You have your own online store. But unless you promote it so that people are made aware of it and visit it, you won’t make any sales. Getting visitors is only the first step. Once they’re there, you still need to entice them with your products, convert them into customers, and provide experiences that will encourage them to come back for more. Ecommerce marketing is a set of practices that covers everything from promotion to customer retention and all the steps in between.
Types of Ecommerce Marketing
Ecommerce marketing occurs both on your website and off it and it covers a wide range of activities that cover the entire customer journey. To illustrate the elements that might go into an ecommerce marketing strategy, let’s look at some examples.
SEO
Search engine optimization helps people to find your business online. Optimise your ecommerce store to get those virtual “feet through the door.” That includes adding supporting content that may interest website visitors while improving your SEO.
PPC Advertising
Pay-per-click advertising ensures visibility in search engine results, but unlike organic rankings, you will be charged for every click-through to your website.
Selling on Marketplaces
Most people are already familiar with ecommerce marketplaces like Amazon, so they’re likely to trust the platform more easily than they would an independent ecommerce website. However, using marketplaces comes with heavy costs. At the same time, they might help to generate awareness of your brand.
Using Social Media
Instagram and TikTok are examples of social media platforms that allow sellers to offer products for sale on their platforms. But you can use them in other ways too. For example, a YouTube or Instagram influencer can promote your products on their channel. You can also create full marketing strategies targeting social media platforms and directly promoting your business.
Optimising your Ecommerce Website for Sales
Everything your visitors see and experience on your ecommerce website should contribute towards your marketing efforts. Products are attractively displayed, browsing is easy, information is clear and simple, and you might even offer related products that will help customers to get the most out of their purchase. If they have questions or need information, customers simply start a live chat session and receive prompt service. As for your checkout, it’s a breeze to close the deal.
Upselling and Bundling
Sometimes, customers need a bit of help to achieve a purchase they’ll be satisfied with. Offering a costlier alternative that’s more likely to meet their needs can help them to get better results – and you get a bigger sale. Or perhaps, a customer only wanted to buy a single item, for example, a dress. But since you offer a set of the perfect accessories to go with it, they end up buying more than they originally intended to and are happier with their purchase.
Email Marketing
There are many ways to improve sales by using email to your advantage. Just be sure it’s to your customers’ advantage too. Examples include automated cart abandonment reminders, using email to promote referral programs, or creating well-targeted email marketing campaigns that will interest your customers.
Personalised Marketing
Using customer data intelligently allows you to personalise your marketing efforts. For example, if Jenny buys ladies’ clothing, and likes neutral colours, you can interest her by personalising your offers to match her tastes and customer history.
Text Message Campaigns
Running a promotion? New stock now in store? You can get your customers’ attention with a quick text message. Or, perhaps you’d like to check whether your customers enjoyed doing business with you. Emails and texts can help you gather important information on how you’re doing.
Customer Reviews
Most people are a little nervous about buying goods or services from businesses that are new to them. Encourage your customers, especially your happy ones, to leave reviews. New customers will be reassured when they see you have a long list of satisfied customers.
Loyalty and Referral Programs
Happy customers may tell their friends about your business, and they may support your business again in future. It makes sense to improve your chances of doing just that. Offer them an incentive!
Ecommerce Marketing Tips
We could expand on ecommerce marketing tips all day, but here’s the short version. Ecommerce internet marketing covers much more than just attracting customers to your store. It’s also about making the sales and getting repeat business.
Consider the different customer journeys your customers experience beginning with how they might discover your business, and going all the way through to after-sales relationship building. Good ecommerce marketing means developing strategies that benefit your business and its customers at every single touchpoint.
Never think you can just “set and forget.” You need to know what works for you and your customers, and what’s detracting from your efforts. Review, revise, and improve as you go. Your ecommerce marketing strategy becomes a dynamic, adaptive effort that not only gets you more business, but pleases your customers.
Ecommerce Marketing Strategy
In this article, we’ve looked at various components of an ecommerce marketing strategy. Your final strategy probably won’t include absolutely all of them – at least, not when you’re just starting out. Your goals and focus areas are likely to change along the way too. For example, you may start with a focus that’s heavier towards the top of the sales funnel. After all, you do need to attract those customers!
The products or services you’re selling will also have a role in determining your strategy. For example, a company with knowledge-based services will have an ecommerce marketing strategy with a greater focus on informative content. A business selling clothing, on the other hand, is more likely to benefit from a focus on Instagram, videos, influencer promotions, and other forms of image-based content. In short, there’s no single ecommerce strategy that works for every business.
However, there’s one thing that all ecommerce businesses have in common and that forms the backbone of their marketing strategies: their websites. No matter what extras you add, that website must be geared for marketing and selling your products and services. Dropping the ball is out of the question. That’s why Yellowball is for you. Get award-winning ecommerce website design in London that’s as unique as your business and offer your customers a user experience that’s second to none. Let’s get started today.
