Your marketing strategy largely determines the success of your eCommerce store. An up-to-date, all-encompassing marketing approach ensures seamless and convenient product promotion and increases your store’s search engine visibility. It also portrays your business as a big brand and increases your credibility among selective customers. To help you stand out from the crowd and drive more traffic to your website, we have compiled a list of some of the most effective marketing ideas for your eCommerce business.
Simplify your website
If your eCommerce store is shabbily designed, you’re losing customers. A messy web design with poor font choices and complicated navigation makes your store look untrustworthy and drives away prospects who can’t find what they are looking for.
Your pages should have the right balance of text and visuals and proper segmentation of products. The aesthetics should also be consistent across the pages for easier navigation in subsequent visits. A reputable company like this web design agency can help you perform a design overhaul on your store and give it a brand new look.
Supplement your store with social media shopping
The bulk of the world’s population is on social media, with 400 million additional users joining in the past year. Setting up social media shopping exposes your business to all these people and prompts them to buy from platforms they are familiar with and trust. Social media shopping, as the name suggests, refers to the process of initiating a purchase by simply tapping on photos posted on social media. The action takes the customer directly to the sales page on the eCommerce website to complete the purchase.
Utilize content marketing
There are many ways you can use content marketing to increase eCommerce sales. You can start by optimizing your pages for keywords that include the name of the product in question. For example, a page that sells steel doors should have the words “steel door” in the title, image alt text, and headers instead of just “doors.” You will also want to set up a FAQ section that answers queries with long-tail keywords. Additionally, host product videos on platforms such as YouTube and reach out to third-party bloggers for guest-posting.
Enhance your email marketing
Email marketing is one of the oldest forms of digital marketing. It has stood the test of time, and that’s an indication that it works. To remodel your email marketing approach, start with automating your entire campaign. Many email marketing tools, from Mailchimp to SendPulse and HubSpot, offer tried-and-tested automation features that can come in handy in your campaign.
You will also need to start following up with new prospects and customers if you aren’t already. Sending an email to a customer a few days after your first interaction can go a long way towards inspiring a second purchase. You can send similar follow-up emails for abandoned carts in case a customer simply forgot to check out.
Use influencer marketing
Influencer marketing refers to the use of individuals or brands that significantly influence your target audience. An influencer can promote your brand or product by positively mentioning it in their videos that aren’t necessarily related to the product. They can also create videos reviewing your product.
Set up an affiliate marketing program
According to statistics, 81% of marketers use affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is similar to influencer marketing in that a company uses third-party individuals to generate leads or traffic to its website. However, unlike influencer marketing, affiliate marketing only compensates for clicks generated. This means if an affiliate marketer doesn’t get users to click to your site, you don’t pay them. You also don’t get to decide how the affiliate marketer uses your link to drive traffic into your eCommerce site. Affiliate marketing is an excellent approach to try out if you want to increase your traffic sources on a budget.
Upsell and cross-sell your products
Upselling is the act of recommending add-ons or a higher-priced alternative to a user who has expressed interest in a product. Cross-selling involves recommending similar or complementary products that the customer may not know about. Your store should automatically recommend these alternatives and similar products on the search results page and product pages. Ensure you do not upsell and cross-sell with too many visuals, as this may cause loading issues. Some eCommerce store owners prefer placing a “similar products” link in their product pages rather than listing the products directly on the page.
Reward customer loyalty
Customer loyalty programs are not a new concept in eCommerce marketing. However, few people use them as they are a direct expense with a difficult-to-determine return on investment. Before creating a loyalty program, take the time to understand the value of a single customer to your brand and the cost of acquiring one. This should help you establish the ROI of retaining existing customers and that of developing new ones. If retaining old customers proves to be a cheaper option, consider creating a customer loyalty program.
Offer free samples
E-commerce is a crowded and chaotic landscape, and getting the attention and loyalty of a customer takes a great deal of effort. You can pull yourself closer to the customers by offering them free samples or discounted prices. If your product meets their expectations, there is a good chance the customer will come back for a second purchase. This tactic works best when customers buy large quantities of the same product, the product you’re giving out is highly perishable, or you have higher-end alternatives that will go with whatever you’re offering for free.
Invest in PPC advertising
PPC advertising is fantastic for ecommerce marketing because it’s highly data-driven, and it’s a great way to boost traffic to your e-commerce site, which helps to improve conversion rates. The good news is that you set your own budget, and you can track your campaigns to the last dollar.
Endnote
The online business world is constantly evolving, and the ideas above may be able to help double your eCommerce sales if executed correctly.