How to Increase E-commerce Sales: 20 Ways to Sell More Online (Traffic, Conversion and Repeat Orders)
How to increase ecommerce and online sales
In this article
E-commerce sales grow through four levers: more qualified traffic, higher conversion rate, higher average order value, and more repeat purchases. The fastest wins are usually on-site: better product pages and reviews, faster mobile checkout, free-shipping thresholds and bundles, and automated email/SMS flows (welcome, abandoned cart, post-purchase), before spending more on ads.
1. Get more qualified traffic
- SEO for product and category pages, plus buying guides (see What is SEO?)
- Google Shopping and Performance Max
- Meta/TikTok ads with UGC and short videos (see How to advertise your business on Facebook)
- Influencers and creators
- Marketplaces for discovery (see How to choose the right marketplace)
- Social shopping (see What is social shopping?)
2. Improve conversion rate
- Great product pages: multiple photos, video, benefits, sizing, FAQs
- Reviews and UGC with photos
- Fast mobile site and simple navigation/search
- Streamlined checkout: guest checkout, express pay, fewer fields
- Trust signals: returns policy, secure payment, contact info
- Clear shipping costs and delivery dates early (More: What does CRO mean?)
3. Raise average order value
- Free shipping threshold
- Bundles and kits
- Cross-sells and upsells on product, cart and post-purchase pages
- Volume discounts
4. Increase repeat purchases
- Email/SMS flows: welcome, browse/cart abandonment, post-purchase, replenishment, win-back (see How to write a newsletter)
- Loyalty programme
- Subscriptions for consumables
- Excellent customer experience (see How to improve ecommerce customer experience)
Metrics to track
| Metric | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Sessions by channel | Traffic quality |
| Conversion rate | Orders ÷ sessions |
| Average order value (AOV) | Revenue ÷ orders |
| Cart abandonment rate | Checkout friction |
| Repeat purchase rate | Loyalty |
| Customer lifetime value | Long-term value (see What is LTV?) |
| CAC and ROAS | Ad efficiency |
Revenue = traffic × conversion rate × AOV, plus repeat purchases. Small improvements in each multiply.
Frequently asked questions
How can I increase ecommerce sales?
Drive qualified traffic, improve conversion with better product pages and checkout, raise average order value with bundles and thresholds, and increase repeat purchases with email/SMS and loyalty.
How do I increase online sales quickly?
Fix checkout friction, add reviews, launch abandoned-cart emails, offer a free shipping threshold and run promotions to your existing customers.
What is a good ecommerce conversion rate?
Often around 1–4% depending on industry, traffic source and device; improve against your own baseline.
How do I get more traffic to my online store?
SEO, Google Shopping, social ads, influencers, marketplaces and content.
How do I increase average order value?
Bundles, upsells, cross-sells, volume discounts and free-shipping thresholds.
What emails should every online store send?
Welcome, abandoned cart, post-purchase, review request, replenishment and win-back emails.
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Start a conversationWritten by Sachin Rawat
AI & automation engineer · websites, apps and motion design
I build AI agents, automations, websites, apps and motion design for businesses. These guides answer the questions people actually search, written from hands-on experience building them.
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