If you have an online store, you must consider eCommerce marketing. This is when promotional tactics are used to drive traffic to your site and convert that traffic into paying and returning customers. You may have an in-house digital marketing team for your business and use digital channels, including social media and email marketing. Digital marketing can be used for eCommerce stores to grow awareness and promote products and services; however, if you have a solid digital marketing strategy but need assistance with eCommerce marketing, consider hiring an eCommerce marketing agency.
Many factors go into an eCommerce strategy, from SEO, email marketing and rewarding customer loyalty. A comprehensive eCommerce marketing strategy uses both marketing tactics on and off the website. Here are some of the best eCommerce marketing tactics you could use for your business to drive more conversions.
Create A Customer Persona
Anticipating future sales will be necessary to understand what your potential customers expect and what they need to convert. If you create a customer persona, you will have a firm idea of who will be purchasing from you, their pain points, and how your products and services will benefit them. Consider your experience as a customer on other sites and translate that into how users will best experience your site. Think about the age ranges, gender, occupation, hobbies and lifestyle of your customers and use this to create a seamless customer experience.
Invest In Your SEO Strategy
SEO for eCommerce is the search engine optimisation for your online store, so you rank higher against your competitors. Your SEO strategy should include keyword research, page optimisation, backlinks and blogs. SEO aims to get your page within the top 10 on search results for the likes of Google and Safari. Your site is most likely to be clicked if it is within the top 10 searches, and by being in the top 10, you will be gaining more organic clicks on your site. Keyword research is essential for all aspects of SEO; you need to have relevant keywords throughout your site for Google or other search engines to rank your site highly. Keywords are a competitive field, as everyone within your industry will be using these on their site too. Conduct this keyword research to optimise your page, backlinks, and blogs. The more relevant your content is, the higher you will rank, as search engines will be more likely to recommend your page to users who search those keywords.
Integrate Social Media Into Your Business
Social media will be one of the ways to promote your products and services and increase your brand awareness; by building a following on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, you can social proof your business as well as sending people to your site via content. People are more likely to purchase from companies they follow on social media. There are a few ways you could engage your target audience on social media, including running competitions, showing behind the scenes of production and introducing the team (adding personality to your brand will help followers feel connected to you). You could also start adding links to products via stories giving a direct path to purchase; these tactics will increase awareness and ultimately lead to conversions.
Email Marketing & Email Subscribers
Email marketing can offer a more intimate interaction between businesses and customers. Email also allows us to share more content and give more information than social media. One way to gain more email subscribers will be through offers and discounts, allowing those considering signing up to use a discount code on their first purchase. Improving your current email campaigns will help push those potential customers over the line to make a sale. You can improve your email marketing content and build relationships with subscribers by sending welcome emails with a discount, giving exclusive access to new product releases with promo codes, and sharing content that helps your customers and will add value to their purchases.
Another straightforward and effective email marketing strategy is sending email recovery messages to those who have abandoned carts. Reminding customers that they require your product and what your product will provide them may give them the encouragement they need to hit buy!
Make It Easy
A poorly designed store will lead to a complicated user experience. If your site doesn’t provide a fast, effective and well-executed service to potential customers, they will be unlikely to purchase. As well as being confusing to navigate and appearing unclear, your site will also seem untrustworthy compared to your competitors. Ensure your store runs smoothly, loads quickly and follows a well-executed theme. Priorities navigation and design, your products should be easy to find, as well as your contact details. Your website should clearly show users who you are and what you do and provide!
User-Generated Content
Finally, it is important to social proof your business and shows potential customers that you are trustworthy and better than your competitors. One easy and effective way to do this is through user-generated content. You could consider setting up a Trustpilot page to collect reviews and turn these reviews into content for your social media, website and email marketing. Another way to do this is by filming testimonials if you offer an in-house service, asking customers if they feel comfortable filming a short review for you to post. Last but by no means least, use your tagged images. Customers will likely tag you in images of them using your products, use this to your advantage and reshare to your profile and website. Customers want to see people like them using your products and showing the service they will receive.
To conclude, having the right eCommerce strategy is important and essential as it will help you reach new potential customers, improve sales and increase the average order value, resulting in a positive customer journey and a successful store.
