Category: e-commerce

Earning new customers and growing your business through acquisition is always a great strategy. You’re able to expand your audience, boost brand visibility, and above all, get a chance to earn someone’s loyalty for the long haul. This is where it gets tricky. E-commerce has become so omnipresent and widely available that your customers have access to hundreds of similar stores to yours, and they are constantly bombarded by ads on social media and search engines to check out your competition. 

So, why shouldn’t they?

Giving them a reason to stay loyal to your business takes time, and even more so, creativity. It takes more than a well-built sales funnel that’s great at turning leads into buyers. You need a comprehensive customer retention strategy so that your customers resist the temptation every time they notice a new brand on the block. Here, we’ll tackle a few of the most effective and lasting strategies to help your e-commerce business build sustainable relationships with your customers. 

Diversify your content strategy

 

Long-term engagement requires quality, well-researched, educational content that is posted on a regular, predictable basis. We are creatures of routine, and we appreciate being able to enjoy and anticipate certain little things in life, like our favorite podcast, live streaming session, or blog. 

However, you also need to make sure your content is keeping up with the times. Do you produce more than blogs and occasional videos? Have you considered infographics and animated content, tutorials, influencer stories, and interviews? 

Creativity should abound in your content output, so that your content strategy can become the core ingredient that keeps your customer relationships not just existent, but thriving. 

Ensure superb customer service

 

With consistently engaging content on your site and a well-designed web presence, you have all kinds of advantages playing in your favor. However, what happens to the occasional unhappy customer reaching out to your agents, or someone not entirely sure if they’ve found the right item? The support and help you provide in time and in the right places can make or break your long-term customer bonds.

For an omnichannel strategy that enhances customer support, more e-commerce businesses are starting to rely on VoIP platforms with numerous integrated features. Voice over internet protocol has become the technology of the future in terms of customer support and brand availability, allowing your business to be where your customers need you most.

High-quality phone calls without traditional landlines, enabled remote team operations, call recording for further analysis, and video conferencing all elevate your customer service. No more busy lines and poor connectivity, late responses, or sharing improper information. With everything synced on a single, cloud-based VoIP platform shared by your team, you can make all your communications simpler and more seamless. 

Utilize social media platforms

 

Managing customer bonds doesn’t start or end with your website. As vital as your website is in that equation, you shouldn’t neglect your social media outlets when looking for ways to add more substance to your relationships. 

Aside from regular advertising that’s properly targeted and customized to get your brand in front of the right people at the right time, you should also remember to use your social media as customer service platforms. These networks are a goldmine of opportunities to engage your existing customer base, make personalized offers, kick-start conversations through messaging apps, and inspire engagement through your content.

The core of these relationships, and their potential to last, lies in your willingness to go the extra mile in making your customers feel recognized and included. Social media is by far the best way to achieve that effect with minimal effort, but a long-term approach. Respond to their comments and questions, encourage healthy debates, thank them for reviews, and encourage shares – you’ll go a long way just by participating. 

Seek feedback and implement it

 

Almost every business in existence today asks for customer feedback at one point in their interactions. Whether you wait for the first purchase to be complete to send out a thank you email together with a survey, or you ask right there on your site – the choice is yours. The key is not to just ask, but to take action.

The most engaged customers will often provide you with valuable suggestions on how you can improve your brand and your online experience. Take time to find ways to implement their suggestions, and then notify them when you do. 

Every time you do that, your customers will feel like part of your brand story, they’ll feel valued as opposed to being treated merely like another order number. Keep in mind that this is not a one-time effort. You should seek your customer’s input regularly, to make sure you’re on the right track. 

What’s more, surveys and polls are a brilliant way to test out the interest in your emerging products and to solicit testimonials that you’d publish on your site with their permission.

 

Boost your site’s user experience

 

You might have a superior product compared to what your direct competitors offer, and your prices might even be on par, if not lower, making your offer significantly more appealing to your target demographic. Once they land on your site, however, your customers will only proceed with a purchase if they enjoy the entire shopping journey.

Even those who have bought your products more than once will be more inclined to leave your site if it’s slow to load, has too many pop-up ads, and cannot be loaded properly on a mobile device.

All it takes is once for your site to fail your customers’ expectations, and they’ll be forced to head to your competitor’s site, possibly never to be seen again. 

This is where ensuring simple navigation, fast loading speed, and mobile-friendliness can completely alter the look and feel of your site for each individual customer coming to your store. The user experience of your web store can make or break your long-term customer relationships, so it’s key to regularly test and upgrade your site for proper functioning and a sleek, modern experience. 

 

Personalization is the name of the game

 

Brands such as Amazon are synonymous with exceptional personalization despite their size and the fact that they cater to such wide audiences. In fact, this approach helps them learn and improve significantly over time, letting them provide customized and unique offers for each of their customers. 

Beyond product recommendations, however, few e-commerce companies dare venture into the unknown strategies of personalization.

Take, for instance, personalized home pages by Very.co.uk and similar businesses, where you can see the full-blown impact of simple changes to an entire landing page to appeal to an individual. It’s time to implement personalization wherever possible, to help each user get an immersive experience and find precisely what they need. 

 

With such severe competition and the need to keep impressing your customers, you certainly need an ongoing, yet flexible strategy to keep your customer bonds alive. These and similar tactics are vital to allow your relationships to thrive, so make sure to integrate them into your own retention approach and grow your customer loyalty. 

 

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Author Bio:

My name is Raul and I am editor in chief at Technivorz blog. I have a lot to say about innovations in all aspects of digital technology and online marketing. Please take a minute to connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.

 

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This is a guest post written by Raul Harman.

The tech-savvy millennial generation is taking up the majority of consumer force around the globe.  Companies, especially ecommerce businesses, must now rethink their approach to attract this generation to their stores. As you may already know, millennials aren’t easy to work with. 

The main reason is that they grew up around the technology and they have specific preferences because of it. Moreover, they grew up during two major recessions in the world, and they are living through a third one now, so they are careful about spending and won’t go on a shopping spree anytime soon. It seems next to impossible to cater to the needs of this generation.

However, just because it seems impossible to manage millennials, it doesn’t mean that it is. You just have to be creative and innovative enough to get their attention. With that in mind, here are a few effective and innovative ways to attract millennials to your ecommerce store.

Be mobile-friendly

If there’s something millennials prefer, it’s to browse the web using their smartphones. Yes, they seem glued to their phones, and nothing can divert their attention from it.

This is your way into their world. The best way to attract millennials is to fully optimize your ecommerce store for mobile. If it isn’t mobile-friendly, millennials won’t bother with it. Here are a few things you can do:

• Opt for mobile-first indexing – In terms of SEO, mobile-first indexing will boost the visibility of your store for mobile search.
• Use AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) – This is a way to create fully optimized mobile pages of your store that load quickly and have seamless navigation and design. 
• Use responsive design – This design can adapt to any screen size and any device.
• Reduce heavy content – Heavy content may help you in more ways than one, but it’s difficult to view on a mobile device.
• Improve loading speed – Millennials aren’t known to be a patient sort. Even a second delay in page loading times can reduce conversions by 7%.

Improve the checkout process

Like many other consumers, millennials prefer a seamless checkout process. They don’t want any obstacles, delays or inconveniences standing between them and their purchase. Therefore, the entire shopping experience and the check out process are additional things that should be optimized for mobile.

Furthermore, if you want to be innovative, you should redesign the payment processing as well. We live in a world where effective Bitcoin mining is a genuine trend, especially among millennials. They love the idea of digital currencies, and they prefer to use it. So, try implementing cryptocurrencies as payment methods at your ecommerce store. 

This will certainly get their attention and even encourage them to buy from you. Simply put, an intuitive checkout process and shopping experienced optimized for mobile with cryptos as payment methods is the way to get millennials to your store.

Enhance your messaging

An interesting fact about millennials is that they like to communicate with businesses and brands. If you want their attention, you’ll have to reach out to them. 

If you’re developing a brand for your ecommerce store, make sure you use the right tone when engaging millennials. That said, try to be more informative than trying to sell them stuff. More importantly, ask them for feedback. 

Millennials prefer when businesses do this, especially when business create user-generated content based on the feedback they received. Therefore, craft your messages so that you can really get the attention of the millennial generation. Here are a few things you can do:

• Start a blog – Millennials like to interact with businesses through blogs.
• Be active on social media – Millennials dwell on social media most of the time, and these platforms are the best means of communicating with them.
• Personalize your email newsletters – Personalization is highly regarded by millennials.
• Post relevant content – Original content is king and millennials like various formats, such as videos and podcasts. 

Offer something free

Everyone likes free incentives, not just millennials. When it comes to the millennial generation, offering them something for free can mean the difference between gaining their attention and them ignoring your business altogether. 

Something free doesn’t have to be anything major. You can offer them a free eBook, a premium video, a coupon or a discount. Even such small gestures can go a long way in developing a meaningful relationship with your millennial audience. 

If you want to go the extra mile to gain their attention and encourage them to convert, you can also offer them free shipping. Unlike their predecessors, millennials prefer to look for a reason to engage with a business. Sometimes that’s powerful brand messaging, while sometimes it’s free stuff. 

Millennials are not a simple consumer group to please. Their shopping behavior greatly differs from the behavior of older generations. That’s why ecommerce stores have such difficult times attracting millennial attention. For what it’s worth, you just have to think of a slightly different approach because millennials aren’t so hard to get as it would seem.

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Author Bio:

My name is Raul and I am editor in chief at Technivorz blog. I have a lot to say about innovations in all aspects of digital technology and online marketing. Please take a minute to connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.

 

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Many ecommerce business owners make the same mistake, believing that developing an amazing product and investing in unique website design is enough to increase conversions. Unfortunately, it is not that easy. Conversions don’t happen overnight. No matter if you want to generate more leads, boost newsletter signups, or maximize sales, you need to optimize your website for conversions.

Want to learn more about increasing ecommerce conversion rates? Keep reading.

Prove that You Care about your Customers’ Online Security

With the rise of online frauds, online customers are deeply concerned about the security of their data. Research says that 17% of lost sales are caused by security concerns. Before entering their credit card information, they will want to know that they are buying from a legitimate online store that cares about their safety and meets industry standards.

For starters, switch from HTTP to HTTPs. Apart from being a minor ranking factor, SSL certificates also build trust with online users. Google Chrome now labels all websites with HTTPS are labeled as “safe,” while those still using HTTP are marked as “unsafe.” This warning may discourage many customers from buying from you, so install SSL site-wide.

Next, add trust badges to your checkout pages, product pages, or individual landing pages. These could be cybersecurity badges, accepted payment badges, safe checkout badges, or money-back guarantee badges. You should also highlight your industry certifications and qualifications to build trust with prospective customers.

Leverage Social Proof

In psychology, social proof is a phenomenon where an individual conforms to the opinions or actions of the masses. As such, social proof is a powerful ecommerce marketing tactic.

There are many ways to use social proof to enhance online sales. You could use a conversion rate optimization tool to show real-time conversion data. You could show how many people are viewing your website pages or products, how many sales you have scored over the last week or month, who has recently signed up for your free trials, etc. The real-time information will show up in a small popup and you can tailor its shape, color, messaging, and position to your website’s specific needs.

You should also show your customers’ ratings and reviews. Almost 90% of customers believe online reviews as much as their friends’ recommendations. Therefore, encourage customers to rate and review your products or write testimonials. To inspire them to share opinions of your brand, don’t ignore negative reviews. Address them promptly and focus on solving customers’ problems. You could also offer free shipping, discounts, or freebies to customers that write reviews.

Finally, share user-generated content, as it impacts the purchasing decisions of 79% of your customers. UGC builds trust with them and shows that people with similar preferences and needs are already buying from you. One of the best ways to encourage customers to share user-generated content is to host massive photo contests.

Improve Product Pages

When purchasing online, customers cannot touch your products, test them, or put them on. Precisely because of that, they rely on your descriptions and photos of your products.

To gain their trust and convert them, use visual content. Invest in high-quality photography. Take product photos from multiple angles and offer close-up shots so visitors can zoom in your product. You could also use 360-degree snapshots to take your product photos to the next level. Apart from photos, you could also use video content. Explainer videos, unboxing videos, instructional videos, and so forth, will engage your customers and build stronger relationships with them.

Now, investing in awesome visual content is only half the job done. The other half is writing killer product descriptions. Instead of spamming them with exact-match keywords to boost your rankings, write organic and helpful product descriptions that will show the benefits of your products and inspire customers to make purchases faster.

Keep your Site Easy to Navigate

Too complex navigation is one of the major reasons why customers ditch their shopping carts. Simplify your website architecture to make it easier for your customers to find your products and make purchases.

For example, you should keep your navigation menu simple. Overly complex menus may confuse visitors and prevent them from finding the right product. Keep your most prominent product categories and subcategories and choose informative labels for them.

Remember that many customers already know what they want to buy. Shorten their shopping life-cycle by offering a search box and letting them find the desired product faster.

You should also use chatbots to improve customer service and increase website search functionalities. With the rise of mobile technologies, many customers don’t want to waste time browsing through your website. They turn to chatbots that ask them straightforward questions and provide them with personalized product recommendations in real-time.

Finally, add filters to your category pages to help customers drill down to the right products. Choose filters that are relevant to your customers, such as product price, manufacturer, availability, characteristics, etc.

Optimize the Checkout Process

If your checkout process is overly complicated or long, you may lose customers. There are many ways to minimize the shopping cart abandonment rate and some of them are:

• Let customers make purchases as guests.
• Simplify your checkout forms, optimize them for mobile, and keep them easy-to-understand.
• Keep your call-to-action buttons and Add to Cart buttons prominent on your website.
• Offer multiple payment gateways to improve user experiences.
• Always show a shopping cart icon.

Over to You

Testing and tweaking your website continuously to improve conversion rates is immensely important. You need to walk in your customers’ shoes, know their preferences, and determine how you will inspire them to convert once you get them in.

In 2020, ecommerce marketing is highly customer-centric, so focus on improving their experiences on every level. While there are numerous tactics to apply, those I mentioned above go far beyond boosting one-off sales. They will help you position yourself as an industry leader, increase customers’ satisfaction with your brand, and encourage brand loyalty.

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Author Bio:

My name is Raul and I am editor in chief at Technivorz blog. I have a lot to say about innovations in all aspects of digital technology and online marketing. Please take a minute to connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.

 

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Have any questions? We are listening!

Starting an ecommerce store has proven to be a lucrative business model in today’s tech world. A big reason why launching an ecommerce website is a popular option for entrepreneurs (or aspiring entrepreneurs) is because it’s relatively easy to setup. This is especially the case if you build it using a platform such as Shopify. You can have an ecommerce website up and running fairly quickly.

However, there is one problem that many online entrepreneurs come across when running an ecommerce business, which is: How to drive more targeted traffic to their Shopify store?

When it comes to driving more traffic to your Shopify store, there are a few factors to keep in mind such as your niche, competitors, product value, website functionalities etc.

Overall, it’s important to understand that finding the best method for driving traffic to your ecommerce website will come down to trial and error. Every Shopify store is unique and different. Just because one traffic method works well for one website, does not mean it will be a success for another.

In saying this, many people still do not know where to start when it comes to bringing in more visitors to their website. It does require creativity, consistency and a willingness to learn various marketing strategies. In this post, we will uncover 13 actionable methods to drive more traffic to your Shopify store.

Let’s get started!

How To Drive Traffic To Your Shopify Website

#1: Guest Posting

When it comes to learning how to drive traffic to your Shopify store, your approach does not have to be overcomplicated. In fact you can start by simply guest posting on other websites. A guest post is when you publish a blog article on another website within your general niche. This can be a great way to help drive additional traffic to your Shopify website by linking from your guest post back to your website. You also get an SEO benefit here from building a quality backlink on another website. The most effective way to benefit from this strategy is by going after websites that have proven traffic, large audiences and a strong domain authority.

#2: Search Engine Optimization

One of the more traditional strategies you can use to bring traffic into your Shopify store is through search engine optimization. Also known as SEO, this strategy works by enhancing the relevancy and position of your website in online search results pages. The idea is that the more relevant and highly positioned your website is, the higher the chances of receiving organic clicks, visitors and conversions are. As far as how to implement this strategy, you will want to focus on on-page (meta tags, copy optimization, internal linking) and off-page SEO (external link building). Give Google some time to recognize the SEO improvements made on your website. This definitely needs to be a long-term strategy with consistent effort, but the outcome is worth it (free targeted traffic from the search engines).

#3: Blogging

Quality content is the structural foundation of a website. It provides valuable information, can help you rank for keyword phrases, can increase the time visitors stay on your website, and so much more. This is where blogging plays a significant role in bringing traffic to a website. However, keep in mind that your blogging style should be informational and engaging to gain a person’s attention and trust. You also need to publish consistent content to see the best results (without sacrificing quality). Know that blogging can take some time to start generating a consistent flow of traffic but it’s definitely worth it. Every ecommerce website should utilize a blog as it can also help direct a client towards a particular product or category of products.

Confused about how long your blog posts should be? Here’s a helpful article that I wrote on what’s the ideal length of a blog post.

#4: Influencer Marketing

As one of the new strategies to arise from digital marketing, influencer marketing has already become one of the most effective methods to promote a website. This stems from the fact that it takes advantage of the endless supply of active social media members. The way it works is by promoting a brand or product through the personal brand of a social media influencer. This strategy has been shown to add trust and legitimacy to the promotion because there is a person behind it. As for how your website can benefit from this strategy, look for influencers that sell or promote products that are within your niche.

#5: Social Media Interaction

Speaking of social media, virtually all platforms are powerful enough to work on their own. However, the key to driving traffic via social media is to be active and consistent on the platform you are using. If your website brand can build a following on a social media platform, having an established presence and strong interaction with your followers will increase trust with clients in the long run. Then, when a client wants to make a purchase, they will feel more inclined to do so because of the relationship and comfortability you have built with them over time.

#6: Paid Advertisements

Having discussed various ways to drive organic traffic to your website, it’s worth mentioning that using paid advertisements can work great as well. In some ways, paid advertisements are an advantage over other strategies because you are able to generate almost instant traffic to your Shopify store once your campaign is live and running. Just make sure to set a strong budget limit within your paid advertising campaign to not overspend on ads.

#7: Rebranding (If Necessary)

In some cases, the reason a Shopify store can’t bring in any clients is that there isn’t a strong brand behind it. A brand is what allows a client to find some sort of relatable characteristic that makes them feel inclined to choose your brand over another. Surprisingly, it’s usually simpler brands and designs that bring in the best traffic. That said, consider switching or remodeling your brand to make it more attractive to clients in your niche. However, only do so if you’ve tried other strategies ahead of it. Forcing a brand change can seem desperate to clients.

#8: Giveaways & Reward Programs

Once again, driving traffic to your Shopify website doesn’t have to be that difficult. One of the best examples of this can be seen by offering giveaways and reward programs. This strategy provides a heavy stream of short-time traffic to your site that can be used to meet any goal your website has. Just make sure to have a plan to sustain clients as many will leave as soon as there are no giveaways or rewards available.

#9: Mobile-Friendly Website

With more and more people making purchases online from their mobile devices today than ever before, it’s crucially important that your website is both mobile friendly and optimized. Mobile use is a trend that will continue to rise with the evolving technology, so this is definitely an area worth focusing on. You want your visitors to have the best possible experience when they visit your website and if you’re Shopify store is not mobile friendly, you will have a much harder time building your ecommerce business.

#10: Target Marketing

Target marketing is a general strategy that is implemented by analyzing the analytics platform of your website. What this strategy does is give you specific data on where your visitors are coming from, their demographics, and how they interact with your site. This allows you to drive traffic by creating web pages and funnels that meet the needs and requirements of the visitors your website receives.

#11: Branding As A Solution (Not Another Option)

When it comes to branding your shop, one of the mistakes many online entrepreneurs make is branding as another option as opposed to a solution. This mistake allows your website to fit in with competitors in your niche, however, it prevents it from standing out. Needless to say, brand your shop by answering the questions and pain points of clients in your niche. This will naturally increase the amount of qualified traffic your website receives.

#12: Email Marketing

Email marketing is another proven yet overlooked strategy for driving traffic to an ecommerce website. What makes this tactic unique is that it is one of the more personal ways to market. Email copy is structured in a way that sounds conversational instead of persuasive. For this reason, this allows your shop to send emails that direct clients back towards your website without sounding promotional or needy.

If you’re looking for an excellent email marketing software, be sure to check out my ConvertKit review here!

#13: Retargeting/Remarketing

Last but not least, retargeting and remarketing efforts are the last-ditch effort to bring traffic back to your Shopify store. The way these two strategies work is by focusing on clients who have interacted with your website but left before making a conversion. These clients give your store a unique opportunity to provide special return discounts and offer as a way to persuade them to convert on your site.

How are you currently driving traffic to your Shopify store?

Are you seeing success with any of the strategies mentioned above?

 

This is a guest post written by Juliette Anderson.

Whether you are just starting or reached the point that you have already established a steady customer base, you must stay up to date with the top marketing strategies that can help increase your traffic and sales.

Starting and launching an e-commerce site is already a significant achievement for your brand.

Therefore, you must invest in a top marketing strategy. If you want to know the best tips in marketing your e-commerce business, pay attention to the eleven e-commerce marketing strategies below:

1. Search Engine Optimization

One of the most crucial ways in optimizing a successful e-commerce site is ensuring that it is well-optimized for search engines.

In today’s search engine optimization (SEO) standards, it is important to make your site constantly updated with content that is rich and relevant, error-free as much as possible, with excellent user experience.

Also, take note that there are two kinds of SEO to implement:

• On-Page SEO: The process wherein you tweak existing elements on your website to boost your site rankings. Examples are site structure, title tags, meta description, and header tags.
• Off-Page SEO: The process wherein you do offsite that can affect your website’s search engine rankings. This includes social media marketing and link building.

2. Content Marketing

Content marketing, if done the right way, attracts more positive attention, interactions, and sustainable conversations, no other marketing method can.

When you promote and create original, authentic content, you see to it that your audience is receiving new and valuable information continuously.

Brainstorm with your team the types of content that you want to create, whether it’s blog posts, videos, and newsletters. Ideally, go with the Pareto’s 80/20 rule, where 80 percent are focused on creating informational content, and the remaining 20 percent is for promotional content.

3. Social Media Marketing

Social media can be a powerful tool when communicating with your market, prospects, and industry peers in a more personal way.

Social media improves interaction and engagement, boosts your site traffic, and creates a larger customer base. Utilizing different social media platforms helps you cater to the needs of your customers that will help grow your business over time.

Consistency is important; therefore, you must maintain a solid tone and personality to maintain the trust of your audience.

4. Email Marketing

To be able to maximize your audience reach, utilize useful and informative content in your emails.

Make them personal as much as possible, offering prospects valuable promotions, and also use it as an opportunity to reach out and connect.

Let people know what you are doing, the events you’re attending, your brand’s new products and features, and so on. Also, be transparent as much as possible.

5. Mobile Optimization

According to Statistica, by the time 2021 rolls in, more than half of mobile shopping will now happen on mobile devices. That’s why optimizing your site on mobile means that you’re after more than just responsive design.

It means you are designing your site in a way that you have your mobile visitors in mind, from start to finish. There are tons of mobile marketing tips available online to help you with optimizing your website for mobile.

6. PPC Advertising

In a pay-per-click marketing campaign, there are three basic elements: The ad, offer, and the landing page.

To sustain the interest of your lead, all three should be synchronized. Your landing pages must be a continuation of your ad, giving what was promised when they click on it. That way, you can easily convert a site visitor to a paying customer.

7. Retargeting

Users that are more likely to show interest in your site are more likely to come back later on and buy something.

Retargeting allows you to track people who previously visited your site, and then show your ads to them while they are browsing online. This is done with the intent of letting them come back to your site.

8. Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing has taken the world by storm when it comes to internet marketing.

Why? Because it works! Influencers are more passionate about a certain topic, which, in turn, attracts people who share a common interest. When you work with influencers, you’re reaching their followers, which helps you amplify your reach.

9. Optimize the Layout of Your Site

Before launching your e-commerce site, it’s crucial to first test the site’s language, layout, and placement of your site’s conversion elements.

When people visit your site, make sure it’s simple and convenient for them to check out. They’ll be more likely to buy your products if it’s clear for them right from the start how to do so.

10. Update Your Website Design

If you have a site for a while now, then it’s high time to consider a site update.

Say, the last time you updated your site’s design was three years ago. Then chances are, it’s already outdated.

People tend to trust sites if they’re more familiar, in terms of site design. Meaning, customers will feel more safe and comfortable.

11. Build an E-commerce App

How many times do you have to browse a site using your phone, only to switch to a computer to purchase the product later on?

If you want to step up your game on mobile, then consider developing your e-commerce app suitable for both Android and iPhone.

Apps also tend to load much quicker than websites, making it easier for users to shop on your e-commerce store.

Final Thoughts

Staying with the current e-commerce strategies is crucial for any successful e-commerce site. Over time, this can improve your conversion rates and help you build a sustainable business in the long run.

About the Author

Juliette Anderson is an Outreach Community Specialist for an e-commerce fulfillment company that specializes in partnering with online sellers who have an average parcel weight of 5+ pounds or greater. She works hand-in-hand with e-commerce stores to achieve optimal sales for four years already. Her specialty lies in social media marketing and paid promotions.

Are you using any of these e-commerce marketing strategies?

Effective lead generation is a crucial element of success in any industry, but when it comes to ecommerce, it can mean the difference between a sold-out store and a backlog of inventory you simply can’t get rid of. Yes, lead generation matters for your long-term growth and success in the millennial-driven ecommerce world, however, the process itself can oftentimes seem overly cumbersome and resource-demanding.

While it is true that generating quality leads does require hard work, time, and some financial investment, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t several cost-effective strategies that will give you the best bang for your buck.

Here are the five lead generation strategies you can use to maximize your online influence and skyrocket your ROI.

First up, invest in marketing automation

Acquiring quality leads is not just about finding, nurturing, and converting prospects – it’s also about doing it in a financially-sensible way. In other worlds, your strategy needs to be cost-effective. With that in mind, your first order of business is to utilize the power of software automation in order to minimize resource expenditure while increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of your lead generation strategy.

Automation is excellent for expediting menial tasks and effectuating template marketing content such as bulk emails or forms, and even replicating high-performing landing pages in a short time-frame. What’s more, keep in mind that marketing automation software can provide you with unique consumer insights you can later use to personalize every marketing campaign, from your emails to your social media strategy.

Use social media to your advantage

We live in the age of social media, and given the fact that everyone and their dogs have social media accounts nowadays, it would be a terrible waste if you didn’t use your SM presence to generate quality leads and inspire people to fall in love with your brand. Not only does smart social media management allow you to improve your company’s image in the competitive online world, but if you engage with your audience just right, you can even inspire them to follow the link to your website and make a purchase.

The best part of it is that there are numerous ways you can achieve this goal. From sharing quality content on a daily basis, to offering deals and discounts, referral bonuses, and even giveaways, you can incentivize your existing and potential followers to visit your website and take advantage of the limited-time offer. And remember, the more quality content you publish, the higher the chances of disseminating your brand across the online world through shares, likes, and mentions.

Strengthen your sales chat strategy

If you had to choose to focus on a single lead generation strategy, especially if you’re operating in the B2B realm, it would have to be your sales team. Without a doubt, sales chat and communication in general is one of the most powerful tools for any modern business to reach out to their prospects and convert them into paying customers and recurring clients.

Most importantly, comprehensive sales communication allows you to generate leads without spending resources on content creation, so if you were wondering how to generate b2b leads efficiently as a growth-oriented ecommerce brand, sales chat is the way to do it. While this doesn’t mean that you should forgo content creation completely, it does mean that you can reallocate resources towards other more lucrative opportunities all the while maintaining a high-performing sales cycle.

Build an email marketing strategy

Email marketing is not only alive and kicking, but it has become another crucial element of a winning lead generation strategy, especially in the overly-saturated ecommerce industry. Simply put, your business is one of thousands of similar companies that are trying to attract potential customers and convert them into paying ones. Email marketing might just be the thing that sets your brand apart from the rest.

From sending out automated welcome emails when people sing up on your website, to sending newsletters and promotional emails to your potential and existing customers, there are a myriad of ways your business can benefit. Much like chat, email allows you to communicate with your prospects in a more personal way, and thus establish a brand-consumer relationship that will drive loyalty and engagement through the roof.

Combine quality SEO optimized content with PPC

Earlier we touched on the subject of content creation. It’s important to remember that content will remain king in the online world for quite some time, and that you can use it to attract consumers to your website and build your site’s authority in the eyes of the search engines to boot.

Combining SEO-driven content with quality PPC ads on Google and social media platforms will further expand the visibility of your brand, and incentivize people to visit your online store. You can also give a specific purpose to each tactic, and use PPC to obtain leads quickly while nurturing them to fruition via compelling storytelling, imagery, and video content.

In closing

Lead generation should be a vital part of your long-term growth strategy. After you have discovered new leads, you can effectuate your retention strategy and convert them into paying customers, but more importantly for your brand’s future, into loyal brand followers and recurring clients.

Author Bio:

Lauren Wiseman is an entrepreneur, currently based in Melbourne and a regular contributor to bizzmarkblog.com. She assists clients in growing their personal and professional brands in a fast-changing and demanding market environment. Covering finance and investment topics, Lauren strongly believes in holistic approach to business.

What types of ecommerce lead generation strategies do you use?

4 Ecommerce Promotional Strategies That Drive Sales

Every ecommerce store on the market strives towards having more sales. In fact, sales are the number one business goal for any ecommerce business. However, it’s not easy to encourage online consumers to make a purchase. The main reason is that the online market is crowded with various businesses and different offers. That makes it difficult for businesses to stand out and it’s even more difficult for consumers to choose the right store to do business with.

That’s why it’s important to help customers make that choice by having unique and creative promotional strategies. Still, that’s easier said than done, mainly because ecommerce stores are looking for a long-term revenue increase and not just a one-time sales boost. In order to achieve that, you must have a good understanding of your target audience and their preferences, as well as their expectations and needs. Here are a few ecommerce promotional strategies that drive sales.

Offer discounts

Discounts have always been a powerful means of encouraging customers to make a purchase. It’s also a great way to boost your sales when you need it the most. Not only that, but you can leverage special discounts, such as coupons, to encourage your indecisive leads to make the desired action. You can also leverage personalization in your discounts to appeal directly to a specific group of consumers or individual customers.

In addition, coupons work well with your other promotional strategies. For instance, you can add coupons or discount codes to almost every marketing promotion, such as email, social media, direct mail and so on. It’s a good way to get customers interested in your offers and it’s also a great way to gain new customers, as well as inspire existing ones to conduct repeat business at your store.

Seasonal giveaways

Special seasonal events are a great way to engage with your customers. In the ecommerce business, not every lead will turn out to be a customer. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t take the opportunity to further nurture those leads until they decide to become customers. The holiday season, for example, is a good time to create special sales. Make a strong presentation of your offer that will communicate with your audience in a meaningful way, while being visually captivating. Consider teaming up with professionals, to create a unique design and to maintain the consistency of a branded message.

While informing your email subscribers about your seasonal sale, you can also send them some promotional products. That way, you’ll definitely gain their attention and even increase the odds of those leads making a purchase. Not only that, but you can implement the same strategy for your existing customers to encourage them to participate in your seasonal promotions. Having free giveaways is a good strategy to engage with customers and show them that you still care about them.

Cross-sell and up-sell

Ecommerce stores oftentimes have a wide variety of products made available for their customers to choose from. In most cases, your customers don’t have the time or the patience to browse through everything. In that case, you can implement a cross-sell strategy. The way it works is that you add recommended products that align with the customers’ purchase, in order to encourage more purchases. For example, if a customer bought a keyboard, you can also suggest a mouse and other peripheral hardware that goes along with the item.

Just make sure your cross-sell promotions are practical for your customers. If your cross-sell strategy isn’t working too well, you can also up-sell. In fact, the up-sell strategy can be 20 times more effective for ecommerce stores. Up-selling is offering customers a product superior to the one they’re willing to buy. However, the increase in price may be an issue, so make sure you explain to the customers why the recommended product is better and more beneficial for them.

Include a loyalty program

Loyalty programs are a great way to ensure customer engagement and loyalty, as well as to improve repeat business and boost your sales. As a matter of fact, existing customers oftentimes spend up to 67% more than new ones. What’s more, it’s around 6 to 7 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to retain an existing one.

Not only that, but customers that are part of your loyalty program are more willing to promote your store further through referrals and personal word-of-mouth recommendations. Moreover, 91% of consumers read online reviews and 84% of them trust recommendations online as much as they trust recommendations from friends. Therefore, a loyalty program can be a great promotional strategy that will ensure that your sales continue to grow.

Developing a good promotional strategy that will yield considerable profits and boost sales isn’t easy. Not every approach works for all ecommerce stores equally. That’s why you must plan ahead and develop a strategy that will work out for both your business and your customers.

Author Bio:

Lauren Wiseman is an entrepreneur, currently based in Melbourne and a regular contributor to bizzmarkblog.com. She assists clients in growing their personal and professional brands in a fast-changing and demanding market environment. Covering finance and investment topics, Lauren strongly believes in holistic approach to business.

 

Do you currently have any of these ecommerce promotional strategies in place?

Running an e-commerce site is a challenging yet rewarding undertaking. Those who dare to undertake this challenge quickly learn that they must capture—and hold—the short attention span of visitors long enough to convert sales. But how can you accomplish this if you’re just starting or have a limited budget? This is done through using budget-friendly tools to enhance your e-commerce site.

The tools I’m sharing today are tools that I have first-hand experience with. Most of these tools are free to start; later, they scale as you grow your business. As you upgrade to “paid” plans, the developers unlock more advanced options, features, and reports. Starting out, however, you have access to the basic tools that you will need for success in the highly competitive e-commerce arena.

Let’s dig into it!

Free Image Tools

To catch readers who find your e-commerce site, you must capture their attention immediately. Let the images on your site tell your story. These may be photos, infographics, or charts and graphs. But there’s one thing in common. With just a glance, readers decide if they want to stay on your site or leave.

Not a graphic designer? No problem! The image tools on the internet today make generating gorgeous graphics a breeze.

Sources for Royalty-free Images: Please don’t pirate images. It’s both illegal and unnecessary. Sign up for a free account with a free photo gallery such as Pexels or Pixabay. You can download royalty-free images and use them for free! Selecting royalty-free images will keep you from the headache of legal disputes over the images on your website down the road. While the selection of photos on these sites is limited, the gorgeous images are 100% free.

PicMonkey for Image Editing: Have you ever wondered how bloggers create those gorgeous social media posts? It’s the magic of professional-looking image editing. PicMonkey is one of these providers. Even with the free subscription level, you can edit images; add text to images; create social media posts; and crop and enhance images for your e-commerce store. As you grow, you can upgrade and unlock even more features.

Free Copy Writing Tools

Grammar. I know. Boring, right? Well, believe it or not, people will judge your website on how well-written it is. Remember that site visitors make snap decisions on whether to stay on your site to shop. Grammatical gaffes can leave visitors confused which leads to them browsing away. In addition, it can cause them to unfairly judge your website in a negative light.

Grammar Check with Grammarly: This is a wonderful tool that will pick up grammatical errors that MS Word and Google Docs miss. Plus, it suggests the correction with the click of a button. Once you install it, you can also integrate it with your emails and business correspondence to deliver great grammar across the board.

Generate Blog Post Ideas: I know you’re reading this because you’re in the business of e-commerce. However, I do hope that you’re blogging to help your SEO and drive visitors. In fact, because you are a retailer, you probably struggle to come up with ideas and titles for those blog posts! HubSpot’s Blog Idea Generator solves this problem. Just enter in the topic you want to blog about, and the generator will give you several ideas on relevant content you can create.

Create Compelling Titles: Now that HubSpot has given you content topics, craft a headline that will encourage those visitors to stay on your site and read your blog post! I use the Co-Schedule Headline Analyzer each day that I write. It helps you to choose words that drive both SEO and reader engagement and insights on how to improve your title-writing skills.

Free Email Marketing Tools

Email marketing can be one of the easiest, and the most challenging, to use. The ease of sending out a mass email is a convenience to you as a retailer. The challenge is in getting people to open the emails and take action. It’s a marketing effort that can be very effective when utilized properly. When you subscribe to a free email marketing service like MailChimp, it’s certainly worth a try. ConvertKit and Aweber are also favorites and used by thousands of people online.

Email Marketing Advice: MailChimp allows you to build a list, send out email marketing, and track results for free when you’re starting your campaigns. As you set up your first email campaign, they also tutor you on the legalities of email marketing to keep you from being flagged as a spammer. Because everyone hates spam, this improves your open rate.

Free Website Forms

Every e-commerce website has forms. Subscription forms, checkout forms, contact forms, and payment forms add functionality and invite users to engage with your site. As you know, an engaged reader will be more likely to click on “buy it now.”

Form Template: Skip the paid plug-ins. Generate secure and functional forms with EMailMeForm. Their forms integrate in almost every environment because the forms are in HTML. You go to their website, select a template, build the form, and generate the HTML, and copy and paste it into your site. It’s easy.  Plus, it’s free to get started. Like the other services in this article, you can scale it to a larger plan as your business needs change.

Summary

As an e-commerce business owner, you face many organizational challenges throughout your day. From running the business and accounting side of your business to marketing and selling your products, your time is valuable. Therefore, time management is essential. These tools will help you save both time and money. In addition, they will create an environment that will engage visitors to your website and encourage them to buy your products.

Use these on the “free” plans for each of these tools until you grow your business. As your needs change, step up to the paid subscriptions that you need and take advantage of the additional functionality and features.

Best wishes for continued e-commerce success!

Author Bio:

Deborah Tayloe is a professional freelance writer and holds a B.S.Ed. in Education/English from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She’s a consulting writer with EMailMeForm and loves technology. The Erie, Pennsylvania native resides in North Carolina with her husband and an energetic toy fox terrier.

 

 

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