Best Ecommerce Marketing Strategies
When most brick-and-mortar stores closed their doors during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, ecommerce was used to fill in the gaps. With online global sales surpassing $4.2 trillion USD in the last year alone, e-commerce is showing no sign of slowing down.
As competition for online sales increases, business owners need to get creative to stand out from the crowd and build a reliable path for future revenue growth.
9 Ecommerce Marketing Tips
Combining a robust ecommerce marketing plan with digital tools such as live chat or integrated social media can help amplify your online presence.
Fortunately, the diversity of e-commerce marketing tools has kept pace with recent surges in online shopping and business-to-business (B2B) sales. Consider these nine e-commerce marketing tips to boost your ecommerce digital marketing strategy:
1. Engage with customers on Instagram
Consider connecting with potential consumers and influencers on Instagram. With a billion users across the globe, this social media platform is a rapidly growing e-commerce marketplace.
If you’re already active on Instagram, amplify your efforts to engage further with your audience by posting compelling photos and videos, using strategic hashtags and holding contests for your followers. Adding products to your stories and posts will create an easy path for customers to purchase what you’re selling.
2. Build an email campaign
Email is an effective tool for building long-term trust and loyalty and creating repeat customers. Not only does email offer more room to fit in longer messages, but also it can create a much more personalized and intimate experience compared with social media.
To build your email list, use tools to prompt customers to sign up when they visit your site. Offer incentives like a discount, valuable piece of content or a gift. Keep in touch by offering relevant content, promos and notifications.
3. Update your website
Make sure your website is clear, easy to navigate and understand and optimized for mobile device browsing as well as for desktop computers. It should feature an easy-to-read font, a painless search function and great visuals to display your products.
4. Use upselling and cross-selling strategies
Offer your customers upgrades to premium products and highlight additional accessories when they’re completing their purchases online. Upselling and cross-selling can entice customers to spend more or buy a few more products than what they originally had in mind.
Make sure to explain in your prompts how an upgrade or accessory is relevant to what they wanted to purchase, can offer more value for their budget or is a better fit for their needs.
5. Offer live chat options
Offer live chat to interact with customers in real time. Make sure their pain points can be addressed right away so they don’t abandon their virtual shopping carts in frustration and won’t have to leave your site to wait for an email response. Consider implementing other conveniences like the ability to track their order status in real time.
6. Launch a content marketing program
From guest posts and e-guides to videos and podcasts, there are many content options you can use to keep connecting with your customers and stay top of mind. By giving them a reason to keep coming back to your website, you can continue pushing out your brand and product offerings while also offering customers something of value.
7. Leverage customer reviews and recommendations
Gain credibility and trust while attracting new customers by leveraging positive reviews and recommendations. Share your customers’ feedback across your social media channels. Ask them to post photos of themselves using your product or service and tag you online.
8. Localize and personalize your options
Analyze your customer base to determine their needs specific to their location. They may require different products depending on the weather or climate where they live. You can tailor promotions and product offerings accordingly and even offer free shipping if appropriate.
9. Develop a customer loyalty program
You may choose to reward your customers for certain actions, like spending specific dollar amounts or referring your business to other clients. Having a loyalty program for your most valued customers builds trust and creates a feeling of community.
Ecommerce marketing can build a strong path to increased revenue
There’s no single roadmap to success in ecommerce, but the potential for improved sales is greater than ever before thanks to unprecedented growth in online shopping. As a business owner, you have a wealth of marketing strategies for online sales at your disposal.
The ecommerce marketing tips outlined can be customized to help you build brand awareness in new and existing channels, drive customer loyalty beyond even ambitious metrics and create a sustainable foundation to expand on well into the future.
This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or an opinion on any issue. It should not be regarded as comprehensive or a substitute for professional advice.