E-COMMERCE BUSINESS STRATEGY TO SKYROCKET YOUR SALES
The online shopping experience is one of constant evolution. It exists in a digital universe that has developed steadily since its inception and is accessible through ever-improving internet-enabled, smart devices.
An online shop must adopt an e-commerce business strategy that can adapt to the ever-shifting shopping market to remain competitive.
In this blog, we will discuss the basics of a marketing strategy for e-commerce that can be used by beginners and experienced pros, to boost engagement, improve sales, and increase revenue.
What are we waiting for? Let's dive in.
What you will find in this blog:
What is e-commerce marketing?
E-commerce business strategy made easy!
What is e-commerce marketing?
E-commerce business strategy refers to the strategies or techniques used to promote and sell products or services through online platforms. It encompasses various digital marketing activities aimed at driving traffic, increasing conversions, and generating revenue for an e-commerce business.
The primary goal of e-commerce marketing is to attract and engage potential customers, build brand awareness, and ultimately drive sales. It's about convincing new customers to make their initial purchase, as well as encouraging repeat business from an existing customer. If a brick-and-mortar store wants to extend its activities onto e-commerce platforms, e-commerce marketing is imperative to build a brand image, create awareness and convert audiences to customers.
E-commerce marketing requires a comprehensive and integrated approach, utilizing various channels and techniques to reach and engage the target audience. It involves continuous monitoring, analysis, and optimization to ensure the strategies are effective in achieving the desired objectives.
E-COMMERCE BUSINESS STRATEGY MADE EASY
#1. FOLLOW SEO BEST PRACTICES
SEO focuses on optimizing a website's visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). By targeting relevant keywords, creating high-quality content, and optimizing website structure, e-commerce businesses can improve their organic search rankings and attract more qualified traffic.
Including SEO as a part of your e-commerce strategy ensures that your website is optimized for search engines, enabling potential customers to discover your products or services organically and improve your search engine rating.
SEO recommendations for 2023:
- Reduce the load time of your web pages.
- Provide informative online content like blogs with videos for engagement.
- Optimise internal links and authoritative backlinks.
- Include search-optimized images.
#2. INCREASE EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS
Build an email subscriber list and use email marketing to nurture relationships, drive repeat purchases, and generate new leads. Implement automation to send personalized emails based on customer behaviour, such as abandoned cart reminders, product recommendations, and exclusive offers.
Here is a simple e-commerce sales strategy guide:
- Provide a discount or free guide as a lead magnet.
- Include clear email signup CTAs on your website’s landing and checkout pages.
- Promote your mailing list subscription via social media.
- Capture emails with pop-ups or slide-ins.
- Give away prizes or discount coupons to those who signup.
- Advertise to boost traffic and signups.
#3. MAKE YOUR WEBSITE MOBILE-FRIENDLY
With the increasing use of mobile devices for online shopping, optimizing your e-commerce website and ensuring a seamless mobile experience is crucial. Responsive design, mobile-friendly interfaces, and easy navigation are essential to capture mobile users and boost conversions.
Simplify the checkout process to minimize cart abandonment rates. Implement features like guest checkout, autofill forms, and multiple payment options to make the purchasing experience quick and hassle-free. Additionally, clearly display shipping costs and provide transparency regarding taxes and fees.
In today's market, a mobile-friendly, fully-functional website is essential and providing a seamless mobile experience is a crucial marketing strategy for e-commerce if you are struggling with how to increase e-commerce sales.
Here are some suggestions:
- Create a responsive design.
- Ensure quick load time.
- Increase site search functionality and mobile optimization.
- Make checking out easier.
- Make buttons big and visible.
#4. MAKE USE OF POP-UPS WITH OPT-IN OFFERS
Using pop-ups with opt-in offers is a relevant e-commerce business strategy that helps businesses capture leads and increase conversions. These pop-ups provide opportunities to collect email addresses and build an email subscriber list, which can be used for targeted marketing campaigns and remarketing efforts.
By presenting compelling opt-in incentives and strategically timing the pop-ups, businesses can motivate visitors to take action, whether it's making a purchase or signing up for services.
Additionally, exit intent pop-ups can be effective in reducing cart abandonment rates and recovering potential lost sales. However, it's important to use pop-ups judiciously, considering the user experience, and providing clear value propositions and easy exit options.
This marketing strategy for e-commerce helps expand your contact list, which is helpful for email marketing and, ultimately, for increasing sales.
#5. USE SOCIAL PROOF MARKETING
Social proof plays a crucial role in building trust and credibility for your brand, encouraging potential customers to make a purchase.
Encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews, ratings, and testimonials. Display these customer reviews and ratings prominently on your product pages to demonstrate the positive experiences of previous buyers.
Additionally, leverage user-generated content (UGC) by featuring customer photos and videos showcasing your products. UGC provides social proof and helps potential customers visualize your products in real-life scenarios.
There are indeed scenarios where social proof marketing has been more effective than most strategies, especially when decoding how to increase e-commerce sales.
Use reviews that your ideal consumers will identify with and the most convenient way to do this is through a social proof app.
#6. USE CHATBOTS
The usage of chatbots is a highly relevant e-commerce business strategy due to its ability to enhance customer service, provide personalized assistance, and improve overall user experience.
Chatbots can be implemented on websites or messaging platforms to engage with customers in real time, addressing their queries, offering product recommendations, and guiding them through the purchasing process.
By leveraging artificial intelligence and natural language processing, chatbots can understand and respond to customer inquiries promptly, providing instant support and reducing response times. They can also assist in upselling and cross-selling by suggesting related products based on customer preferences. With their 24/7 availability, chatbots ensure that customers receive timely assistance, leading to increased customer satisfaction and potentially higher conversions. Overall, chatbots streamline customer interactions, save time, and contribute to building stronger customer relationships in the e-commerce realm.
#7. USE DISCOUNT SALES
Here are different ways e-commerce websites can offer sales or discounts:
- BOGO deals.
- Free shipping.
- Clearance or flash sales.
- Seasonal or holiday promotions.
- Loyalty program rewards.
- Referral discounts.
Create urgency with your technique. Use scarcity psychology. This may be done using sale countdown timers. This marketing strategy for e-commerce can help your website attract customers, drive sales, and foster customer loyalty through attractive pricing and promotional offers.
#8. ALLOW VOICE COMMERCE
The usage of voice commerce is a relevant e-commerce business strategy due to the increasing popularity of voice assistants and smart speakers.
Voice commerce allows customers to make purchases or interact with e-commerce websites using voice commands. With the rise of virtual assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, users can conveniently search for products, add items to their cart, and complete transactions without the need for a screen.
Voice commerce offers a hands-free and seamless shopping experience, making it convenient for customers to make purchases while multitasking and is a highly recommended e-commerce sales strategy.
E-commerce businesses can optimize their websites and implement voice search capabilities to cater to this growing trend, providing a frictionless shopping experience and staying ahead in the evolving e-commerce landscape.
It is predicted that by 2024, the number of digital voice assistants will overtake the human population!
#9. RETARGETING
Retargeting advertising, or remarketing is an e-commerce sales strategy that allows e-commerce businesses to reach out to users who have previously visited their website but did not make a purchase. By displaying targeted ads to these users across various platforms, businesses can remind them of their products and encourage them to return and complete their purchases.
#10. HELP CUSTOMERS IN ANY WAY YOU CAN
E-commerce is much more than the availability of top-notch products and services. They’re highly important but excellent customer service is an e-commerce sales strategy that helps you stand out from the crowd.
Great customer service goes a long way in boosting sales and fostering customer loyalty. Today, it includes serving prospects and customers across many channels and treating each contact or touchpoint, like SMS, chatbots, and live chat, as a seamless, frictionless whole.
Using a customer experience platform to power a unified customer view and bring all customer contact data together is an effective method. It allows you to respond promptly to inquiries, address customer concerns and personalize customer interactions.
Happy customers are more likely to become repeat customers and refer your brand to others so go that extra mile.
In Coclusion
In a competitive landscape, employing the e-commerce business strategy can make a significant difference in skyrocketing your sales.
Let’s summarise the answer to the most frequent question new businesses have, i.e. “How to increase e-commerce sales?”
By optimizing your website for a seamless user experience, personalizing the shopping journey, leveraging social proof and user-generated content, harnessing the power of social media, offering mobile-friendly experiences, implementing effective email marketing campaigns, and providing exceptional customer service, you can set your e-commerce business on a path to success.
Stay adaptable, continuously monitor market trends, and evolve your strategies to meet the changing demands of your customers.