Best e-Commerce Marketing Tips to Outrank Your Competitors
When it comes to e-commerce marketing, it’s adapt or die. No matter how much you want to deny it, there’s no hiding it.
In today’s fast-changing landscape, every marketer faces an escalating number of challenges, from shifting consumer insights and behaviors to the imperatives of digital transformation. In this case, every savvy marketer needs to constantly be on their toes to reach more potential customers and convert them into lifelong customers.
Since e-commerce marketing is all about driving awareness and action towards the brand, one of the most powerful ways to remain competitive is to adopt even more potential multichannel strategies and deliver a cohesive brand experience.
But, of course, it’s much easier said than done. And that’s what this post is for.
We’ll talk about some of the essential tips and strategies that can help you find ways to win over customers amidst all the market competition.
Let’s dive in!
Understand Your Competition: The Trends and Numbers You Need to Know
Before you can outsmart your competition, you need to truly understand the competition itself. Identifying the competition is important for your overall e-commerce strategy because it can reduce risks, time, required resources, and expenses.
That’s why we give you some essential numbers on e-commerce market statistics. These numbers below help you to better position and sell your products or services much more effectively.
#1. Amazon Is a Go-To e-Commerce Site for Millennials
If you target younger customers to purchase your brand, you need to learn from Amazon. According to the statistics, more than half (59%) of Millennials will go to Amazon first when they shop online, making the giant online retailer one of your biggest competitors.
When beating the giant online retailer is such a pipe dream, you can always learn to be at least a fraction of Amazon by studying their e-commerce marketing strategy. Although selling on Amazon can be challenging, you can make the process easier by using solutions like SellerApp.
#2. Millennials are the Most Powerful Digital Buyers
Millennials’ buying power looks set to surpass that of all generations before them. It’s estimated that 85.9% of millennials in the US will be digital buyers this year.
Also, the 2020 edition of Roth Capital Partners’ millennial survey reported that more than 73% of 19- to 39-year-olds signed up as Amazon Prime members. In other words, your e-commerce business and strategies will need to work hard to meet their demands.
#3. Mobile e-Commerce Can’t Stop Growing (Rapidly)
Mobile purchases are predicted to be worth $3.56 trillion by 2021. That staggering number is quite reasonable since at least 79% of online customers have made a purchase online using their mobile device in the last six months.
Almost 30% of mobile users tend to abandon their purchase if the shopping experience is not optimized for mobile devices. Moreover, 61% of people have a better opinion of brands that offer a good mobile experience. So, one thing is clear here: make sure your e-commerce strategies are accessible for mobile users.
#4. Every Customer Have the Standing to Be Able to Influence Others
Online reviews and customer satisfaction are crucial for e-commerce businesses. Do you know that 55% of online customers tell friends and family when dissatisfied with a product or company?
What’s more, 76% of potential consumers say that they trust others’ experience, and reviews are given to them. Those two numbers help you understand the importance of reviews and customer satisfaction in a consumer’s purchase journey.
#5. PayPal Transactions Have Higher Checkout Conversion
There are more than 346 million active PayPal accounts in the world. Meanwhile, 87.5% of online customers use PayPal. It remains the most popular payment option in the online shopping game.
And for an e-commerce business owner, you also need to know that PayPal checkout converts at 88.7% – 82 percent higher than a checkout without PayPal, including other digital wallets and credit cards.
#6. Voice Shopping Is Now All the Rage
In this immediacy era, potential customers tend to their smart speakers or voice assistants to look for product information or purchase products they need.
One in five customers has made a voice purchase through Amazon Echo or another home assistance. Therefore, it’s not that surprising if voice shopping is estimated to reach $40 billion in the U.S. by 2022. By all means, it’s always better to optimize your products for voice searches.
Top e-Commerce Marketing Tips
Every online store aims to increase traffic and boost conversions. Looking at the statistics and trends above, now you understand what you should do in your e-commerce marketing campaigns.
But, at some points, it’s still quite challenging to decide on which marketing tactics you should try, isn’t it?
While you get a small bite of the tips from the statistics above, we just won’t stop here.
We’ve put together some of the most important tips for your e-commerce marketing strategy to stand out from the competition.
Go Social
Social selling in itself is not new, but the ways and tools to help e-commerce businesses attract are getting better and better. With at least 3.8 billion users worldwide, social media can be potential platforms to promote your business to a broader audience.
Having such a solid social media presence won’t only help you attract new customers and guide them to your online store but also keep your current customers engaged and interested.
You can utilize some popular channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to converse with your audience casually, making it easier for you to create a more personal connection with them. It’s no wonder that over 87% of e-commerce shoppers believe social media helps them make an informed purchase decision faster.
Grow your Email List
The more you reach a broader audience, the higher your chance to grow your sales. Therefore, it’s crucial to provide multi-channel customer services. Besides social media, you can appeal to your target customers using emails. Yes, email marketing is far away from dead and still alive and kicking.
Sending emails to your customers can be a powerful way to inform them about your e-commerce products or services – of course, if you nurture it right. But, before you can send them any information through emails, you need to collect some email addresses, right?
Having a signup form on your website is a pretty standard yet the handiest option. You can put sign up form at the bottom of your website, just like what Adidas does. Make sure you also offer incentives as the headline to get more people on board.
Most tools, like OptionMonster, provide several features for growing your email list. SendPulse, for example, offers subscription forms, pop-ups, or even custom landing pages and mini-websites.
Invest in Content Marketing
Too many online store owners and e-commerce marketers ignore the power of content marketing. You don’t have to be one of them. In fact, content marketing can bring a better traffic-driving activity for your online stores.
Creating valuable, informative, and engaging content such as flyers, explainer videos, tutorial videos, written articles, etc. Apart from this, you can create posters that help you attract new customers and generate brand equity.helps you attract new customers and generate brand equity.
If you can spend more time on regular content production, chances are you can seamlessly educate potential customers, thereby building a rapport that can lead to short-term sales or even long-term loyalty.
Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment
The main goal of your e-commerce business is to drive conversions as much as possible, isn’t it? It means that you’re leaving money on the table every time a potential abandons their cart without purchasing.
Today, customers abandoned over 88% of online shopping orders. For one reason or another, potential customers “delay” the conversion is because they hesitate to complete their purchase.
So, it’s critical for you to make them sure to make such an informed decision. You need to convince them to come back and finish their orders.
But how?
Here are some quick tips you can do to remind the cart abandoners to complete their original purchase:
- Provide a simple process for customers to check out
- Send shopping cart abandonment emails
- Use exit popups
- Provide them with a detailed price and shipment
Generate Product Reviews
We’ve slightly mentioned online reviews importance before. Now, we’ll get more in-depth because it’s that important.
In a survey conducted by Salsify that involved roughly 1,000 U.S. customers who shopped online at least once during the year, it was found that better reviews are the number one factor that drives people to choose a higher-priced option.
The more you have positive reviews, the quicker the potential customers can trust you. And to generate positive reviews, providing better customer service and the quality of your product is a must.
You can also try things like:
- Special offer on future purchases for honest reviews
- Free promotional items for future product reviews
That way, you won’t only get genuine online reviews but also encourages customers to make future purchases with your online store.
Quick Response for Customer Service
With tons of competition, you need to respond to your potential customers’ questions as soon as possible — before they move into your competitors. Remember, not only do your potential customers have sky-high expectations but also they’re fickle and can’t afford to wait.
In this matter, you can provide them with a real-time response using chatbots or automated live chat service to help customers find quick answers for their basic questions. If the questions are getting more specific and detailed, you can jump right in.
Using an automated live chat service can also help you to keep up with demand during high-volume stretches. Therefore, it’s not only your potential customers that benefit from live chat service, so are you.
Offer Free Shipping
The word “free” is impactful on purchasing behavior, including free shipping. More than 90% of consumers claimed that free shipping is the top incentive that would encourage them to shop online more often.
That’s why it has quickly become a powerful e-commerce marketing strategy from small online stores to bigger ones. And you should jump on the bandwagon.
But, it surely isn’t the cheapest strategy at all. To manage such incentives effectively, it’s important to understand how to keep track of business expenses to ensure profitability while still providing attractive offers to your customers. So, how do you cover the cost of offering free shipping?
First, you may choose to bake the shipping fee into the product price. Or, you can also increase the average order value (AOV) by offering bundles or upsells. That way, customers are more likely to spend more if they get a good deal.
Opt for Google Shopping Ads
If you’re looking for a quicker way to see more visible results of your e-commerce marketing strategy, you can go for Google Shopping Ads.
Shopping ads drive 76% of retail search ad spend and generate roughly 85% of all clicks on Google Ads campaigns.
Google Shopping Ads can make your e-commerce products or services appear at Google search results and the shopping tab, making it easier for your target customers to find it.
When your target customers find your ads on Google search results, they’ll see information about your particular products, such as image/video, title, price, and a link to your e-commerce store.
To tap into Google Shopping Ads, you can sign in to your Google Ads account and select Shopping as your shopping type.
Implement Customer Loyalty Programs
When you focus on reaching new customers, always remember the ones that have been here since the beginning. In this matter, you can create customer loyalty programs to encourage them to trust your business for a long time.
Customer loyalty programs are such a powerful customer retention tool geared towards keeping and engaging your existing customers.
You can give customers extra incentives or special offers to make their next purchase. As an alternative, you can also create the programs as special interest clubs, helping you build communities and emphasize exclusivity.
Customer loyalty programs won’t only help you convince repeat customers to shop from your online store more often but also to interact with your brand more frequently.
Wrapping It Up
There is a ton of competition online for e-commerce businesses, so knowing how to set yourself apart and get your name out there is essential. With some of the handiest and actionable tips above, you should now have no problems planning a better e-commerce marketing strategy for your next campaign. Integrating Travel AI into your marketing approach can further enhance your strategies, providing personalized recommendations and travel-related insights to engage your audience effectively.
One thing to remember is to make sure that all of the strategies you choose match your business’ budget, goals, and needs. That way, won’t only be able to create a winning e-commerce marketing strategy, but also make all your efforts cost-effectively.
