Visibility is everything when it comes to attracting paying customers on eBay. If potential customers can’t find your products, they won’t buy them! One way to increase your products’ visibility is to invest in eBay-promoted listings. This allows sellers to position their best products for the most interested buyers. In addition, payment is required only when someone clicks on the ad and a purchase is made.
However, online sellers who rely solely on promoted listings are making a mistake. Buyers base their decisions on multiple variables. Everything from photos to descriptions to page layout affects whether someone buys a product. Getting in front of customers and increasing sales requires sellers to look at the eBay world from the buyer’s point of view rather than simply listing the product and hoping it sells.
Conversion = Cash
According to Descartes Sellercloud’s research, it is very important to keep up with conversion rates. The conversion rate for a given product is the most important factor in determining search results. The reason for this is obvious: when you make money, eBay makes money. This means that the highest-converting items get the best placement, which leads to better sales and better placement.
What can you do to improve conversion rates? For many products, simply lowering the price will result in higher conversion rates. However, this is a dangerous game for sellers. You cannot give away your products for free.
Furthermore, when it comes to higher-end products, price is only one factor in the decision to buy, and often, it is not the deciding factor. Customers shopping for higher-end products may not be interested in finding the lowest price possible. Instead, they may be more interested in determining whether they can trust you as a seller.
On eBay, building trust often depends on the kind of impression your listing makes. Professional-looking, refined listings create a sense of trust that you are offering high-quality merchandise that is worth the asking price. In some cases, newer sellers went from obscurity to top-ranking among eBay sellers simply by creating a professional-looking listing for their product.
Make the Buying Decision Easy
Another factor that improves eBay listings and sales is speeding up the purchasing decision. Remember, your listing has just seven seconds to convert a visitor into a buyer. This means sellers must grab a potential customer’s attention, convey the right information, and close the deal in less time than pouring a cup of coffee!
What doesn’t work? Huge blocks of print with confusing information. What does work? Knowing what your potential customer wants and providing the solution in an easy-to-understand format.
Most eBay customers want the answer to five key questions before they buy:
- Is this the exact item I’m looking for?
- Does this item have the specific features I want?
- Can the seller be trusted?
- Is this seller professional?
- How fast will it ship?
In addition, buyers value authenticity. Simply adding the tag ‘Authentic’ or ‘100% Authentic’ to your listings can result in a tremendous boost in sales.
Know the Competition
It can be tempting to ignore other sellers. However, your competitors’ sites can provide vital business intelligence at no cost, which you can turn to your advantage. For example, if a competitor offers a one-year warranty, you can easily surpass them by offering a two-year warranty. If your competitors’ descriptions are too wordy, ensure your site presents an appealing visual guide. Also, read eBay feedback reviews on your competitors’ listings.
Look for trends, both in terms of positive feedback and complaints. Make sure your product listing addresses those issues. Don’t hesitate to include positive testimonials in your descriptions.
Descartes Sellercloud has also discovered that our most successful online sellers actively seek out feedback from potential buyers. You can do this by creating a survey and asking 50 or 100 people about your listing and how it can be improved. We recommend using online tools, such as Amazon’s MTurk, which can provide important customer feedback for a minimal investment. Adopting a multi-pronged approach to maintaining the quality of your eBay listings may seem difficult at first.
However, as you refine the look and feel of your listing, improve conversion rates, and stay aware of your potential customers’ needs, you will eventually see great improvements in the placement of your listings and sales.
Schedule a Descartes Sellercloud demo today.
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