You’ve done it! ABC has officially confirmed the air date for your Shark Tank pitch.
With an ecommerce store already in place, you may think everything is ready to rake in revenue. However, few businesses are prepared for a shark-load of visitors without extensive preparation.
Catering to a surge of ecommerce traffic without a solid game plan is like running a five-star restaurant with only one cook; something is bound to fall apart.
However, a well-prepared website can convert your new fans into loyal customers, securing long-term business growth. Learn how to craft impactful user experiences that can funnel an ocean of traffic into lasting success.
Table of Contents
Preparing your ecommerce store for Shark Tank starts with evaluating its current state and potential room for improvement. That means it’s time for a fresh review of all your website’s assets—including branding, images and messaging.
Creating a consistent brand experience returns a ton of benefits. Users will recognize and remember you more easily, and customers will engage with your brand for longer. Branding is what turns a business into an icon, so don’t underestimate it.
Your brand’s voice should come through in every communication, including:
The more cohesive your brand, the more memorable user interactions will be.
You may find it helpful to list the key traits you’d like to convey through your brand voice (e.g., confidence, expertise, empathy, etc.). Once you’ve described your brand’s personality, it’ll be easier to check that it shines in every message.
Have you ever seen a food package with pictures that looked so tasty you instantly became hungry? That’s the impact you want your product images and descriptions to have.
Clear and engaging imagery and messaging have a huge influence. If these features vary across your website, visitors could become confused or lose confidence in your brand.
For images:
For descriptions:
Keep your brand’s personality at the forefront of any updates. Product photos, titles and descriptions should all convey your uniqueness.
Managing your inventory to meet customer demands through a wave of Shark Tank traffic is tricky but necessary. Your ecommerce store’s historical trends won’t offer much insight for a distinctive event like this. Here’s how to batten down the hatches in preparation.
Keep in mind that this crowd will be the biggest and most varied your website has hosted so far. The new people you reach may have completely different preferences than you’re used to.
Ensure you have everything in stock to meet customer demand. It may be wise to have a surplus of your most popular products ready to fulfill orders quickly. Consider increasing upcoming resupplies scheduled during the month of your air date to accommodate potential spikes in demand.
Use top-down forecasting to estimate your potential sales volume increase from Shark Tank exposure. This methodology starts by evaluating market size, demographics and competition to predict sales volume.
For example, applying your current conversion rate to the average views of a Shark Tank episode can give you a rough preparation estimate. However, plan for variability since the show’s audience is broader than your typical targeted marketing efforts.
By nature, forecasting isn’t an exact science, but a thoughtful prediction can guide your inventory management and help you prepare for the unpredictable.
No matter how carefully you plan, running out of inventory is always a possibility. This leaves you with a choice of whether or not to allow backordering, or purchases of items that are out-of-stock.
While enabling this feature can facilitate more sales, any orders left unfulfilled for too long lead to unhappy customers, poor reviews and lost reputation.
Developing a sustainable backorder system requires knowledge of:
If you decide to allow back-ordering, limit how many can be active at once to prevent system overwhelm. Additionally, communicate the estimated ship date on the product detail page to increase customer confidence in placing an order.
Make sure to communicate clearly with your customers who are waiting on a backordered item. Share a reasonable timeline for when you can deliver to help manage expectations.
With your inventory management strategy in place, it’s time to maximize those Shark Tank sales. Increasing your average order value (AOV)—calculated as total revenue divided by the number of orders—is an effective way to get more out of each transaction and increase your profit margins.
Cross-selling and upselling are classic marketing techniques that perform beautifully in an ecommerce setting.
Cross-selling involves promoting closely related products or recommendations based on the user’s search and purchasing history (e.g., an “items you might like” section).
Upselling is an offer to purchase an upgrade or add-on for the customer’s order (e.g., warranties, accessories, etc.).
There are several ways to implement each of these strategies—including pop-up windows, email marketing or integrating them into checkout. You can also feature them on the Product Detail Page (PDP) and in the cart to ensure maximum visibility and effectiveness.
Ensure that any features you implement add to the shopping experience. Confusing, inconvenient or frustrating checkout processes may lead to abandoned carts.
Everyone loves feeling like they’re getting a good deal. Promotions from sales to product bundles are wildly effective because they sweeten the deal for customers while increasing AOV for you.
Implementing promotions with a minimum purchase requirement is a great way to encourage more shopping. Many customers will tack on extra items to unlock a deal, even when it involves spending more than they initially planned.
Bundles work similarly and make bigger purchases feel like better bargains for customers. Bundling is also a natural way to cross-sell and get clients to try more of your products.
Be sure to do the math before implementing promotions. Winning new customers and earning sales is great, but you still need to make money. Though some brands offer sales that lead to a profit loss to engage and attract customers, these techniques require the utmost care to remain financially sustainable.
A safer bet is offering promotions tailored to the user’s experience. For example, offering a special sale for users who abandon their cart or leave your site without submitting an order is an effective way to win back lost business.
Even with a stellar product, effective marketing and an engaging ecommerce store, many first-time visitors from Shark Tank will need more convincing. Whether from skepticism or loyalty to another brand, it’s harder to win the trust of some clients. Here’s how to instill confidence in your most hesitant prospects.
Real customer reviews and testimonials are the most accessible forms of social proof you can leverage. Hearing accounts from people who put their trust in your brand and had a positive experience is more convincing than hard data to some shoppers.
Though we strongly recommend integrating an on-site review and rating system for your ecommerce store, you can also reference other sources like your Google Business Profile, Yelp or comments from social media.
Displaying social proof increases the odds that users will find everything they need to feel confident in their purchase on their first visit. Once a user exits, even to search for reviews on your product, there’s no guarantee they’ll return.
The best way to collect reviews and testimonials is simply to ask. Provide a review section on your website or follow up via email after customers receive an order to ask for their feedback. Softwares like Yotpo or Stamped.io can help increase the review response rate, making it easier to gather valuable customer insights.
Consider reaching out to influencers, thought leaders or content creators in your space with an offer to send a free sample for their review. Leveraging endorsements from established figures is often even more persuasive than organic customer reviews.
Shark Tank is one of the most recognizable TV shows today, earning millions of views internationally. Almost everyone has some level of familiarity with the show, which is a powerful trust-builder even if they didn’t see your segment.
The Shark Tank name is an instantly recognizable signal of merit, so display it prominently on your home and product pages. Those coming from your episode will instantly know they found the right place, while organic traffic will be intrigued by your noteworthy media appearance.
Reinforce to your audience that they were instrumental to your ABC appearance and ongoing success. Including customers in your brand’s journey fosters a sense of community and comradery.
Web content documenting your swim with the sharks is another great way to draw attention to your accomplishment while keeping your site supplied with fresh content.
When you’re on the business end of an ecommerce site, it’s easy to forget what the experience is like on the user end. Reacquaint yourself with your first-time shoppers using the following methods.
End-to-end order testing is critical for ensuring that your user experience is frictionless. Browsing products, using on-site features and checking out should all be smooth and convenient processes.
Platforms like UserTesting.com allow you to gather feedback from real users as they browse your website and interact with your products, providing insights into the user experience and identifying potential issues in the shopping process.
Order testing is especially important when using advanced features like product recommendations and automated order notifications. The more moving parts your ecommerce store has, the more room there is for system errors.
Though real user data tends to be more valuable, you don’t want to use your Shark Tank traffic as guinea pigs. Order testing in advance allows you to smooth out the user experience before the real rush.
Never neglect the value of communicating directly with your customers. As real people who navigated your website and submitted an order, their feedback is one of the most valuable sources of information available.
Besides asking for reviews and product feedback, ask your customers about their shopping experience. Many will share their comments freely if you ask. Then, you can use their feedback to build an even better experience for the next visitors.
Though internal and automated order testing are both valuable, nothing can simulate the experience of a person visiting your website for the first time.
Feedback collection can be done unobtrusively with an optional pop-up or email after purchase. Many will offer this feedback voluntarily.
People like to feel heard, and asking about their experience conveys that you care about their thoughts and appreciate their business.
Thoroughly preparing for your Shark Tank air date is a lot of work but well worth the reward. An opportunity like this is once-in-a-lifetime. Make the most of it with these actionable strategies:
Step 1: Conduct a comprehensive store audit to identify and fortify potential weaknesses.
Step 2: Plan your inventory accordingly to make sure you can fulfill new orders as quickly as possible.
Step 3: Maximize average order value (AOV) to improve your profit margins and earn more per transaction.
Step 4: Enhance social proof and credibility to build trust and demonstrate quality.
Step 5: Test and optimize the purchase experience to continuously improve your ecommerce store’s performance.
These five steps will help you get the most out of your Shark Tank opportunity.
You can find more resources on preparing for your air date and following through after the show through our central Shark Tank guide.
Or, if all this prep work sounds like a headache you’d rather not deal with, Human is always here to help you through the experience and foster lasting business growth.
You can check our credentials!
Either way, we wish you the best on your journey!