As someone who runs an e-commerce business, it is understandable that you want to boost your traffic and conversions. But how do you decide on which marketing strategies you should try?
In this post, we have put together an overview of the best e-commerce strategies that will help you gain more repeat purchases.
Before we proceed, let’s define e-commerce marketing first.
In a nutshell, it is the practice of utilizing different promotional tactics to drive more traffic to your online store and eventually converting that traffic into paying customers and retaining them post-purchase.
An excellent marketing strategy helps boost brand awareness, improve customer loyalty, and eventually increase your online sales. You can also promote your online store using e-commerce marketing to drive more sales on specific products.
It is also important to keep in mind that your online store requires a completely different approach in marketing because of the nature of your business. That’s because it utilizes a variety of channels to communicate your message to customers.
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Now that you know what e-commerce marketing is, it is time to implement it in your online store. To help promote your online store, you need to focus on the following areas:
- Search engine marketing: This includes your PPC campaigns.
- Email marketing: Crafting email campaigns to upsell, cross-sell, and to decrease abandonment of shopping carts.
- Social media marketing: Promoting and selling on different social media platforms.
- Digital content marketing: Crafting unique, original content and publishing it in various external sites as a guest writer.
Your marketing strategy will also largely depend on the type of e-commerce store platform that you are using. Some of the popular e-commerce platforms are Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento and Dukaan.
Since every e-commerce store is different and unique, there is no one-size-fits-all guide for planning your e-commerce marketing strategy.
However, there are universal marketing strategies that fit most e-commerce businesses and industries:
1. Evaluate Your Value Proposition
You should clearly explain the value of your product and service to prospects. If not, you are not giving them enough reason why they should pick you over your competitors.
To improve your online sales, take a good look at your products and services, and ask yourself the following questions:
- Are your products/services relevant to your customers’ problems?
- Will it give quantifiable benefits for those who use it?
- Does it go above and beyond in solving the problem to meet your customers’ needs?
- How do you stand your business, products, and services apart from the competition?
- Will it fill in the gap that nobody else can, or can you fill the gap more effectively?
Answering these will provide you with a clearer view of your value proposition (or the reason why customers need to choose your product or service. If you think that your sales are stagnating, it might be because you are not communicating your value proposition clearly across platforms.
However, once you make the necessary changes in your site, and your sales and ad collaterals will directly point to how your customers could directly benefit, you will surely improve your online sales in no time.
2. Offer Security & Safety
One of the biggest turnoffs for customers when it comes to online stores is that some such sites look sketchy and unreliable. Just think of it: if you were in the place of your potential client, would you trust every e-commerce shop you come across? Probably not.
This is exactly why you need to offer security and safety to your customers and ensure that they notice the extra measures you introduced to protect them and their data. Here are some things you can do to improve the reliability of your website:
- Add special codes and plugins on your website that will prevent hackers from breaching your protective wall.
- Move to a URL that starts with “https” rather than “http”.
- Acknowledge the fact that security is a priority for your customers and write as much on your website for your site visitors to see.
- Display security badges that show the trustworthiness of your site.
3. Use Lead Generation Marketing
Lead generation marketing or simply lead generation is now considered one of the most important aspects of digital marketing by many professionals. This is exactly why business owners need to start using it in their own strategy.
The most important part is defining your lead and sorting it into categories such as marketing qualified lead (MQL), sales qualified lead (SQL), product qualified lead (PQL), or service qualified lead. Once you know that, you can continue guiding your lead to conversion.
Lead generation is somewhat of a complicated process, so it is important to get its nuances at the stage of learning in order not to misuse its practices afterward. Do your research and get prepared for it.
4. Upsell Your Products
For most businesses, upselling is more effective than taking steps to acquire a new prospect or customer.
Let’s say; a customer does not know yet that there is an available premium product, or that they might need more knowledge to understand how an upgrade would fit their needs better.
There are two main categories that you should take note of if you want to use upselling to increase sales:
- Ensure that the upsell is related to the original product
- Be sensitive to the anticipated price range of your customers.
Ideally, your product has to fit the customer’s main needs. Most of them are also not enthusiastic at a higher price point if they already have an anchor price in mind.
Your anchor price will be the first number that your customer sees, and it is a number that they will compare with higher price points. The new product should also be a better fit than the original and is worth it.
5. Showcase New or Relevant Items
Shoppers are also drawn to whatever is new or fresh. Well, something is appealing about products that are brand new or in season.
You can use this to your advantage by highlighting seasonal or new products in your online store. On your website, you can position it to be the first thing that your audience will see when landing on your site, and place a CTA along with it for users to click to.
It is an excellent way to pique a user’s interest and bring the shopper’s attention to certain products.
6. Enable Easy Checkout
Checkouts can make or break your e-commerce store, so you have to be careful in designing your checkout flow as well.
Checkout processes could easily get complicated and might involve numerous steps like shipping and delivery addresses, invoice preparation, newsletter info, incentive deductions, bank and credit card info, and a lot of different other things.
Generally, your goal is to create the simplest checkout process for your customers. When you offer a one-step, guest checkout, eliminating the need of having to create an account will make it easier for the customer to purchase your products successfully.
On the other hand, if you have a multi-step checkout process, showing your customer’s progress will better inform them of how many more steps they have to accomplish to complete the whole process.
7. Provide Free or Discounted Shipping
The checkout is just the first step of e-commerce fulfillment. However, there are still cases wherein customers would decide not to push through with the process.
One of the common reasons is the unexpected cost. It is the main reason why 63% of online shoppers abandon their carts in 2018.
By offering your customers discounted or free shipping, you can effectively boost your conversions and e-commerce sales. If you are using the right promotion, such as free shipping, once your customers reach a certain threshold, then you can really increase your sales.
To make sure that there are no misunderstandings as well, you can create a page where your customers can find answers instantly, whatever shipping-related questions they might have.
That will make them more comfortable in completing a purchase, and you would also likely end up with fewer complaints.
8. Offer Irresistible Discounts
Who does not love a good discount, right?
Bargains and discounts are a huge motivating factor for a lot of shoppers, providing them a powerful reason to purchase from you.
Business psychologist Dr. Dimitri Tsivrikos examined the brain scans of consumers that are thrilled with bargains and says that dopamine rushes to the brain if people feel an increased sense of control over a bargain.
Simply put, offering discounts in your e-commerce store is an excellent way to entice more shoppers, especially new ones.
A good starting point is to assess the pricing and promotion strategies of your closest competitors, as this will help you formulate your own strategy and attract customers by offering more value than the competition.
It will only be a matter of time when people will respond to these discounts, especially if you place it in a conspicuous location ‒ somewhere site visitors will immediately see once they land on your site.
Similarly, you can also use a simple pop-up that would alert your prospects of a discount. No matter what approach you use, it is a great way to increase your e-commerce sales and your customers happy at the same time.
9. Focus on Creative Content to Drive Sales
A highly targeted content that has a deep understanding of your target market creates judgment and feelings towards your business. Over time, this helps create a mutually beneficial relationship between your target customers and the company.
So, place yourself in your customers’ shoes and dig deep on why they visit your website in the first place. Know and understand the keywords that drive people to your site. That is where market research and target audience analysis come in.
That said, you need to focus on creating high-quality content that drives your audience to where they needed to be ‒ on your website. You can also study similar brands that you admire to inspire you and to get your creative juices flowing.
10. Enable Guest Checkout Function
These days, most e-commerce sites require users to sign up first. But in some cases, this could do your business more harm than good.
Prospective buyers might avoid making an account unless they have to. So enabling your guest checkout function can also do wonders for your e-commerce site.
Adding a guest checkout option will allow customers to complete their online purchases with ease, which increases the likelihood of making more sales.
11. User-Generated Content is Gold
Most people trust reviews and feedback from previous customers and their experiences.
For most e-commerce stores, user-generated content like ratings, product reviews, and comments can generate trust and improve your sales.
So make sure you incorporate the right tools for reviews, ratings, and comments on your e-commerce site along with a valid authentication system. Referral and word-of-mouth marketing could take your business to the next level.
Automated emails to gather feedback once a product is delivered to the customer is also an important part of your communications strategy.
12. Improve Your Email Marketing
For you to get started in email marketing, actively promote your blog, newsletter, SMS marketing, and other email capture efforts to gain as many subscribers as possible.
You also need to improve your email campaigns. Send out emails that your subscribers will actually appreciate:
- As soon as a customer makes a purchase, send out a welcome email.
- Provide free gifts and exclusive promo codes
- Share relevant content to help customers make the most out of their recently bought items.
- Send regular newsletters to alert subscribers of product tips, discount offers, and company news if applicable.
- Take time to thank your high-value customers. You can send them a personal note expressing your appreciation.
- Gather feedback. If someone visits your site and does not make a purchase, ask them about their experience and how you can improve it.
13. Make it Mobile-Friendly
Ensure that you pick a mobile-friendly theme for your online store.
As more and more people use smartphones and other mobile devices when shopping online, it is vital that your theme is responsive and will work well with different mobile devices.
14. Leverage Social Media
More and more people are now using social media platforms to discover new products and get honest feedback. That’s why it is an ideal platform that you can use to reach out to your target market.
Take note, however, that different social media platforms offer various opportunities and would require specific marketing strategies to help get your message across and generate more traffic to your store.
For instance, Facebook is a great platform to tell stories and craft engaging and fun content that is getting shared by your fans and followers.
For brands with more visual and premium products, Instagram and Pinterest provide better platforms to showcase these stunning imagery. If you want to teach customers how to use a product or make your product videos go viral, then YouTube is a great platform that you can tap to.
Learning how these different platforms work, as well as how their paid marketing campaigns will help you make the most of social media.
15. Optimize for Search Engines
SEO is a crucial pillar in your e-commerce marketing strategy. The organic traffic that comes from search engines will help you generate the highest ROI possible.
Take note that search engine optimization is all about:
- On-site optimization: Optimizing your site’s content, metadata, and alt-tags that are based on keyword research.
- Off-page optimization: This is all about building website backlinks using content and social media posts. Guest blogs, blogs, and how-to infographics are the best kinds of content that will drive backlinks and traffic to your site.
16. Publish Multilingual Content
In order to find more customers and accelerate sales, you will need to reach new audiences. This is possible by going global and expanding to international markets. Don’t worry, it’s not as difficult as it sounds.
The easiest way to do this is to start publishing multilingual content that will be optimized for SEO. You can use a translation and localization service like Speakt which will save you a lot of time and money.
Think of the regions you want to be targeting and then make a list of languages that you will need to translate your content into. Take into account your website as well as your social media accounts and your emails.
17. Demonstrate Your Products
Demonstrating your products is essential for attracting the attention of your target audience. If you don’t show what you have to offer, nobody will be interested in whatever you are trying to sell. This is basic market logic.
In recent years, business owners and marketers have been constantly looking for new ways to demonstrate their products. Here are just some of the techniques you could start using:
- Video Demonstration
Consumers (and search engines) love video content. If you can create engaging and informative videos that will also be optimized for SEO, you will be able to achieve two goals at once: attract customers and rank higher. Besides, videos have the potential to go viral. - Augmented Reality Media
AR and VR have become somewhat of an important part of our lives, but we often go about without realizing it. As business owners or marketers, it can be a great way to demonstrate products by using Augmented Reality technology and surprising your audience this way. - Interactive Ads
Even though videos can be as effective as ads, you should not shy away from using the latter ones. In fact, interactive ads can be extremely powerful when it comes to demonstrating all the advantages of your products and increasing customer engagement.
18. Don’t Try to Mislead Your Customers
Many businesses believe that it is absolutely normal to mislead their customers, but some of them don’t even realize that they are doing so even if they are against it. This is why you need to be careful with the kind of content you create and the messages you are sending.
If you want to acquire more customers, it doesn’t mean that you have to lie to them about the products you offer. In fact, customer retention is way more important, and if you are honest with your existing customers, they will be more likely to stay.
You need to focus on improving the experience you provide and make sure all the information you put out is accurate. If there are some flaws in your product, don’t hide them. Instead, try to present them in a good light to make them look like advantages.
19. Collect Feedback Regularly
In order to understand all the issues your customers have with your business, you need to ask your clients to give you their valuable feedback. By analyzing it, you will know which things need improvement which will, in turn, lead to better customer satisfaction.
At the same time, customer feedback can help you promote your e-commerce store, improve brand awareness, and build a certain image of your company. Seek out feedback and reviews online and then repost or republish them.
Moreover, many consumers find that they believe product reviews from real people more than they believe product descriptions from the companies selling these items. This way, the feedback about your products will also help you become a more reliable brand.
20. Improve Customer Service
For one reason or another, this aspect of a business is often overlooked. Your customer service is essential and is closely related to the number of sales you make and your customer retention rate. If your clients don’t get the right treatment, they simply won’t return.
This is why improving your customer service can have such an immensely huge impact on your overall business performance. Here are the steps you can take:
- Determine the issues with your customer support department and make sure to eliminate the flaws and replace them with better practices.
- Understand which channels of communication are preferred by your customers (live chat, knowledge base, cloud-based phone system etc.). You might be comfortable with email, but they will favor phone calls.
- Remember that your customers are always right, but that doesn’t mean that they are always reasonable. Listen to them but do things your way.
21. Launch Effective Ad Campaigns
There is no telling how many ad campaigns failed just because the approach the business owners had was incorrect. There are many things you need to consider when preparing and then launching advertising campaigns, but not everyone acknowledges this.
In order for your ad campaign to be as effective as possible, take into account such things:
- The Channel
Where will you be launching this ad campaign? It might be a Google Ads campaign or Facebook Ads campaigns, but these two channels are different from one another. You will need to understand all the specifics of the platform you choose. - The Target
Who is your target audience? The best thing you can do is build buyer personas to understand how you need to word your text and structure your ads to appeal to the particular potential customer group. - The Budget
How much can you spend? No ad campaign has been effective with a non-existent budget. Even if you have a tight budget, you can still make it work as long as you have a clear plan in your mind and on paper.
22. Test & Experiment
In order to be sure that your particular strategy will work, you first need to test it and see if it works on a smaller scale. Some aspects such as content that is optimized for SEO are not disputed because we all know that SEO is important, but other things need to be tested.
For example, if you want to start posting short comedic videos, you first need to create a few of these and see how they perform. If you are satisfied with the results, you can build a strategy for that and move on to making this serious choice.
Of course, you can always go the rocky way when you simply create and do and create and do until you realize that something isn’t working. However, such an approach will cost you a lot of money and headache, so it is better to test things before investing in them.
23. Revamp your sales process
The way you sell to your customers might be working just fine, but imagine if it were better than “just fine.”
Revisiting and optimizing your sales process is a great way to increase your e-commerce sales. In the online shopping realm, ensuring that you are putting time and money towards attracting an audience that will actually find value in your product is arguably the most important part of your sales process. You can have the most convincing marketing messages and product descriptions out there, but if the customer’s wants and needs don’t align with what you’re offering, they won’t give it a second thought.
Make sure you have a good understanding of your target audience by asking yourself the following questions:
- Does this person have a need for my product?
- Does this person have the budget to buy my product?
- Can they make a timely purchase?
Qualifying customers might not be directly involved in selling your solution, but it will end up saving you a lot of time and money when doing so.
Final Thoughts
There you have it. We have talked about several e-commerce marketing strategies that will help turn your online venture into a success.
Choosing the appropriate implementations and strategies will largely depend on the target audience of your e-commerce business.
Focusing on the strategies we have mentioned will help you overcome whatever obstacles that might come your way and increase your e-commerce sales.
