In 2018, online retail sales of auto parts & accessories pushed past the $10 billion mark for the first time, and more than half of this was purchased on cell phones.
Selling auto parts online has never been more lucrative! According to Search Auto Parts (
source ) online sales of auto parts is forecast to reach $16 billion in 2021.
Looking at the full automotive online sales figures for the last 5 years, 2019 is forecast ( source ) to bring in an impressive $57.4 billion.
So, this all sounds great, but what does it mean for you?
Now is the time to start prepping your sales funnels and online marketing efforts to supercharge your online selling capacity.
In this blog, we’re going to cover a few key areas:
Simple Steps to Selling More on Your Current Website
Setting Up Online Sales Funnels and Getting Customer Details
Online Advertising - Where to Advertise to Get the Best ROI
Simple Steps to Selling More on Your Current Website
If you already have a website of your own set up, there are 5 simple and easy improvements you can make today to help you sell more online. (If you haven't got a website yet, you're missing out on a serious revenue stream - let's talk).
1. Make your contact details prominent
It might seem obvious, but the amount of sites that don't show a phone number or email address in an easy-to-see place is worrying!
If a prospect sees something they want to buy on your site, but can't find your contact details to ask a question/visit you in-person - what do you think they'll do? Waste 20 minutes of their time trying to find a phone number or do you think they'll just click onto the next guy and call him up?
Put your phone number, email address and location clearly in your site's header (which is the top panel where your logo usually lives).
2. Use high quality photos - delete any tiny/blurry/out of focus photos
Using low quality images on your site will make your products look terrible and will make you come off as a small-time player.
Every photo on your site needs to have good lighting and be in focus on the item you're selling. High resolution is essential.
For high ticket items, try and get photos of every important detail on the item.
If you don't have a designated place to take photos, pay special attention to what's in the background of your photos - you don't want anything costing you that sale.
*Extra tip for second-hand sales - a good wash will make up for a lot. Some distributors have reported a 10% increase in their final sales price, just by making sure the equipment looks clean and well maintained.
3. Break down barriers to purchase before they're even raised
The key here is to answer those common questions you hear over and over again. Save your time by answering all of those in a FAQ section for each product - break down the usual barriers to buying before they even pick up the phone.
4. Price
It doesn't matter what you're selling, people love to feel like they've got a good deal from you.
If you make most of your sales in person and you're expecting a haggle/negotiation on price, add a little extra onto your online price.
If you sell mostly online, be sensible when pricing products - buyers will be shopping around and checking current values. Which also brings us onto our last point.
5. Refer buyers to online sources and reviews
Word of mouth does half the selling for you. Try and integrate online reviews from your previous customers onto each product page.
Don't forget to show off all those great testimonials from previous/current customers throughout your site.
Selling high ticket items? You can even showcase reviews and positive opinion pieces from trusted sites that are well known in the industry to help you outsell your competitors.
Think of your website as your online sales team - it should take the brunt of the hard work out of your job.
Setting Up Online Sales Funnels and Getting Customer Details
Now you've got your website optimized for the basics, it's time to set up an online sales funnel.
What's an online sales funnel?
Online sales funnels can be as complicated or as simple as you want.
For your first sales funnel, let’s keep this super simple:
Going by this diagram, you want to focus on Level 2: Lead Gathering first.
A lead is a prospect/potential customer who has shown interest in your company/what you sell.
The best way to get more leads is to set up landing pages on your website. These are dedicated, product-specific pages of your website and offer something to people in return for their contact details.
This can include a product guide, an online catalog or even a discount on their next purchase. These are known as lead magnets.
Level 3: Lead Qualifying is the next step to focus on.
Once you've got people to submit their contact details, you'll need to put them into an email series. This can be done automatically with an email marketing software.
An email series is a set of pre-written emails that help build up trust and familiarity between your company and the lead.
When you're ready to email on a deal or call them to close the sale, they'll already be fully up to speed with everything and ready to buy (Level 4: Sale). Either that, or you'll know that they weren't a viable sale in the first place.
Level 1 is Brand Awareness, which is where all of your marketing efforts come into play.
In terms of your landing page, this would be online advertising to push people onto your lead magnet.
Now, you have your first online sales funnel up and running. You'll need to monitor it and tweak it to get the most sales out of it.
Online Advertising - Where to Advertise to Get the Best ROI
The world of online advertising is so expansive, we can't possible cover it all in this one blog post!
Check out our dedicated blogs on How to Use Automotive Content Marketing to Draw in New Customers and 7 of the Best Ways to Advertise Performance Auto Parts Online.
The Motorhead Digital team has proven processes that will help you stay savvy and at the top of your game - going way beyond a simple website.
We want to help increase your profits -
schedule a free strategy call today and get your business working for you.
