What is Ecommerce Marketing
Ecommerce marketing stands for marketing activities to create awareness and drive sales for brands/businesses that sell on online stores.
Ecommerce marketers leverage different channels like emails, search engines, social media, and digital content to attract customers and drive Ecommerce sales.
Ecommerce Advertising
Ecommerce advertising is using ads to promote products, such as banner ads, rich result ads, and display ads.
How to Market an Ecommerce Business
Let’s look at the most common Ecommerce marketing channels and how you can leverage them to grow your online store.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is defined as using different content formats (text and video) to generate organic traffic and answer users’ queries. You can leverage content marketing for your ecommerce store in the following ways →
- Use proper keywords and product names in your product descriptions. Include the relevant keywords in your title, meta description, image alt tags, and headers.
- Find out user queries about your product or its usage. Then, create a dedicated FAQ page answering all those queries.
- Create blogs and how-to guides that are relevant to your product. Example – “best beard grooming tips for men” if you are selling a trimmer
- Target relevant high-volume keywords and create product-related videos on YouTube to create awareness and drive traffic to your store.
- List your products on websites that your potential customers visit most. Then, get backlinks from these websites to drive those customers to your ecommerce store.
Social Media Marketing
It is imperative to have a social media presence today. However, not all social media platforms may be ideal for your business. Therefore, you need to create a strategy and target platforms where your potential customers hang out most.
To attract customers to your products, you need stunning visuals. And Instagram is one such platform to showcase your products with high-resolution images and videos.
If you cater to a younger audience, TikTok must be included in your social media strategy.
Search Engine Marketing
Search engine marketing can be divided into two parts –
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Ad Campaigns
SEO enables you to target and rank for keywords relevant to your products. To promote your products in search engines, you can try ad campaigns like PPC and product-ad campaigns so your customers can find you on top of their search results.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is great for building customer trust and increasing conversions.
However, you need to be very careful while creating your email list to avoid being seen as spam by your customers.
- Engage with your new customers in a post-purchase email. Ask for feedback. Show them that you care by asking if they need any help or guidance with your product.
- Follow up with users who proceed to checkout but didn’t finish the transaction. Send a polite email to remind them about it, offer help, and suggest similar products.
Influencer Marketing
61% of consumers trust a product promoted by an influencer rather than branded social media content. It is also the cheapest customer acquisition channel. Reach out to influencers with communities that trust them and ask them to promote your products.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketers promote your products using different marketing techniques for a small commission. Having a good affiliate marketing program can put your products in front of a larger audience and help drive more revenue.
Local Marketing
Local marketing caters to a specific location. For example, you can give special offers in locations where most of your customers are. You can also offer free shopping and discounts in certain locations with your warehouses.
Ecommerce Marketing Best Practices
1. Personalization
Personalization means creating campaigns and content that caters to users’ preferences by using already stored data.
Consumers are open to sharing their data in specific cases to receive a more tailored experience. According to a survey of over 7,000 consumers conducted by Salesforce, 57% of respondents are willing to share personal data in return for personalized offers or discounts.
2. Turn Existing Customers into Brand Advocates
You can leverage UGC to promote your brand with your existing customers. It also helps build trust.
- Your customers can share reviews on different platforms.
- Social media competitions where users create content using your products with specific hashtags or tag other people
3. Loyalty programs
Loyalty programs offer perks and incentives to your repeat customers. As an ecommerce brand owner, you can offer discounts and points based on activities, like
- social media mentions
- Reshares and comments on posts
- And repeat transactions.
There are multiple ways your customers can help you with promotion and building trust –
- Testimonials
- Word-of-Mouth
- Case Studies
- Referral Programs
4. Live Chat
Your customers want a quick resolution to their queries. Research suggests 60% of customers believe 10 minutes or less is a satisfactory response time. Hence, your ecommerce store must have a chatbot that can answer general user queries related to your product.
5. Optimize Your Shopping Cart
Ensure that users do not have any doubts or objections while purchasing your products by offering –
- Excellent customer service
- Money-back guarantee
- Flexible return & refund policy
- Convenient shipping and delivery options
6. Responsive Website
Users must be able to access your ecommerce store through any device. Ensure your website has a responsive design.
Effective Ecommerce Marketing Strategy
Industry-Specific Goals
There are multiple factors related to your industry, AOV, and location that affect your conversions and sales. You must focus on a strategy that meets your industry-specific goals, such as average CTR, CAC, and conversion rate in your niche.
Keep It Simple
There are multiple ways to generate traffic and sales for your ecommerce store. Study your competitors to find out what’s best considering your industry and product.
Create a strategy that provides the highest ROI by utilizing your existing resources.
Always Focus on Customers
Your main goal is not to make a sale but to make a relationship with your customers. Engage with them, offer perks, and occasionally take their feedback. Keep your customers happy to retain their loyalty.
