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Proven Marketing Strategies for Success for eCommerce Stores in 2021
eCommerce stores are steadily catching up with traditional brick-and-mortar outlets. Recent years have seen a boom in eCommerce, with consumers opting to do business with companies that cater to and understand their individual needs. According to the Global Web Index, the ease and convenience of online shopping dominate consumers’ list of top reasons to shop online. Other draws of online shopping include no waiting in line at the checkout and free shipping. We go over eCommerce marketing strategies that we believe every business owner needs to know in order to find success in 2021.
Today, there seems to be an almost unlimited amount of eCommerce options out there. To stand out to your ideal customer, business owners need an effective marketing strategy in place. To compete with the seemingly limitless eCommerce options out there, business owners need to be prepared to put in the work to build their brand and create trust with their client base. With the competition being tougher than ever, there is no longer room for a weak online marketing plan.
The proven strategies below will help you differentiate your company from the competition, and make long-term success an achievable reality.
Improve Your Online Presence
You don’t have to recreate the online shopping experience to get more customers. You just need to make it easy for them to use your website and ensure they have a clear understanding of what you provide, and where they can buy from you. Starting with the basics, here are some ways to achieve this:
Make sure your website is easy to navigate
Routinely audit your site for any broken links or glitches, thoroughly index your products, and showcase items that have a high customer rating.
Personalize the experience
Use your website to showcase new items and bestsellers to help customers see what others like about your brand.
Optimize shopping cart functionality
To prevent customers from abandoning their carts, make sure your shopping cart is as functional and navigable as possible, especially concerning shipping times and costs.
When customers do abandon their cart, the business should send them a reminder email. An abandoned shopping cart email is a mainstay of e-commerce. It is a follow-up email sent to someone who has added items to their cart and gotten through a portion of the checkout and then left the site without purchasing.
Make your site mobile-friendly
If customers are left waiting for a page to load or if the layout is confusing when viewed from a mobile screen, they are far more likely to get frustrated and go to a competitor.
Prioritize security
Ensure your site’s security is up to par by picking a secure platform, using strong SSL authentication, and running regular PCI tests. A data breach could completely undermine the credibility of your business if customer information were to leak.
Create and Share Content
Clients are busy people, they are not likely to remember a business unless they are being reminded. The best way to keep a business fresh in a client’s mind is to create content. Long form content does particularly well (3,000 words plus). This type of content is preferred by both readers and search engines. Creating content takes time, the best way to begin is to write about 15 long form articles. This process is called “batching” and having a backlog of articles to release will help ease the pressure of having to write articles often while managing a business.
To stay inspired, business owners should browse sites in their niche and stay up to date with trending topics in their industry. When it comes to sharing the content across social media platforms, it needs to be done consistently. It does not matter if this is once a week or once a month. Posting relevant and consistent content alone will significantly boost an eCommerce store’s brand.
Social Media Marketing
The importance of social media marketing cannot be emphasized enough. Social media has a 100% higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing. 73% of marketers have found that their time promoting a business on social media has proven “somewhat effective” or “very effective”.
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are probably the most well-known social media platforms when it comes to creating a business presence on social media. However, failing to optimize a social media page will not produce a successful outcome and is likely to hurt your overall brand.
Less is often more when it comes to choosing which to promote a business, eCommerce store owners should be aiming for quality of quantity. Also, you may want to consider making accounts on other social networks such as LinkedIn, Pinterest, Reddit, etc. Choosing which social media site is best for you will depend on where your target audience is most likely to hang out. For example, if the eCommerce shop owner is selling make-up products, they would get much more social media interaction when marketing their products through tutorials on YouTube as opposed to writing about their products on sites such as Reddit or Twitter.
If you have chosen one of the Big 3 (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), a good formula for fast results is to spend 80% of the time sharing industry news and 20% of the time plugging your product/service.
Target PR
A marketing strategy toolkit might involve a mix of email newsletters, social media, advertising, and other tactics, but one mention in the press can multiply all those efforts tenfold, sending a wave of new customers to your e-commerce store. You do not need to be an expert to write an eye-catching press release. This is a skill that can be learned, and a good place to start is by checking out what others are doing and trying to replicate what they have created. Over time you will find your own voice and style and can confidently create press releases of your own.
PR Newswire is an excellent resource for press release hosts. This site allows business owners can send their product or service out for reviews. Getting good reviews on your product or service can boost your social proof (and, more importantly, your sales). It is advisable not to use Fiverr or other such sites to find reviews as the buyers are anonymous and are unlikely to be experts. Needless to say, adding a fair and unbiased review from an industry professional in your niche will sky-rocket your credibility.
Conclusion
Successfully marketing an eCommerce store can be a challenge but far from impossible. Business owners do not necessarily need a lot of money to see results in this space (although it certainly helps when it comes to paid advertising). Entrepreneurs with a willingness to do their research, remain consistent, and be attuned to their customers will see results.
When you take a step back and realize that your goal is to capture attention, you’re free to think about where and how your audience is spending their time and how you can get them to discover your store.
