Key Ecommerce Website Features for Vape Stores

With regard to their ecommerce website, many vape shop owners make the mistake of thinking that if you build it, they will come. Yet, slow online sales and difficult logistics bring many store owners to the painful realization that it just is not that easy. In fact, successful ecommerce ventures take a lot of work. Once the basic site has been built, the real work is just beginning. After a slow start, many vape shops give up on their online store much too soon.

With the right attitude and a little time and energy, your vape store’s ecommerce presence can become a true asset to your business. In this article, we outline some of the key components necessary for your website and digital marketing efforts. These are the fundamentals that have yielded ecommerce success for vape shop owners like yourself.

Step 1 – Get Found

Blogging & SEO

When it comes to an ecommerce website, traffic equals sales. Without a large amount of traffic to your website you will not be able to turn visitors into paying customers. The first step is to make sure that you are driving the right type of traffic to your website on a consistent basis. The best way to do this is by following a proven SEO or Search Engine Optimization strategy. This means that it is important for your website show up in Google, Yahoo and Bing when people search for things like Vape Store or E-cig.

There are a lot of technical components to SEO but leave those to your website developer to handle. You can make great strides in your website’s visibility in search engines by simply blogging on a consistent basis. Set time aside to write articles on a consistent basis which convey information that people who vape will find useful or informative. These blog articles should not be sales pitches but helpful educational information about your products.

A quality blog on your website is like a magnet for traffic. There are a lot of things that people don’t know about the vape industry, such as health factors, different brands, types of flavors and benefits. You can become this source of information and traffic simply by writing short quality blog articles on a consistent basis. Start with short, 500 word articles and post these to your website three times per week. The traffic won’t come over night, but much like a savings account, little by little you will see your website traffic increase substantially over time.

Step 2- Capture

Email Addresses and Social Media Likes

When someone visits your website, chances are that they will not buy from you on their very first visit to your site. In fact, the 96% of people who visit your website for the first time will not be ready to buy online from your business. The visitor is more likely researching the topic of vape stores in their area or different products. They may even be a smoker who is researching the benefits of switching to e-cigs. It is important to begin to build a relationship with this visitor on their first visit, because many visitors will never return to your website again.

Therefore, it is crucially important to capture customer information on their very first visit to your website. The most valuable piece of information you can capture is the customer’s email address. The second most valuable interaction you can gain is getting them to like or follow your business on some form of social media.

Capturing email is still done most effectively through pop-up ads. Set up a pop up on your website so that when a customer is about to leave your website, they receive a message offering them a coupon or discount on your products if they enter their email address. Also, be sure that every page of your website includes a call to action that encourages your customers to sign up for your newsletter by entering their name and email address.

Another valuable form of interaction is social media. Use call to actions on your website that encourage people to like your store on Facebook, Follow you on Instagram or on Twitter. Make sure to include a direct link to your store’s Facebook, Instagram or Twitter page so customers can act quickly and easily to interact with your business.

Step 3 – Build

Email Marketing and Brand Building

Once you are at the point when your target ecommerce customers are finding your website and providing your business with their email address it will be time to begin using that information effectively. Start to build a relationship with your customers so that one day you may convert them from interested visitors into paying customers. This is where educational information becomes so important.

On a regular schedule, send a quality email blast to your customer base with information that they might find informative, useful or helpful in their exploration of the vape scene. By providing your potential customers with free information, you are building a relationship of trust while also establishing your business as the expert on the subject they are interested in.

On social media it will now be important to promote your brand. The best ways to do this are through continued interaction with customers as well as effort to showcase the personal side of your vape shop. On social media, showcase how great your employees are or the cleanliness of your lounge. Even show off pictures of happy customers. These brand and identity building exercises will all help keep you top of mind with your social followers and help convert them into customers when the time comes to buy.

Step 4 – Convert

Discounts, Free Shipping, Local Delivery, In-Store Pick Up

Now it is time to convert your visitors, email list and social media likes into paying customers. But don’t just expect them to do it on their own. Give them a reason to say to themselves, “Today is the right day to buy from Joe’s Vape Shop.” The best way to do this is through incentives.

Incentives such as discount codes for $10 off or 20% off your first order go a long way to drive people to purchase online. You may also want to try offers customers free shipping on their first order. You can track someone’s first order by their email address. Be sure to set up your website to track visitors based on their email address and offer them a discount when they order from your online store for the first time.

Another tactic (in case you cannot afford a discount) is to incentivize customers by making it more convenient to buy from your business than anywhere else. Some easy ways to do this are to allow customers to buy online and pick up their order at the store. This saves them the time it would take them to pick things out at the store and stand at the cash register to check out. They can just grab their order and go.

You may also want to consider delivering orders to customers in your local market. People are busy and may not have time to stop by your store, so they may order online from a competitor. Save them time and the money from shipping by offering customers in your local area the option to have it delivered to their doorstep for free! Just track this by zip code on your website and only offer this service to customers in your local area.

Step 5- Retain

Recurring Orders

Always be sure to ask your customers for the right to send them promotional information, news and offers. Have this selection pre-checked at the checkout so that your customers will automatically be added to your email marketing list. Additionally, make sure to retain customers who have purchased through your website by offering them the option to make their order recurring.

Always offer your vape customers the option to set up a subscription to receive their e-cigs on a consistent basis. You sell a product that people use regularly and on a recurring basis. Capitalize on that fact by offering your customers the option to buy your products on a subscription when they check out. This feature helps insulate your business from the threat of these customers going elsewhere for their next order.

Step 6 – Grow

Upselling

After you’ve worked so hard to earn a customer’s initial purchase it will be important to look at the ways to increase revenue from existing customers. It is far easier to sell more products to existing customers than to acquire brand new customers for your business. Thus, increasing revenue is also largely due to selling more to your existing customer base.

One way to do this is through upselling. Upsell to your current customers when they checkout of your store. Customers may not know what flavors or cases are appropriate to go with their chosen vape pen. Be sure to offer options at checkout for your ecommerce customers to add to their order. Items like additional flavors, refills, starter kits or gift cards are great items to tempt customers with as they check out of your website.

 

We know that making the most use out of these features and strategies on your website will yield the growth and revenues you desire. Remember that ecommerce is a constantly changing and adjusting piece of your business. Start by paying close attention to your online store, be willing to put in consistent effort. Over time, with continual work on your website, you’ll build a successful online sales channel for your vape shop.