
Marketing campaigns that alert customers there is limited stock supplies is a popular trick that encourages potential customers to make a purchase with a heightened sense of urgency. You can use phrases such as “for one day only”, “while stocks last” and “limited stock” to trigger people into an impulse purchase.
Flash Sales
Flash sales are a fast and easy way to make sales from both impulse buyers and loyal customers alike! These are very short sales that usually span over 24 hours. The combination of low stock levels and discounted prices can be all that is needed to generate a huge amount of sales.
Flash sales can be announced by a post or advert on Facebook or even sending an email out to your mailing list.
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Placing products that work well together or are often bought at the same time is often done in most offline shops, so why not do the same in your eCommerce store?
Complementary products are items that are ideally bought together. For example, if you’re on an eCommerce website and see the phrase “Customers who bought this also bought,” followed by a list of recommended products, they’re likely to be complementary products.
The other way you can utilise this strategy is to bundle related items together, but offer them at a slight discount. You could make these bundles available on your online store or offer related products at or after checkout.
Product Placements
Before you start trying to get people to make impulse purchases on your eCommerce website, you need to identify what products you want customers to buy. Once you’ve identified these, you need to put them on your home page. It’s important that you aren’t making people work to hard to find your deals, you want a potential customer to visit your website, see the product and purchase immediately!
If you want to improve your website’s marketing and use the impulse buy strategy, why not sign up for our FREE Website Audit or contact us to discuss what we can do for your website.
