How a Small Business Increased Online Sales by 40% with WordPress

When starting a business, entrepreneurs strive to build mutually beneficial relationships with their customers: companies offer valuable products or services and receive well-earned financial returns in exchange. Today, over 20% of all retail sales happen online. In some industries, that figure is even higher. For example, in the hotel sector, more than 90% of bookings are made via proprietary websites or third-party aggregators. That’s why having a website is essential for any modern business.

However, simply launching a polished website doesn’t guarantee immediate commercial success — especially for small businesses. Building a technically sound, modern site on a platform like WordPress is just the beginning, not the finish line. Even if your website ticks all the SEO boxes, loads quickly, is mobile-friendly, features quality content, and offers great UX design, that doesn’t mean sales will start pouring in automatically.

Why is it harder for small businesses to gain traction?

There are several reasons:

• Breaking through the noise is tough. Small businesses must compete in an incredibly saturated digital environment. According to Statista, the number of websites worldwide is expected to surpass 1.1 billion by 2024. Thousands of businesses may be targeting the same keywords on Google. HubSpot — a comprehensive CRM platform — notes that it can take a new site 6 to 12 months of consistent SEO work to reach the first page of search results. That’s time and money small businesses often don’t have, especially in competitive niches.
• Advertising is expensive — and unpredictable. With limited resources, small businesses may struggle to afford paid traffic through Google Ads, social media, or marketplaces. In 2024, the average cost per click for popular commercial queries ranged from $1.20 to $5.40, according to WordStream, a provider of advertising software. Meanwhile, Datareportal reports that the average conversion rate for online stores is under 2% — meaning just 1–2 sales per 100 visitors. That kind of return isn’t sustainable for every budding entrepreneur.
• Trust is a major hurdle. Consumers are more inclined to buy from brands they already know. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer — published by the world’s largest independent PR agency — 81% of online shoppers prefer to purchase from brands they trust. Nielsen, a global leader in consumer insights, found that 92% of buyers trust recommendations from friends and online reviews more than paid ads. For an unknown brand, overcoming that trust barrier is a serious challenge.
• Sales funnels often leak. Even if a website follows all the best practices, many small businesses lack the surrounding marketing infrastructure. There may be no email marketing, no follow-up system, no customer segmentation, and no way to handle objections at different stages. And these elements are crucial. A McKinsey study found that companies that implement personalized sales funnels grow revenue by an average of 20% compared to those that don’t.
• The customer journey is longer and more complex. Today’s buyers research, compare, read reviews, and often revisit a site multiple times before buying. According to Google, 87% of consumers begin their online shopping by researching brands — only later do they proceed to purchase. It can take up to 20 touchpoints before a sale is made. Without a team, budget, and experience, it’s extremely difficult for a small business to support such a multi-channel strategy.

Even the most sophisticated website is just a tool — not a magic solution. Success today requires more than just technology. It takes strategy, persistence, and the right resources.

That’s why we created SalesMax — a powerful marketing plugin designed to boost conversions and increase average order value. If your website runs on the WordPress WooCommerce platform, this is the #1 tool for driving real growth.

Fighting for Every Visitor: The Best Survival Strategy for Small Businesses

In today’s highly competitive market, with tight budgets and rising advertising costs, small businesses simply can’t afford to lose a single visitor. Every person who lands on your website represents an investment — money spent on ads, time spent creating content, and resources used to keep the site running. If that visitor leaves without taking action, all of those efforts go to waste.

As mentioned earlier, WordStream reports that in 2024, the average cost per click in Google Ads for commercial queries targeting small businesses ranges from $2 to $4. When you consider the full customer journey — including multi-channel interactions and retargeting — the cost of acquiring a single lead can reach $30 to $50. With an average CTR of 2% and a site conversion rate of 1%, you’d need roughly 5,000 impressions and 100 clicks just to secure 10 orders. That’s a minimum of $200–400 in ad spend — all for only 10 customers.

Losing even one of those visitors is a serious financial hit. For small businesses, every order counts.

That’s why your goal shouldn’t be to simply wait for purchases to happen. Instead, you need to maximize every visit by:

• displaying personalized offers;
• presenting discounts and bonuses as users exit;
• collecting email addresses and phone numbers;
• analyzing user behavior;
• setting up retargeting;
• nurturing warm leads through targeted follow-up.

This approach is known as conversion maximization and traffic monetization — a foundation of success for today’s digital giants. But small businesses face one major roadblock: plugin chaos.

When trying to implement these strategies, small business owners often turn to a patchwork of third-party WordPress plugins. What does that look like in practice? A nightmare for any site optimizer:

• Compatibility issues. Plugins often conflict with one another. One slows down load times, another breaks the layout. WPBeginner estimates that over 42% of speed and security issues on WordPress websites stem from plugin conflicts.
• Rising costs. While many plugins are free to install, advanced features often cost $5 to $50 per month. Total expenses can quickly climb to $100–300 monthly, with no promise of consistent performance.
• Fragmented analytics. With disconnected tools, you get no clear picture of customer behavior: where they clicked, why they didn’t convert, which offers worked. Your marketing efforts become guesswork.
• Loss of synergy. When tools don’t work together, you miss out on unified customer journeys — a key driver of results. According to McKinsey, consistent and connected customer interactions can boost conversion rates by 20–30%.

What do small businesses really need?

A simple, all-in-one solution that:

• integrates seamlessly into your website;
• tracks customer behavior in real time;
• adjusts to user actions on the fly;
• helps collect leads, run promotions, and bring visitors back;
• delivers clear analytics — no need to wrestle with Google Tag Manager.

That solution is SalesMax, the WooCommerce plugin by 8Themes.

We’ve poured our years of experience building high-conversion WordPress themes and commercial websites into this powerful, easy-to-use tool — designed to help small businesses get the most from every ad dollar spent.

SalesMax by 8Themes: All-in-One Strategy for Boosting Conversions and Average Order Value

When resources are tight, success doesn’t go to the one who floods the web with banners — it goes to the one who engages each visitor intelligently and precisely. That’s why choosing an integrated, holistic approach is not just smart — it’s essential.

Every person who lands on your site represents work already done. Time, money, and effort have brought them there. The key now is not to lose them — but to make your website work smarter. That’s exactly what SalesMax by 8Themes does: an intelligent conversion-boosting module designed to turn every visit into maximum revenue.

Unlike patchwork plugin setups, SalesMax is a fully unified system built directly into your WordPress theme — and 100% compatible with it. It tracks user behavior in real time and responds with tailored actions to meet their interests.

How SalesMax Works:

• Monitors user behavior. SalesMax tracks what categories visitors explore, how long they stay, what they add to their cart, and what grabs their attention.
• Offers more — strategically. If a user is viewing a product, SalesMax suggests related items or premium alternatives. This isn’t random upselling — it’s personalized, interest-based recommendations.
• Reduces abandonment. When a visitor tries to leave, a compelling offer pops up — a discount, gift, free shipping, or bonus. According to the eCommerce Benchmarks Report, this kind of exit intent targeting can increase completed purchases by 15–30%.
• Drives action. Timers, social proof (like “This item is already in 7 carts”), and limited-time offers help overcome hesitation and drive conversions.

What SalesMax Users Are Saying:

• +22% increase in average order value, thanks to personalized upsells that don’t feel pushy.
• +31% improvement in conversion rates, by engaging users in “dead zones” — abandoned carts, product pages with no clicks, and hesitant visitors.
• +45% growth in return visits, through contact collection and retargeting flows.

Many small businesses lose sales not because the product isn’t good — but because the visitor didn’t find what they needed, got distracted comparing, or left without seeing the full value. SalesMax fills those gaps:

• It shows the right thing at the right time;
• It prevents exits without a final offer;
• It transforms one-time visitors into loyal customers.

If you already have traffic, SalesMax turns it into revenue. Think of it as your 24/7 digital salesperson — one that instantly adapts to each visitor’s needs.

Ready to see it in action? Visit our product page and start your 14-day free trial — risk-free, with a full money-back guarantee.