5 Ecommerce Lead Generation Strategies to Skyrocket Your ROI
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?