Do you ever wonder why your products just aren't selling?  Sometimes, customers buy for other reasons than just a quality product.  Yes, providing a quality product that satisfies a need or want for the customer is the best strategy, but there are some additional things you can do to help close more sales.

Here are 5 ways to incentivize your customers to make a purchase:

1. Offer a Promotion

A promotion is the most common incentive for customers and can come in many different forms including discounts on prices, freebies, bundle packages and many more.  Creating a promotion is one of the easiest and fastest ways to help increase your sales, although make sure your ultimate goals are aligned with your promotion.

2. Offer Free Shipping

Free Shipping is such a great incentive for customers!  People shopping online love to receive the benefit of free shipping and you will definitely benefit from offering free shipping on your products.  Just take a look at Zappos and how they became a billion dollar business by offering good customer service and free shipping!

3. Donate a Portion of Your Sales to Charity

Donating a portion of your sales to a charity of your choice will result in more sales and smiles.  It's a win-win-win for you, your customer and the charity selected!  Customers want to know that they are getting value for their money and being assured that some of their dollars go towards helping someone else is a huge incentive to purchase, plus it's just a great thing to do to help a community in need.

4. Offer Custom Orders

If you have the ability, accept custom requests from your customers.  Maybe it's a specific color or material that you're not offering online, so allowing custom orders may create some challenges, but it will also result in sales.  Allowing custom requests can actually provide you with a great feedback source to develop new products...it's a great way to collaborate with your customers for new product ideas.

5. Take Advantage of Seasonal Opportunities

The holidays always offer a great opportunity for a boost in sales, but that doesn't mean you have to wait until December to get started.  There are holidays each month of the year and if you can find ways to offer fun seasonal products or take advantage to promote a certain holiday and align your products with the season you will find opportunities throughout the year to increase your sales and incentivize your customers to purchase!

What are some other ways you incentivize your customers to purchase?

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