If you wear glasses, you would know Lenskart, an eyewear brand that increase its sales very rapidly with its convenient and affordable offerings.  It was a startup that blew the market to the extent that trends to shop an eyewear changed.

While specific figures aren’t always publicly available, Statista reports Lenskart’s revenue from operations reached ₹15 billion (approximately USD 181 million) in the financial year 2022 ([Statista Lenskart Revenue]). 

This indicates significant growth, considering their revenue in 2018 was around ₹3 billion (approximately USD 36 million). This is just an exemplary brand and there are several others that increased their startup sales by 10%.

The brand used strategic methods to attract customers and engage with it.

Read further to know different tactics that help startups establish their strong footholds in the market. 

What is the significance of increasing sales for a customer?

Increasing sales gives more revenue and that helps businesses to survive in the market. It also gives opportunities to expand their territories of operations.

Increasing Sales= Engaging/ Attract more customers.

To attract customers to buy a company’s product or service, it is important that proper strategy lay in line. It boosts the probability that as the brand gets active, the chances of getting new potential buyers increases.

Startups must prioritise convincing clients in sales by effectively explaining the value proposition of their offerings. Since ages, brands carve their way by highlighting the distinctive qualities and benefits of their products or services in order to capture clients’ attention and interest. 

Remember Mamaearth which started in 2021 has catered to 1.5 million consumers across 500+ cities. 

The brand captured the attention and capitalised the situation where people started finding more toxin-free personal care products. They touched mothers’ mindset and gave birth to an emotion of child care. And with that they gathered attention. Parents felt that it is a safer option to consider.

This was an innovative method to attract clients with the changing time.  Companies can now use tools such as social media, content marketing, and tailored messaging, to stand out in a competitive market.

Mamaearth is one of the fastest growing D2C brands that established a strong online presence and connected directly with the customers that helped the brand to grow. 

Just like Mamaearth grew, there are multiple ideas to increase sales that entrepreneurs can use to  boost their sales. They can use different strategies like providing promotions, discounts, or incentives to encourage people to buy. 

In other cases, startups can increase sales and produce money by adding value or creating a sense of urgency, which is critical for their growth and sustainability.

Some of the creative ways that the startups can experiment with to grow sales, such as refining pricing tactics, enhancing product quality, and providing great customer experiences. 

Startups can achieve long-term success by constantly improving their approach and adjusting to satisfy customer needs. And as the customers end up satisfying their needs, they happen to get higher revenues.

Increasing revenue is crucial for startups because it allows them to build a market presence, attract investors, and grow their business operations. Startups can position themselves for growth and achieve their goals by focusing on customer persuasion in sales and developing effective buyer attraction and engagement strategies.

Let us now look at some of the tried and proved strategies that can increase sales for your brand.

20 tactics that can increase your startup sales by 10%

Some of the tactics that can increase the sales by 10%:

Strategy 1: Identify your audience

Start with identifying your audience to align your organisational goals with it. Think of Myntra- a fashion apparel brand that offers fashion at an affordable price. The brand enables its audience to buy products they like. 

To address the demands of GenZ that makes a specific category of audience, Myntra came with their app extension FWD. It enables GenZ to shop from the trend waves. 

And not just this, Myntra came with LUXE enabling people to unlock the world of luxury. It connects the brand with a wider segment which enables the brand to cater to a huge demand.

Strategy 2: Refine your value proposition

Clearly communicate the unique value you offer through your product/services. In simple terms, you can educate your audience on how your product/service helps them.

Refining a value offer benefits brands in two ways: it attracts the right customers and boosts sales. A clear and succinct value proposition emphasising the unique benefits of a brand resonates with the target audience, ensuring consumers understand why they should choose that brand over competitors. 

This focused messaging generates qualified leads, while stressing on benefits increases sales by convincing potential consumers that the product or service addresses their specific problem and provides genuine value.

For example phone brand Micromax focussed on a budget-friendly approach. They could target students and young professionals by highlighting a long battery life for all-day use and a powerful processor for multitasking.

Strategy 3: Optimise pricing strategy

Analyse and evaluate the pricing strategy for the competitors. You can play with the pricing to find optimal balance between value and affordability.

Optimising pricing is the process of studying data and applying that knowledge to determine the optimal price for your product or service. This sweet spot takes into account elements such as client demand, rival pricing, and production expenses. 

You may maximise your revenue by analysing statistics to determine which pricing points result in more sales without sacrificing profit. It’s all about finding a balance between what clients are ready to spend and what permits your firm to thrive.

In this context, Lenskart focused on competitive pricing offering eyeglasses at slightly lower rates than in the market.  The company also highlighted the additional value they offered, like free home eye testing, virtual try-on features, and a wide variety of frames and lenses at various price points. 

This catered to a broader customer base seeking both affordability and convenience.

Strategy 4: Make the quality of product and service better

After you launch the product and service in the market, you must collect the feedback for your brand. It will help you make improvements if there is any scope left. 

It is better to invest in product development for higher quality. 

First and foremost, it is critical to establish a quality culture. This includes establishing clear standards, adopting stringent quality control procedures, and incorporating feedback throughout the manufacturing and service delivery processes. 

Second, actively including client input is critical. Surveys, evaluations, and direct communication all contribute to identifying areas for development and ensuring that products and services meet the demands of customers. 

Finally, brands can use innovation and data analysis. By studying new technologies and materials, and analysing customer data to understand usage patterns and pain points, organisations can constantly tweak their offers to stay ahead of the curve and deliver outstanding results.

When faced with customer complaints concerning dough quality and taste, Domino’s made a brave move. 

They acknowledged the suggestions, confessed flaws, and fully altered their pizza recipe in 2009. This customer-centric approach, which incorporated feedback into a product redesign, resulted in a considerable increase in sales and brand recognition.

Strategy 5: Enhance customer experience

The best way to have a loyal customer is by offering enhanced customer experience. And for that, you can  imagine the ideal client experience. Now focus on making things seamless and simple for your customers. 

This includes providing clear communication, a user-friendly website or app, and several ways to contact customer support (phone, chat, email). Go the additional mile to be helpful and friendly. Respond to client feedback and use it to improve your products and services. Remember, satisfied clients are more likely to return and suggest your brand to others!

Swiggy is a brand that enhances the user experience by simplifying the app. They offered easier navigation and faster order placements. Swiggy also partnered with several restaurants so that they can offer wide food preferences.

Not only this, the brand also implemented real-time tracking and optimising delivery routes. Overall the customer experience was enhanced by the food delivery platform.

Strategy 6: Use Content Marketing

Create valuable content that engages the audience. Share content through various channels to increase brand visibility.

Let us see how Zomato, another big Indian food delivery company, uses content marketing in several ways:

• Zomato Blog: They have a blog with educational and fascinating articles about food, restaurants, and the culinary scene. This educates people, keeps them engaged, and establishes Zomato as a thought leader in the food delivery industry.
• Social Media Engagement: Zomato aggressively uses social media channels such as Instagram to publish food photos, reviews, and unique content. 

This keeps consumers interested, promotes a fun brand image, and may indirectly influence restaurant selections on their site.

• In-App material: Zomato curates material within their app, such as restaurant descriptions, user ratings, and curated listicles (“Top 10 Burgers in Delhi”). 

This useful content enables consumers to make informed judgments.

Strategy 7: Leverage social media

Now is the time to be present on social media. It is better to stay active on social media because your audience is present there. Run targeted ad campaigns to reach potential customers.

Let us know about Nykaa a brand that targeted social media interaction, and achieved:

• Brand Awareness: Nykaa reached a big, relevant audience and established themselves as a knowledgeable and relatable beauty company.
• Customer Trust: Influencer endorsements and community participation increased trust and encouraged people to explore new items.
• Higher Sales: Social media most likely attracted a lot of attention to their online store, which resulted in higher sales and market share.

Strategy 8: Implement Email Marketing Campaigns:

You can build an email list containing details of leads and customers. And then send personalised emails with relevant offers and updates.

Flipkart, India’s top e-commerce platform, is an example of an Indian firm that has successfully employed email marketing campaigns. Flipkart sends tailored email campaigns to its clients on a regular basis, which include product recommendations based on their browsing and purchasing history. 

Source: www.flipkart.com

These emails often offer unique discounts, promotions, and new product releases targeted to the recipient’s interests. Flipkart uses email marketing to engage its existing consumers while also attracting new customers by luring them with appropriate offers and information. 

This technique contributes to increased sales, improved client loyalty, and a strong presence in India’s competitive e-commerce sector.

Strategy 9: Offer Discounts and Promotions:

Amongst several techniques, one which successfully increases sales by 10% include offering discounts and promotions. When brands run limited-time promotions, a sense of urgency in the audience.

You can offer discounts to first-time customers or on bulk purchases. 

Big Bazaar, a renowned retail chain in India, is one example of an Indian firm that successfully employed discounts and promotions to increase sales. Big Bazaar routinely runs promotional programs that provide considerable discounts on a variety of products throughout its outlets. 

For example, during festive seasons such as Diwali or Dussehra, Big Bazaar holds special sale events such as “Mahabachat” or “Sabse Saste Din” (Biggest Savings Day), during which customers can take advantage of great discounts on food, electronics, apparel, and household items. 

These promotions not only bring a huge number of people to Big Bazaar stores, but they also push them to make greater purchases to take advantage of the discounted prices. 

Strategy 10: Partner with Complementary Businesses:

Sometimes bonds are better for brands. You can try to collaborate with businesses that target a similar audience.

Brands can use cross-promotion of each other’s products/services to expand reach. 

Ola Cabs and OYO Rooms have collaborated to improve sales. Ola Cabs, a popular ride-hailing service in India, has collaborated with OYO Rooms, one of the country’s major hospitality businesses. 

Through this collaboration, Ola Cabs gives exclusive discounts and promotions to OYO guests for their transportation needs, and OYO Rooms provides exclusive deals and discounts to Ola users for their lodging needs. 

This strategic collaboration benefits both brands by promoting one other’s offerings, improving the overall customer experience, and increasing sales volume. 

Customers value the convenience and savings provided by these collaborative promotions, which drive to increasing use of both Ola Cabs and OYO Rooms services, resulting in mutual business growth and success.

Strategy 11: Invest in Search Engine Optimization (SEO):

Not to be ignored at all! The brands must optimise your website and content for search engines. It increases organic traffic by ranking higher in search results.

MakeMyTrip is a leading online travel firm. MakeMyTrip works on optimising its website and content to boost its presence in search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant travel-related keywords. 

MakeMyTrip’s investment in SEO attempts to improve its ranking on search engines such as Google, increasing organic traffic to the site. MakeMyTrip guarantees that its website is easily discovered by users searching for travel bookings, hotel reservations, or holiday packages by conducting strategic keyword research, on-page optimization, and link building initiatives. 

This proactive approach to SEO allows MakeMyTrip increase sales and maintain a competitive edge in the online travel business, attract more qualified traffic to its platform, and ultimately increase sales and revenue.

Strategy 12: Attend Networking Events:

As the next strategy, startups have increased sales by attending network events. Build relationships with potential customers and partners to increase the probable growth of their business. 

Startups must attend industry conferences and networking meetups.

One startup that used networking events for growth is OYO. 

And OYO’s participation in industry conferences and trade events was more than merely passing out brochures. These events functioned as a strategic networking hub. 

Setting up these booths and attending presentations, helped OYO personnels to meet with potential hotel partners. The brand went extra miles to showcase their hospitality strategy. They also highlighted the benefits of joining their platform and appealed to hotel owners to boost their occupancy and income. 

These events enhanced OYO’s visibility in the industry that garnered the interest of potential investors. Further these ties played a critical role in acquiring money,and propelled OYO’s quick expansion and growth in the Indian hotel industry.

Strategy 13: Offer Exceptional Customer Service:

Customer service has always helped brands to capture the audience and encourage them to stay loyal with the brand. Providing timely responses to inquiries and supporting tickets is a part of offering customer service. 

The brands that go above and beyond to exceed customer expectations stay for a long time in the market. 

Tata Play was one exceptional brand that provided direct-to-home service and captured the market with outstanding customer service. The brand built a reputation for prioritising customer satisfaction and providing personalised support to its subscribers.

The brand offered its 24/7 customer helpline, allowing subscribers to contact for assistance anytime. The helpline enabled customers to easily connect with knowledgeable representatives trained to promptly address queries and resolve issues.

Not just this, Tata Play offers multiple channels for customer support, including phone, email, live chat, and social media platforms. The idea was to increase sales by increasing accessibility and make sure that customers choose their preferred mode of communication for convenience.

The engagement activities are not momentary, and the brand keeps an active customer engagement by regularly providing subscribers updates, notifications, and reminders regarding service disruptions, new features, or upcoming events. 

The company trains its employees to provide excellent customer service and ensure they have the necessary skills and knowledge to deliver service consistently.

Because of its exceptional customer service, Tata Play could build a loyal customer base and maintain a competitive edge in India’s highly competitive DTH television market.

Strategy 14:Create Compelling Call-to-Actions (CTAs):

Call to Actions encourage the audience to take actions. You can test different variations to see what drives the most conversions.

Nykaa is one dynamic brand that created compelling call-to-actions for increasing its sales. The brand is a well known cosmetic and beauty products seller. They tried and tested the sales with time-bound offers and unique CTAs. For example, Nykaa frequently holds flash deals with CTAs like “Shop Now” or “Limited Time Offer: Get 50% Off Today Only”, which are prominently promoted on its website and in marketing emails. 

The call-to-actions create a sense of urgency and scarcity for clients. And that feeling of FOMO always leaves customers motivated to complete the purchase. It is because they are trying to save a penny almost all the time.  

Brands use CTAs to trick the customers based on their browsing history and purchasing habits. So, if a customer has previously expressed an interest in a specific brand or product category. 

Strategy 15: Launch a Referral Program:

Referral programs help brands increase their sales to the point that gives  a bigger boost to the brands. You can provide some lucrative offers to the customers.

The biggest excitement in referral programs is the rewards that the customers get. 

Zomato is an Indian brand that grew many fold by its “Refer and Earn” program. It allows the existing customers to refer friends and family and earn rewards.

The customers can use a referral link and when they use it, both the referrer and the new user receive rewards or discounts on their next order.

This way the brand expanded its customer base and strengthened their presence online.

Strategy 16: Optimise Your Website for Conversions:

Streamline the checkout process. Companies optimise their websites to increase engagement rate of their audience. When they optimise the website, the user experience gets better and the audience tends to spend more time.

If you have an optimised website, it gives a seamless experience for the customers to have an easy navigation and checkout process.

By strategically placing the call-to-actions, businesses can convert visitors ultimately getting higher sales volume.

An Indian brand that played for its increased sales is Myntra. They revamped their website, streamlined navigation and implemented user-friendly features for faster check-out process.

The website was optimised for responsiveness and load speed, which increased the dwell time of the users on the website. 

They placed calls to actions strategically and personalised product recommendations which lead to higher engagement and better conversion. 

Strategy 17:Invest in Paid Advertising:

Invest your money in targeted advertising and see the magic. You have a better approach towards targeted audience. Your campaigns can help you make an effective reach. 

Start and monitor campaigns after you optimise ad performance regularly.

Swiggy a well known food delivery brand is an Indian startup that increased their sales through PPC marketing. 

Swiggy targeted its potential customers who were looking for food delivery. They used targeted keywords and approached a larger number of audience.The PPC campaigns enabled the brand to have a quicker growth and become a prominent food delivery brand in India.

Strategy 18: Provide Valuable Content Upgrades:

Content helps most brands convey their message to their target audience. And this is why the content creators have a high value. Well, if a brand wants to make a special and unforgettable place in the mind of their audience, it is better that they create a unique content. It could be in the form of a blog, a social media post or a video ad. 

Always prefer to add value to the life of the prospects. 

Unacademy is a brand that creates highly educational content.

They optimise their content well to drive traffic to their platform. On their website they try to convert the audience to leads and ultimately to their customers. As a result, this has led to the growth of the brand as a prominent player in the market.

Strategy 19:Track and Analyze Key Metrics:

Working in tandem with the customer’s feedback helps brands monitor their sales. You can use analytics tools to identify trends and areas to find the scope of improvement.

MyGlamm is a beauty brand that is growing its demand for personalised beauty products in India. The brand uses its customer data like the history of purchase, their buying behaviour and social media engagement to understand their preferences and product trends.

Then the brand tailored the marketing campaigns based on the customer preferences.  Ultimately, the company could leverage data to find gaps in the product and the market to cater to the needs.

Strategy 20: Continuously Iterate and Improve:

One action at a time makes sense but sleep on your action doesn’t. The idea is to stay active and adapt to the faster market changes. The new tactics and strategies helps you increase sales.

One brand that has consistently proven its high sales is Ola. 

The rent on car/taxi service provider company seeks feedback from the customers. It allows them to refine their platform consistently. Monitoring trends and experimenting with new features, the brand established a strong foothold in the market. The commitment to continuously improve contributed to Ola’s growth.

Conclusion

Businesses don’t grow in a day. It needs time to grow!

Not one thing fits all brands and a consistent try and test process makes the  brand bigger each day. You can use any of the top 20 unavoidable techniques to increase your startup sales by 10%.

If you want to grow your brand response and market presence exponentially and in a short time, you can connect with us here.