E-commerce continues to grow year after year. With lower barriers to entry, it’s hardly a game of few anymore with new competition added every day, it’s only those who go the extra mile for their customers that manage to stand out in the crowd. And, unsurprisingly, it’s the same brands who succeed at turning their visitors into first-time buyers and customers into brand regardless of the competition.
As a business owner, have you ever asked why some businesses are successful? The secret may have to achieve more revenue and higher conversions every year.
Did you know that the e-commerce industry is gaining a solid ground to deliver better customer experiences? Online retailers today have a brilliant opportunity to leverage these new technological trends and boost their business.
The successful strategies in the e-commerce industry are developed primarily based on how customers shop, what they buy and how they respond to technologies employed by businesses. According to a report by ‘Statista’, global retail e-commerce sales are expected to reach $4.8 trillion by 2021.
If you want to stand out among your competitors, now is the time to step up your game. The following strategies will help you gain advantage.
Increase E-commerce Search Usability
As opposed to physical shopping, online shopping is intangible and needs a lot of guesswork on the part of customers. So, in 2020, products being searchable is one of the best strategies for you to present your products to your consumers. It will help them study every detail of a product and to find what they might need, which in turn will enable them to make an informed decision without regretting it afterward – helping you gain attention that you need for your business.
For example, the recent addition of the keyword of product on various e-commerce sites has been a great help for businesses and consumers alike. It allows consumers to search-in certain details, and get a better understanding of the item without actually touching it.
Use High Quality Photographs and Good Product Description
E-commerce images can make or break your conversions. E-commerce photos are more than just product shots. They are visual representations of how your product is supposed to be used, and they also convey the spirit of your brand.
A compelling product description will always pay you back, product description is the marketing copy that explains what a product is and why it’s worth purchasing. The purpose of a product description is to supply customers with important information about the features and benefits of the product so they’re compelled to buy.
Using these elements to combine with your product output will surely improve your conversion.
Try Personalizing the Home Page
Keeping customers happy and loyal requires a fine blend of optimizing both your product offering and customer experience.
The most successful retailers continually improve their product offering to new and existing customers as well as nurture their customers’ shopping experience in a way that continuously makes customers welcome and happy shopping with them.
Here are critical data collection points that power ecommerce personalization:
- Traffic
- On-site interactions (category and product page visits)
- Personal Data
- Paid Media Pixels (both social and search)
- Purchases
- Search
- Pricing
It is also vital to understand:
- What data points to track
- Who you are tracking
- When you track data – which most often is in real-time
- How you track i.e. the tools and platforms to use
All best-in-class personalization platforms are driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning; which track on-site and customer data points in real time and then deliver a unique personalized experience to each site visitor whether window shoppers or customers with the infrastructure in place to efficiently and accurately collect data in real time, the next step is formulating a personalization strategy around your specific needs and size of your business.
The personalized shopping strategy you employ will typically depend on the size of your customer base, the volume of sales your store generates and also the tools you use to deploy personalization.
Focus on Consistent and Unique Content
A lot has been said about content quantity versus content quality. When you prioritize quantity over quality, inevitably your content quality suffers, making it less valuable to your target audience.
As unglamorous as it may sound, consistency should be your focus. If quality is all you focus on, content development could quickly become cumbersome and laborious. If quantity is all you focus on, you’ll just increase your bounce rates and reduce dwell time on your site. Both extremes are detrimental to your end-goal of using content to consistently attract visitors to your site.
If you’re publishing five times per week, but lack the staff or resources to maintain your quality standards, consider reducing your publishing frequency to two or three times per week. This will allow for a more meaningful balance. Also, take time to define what “quality content” actually means. It does not always mean long-form, image-rich, media-rich content. Sometimes, answering questions in a specific and concise way can be more beneficial to the end user than long, rambling answers with a lot of words that are only there to meet a word-count criterion.
Optimize Shopping Cart Functionality
Shopping carts bridge the gap between shopping and buying, so having the best shopping cart software is extremely important on your website. It’s likely that those just starting out in the market may be unfamiliar with the concept. A cart typically has three common aspects:
- It stores product information
- It’s a gateway for order, catalog and customer management
- It renders product data, categories and site information for user display
Another way to look at things is as follows: The online shopping cart is similar to the tangible ones we use at the supermarket, but it wears many more hats. It’s also the shelves, the building, the clearance sign, the cash register and often the credit card machine relaying information back to the bank.
For those seriously considering the ecommerce platform route, it’s important to know that there are two basic types of carts:
- Hosted shopping carts: A third-party firm “hosts” the solution and is responsible for server backups, maintenance and upgrades. The beauty of a hosted solution is that hosting comes free, which means it doesn’t cost anything for the third party to keep your site functional on the Web. The main drawback with hosted solutions is that customers will be directed to another domain for payment processing.
- Licensed shopping carts: This type of solution allows business owners to build their own type of cart and customize it to their specific needs. There is much greater flexibility in changing features and functionality, as well as in adding third-party tools if need be. However, the upfront costs are often higher and require more hands-on expertise for troubleshooting issues and technical support.
Hosted solutions are often recommended for those who are beginning their own venture because they require less technical expertise. That’s not to say all new online retail store owners aren’t adept in IT, but a hosted solution may free up time to focus on other aspects of operations. There are numerous providers of shopping cart software on the market today, and companies must first evaluate their individual needs before making a final decision on which solution is best for them.
Improve your Social Media Strategy
Social media is paramount for e-commerce, its significance has grown to mammoth proportions over the years with its ability to reach specialized pools of consumers. Brands that relied on traditional forms of advertising to further their base have taken to optimizing their brand to fit into different social media niches on the web. E-commerce brands can target consumer collectives with a range of purchasing capacities through planned social media strategies.
Create Landing Pages
An ecommerce landing page is a web page designed strictly for the purpose of persuading visitors to act on an offer. Ecommerce landing pages primarily sell goods over services. They’re created by ecommerce businesses with the ultimate goal of selling a tangible, physical product. Ecommerce landing pages use elements like social proof, trust indicators, an optimized conversion ratio, a magnetic headline, and others, to compel visitors to click a CTA button. They contain everything a visitor needs to know to decide on an offer: to download or not, to buy or not, etc.
Build Advertising Strategies
If you need some fresh ideas for e-commerce marketing success, give these lesser-known strategies a chance and find out what works best for you. Using ecommerce marketing strategies like social media and search engine optimization, your online store can build brand awareness, drive sales, and grow in one of the most competitive industries. Here are some list of strategies:
- Search Engine Optimization – SEO is especially important for ecommerce stores because customers are typically ready to buy when searching for a particular product. Without this ecommerce marketing strategy, they might not even know your store exists. Increasing the visibility of your website with ecommerce SEO boosts incoming leads and maximizes your profits.
- Pay-per-Click – You might be wondering why your ecommerce website needs pay-per-click advertising (PPC) if you rank for keywords organically. PPC advertising is extremely helpful for generating traffic to your ecommerce website while you establish organic ranking and with Google Ads, you can set your ads to display when people search for certain keywords. If people don’t click on your ads, you won’t pay a cent. The results can be instant, and PPC ads often pay for themselves if you target the right keywords.
- Social Media – Social media is a great opportunity to get the word out about your ecommerce products, events, and promotions, which is why it’s one of the most recommended ecommerce website marketing strategies.
- Content Marketing – Creating and sharing valuable content online is essential for ecommerce companies. Search engines love quality content, and distributing it online can help boost your rankings. If site visitors find your content useful, you increase your chances of gaining loyal customers. Plus, you’ll gain some cred as an authoritative source in your industry.
- Email Marketing – Email marketing is an effective ecommerce marketing strategy for driving traffic, clicks, and purchases – all important metrics for any ecommerce business.
The e-commerce landscape is evolving. This means that the industry will get bigger and better in the coming years, and new technological trends will make it more seamless.
As a growing e-commerce business owner, you need to keep track of these technologies and find ways to use the ones that best suit your needs. The above strategies will provide a better value to your users and make your business more successful in 2020 and beyond.
You don’t need a complete website makeover to boost your sales and increase conversions. With minor improvements and knowledge of how the field of E-Commerce works, you can enhance your marketing efforts for each stage of your sales funnel.
Ready to take the next step in your ecommerce marketing journey? Find out how Web Developer Philippines can improve your strategy with our ecommerce marketing services!
