Creative ways to boost sales for your London business

As the founder of a small business, you know it already – you must always be focused on keeping those purchases rolling in.

Read on to learn some useful and effective ways your London-based small business can boost its sales.

Set up a loyalty programme

Did you know you have 60% to 70% chance of selling to an existing customer? That's compared to between 5% and 20% for someone who's new to your business entirely. This means the more you encourage customer loyalty, the better.

One way to do it is by using loyalty programmes that reward regular customers and urge them to buy from you again. These can be a powerful way to increase sales. Here are some examples of loyalty schemes your business could set up:

• Refer-a-friend: Reward customers for every person they refer to your business.

• Points programmes: Allow customers to collect points for every purchase. Once they reach a certain number of points, they get a reward.

• Subscriptions: Give a discount to customers who make a long-term commitment to buying from your brand.

Offer different payment methods

By giving your customers a variety of ways to pay, you’re increasing the chance of getting a sale.

As a business targeting consumers in a city like London, you have an audience that's up to date with digital technology and happy to experiment with how they pay for their purchases.

Card readers for card payments

You might think it's only larger businesses that accept credit and debit cards. You'd be wrong! Low-cost card readers from the likes of Zettle by PayPal, Square and SumUp mean even the smallest businesses can easily take card payments.

If you run a physical business such as a high-street shop, or you meet customers in person, you can use these devices to allow people to pay by card.

Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services

Letting customers spread the payment for your product over several months is another way to encourage sales. Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services, such as Klarna, Clearpay and Payl8r, let people pay in interest-free instalments.

The great thing is you'll receive the full payment upfront – minus the fees the provider charges you to use its service.

Use social media

With social media, you have so many opportunities to promote your products and encourage sales.

Engage your followers by replying to their posts – providing useful as well as sales-focused content – and dealing with customer service queries.

Most social media platforms are free to use, but you can also pay for advertising. This lets you aim your messaging at the exact types of customers you need. If you get it right, it can be very profitable.

Grow Local London has in-depth guides to using Pinterest, Instagram and TikTok.

Use email marketing

Despite the growth of social media, email marketing is still a powerful way to engage with potential customers and get them buying from you.

What to say in your emails – and how to say it

• Make your marketing emails useful, relevant and interesting.

• Avoid being too sales-driven, as this may put readers off and cause them to unsubscribe.

• Design your messages so they reflect your brand.

Subscriptions

• Wherever you can, ask people to subscribe to your email list.

• Promote your newsletter on your website, in social media posts, at networking events and in your email signature.

• Consider offering a sales discount as an incentive for people to sign up.

Subject lines

• Write compelling subject lines that encourage people to open the email (and not delete it!).

• There are lots of email marketing tools you can use, such as Mailchimp.

Create product bundles and recommendations

If you have more than one product, bundling them together or making recommendations can encourage people to spend more money with you.

As an incentive, you could offer a discount for people who buy more than one product at the same time, rather than doing it separately.

Another way to use product bundling is by partnering with another complementary brand. You can then promote each other's offering to boost your sales.

Widen your sales skills

You might not be a natural salesperson or marketing expert, so building your knowledge in those areas can help improve your sales.

There are lots of small business training opportunities across London, and Grow London Local has recorded webinars full of tips from sales experts. Also keep an eye out for upcoming events focused on how businesses like yours can sell more products.

Another option is bringing someone into your business who has more sales expertise than you. You could do this by recruiting an employee, using a freelancer or working with a sales consultant.

Sell in different places

There are lots of online marketplaces where you can list your products, like Etsy, eBay or Not On The High Street.

One good way to reach new customers in person is by selling in a pop-up shop. These are temporary spaces on local high streets or in other dedicated locations. They're also a great way to test physical retail before you invest money in your own permanent store.

Organisations like I Do Handmade provide opportunities for small businesses to sell their products in pop-up locations across London. Sook allows founders to rent spaces by the hour in high-profile London shopping locations like Oxford Street.

Improve search engine optimisation

What is search engine optimisation (SEO)? It's the process of improving your website so it appears higher on search engines like Google.

It can be tricky to rank highly on these search engines. But there are steps you can take to improve your SEO.

Keywords

• Include these in your online content – think of the words and phrases people might use to find a brand like yours.

• But don't be tempted to stuff your content with keywords – Google and other search engines will penalise you for it.

Internal links

• Use internal links to direct visitors to other relevant pages on your website.

• If Google spots that your website is getting lots of clicks, you may rank higher in search results.

Analysing your performance

• Regularly check your website data to see how visitors are using your site.

• Installing Google Analytics will give you lots of insight into how people arrive on your website and the pages they visit.

Want to learn more? Take our free personalised Business Success Check. Answer a few simple questions and receive an action plan on how you can attract new customers and sell more of your products.

Grow London Local: Support for London's small businesses

No matter where you're based in London, you'll find relevant support and guidance on business planning, sales and marketing and much more, as well as opportunities to connect with like-minded business owners. Visit Grow London Local now