Is your ecommerce marketing strategy going to make this the best holiday season for your business?
As an online retailer, your marketing strategy can make or break your holiday season success. As shoppers, we have lots and lots of options online. If I land on your site and I’m not happy, I can easily find what I’m looking for somewhere else.
So where should I start? Or how do I know if I’m doing it right? This blog post will answer these questions and more. But first, let’s make sure that we are on the same about what exactly ecommerce marketing is.
What Is eCommerce Marketing?
Ecommerce marketing is the act of creating awareness of your online store in order to increase sales. There are a lot of digital marketing tools and channels that you can use to use to drive traffic to your website, but the trick is getting the right traffic so you can convert it to sales.
So, why should you invest in a strategy? What are the benefits? The goal of digital marketing is to increase:
- Conversion rate
- Website visitors
- Sales
Whichever goal you choose, make sure that it supports your overall business goals.
How To Compile An Ecommerce Marketing Strategy?
Like I said, your digital marketing strategy has to support your business goals. But whatever business goals you have, these digital marketing tactics below are essential for your online store.
Optimize Your Website Layout
If your website is not user friendly, it won’t matter how kick-ass your ecommerce marketing strategy is, you won’t see the results you want.
What do I mean by layout?
- Are your products easy to find?
- Is it a struggle to complete a purchase?
- How many delivery options do you have?
- Is your website safe and secure to use?
We wrote a blog on 15 Must-Haves on Your Ecommerce Website. Read it here to learn more on how to get your online store ready for the holiday season!
Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the art and practice of growing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website by increasing its visibility to search engines through organic search results.
I’m sure you’ve heard of SEO before. SEO tactics helps you to get discovered online. How else will people buy from your ecommerce store?
A good SEO strategy includes keyword research, so you can know which words your clients are using to search for products like yours. For example, if you sell second hand books, including these keywords in your headings and image alt text (among other things) will more likely help your website rank for these words.
And don’t forget your product pages. Having SEO optimized product pages will make it easy for search engines to find you.
Product Reviews
The era of self-promotion is over! We have now moved to the age of word-of-mouth. So we can’t stress enough the importance of product reviews. 84% of people trust online reviews. That’s a statistic you can’t ignore.
Most people only put product reviews on social media. Post these reviews on your product pages as well. They could be the very thing that persuades a customer to make that purchase. WordPress and Shopify have a lot of plugins and apps that can help with loading customer reviews on your website. Do your research and find the one best for you.
Don’t be afraid to use other forms of content like video. And pay attention to bad reviews. They are an opportunity to learn and improve.
Personalization
Embrace personalization!
When you visit your local restaurant, they greet you by your first name and know your food and drinks order. Like that Cheers song! They throw in some freebies now and again to keep you coming back.
As an online store, you have to try and have the same “relationship” with your customers. You have to make them feel like you know them and want them to come back. Personalize their buyer journey to boost sales and retention.
What are the type of ways you can personalize your buyer’s journey?
- Display recently viewed items
- Make product recommendations
- Personalize your landing pages
- Send post-purchase email follow ups
Landing Pages
Landing pages are a must! When visitors land on your site, the last thing you want is them spending time looking around for the promotion and then abandoning their search. This will lose you sales and customers.
Landing pages are tailored to specifically focus on the promotion or sale you’re having. Make sure that you have a clear and concise CTA that matches the site they found you on.
Create Content Relevant To Your Website Visitors
The internet loves content. Think about the number of people who go on Google everyday to search for information. Your content can provide answers to searchers, creating awareness of your products and increasing traffic to your online store.
Even with the lots and lots of content posted on the internet everyday, lots of business owners are still asking if content creation is the right move for their business. They answer is yes and yes! And don’t always write posts that try and convince your consumers to buy. You can write helpful content that relates to your product. For example, if you sell running shoes, write about how to pick the right running shoes, the benefits and perils of picking the wrong one for your foot, etc.
But content creation is more than just blogging. Offer downloadable e-books to collect your visitors’ contact details. But remember, not every visitor to your website is ready to engage at that level. Some are just looking for more information. So when creating content, don’t forget to cater to those who are ready to buy and first time visitors, as their needs are different.
Paid Advertising
Organic traffic is great for your online store, but advertising reaches a wider audience.
Whether it’s Google or social media ads, these ads target customers who are already thinking about buying. With social media, you can choose your monthly budget to ensure affordability. You can target the right customer who’s interested in buying your products
Google ads show up at the top of the search results page, making the images clickable and easy to shop. You can target different keywords to make sure you show up in searches related to your products.
Retargeting
Have you ever visited a website, and then see it pop up everywhere you go online? Like on Facebook and Google? That’s called retargeting. It is when you send targeted ads to users who have recently interacted with your brand. These could be people who:
- have recently visited you website;
- are email subscribers;
- or have recently bought from you;
By retargeting, you make sure that you stay top of mind with your customers.
Create A Shoppable Instagram
Instagram is arguably the best platform to showcase your products.
The goal of an ecommerce marketing strategy is to drive traffic to your website to increase sale. But what Instagram does is that it takes your products straight to your customers without them having to go to your online store. And it is the best place to post videos of your products to increase engagement.
To get the most our of the platform, make your Instagram shoppable. What does that mean? Shoppable posts allow you to tag your products in your pictures. When users click on them, the name and price of the product is displayed, and they can click again to complete the purchase.
E-mail Marketing
Email marketing is a must-have for your success. There are two main ways you can use email to boost sales.
- Email automation: this is a great way to target your customers. You can send a thank you note after a sale has been completed, or a reminder to come back and finish your purchase. Automation ensures that no client slips through the cracks.
- Marketing database: by collecting contact information, you can send your customers emails of promotions or sales you’re having. Most of the time you have to wait for customers to visit your website or social media pages to find that information. But by sending out emails you’re being pro-active.
Remember that social media followers don’t belong to you, they belong to the platform. Once someone stops following you, you can’t get in touch with them and convince them to come back. They are gone. But your email subscribers’ details stay with you, even when someone unsubscribes to your newsletters. You have the chance to try and get them back.
It’s A Wrapp!
An ecommerce marketing strategy, or any digital marketing strategy for that matter, is nothing more than a plan you put in place to help you succeed in achieving your business goals. The same way you put a budget and sales targets in place to help you succeed, a marketing plan is just as essential to ensure success.
Don’t forget to check out what your competitors are doing. Opposition research is very important. They might be doing something that you haven’t even though of yet.
Please feel free to post any comments and questions below. We love hearing from you!