How to Increase Online Sales: 14 Strategies for 2026

Online shopping keeps rising, and ecommerce brands feel the pressure to turn more visitors into buyers. If you want straightforward ways to increase sales, lift conversions, and strengthen your marketing, you’re in the right place.

In this guide, you’ll discover:

• 14 proven strategies that help online stores increase revenue,
• improve customer experience,
• and drive more purchases throughout the funnel.

Let’s dive in and start driving results.

Key takeaways

• Improving online sales starts with refining your value proposition and aligning messaging across channels.
• Personalization, A/B testing, and tailored offers consistently increase conversion rates.
• Reducing friction like shipping costs, cart abandonment, and decision fatigue directly boosts revenue.
• Returning visitors convert more when reminded of past activity, incentives, or new products.
• CRO tools like OptiMonk make it easy to launch targeted popups and A/B tests without development.

14 techniques to increase sales in your online store

Let’s jump into the top tactics that help ecommerce brands drive more conversions and increase online sales.

1. Find the best value proposition

Your value proposition is the first thing that helps visitors understand why they should choose you over competitors. But predicting which version resonates best with your target audience is nearly impossible without data.

That’s why A/B testing is essential. Testing different headlines or benefit statements helps you discover which message increases conversions and motivates customers to buy.

How do you test multiple value propositions? With OptiMonk, you can test them in a popup:

1. Ask the agent for a welcome popup that leads with your value proposition.
2. Add a second variant with a different headline, or ask the agent to suggest one.

3. Run the A/B test: it ends itself once one headline reaches a 95% chance to win.

2. Match your headline to your ad copy

If you're running paid ads on social media platforms to attract website traffic, it's a great idea to personalize the copy that potential customers see when they hit your landing pages.

That way, the unique value proposition that your landing page promotes can echo the one that was in the social media ad, improving customer satisfaction and creating a seamless customer journey.

This will drive sales and the ROI of your marketing efforts.

Luckily, it's really easy to boost online sales using this tactic. Here's how to set it up in just a couple of steps:

1. Ask the OptiMonk agent for a welcome popup whose headline echoes your social media ad.

2. Use traffic source targeting to show it only to visitors coming from that ad.

And that's it!

3. Promote free shipping based on cart value

Free shipping has always been one of the most persuasive incentives for customers to shop online—9 out of 10 consumers say so.

And these days, you really need to offer free shipping because 66% of consumers expect it. And that's not all: 48% of abandoned carts are left behind as a result of unexpectedly high costs like shipping during checkout.

By offering free shipping, you can meet customers' expectations and increase online sales as a result. However, if you're not just interested in improving online sales but also your average order value, there's a marketing strategy for you: free shipping thresholds.

With a free shipping threshold, you're only offering free shipping to people who spend more than a certain amount. Lots of potential customers will happily spend that little bit more in order to qualify for free shipping.

Using OptiMonk, you can promote your offer with a popup targeted by cart value, so only visitors below your free shipping threshold see it. (If you'd rather use a bar, see our guide to free shipping bars.)

Here's how to set it up:

1. Ask the agent for a free shipping popup, for example "remind shoppers that orders over $50 ship free".

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2. Add a cart rule so the popup only shows when the cart value is below your threshold.

3. Show it on the cart page or on exit intent, when the reminder matters most.

4. Increase urgency with limited-time offers

One of the best ways to increase your future sales is by creating a sense of urgency. 

When it seems like there's only a limited quantity of your product left or only a limited time to take advantage of a special deal, the fear of missing out (FOMO) will encourage customers to make a purchase now rather than later.

Increasing sales using this method is really easy to do:

1. Ask the agent for a limited-time offer popup with a countdown timer.
2. Target it to the pages where the offer applies.
3. Schedule your campaign in advance so you can make sure that you won’t forget to activate it in time.

5. Personalize offers based on traffic source

Your target market likely contains segments of customers that have different interests and needs. That's why trying to use one-size-fits-all messages for your entire audience isn't a good idea.

With source-based targeting, you can display different messages for visitors arriving on your website from different ads.

This is a quick, easy way to create buyer personas on a basic level and deliver relevant messages that will result in more sales.

All you need to do is:

1. Ask the agent for a popup with an offer for visitors from one source, for example Facebook.
2. Mention the source in the copy, so it matches what visitors just clicked.

3. Use source-based targeting to show your new message only to visitors from a specific source (e.g. Facebook).

6. Help returning visitors continue where they left off

Online sales don't always happen right away, especially for new customers. Often, people need some time to explore all their options before making the final decision to make a purchase.

As a result, it makes sense to help your potential customers shop efficiently across multiple visits to your website to increase ecommerce sales.

Luckily, there are plenty product recommendation campaign ideas that can be useful here.

Using OptiMonk, you can create a campaign that looks like the one below. It immediately reminds customers of the products they were browsing the last time they visited your site, jumpstarting their shopping experience.

This added convenience will help you improve the customer experience and grow sales online.

Here’s the setup process:

1. Ask the agent for a popup that shows returning visitors the products they viewed last time.

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2. The agent fills it with each visitor's last visited products from your store.

3. Set targeting to returning visitors.

7. Run seasonal campaigns

Online shoppers can get bored when they see discount code after discount code, for two reasons:

1. Many ecommerce marketing efforts are repeated all across the internet, so shoppers start tuning them out.
2. Existing customers of a particular brand will get bored if the ecommerce site always looks the same.

Changing up your offer by using seasonal campaigns is a great way to keep your ecommerce site fresh.

Here are just a few of the many seasonal campaign popup ideas that OptiMonk offers.

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8. Promote your bestsellers

Once a visitor makes it to your category pages, they probably know what kind of product they're looking for. At that point, they just need to weigh their options.

That means your goal should be to help them find the best product for their needs as quickly as you can.

You can display your “most popular” or “trending” products in the category they're currently browsing. This makes your products seem desirable, since many other people are buying them—especially if you back it up with social proof like customer testimonials.

Here's an example of what this could look like:

To use this tactic, ask the agent for a product recommendation popup again, just like in tip #6.

But this time, ask for your most viewed products.

9. Offer a discount for cart abandoners

As anyone working in ecommerce knows, cart abandonment is one of the most important challenges to overcome. Studies show that the average shopping cart abandonment rate is 66.5%.

Although you'll never get this number down to 0%, any website sales you can make at this point will go straight to your bottom line.

Exit-intent popups are the best way to save cart abandoners because they appear right when a prospective customers is about to leave, giving you a chance to “save” the conversion.

Cart abandonment popups like the ones below have a 17.12% average conversion rate. Use them as inspiration, and the OptiMonk agent will design one for your store.

10. Remind subscribers of their coupon codes

Whenever you've given a potential customer a coupon code, you want to make sure they don't forget about it.

If you want to keep something at the top of your website visitors' minds, a sticky bar is a great way to go about it. 

That's because sticky bars are always onscreen but don't interrupt the shopping experience. By helping ensure nobody forgets about their available discount, you'll see your online sales shoot up.

Here's a great example of Kiss My Keto using a sticky bar to remind their customers about a discount coupon.

Use these coupon reminder popup ideas to increase your online sales:

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11. Recommend relevant products in blog articles

Which blog posts your audience chooses to read gives you a lot of information about what each individual is interested in. 

If you sell a few different types of products, you can deduce which category they're interested in based on the blog posts they're reading. 

That's why you should promote the products you sell that can help solve the pain points that customers are trying to address. This helps get users onto your product pages as quickly as possible, thereby increasing the likelihood they'll make a purchase.

To get started, choose a product recommendation embedded campaign:

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12. Launch a post-purchase attribution survey

Are you doing a lot of brand building, demand generation, offline marketing, or social marketing, but you're not sure how effective these strategies are? That's not surprising—these strategies are usually undetectable through Google Analytics.

A post-purchase attribution survey will help you to measure which strategies work best for your brand by collecting valuable customer feedback, which can help you invest your marketing efforts in the right channels.

Right after a customer makes a purchase, they're feeling happy and enthusiastic, which makes it very likely that they'll complete any survey that you give them. It also has the effect of making your customers feel like you're listening to them.

You can use a feedback popup like one of the ones below on your post-purchase page to get a handle on which marketing tactics are working best for you.

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13. Promote new products for existing customers

You know a lot about your customers who return again and again, and in turn, they know a lot about you. 

While on one level that's great, it can also be hard to get this segment of customers excited about your products. They've already tried many of them!

That's why you should heavily promote your new products to this segment. You can personalize this message for each loyal customer by including their name in the embedded content, like the example below.

Here’s the setup process:

1. Choose an embedded message and fine-tune it to your style.

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2. Add the “First name” Smart Tag to your headline. This will allow you to welcome your returning customers in a personalized way.

3. Change the content and the button URL to show off your new products.

4. Use the Point and Click Placement tool and place this embedded message on your homepage below your hero banner.

14. Offer a loyalty program

A customer loyalty program can be a valuable tool for any ecommerce business looking to increase customer engagement and drive repeat purchases.

You can offer rewards to entice customers for their repeat purchases and interactions with your brand. This will make them remain loyal to your business.

Research indicates that many consumers are more likely to continue buying from a brand when they have the opportunity to earn rewards.

By offering rewards for actions such as referrals, social media sharing, and additional purchases, you can keep customers engaged with your brand and create a sense of community around it.

5 CRO tools for increasing online sales

Now that we've gone over 14 great ways to increase online sales, let's take a look at some of the best CRO tools for implementing them.

1. OptiMonk

OptiMonk is an agentic popup builder: an AI agent designs, writes and A/B tests your popups.

It is built for ecommerce marketers and agencies looking for quick and affordable solutions to boost the performance of their campaigns and increase online sales.

It's easy to use and connects with 60+ email, SMS and CRM tools (like Klaviyo), so you can use your customer data across different marketing channels.

Let's see some of OptiMonk's innovative features.

Key feature #1: Popups

OptiMonk's popups are the secret sauce to turning visitors into loyal customers.

These aren't your run-of-the-mill popups: the agent designs each one for your brand and for the moment it appears.

With smart triggers and on-brand designs, these popups grab attention and drive action, whether it's signing up for a newsletter, snagging a discount or making a purchase.

From the Popup LibraryMore quiz popups

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Key feature #2: Targeting and product recommendations

Say goodbye to one-size-fits-all popups. With OptiMonk, you can show each visitor a message that fits them, no coding required.

Target by behavior, traffic source, country or cart, and let product recommendations show each visitor the products they care about.

Whether you're:

• recommending products,
• displaying personalized offers,
• or welcoming back returning customers,

you’ll create a VIP experience that boosts engagement, increases time on site, and drives more sales.

Key feature #3: A/B testing

OptiMonk's A/B testing tool makes it a breeze to experiment with different elements of your campaigns and uncover what resonates best with your audience.

Whether you're tweaking headlines, testing out new offers, or playing around with different combinations of messages, our intuitive platform lets you launch experiments in a snap.

By analyzing the results in real time, you'll gain invaluable insights into what drives conversions, enabling you to fine-tune your strategy and optimize performance like never before.

Additional benefits:

• Edit by asking: tell the agent what to change, or fine-tune it by hand in the visual editor.
• Mobile versions: the agent designs a separate mobile version of every popup.
• Analytics: Advanced campaign analytics reveal how well your campaigns are performing.
• Works in your AI assistant: build popups from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor.

2. HubSpot

HubSpot is an all-in-one content management system. It allows you to get your website up and running, keep track of your visitors and customers, and much more. They have lots of features that can lead directly to increased sales, such as their website personalization system.

3. VWO

VWO is an A/B testing tool that you can use to increase online sales. You can also import your performance on key metrics to see how you're performing in the areas you really care about. 

There are a number of pre-set experiments that help you get into the weeds even if you don't have a degree in statistics.

4. Optimizely

Optimizely is a popular website personalization tool. They've developed a Digital Experience Platform that increases web traffic by boosting engagement and content sharing.

However, Optimizely's high price makes it more suitable for larger brands.

5. Sumo

Sumo is a simple lead generation plugin that allows you to get your opt-in forms up and running within minutes. In fact, Sumo's catchphrase is “set it and forget it.”

With their intuitive drag-and-drop builder, you can quickly adapt one of their opt-in form templates with minimal editing. And Sumo has several other products that integrate seamlessly with their popup maker, including King Sumo and AppSumo.

FAQ

Wrapping up

That's it for now, you have what you need to start increasing your online sales today!

The tactics we went over give you lots of different options for improving the customer experience and boosting sales. You don't need to implement all of them at once, but choosing one or two that you think your customers will appreciate is a great start.

You also know all about the OptiMonk features that can help you implement these tactics easily. Why not give it a try for your online store?

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