5 Ways to Overclock Your Online Business

Running an online business isn’t always easy. Many entrepreneurs get discouraged when they don’t achieve the financial success they anticipated. Selling t-shirts—or any product—online can be an ongoing balancing act. For many of these people, however, their struggle to make a profit doesn’t mean they have to shut up shop permanently.

There can be many factors contributing to a business in financial straits, including ineffective marketing, low customer loyalty, inaccurate record-keeping, and general disorganization. Addressing these issues (as well as others) and resolving them has the power to boost your online business’s sales significantly.

We’ve made a shortlist of suggestions that can be helpful for online entrepreneurs who want to increase their profits and overclock their business in the best ways.

1. Up Your Social Media Marketing Game

It goes without saying that these days, one of the most important—if not the most—types of marketing is on social media. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok are all great platforms to make your online t-shirt business visible to a huge audience, both locally and internationally. Most companies these days already have at least one social media profile, but stand to benefit from expanding their online presence and becoming more skillful when it comes to crafting marketing campaigns.

Each social media platform has its own way of operating, which means that you can’t use the same strategy across the board. A few examples:

Facebook

It’s easy to become complacent when it comes to social media marketing: posting three times a week on Facebook, for example, without really assessing whether it works or not. A few tips to get more out of this platform are:

• Use your logo as your business page’s profile picture
• Keep the cover photo relevant
• Vary your posts: text, photographs, illustrations, and videos appeal to different consumer groups
• Use classic ads – these give you more control over the end result while also providing a solid framework

TikTok

TikTok is a relatively recent addition to the social media arena and is often under-utilized purely because people don’t know its features.

One of the appeals of this platform is that it provides consumers with short, bite-sized videos meant to entertain as well as inform. When you market yourself on TikTok, your ads don’t stand out as paid content, which is a great advantage. When using TikTok to promote your online t-shirt business, keep these in mind:

• Use sound clips (e.g.: music) that appeal to a wide range of people, or those that are especially popular in your target market
• Create a catchy welcome video and update it regularly
• Research influencers who could promote your t-shirts to your target market

Instagram

As with Facebook and TikTok, Instagram is a very effective marketing tool if used well. The usual advice applies: make your logo prominent, vary the format of your posts, use catchy graphics and sound clips and keep your profile updated and relevant. In addition, bear these in mind:

• Make use of your business account’s analytics to see what kind of content performs best
• Use the Instagram Checkout feature – it facilitates purchases through users’ Instagram accounts

2. Set Up Loyalty Programs

Many of the most successful shops, online and offline, have one thing in common: a loyalty program.

Financial success doesn’t only come from reaching your target market and achieving brand visibility, but also through customer loyalty. Keeping customers coming back is crucial. Research has shown that existing customers are nine times more likely to make more purchases when compared to a once-off buyers. Some ideas for loyalty programs include:

• Accumulating points for each purchase that can then be used as a voucher once a certain number is collected
• Create time-limited incentives, such as days or products that give customers double points
• Small rewards for anyone becoming part of the loyalty program, such as a voucher

If you’re looking for inspiration, many brands have innovative loyalty programs, including The Body Shop, Abercrombie & Fitch, Starbucks, and The North Face.

3. Reduce Your Operating Expenses

One thing you can do to increase profits is to cut down on the money you spend to keep your online business running. This can be difficult. But if you take a closer look at your day-to-day expenses, it might surprise you how much you can save with a bit of planning.

Go back to the drawing board and check all the details: the cost of t-shirts from suppliers, shipping expenses, paid marketing, and all the other things that drain funds without you noticing. You can also use a markup calculator to ensure that you are making enough profit per sale, as this can affect your bottom line with you realizing it.

4. Start Cross- And Upselling

Cross-selling and upselling are techniques implemented by online businesses to increase sales.

• Cross-selling: presenting other relevant products to shoppers that complement their original purchase and/or perform a different but related function
• Upselling: presenting online shoppers with upgrades – a more advanced, more expensive product, for example – to encourage spending

Both cross- and upselling boost revenue if implemented skillfully. If your online t-shirt store sells only t-shirts, try recommending other designs to buyers when they purchase. Presenting them with styles similar to the one they have chosen may result in more sales.

5. Balance Production – Avoid Overproduction

Apart from reducing spending during the production process, it’s very important to keep a close eye on how your business is faring day-to-day. One element of this is your stock. How many t-shirts do you have? Which of these is selling well? Which of these isn’t selling?

It’s possible that all your current stock will get sold, but this may not be the case. Less popular designs might eventually get bought, but you can save money and put it to better use if you keep records of what does well and what doesn’t, and then adjust your strategies accordingly.

An Ongoing Operation

Keeping your online business’s financials looking good doesn’t depend on any once-off solution. Success is only achievable if you’re willing to put in the work long-term. Profits will rise when the above issues (and others) are addressed on an ongoing basis—slow and steady wins the race.