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How to increase Online Sales

Wondering how to increase online sales? Check out these 4 sales tips you can try today!

How to Increase Online sales for your Service Business

Once you’ve established your business presence online and have started to sell your services online, the next step is finding ways to increase sales so you can reap the full benefits of online sales.

Selling services online is different from selling services in-person because there are specific ways that you can optimize the buyer journey online, so that visitors to your website will be more likely to turn into customers and purchase your services.

The best way to increase sales online is by using online sales techniques since they can optimize the customers path to conversion in a way that is seamless and not disruptive to their experience on your website.

In this blog post, we’ll be sharing sales tips on how to sell online using a number strategies and tactics:

1. How to increase online sales- Don't be afraid to offer new services

The first way to increase sales online is by testing new services risk-free.

Test the service to see if it gets traction and if there is demand, you can hire more staff to fulfill the customer need.

It’s easy to test new services because online e-commerce systems support iteration. If you want to instantly offer a new service, then it’s simple to add it to your list of offerings on your website. Your customers will naturally stumble upon it and it will serve as a subtle upsell or inform them about other services that you offer.

For example, they may come to your website looking for a chiropractor appointment at their home, and realize that you also offer mobile massage therapy services once they see it listed for sale on your website. Having your services listed will increase your chance of having them appear in search engine results, which will further increase your reach.

The transparency of selling online using an e-commerce system can show you real-time data and analytics to see how well the new service you’re selling is performing. You can test the service to see if it gets traction and if there is demand, you can hire more staff to fulfill this customer need.

This prevents you from hiring more mobile workers before you need, however it also informs you if there is an opportunity that you aren’t currently capitalizing on. There is less risk involved, but the pay off could be huge since you’ll be able to capture more sales for the new service.

2. How to increase sales online- Publicize customer reviews

Word of mouth marketing is one of the best sales strategies you can implement for your service business. People naturally trust brands’ customers more than companies themselves, which is why displaying reviews and ratings on your marketing site is so important. It builds trust and credibility.

If you’re looking for ideas to increase sales, start with your customers. Their glowing recommendation is your best form of marketing.


If you’re wondering how to ask for reviews, check out this article that outlines different strategies!

3. How to increase online sales- Offer recurring bookings to easily secure future appointments

Increase Online Sales

Another way to increase sales online is by offering recurring (aka repeating) appointments. A recurring appointment is an ongoing booking that occurs at a fixed interval. For example, if you run a mobile tutoring business, your students might want to book weekly virtual tutoring sessions.

After a service appointment is complete, make it easy for your customers to immediately book their next appointment. Convenience is extremely important here because if the customer had a good experience with your mobile worker they’ll be more inclined to book an appointment again immediately.

As opposed to booking one-time appointments, try using a software like MarketBox. That way you won’t have to use internal resources to constantly follow up to book another appointment and take payments. This process is automated and will send notifications to remind your customers to book their next appointments. This secures the next appointment to sell services online.

It’s in your business’s best interest to take advantage of this time and not allow another appointment to slip through the cracks.

It’s much easier to re-book an existing client than try to find brand new clients. Research from Bain & Company found that a 5% increase in customer retention can account for a 75% increase in profits. Further proving that repeat customers can provide a steady stream of sales.

4. How to increase sales online - Bundle services at discounted rates

One of the best ways to increase sales online is by offering bundles of services, aka packages, to your customers.

Packages can be the same service offered over a period of time (eg: a package of 10 swimming lessons) or it can be different services packaged together (eg: 5 swimming lessons and 5 yoga classes).

Secure sales upfront, so you won’t need to follow up to book future appointments and chase payments.

Offering packages is a value add for your customers since you’ll be offering them services that can be used together which will save them time from having to look for complimentary services. Packages streamline the buying process for your customers, who can get a better deal and continue to use your services.

If you incentivize customers to buy more service appointments at one time, then you can tie in a discount. This strategy will secure sales upfront, so you won’t need to expend as many resources on following up with them to book future appointments and also on chasing payments.

There are a few ways you can bundle your services that will appeal to your customers. Start by ensuring the bundled services complement each other and make sense together. If you have a new service offering, you can offer that as part of a package to increase customer awareness about that service going forward.

To see which packages are appealing to customers try to A/B test the service packages to figure out what customers want by testing different product combinations to see how they perform.

5. How to Increase sales online - Make it easy for customers to pay

The average cart abandonment rate in 2020 was 88.05%. This is why you want the booking process for customers to be as streamlined and straightforward as possible. Nothing increases bounce rates more than a confusing, hard to use booking flow.

Make the purchase process easy by:

  • Having a clean, uncluttered interface
  • Collect payments online
  • Minimizing non-essential clicks (don’t make them fill out unnecessary forms)
  • Not timing customers them out
  • Optimizing the booking process for mobile
  • Enabling customers to create accounts that remember their personal information and payment information (so they don’t have to re-enter their info after initial bookings)
  • Making the “Book Now/Here” button easy to find on your marketing site

With MarketBox, we continually invest in an interface that is easy for customers to use so that they don't drop off or disengage. Remember, a great booking experience will help increase sales for your service business!

6. How to Increase sales online - Send out promo codes

Increase Online Sales - Promo Codes

Another way to increase online sales is to offer promo codes to your customers. Promo codes are codes that a customer uses during the checkout process, and the business confirms that all of the terms of the code are met before applying the discount.  

There are three types of promo codes to take advantage of to sell services online:

  • Public codes- These types of promo codes are offered to anyone who can see or use a public promo code. These are useful for encouraging new customers to purchase from your business and encouraging previous customers to purchase your services again.
  • Private codes- Businesses use private promo codes to target a specific group of people. These codes are often provided to loyal customers for special purchasing opportunities. Also, first-time shoppers can be encouraged to purchase your services using this type of code.
  • Restricted codes- Another way promo codes can be used is for customer retention purposes. Restricted promo codes can be targeted to a single user and can only be used once. For example, you might send a customer a restricted code as an apology for a problem with a service appointment or as a thank-you for making their 30th purchase with your business.


An added benefit of promo codes is that you can track different codes, based on what platform you’re offering the promo code on.

For example, if you offer different promo codes on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and email nurture then you can see which platform is performing the best. You’ll readily have these insights, so you can then adjust your strategy to sell services online perhaps by investing in more advertising on the platform that is converting the most leads into customers.

Ready to get started?

We hope you found these sales tips on how to sell online helpful!

After setting up your business to sell services online, there are many ways you can increase online sales. Try testing new services risk-free to see if they appeal to your customers. Next, offer re-bookings of appointments to capture sales immediately after the first appointment, so you can guarantee the next sale.

Increase sales online by offering your customers packages in order to capture the sale upfront and also to increase awareness of new services. Lastly, sending out promo codes can incentivize customers to purchase more, while allowing you to track which platforms are the best investment for your business.  

Book your MarketBox demo today and see how you can increase online sales for your service business.

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