Best Ways to Market your E-commerce Business

E-commerce marketing
Table of Contents

    Introduction

    Every e-commerce store wants one thing; to get more customers. Even after using different e-commerce marketing strategies, you might still find it hard to choose the right ones for your online store.

    This is why this guide we have put together will discuss the best marketing strategies and tools that can help your e-commerce marketing. These strategies will ‌assist you in customer acquisition and creating relationships with customers.

    Key Takeaways

    • E-commerce marketing involves using different marketing or promotional tips to drive prospective consumers to your online store and turn them into loyal customers.
    • Understanding your target audiences, their interests, and what they like will help you choose the best strategy for your store.
    • SMS marketing is an effective strategy to inform your shoppers about new offers, promotions, and important updates.

    There are several ways to market your e-commerce business. However, the strategies you use depend greatly on your business niche and goals. Here are some of the best strategies that you can choose from for your online store marketing:

    Take SEO Seriously

    SEO means search engine optimization. The goal of an e-commerce SEO strategy is to get your online store to be among the top results on search engines such as Google and Yahoo. Bringing your store in front of its target market can bring traffic and conversions. Some steps to take in an e-commerce SEO strategy include:

    • Conduct keyword research and include high-ranking keywords in your product description and blog posts. 
    • Optimizing the technical aspect of your store to create a good user experience.
    • Building backlinks for your website from other reputable sites.

    When this strategy is implemented well, your products will show up when prospects search for popular keywords associated with your niche.

    Sell on E-commerce Marketplaces

    These marketplaces accounted for two-third of global e-commerce sales in 2021. Top e-commerce marketplaces like eBay can help prospective customers discover your brand easily. It is important to note that putting your products on these marketplaces comes with expensive charges. However, some of your prospects are loyal shoppers of these marketplaces and ‌they will likely buy your products on a platform they know. For this reason, it is important to sell on marketplaces as a complement to your online store. You don’t need to have all your products listed on the marketplace, just some of your best-selling products. Create compelling product descriptions that show what your brand offers and add branded packaging inserts to the marketplace orders that direct people to shop for more products from your site.

    Invest in Influencer Marketing

    Influencer marketing is one of the new marketing tactics you need to try out. Influencers are social media celebrities. They are content creators that create engaging and interesting content that their followers love. A study has shown that most marketers found influencer marketing a highly effective strategy for brands. You can get these influencers to act as your store’s ambassadors. You can pay them to promote your products by offering them cash, discounts, and free products.

    Run Search Engine Ads

    Pay-per-click ads target ad space in search engines. These ads work for e-commerce brands because they target prospects and turn them into customers. Online shoppers are known to search for terms related to the products they want to buy. For instance, a man thinking of getting new shoes can search for ‘men’s boots’ and get a list of online stores that sell men’s boots. If you want your online store to be on the first page of the search results, running PPC ads will help you achieve that.

    One of the benefits of PPC is that it helps you target your prospects with the right campaigns. You can choose who you want to promote your ads to and the ad type you like. You can retarget ads to people who viewed your previous ads or visited your sales page and encourage them to visit your store again.

    Use TikTok

    There is no better time to use TikTok for marketing than now. TikTok is one of the versatile social media platforms you can use for content creation. It had over one billion active users in 2021 and this number has kept increasing ever since.  

    The key to TikTok marketing is to keep posting original and creative content. Authentic short videos can give you enough exposure than long-form edited videos you see on Instagram reels. This is what makes TikTok a unique platform for content creation. TikTok has several benefits that make it special. These include:

    • A UI/UX curated to make people stay longer in the app.
    • An AI system that prioritizes videos from users that you have never seen before.
    • A recommendation engine that helps content go viral, regardless of your follower count.

    A study by Adweek showed that more than half of TikTokers buy from brands in the app. Also, there is inclusivity on TikTok. Any target audience can find content related to them.

    Take Instagram Seriously

    With more than 500 million active users, Instagram is another effective social app to use in connecting with your prospects and turning them into customers. All you need to do is follow Instagram marketing tips such as taking quality pictures, creating clean and informative graphics, using hashtags, and posting online at the right times. Then, you are sure to start building up your Instagram following with people interested in your products. 

    What are some ways to use Instagram for brand engagements and customer conversions? Here are key tactics you should try:

    • Run a giveaway for a day or a week during special occasions.
    • Go behind the scene to showcase your product e.g. going to your product’s manufacturing location or store’s warehouse.
    • Add colorful pictures that display your products 

    Instagram is an e-commerce marketplace too. So, you can decide to set up a store on this platform. This should not replace your online store and should be used more for marketing purposes. There are several features of the Instagram store that you can take advantage of. These include:

    • Shoppable stories and posts
    • In-app checkout
    • Explore shop

    Reduce the Number of Abandoned Carts

    Your online store loses money when a customer abandons their cart without making a purchase. Directly addressing this issue on time can reduce the number of abandoned carts you have. You can remind shoppers to complete their purchases before leaving their carts. You can also offer an incentive like free shipping or a discount to persuade them to complete the purchase.

    An effective way to reduce the number of abandoned carts is to get the emails of the shoppers and send them reminders of their pending purchases. Craft a mail that persuades your prospects to return to their carts and finish their purchase.

    Use SMS Marketing

    This is a common e-commerce marketing strategy to employ. SMS marketing involves sending promotional messages to your loyal and prospective customers. The motive behind the messages is to inform your shoppers about new offers, promotions, and important updates. The E-commerce industry is the most successful business industry that uses SMS marketing. About 70% of consumers agree that SMS is the best way for online stores to get their attention. 

    If you have an online store, you can use SMS for:

    • Sales promotion
    • Reducing abandoned carts
    • Customer service
    • Getting customer reviews

    Try Email Marketing

    Email marketing is an effective channel for making sales and building customer loyalty. Studies have shown that most marketers use email marketing for sales promotion and content distribution. There are a lot of TikTok videos and Instagram posts for social media users today and they won’t be able to consume all of it. Email offers more direct interaction with prospects as you send them messages to their inboxes. Also, email marketing allows you to say things you can’t write in a social post.

    Email marketing can be done using an email marketing app like ActiveCampaign and MailChimp. You can send effective emails to your subscribers through these apps regularly. Some of the emails to send your subscribers include:

    • A welcome email to a new customer that makes a purchase
    • Exclusive promo codes and gifts.
    • Regular newsletters that inform subscribers of the latest discount offer and product tips
    • Relevant content that helps customers understand how their recent product purchase works
    • A thank-you message for your recurring and high-value customers

    Take Your Store’s UI/UX Seriously

    If your e-commerce store is designed poorly, you will lose customers. It will be hard for prospects to trust your brand and they will not buy from you. But what does a poorly designed e-commerce store look like?

    The store will look plain and not contain some important branding elements like a clear unique selling point, clear font, easy navigation, and simple color theme. It could also be that your products are not well segmented on their display pages and you are not using the right visuals and text. There are many e-commerce sites you can use as a sample when re-designing your store’s UI/UX. 

    Integrate a Live Chat in Your Store

    Your prospects need to know that you care for their welfare and that they can reach out to you with complaints anytime. Integrating a live chat to engage with them will help improve your customer satisfaction. Live chat enables you to directly communicate with customers and you can address problems right away or help them make better buying decisions.

    Start Blogging

    Every online store needs to consider blogging to rank better on search engines and connect with prospects. If you are already creating written content, you can start featuring them on your e-commerce store. There are several ways to take your blogging to the next level. They include:

    • Write guest articles on other blogs and websites to generate backlinks and build awareness. This also improves SEO.
    • Create long-written content and guides (an ebook) that help customers understand how to use your products better.

    Go for Personalized Marketing

    Personalized marketing involves using your prospects and customers’ past behaviors and preferences to curate personalized content that drives sales to your online store. Personalization can improve sales by as high as 10% and only 15% of companies take personalized marketing seriously today. You can join the ranks by learning more about how personalized marketing works and how to use this tactic to get more customers.

    Go Local

    Local businesses aren’t the only ones to focus on their local audiences. Online businesses can also go local when increasing their online sales. Here are some ways to go local for your e-commerce store:

    • Identify the location or area where most of your customers come from and run ads for that location. Check the products those customers buy the most and consider their local seasons or holidays to find the appropriate time to run the ads.
    • If you have a physical warehouse or warehouses, see if you can run a discount to customers in that area. This might be easier for you to execute and also help you cost-effectively promote your products. 

    Practice Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

    Practicing conversion rate optimization helps you to identify issues in your online store. You will deduce which visitors are leaving, how many abandoned carts you have, the location they come from, and how you can reduce these problems. This process involves quantitative and qualitative research, so you get an unbiased view of how your website functions and how conversion-oriented it is. Once you have gotten the necessary information about your store, you can develop strategies that can help improve your sales conversions.

    Optimize Your Store for Mobile Use

    Mobile optimization improves your store performance on mobile devices. A study has shown that people make purchases with their mobile devices than their laptops or desktop. So, optimizing your store will bring in more customers for your business.

    Create a Customer Loyalty Program

    If you want to retain customers, you need to offer them incentives and reward them for their loyalty. One way you can do this is by creating a customer loyalty program. In this program, you give your customers extra incentives after they make a purchase or refer your products to others. Some of the incentives include giving them discounts on products, gifts, or free shipping.

    Conclusion

    Turning your prospects to customers can look like a difficult task but it is doable. You just have to take things easy. Choose some e-commerce marketing strategies that you think will fit your business the most. Be patient and remain consistent in whatever marketing tactics you choose. Use the right marketing tools and adjust until you see results.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What is the difference between digital marketing and e-commerce?

    Digital marketing is the process of reaching your prospects and customers and encouraging them to make purchases while e-commerce is the way to sell and deliver products and services to customers.

    How can I choose the right marketing strategy for my e-commerce store?

    There are different marketing strategies you can use for your business. However, the strategies you employ depend on your niche industry and business goals. Do you need to boost your website’s traffic? Then, an SEO and content marketing strategy will work. Do you need to improve your social media engagement or presence? Then, social media marketing is the best way to go.