How to Use Sliders for eCommerce

by [email protected] on May 7, 2018 | Reader Disclosure

Most people think of sliders as homepage decoration, a way to improve its beauty and look professional. But for an online store, a slider can do real selling: it puts your best products, collections and deals in front of shoppers before they start scrolling.

That matters most during the holidays, when you might be running several sales at once and only have one spot at the top of your homepage. We’ve seen store owners solve this by rotating their offers through a single slider instead of stacking banners down the page.

In this article, we’ll share creative ways an eCommerce website can use sliders, plus how to plan your holiday sliders ahead of time.

Using Sliders to Boost Sales

Sliders are popular on big eCommerce sites like eBay, Etsy and Amazon. With so many products, a simple list won’t do. You need a way to highlight your bestsellers.

That’s where a slider comes in. Whether you want to feature holiday items or the best of what’s on sale, a carousel lets you fit all of it into a small space. Here are some of the most useful ways to put an eCommerce slider to work:

WooCommerce Addon

If you run your store on WooCommerce, Soliloquy’s WooCommerce addon makes product sliders much easier. It’s included with the Soliloquy Developer plan or higher.

Without it, you’d have to add every product image, link and description to your slider by hand. With the addon, you create a slider, choose WooCommerce on the External Slider tab, and the slider pulls products straight from your store.

However you decide to use eCommerce sliders, the WooCommerce Addon will save you a lot of manual work. For a full walkthrough, see our guide on how to create a WooCommerce product slider.

Show Off Products

Got a bestseller to advertise? Or maybe you want to give some specific items a bit of extra love? A carousel is a great way to market products, whether on the homepage, in the sidebar or within another listing.

Product sliders work in lots of places. You might add one to a blog post about your newest releases, or put a big announcement on the homepage when a popular item is about to sell out.

Categories and Collections

If you sell many types of items, it’s a good idea to promote your categories, and a carousel can do that neatly. Timing helps here. For a clothing store in the middle of summer, a homepage carousel linking to swimwear and t-shirts will get a lot of clicks.

This can work better than promoting single items. Shoppers looking for something cool to wear may not love the one product you picked, but a slide that leads to a whole collection gives them plenty to choose from.

Promote Sales

A carousel is one of the best ways to push a big sale. You can show off your best deals or link to the categories that are on sale. Pair a strong call to action with a beautiful banner image, and shoppers will be excited before the slide even changes.

Holidays are another great time to use a slider, especially during the fall and winter shopping season. If you’re running several themed sales at once and never have enough homepage space for all of them, a carousel lets each one take a turn.

If you like to keep a small deal or two running, a slider in the sidebar or on the homepage is a good place to advertise them. Frequent visitors get into the habit of checking what’s new.

New Arrivals

A new shipment, a fresh collection or your latest book is a big deal, and it deserves a big promotion. A bold, eye-catching carousel can make shoppers eager to see what you’ve added to the store.

Daily Deals

Daily or weekly deals keep your store feeling fresh. A small discount can be just enough to tip someone into buying, and it helps clear out items that aren’t selling as well.

You can also feature a few products without putting them on sale. It’s usually less effective than a real deal, but it still draws extra attention to the items you want to promote.

Display Product Variations or Photos

Shoppers want to see what they’re buying. A gallery is common here, but a carousel with thumbnails works well too, giving you an animated, responsive way to show off product photos.

If a product comes in different sizes, colors or materials, a small carousel can show the variations. Sizing charts and detail shots can go here too, without stealing the spotlight from your main images.

Cross-Selling

Have you noticed the carousels in the checkout area of many online stores? Or the “related products” sliders at the bottom of product pages? These are cross-selling at work: suggesting one more item a shopper might like.

If you pick the right products, cross-selling sliders are very effective. A bookstore, for example, might suggest books from the same genre at checkout to tempt a shopper into one more purchase.

How to Plan Your Holiday Sliders

The holiday season is when an eCommerce slider earns its keep, because your offers change every few days. Planning the slides ahead of time means you’re not rushing to swap banners during your busiest week.

Here’s a simple holiday slider plan for most online stores:

Early November: a gift guide slide that links to your most giftable products
Black Friday and Cyber Monday: one slide for each sale, set to start and end exactly when the offers do
December: a last-shipping-day slide so shoppers know when to order in time
January: a new year or clearance sale slide once the holiday rush is over

You don’t have to change these by hand. With Soliloquy’s Schedule Addon, each slide can appear and disappear on its own. Here’s how to schedule your WordPress slider and images.

Pro Tip: Keep holiday slides to one offer and one button each. When a slide tries to promote three deals at once, shoppers often click none of them.

Sliders: A Multipurpose Tool

Featured posts and homepage sliders aren’t the only things carousels are good for. In an online store, they help shoppers discover new products, find the right categories and catch your best deals.

If you’re ready to add an eCommerce slider to your WordPress website, Soliloquy’s WooCommerce Addon can do most of the work for you, and you’ll have plenty of other features to grow into.

Get Soliloquy Now

FAQs About eCommerce Sliders

Do sliders help eCommerce sales?

They can, when each slide has one clear offer and a button that goes straight to it. Sliders work best for promoting a few timely things, like a sale, a new collection or a holiday gift guide.

Can I show WooCommerce products in a slider?

Yes. Soliloquy’s WooCommerce Addon pulls products straight from your store, so you don’t have to add product images and links by hand. Create a slider and choose WooCommerce on the External Slider tab.

Where should I put a slider on an online store?

The homepage is the most common spot, but product pages and the checkout area are great places for related products carousels. A small slider in the sidebar also works well for ongoing deals.

How far ahead should I set up holiday sliders?

It’s a good idea to build them a few weeks before your first holiday sale, so you have time to test them. If you schedule each slide, they’ll go live and come down on their own.

We hope this article gave you some new ideas for using sliders in your online store. If you’d like to keep going, check out these beginner-friendly guides: