ShivaniEvery online store wants to increase traffic and conversions. But even after putting together a basic strategy, deciding what marketing tactics you should try can be challenging.
This blog has an overview of eCommerce Best Practices, marketing strategies and tools, and insights to help you implement each approach. The ideas range from direct acquisition to generating more repeat purchases from the customer base you already have.
Try implementing one of these ideas every day for the next few weeks. On the last day of the sprint, take stock and determine which marketing efforts best helped drive new sales.
What is e-commerce marketing?
E-commerce marketing uses promotional strategies to drive traffic to your online store, convert that traffic into paying customers, and retain those customers after a purchase.
A complete e-commerce strategy consists of marketing strategies on and off your website. A good marketing strategy can help you build brand awareness, retain customers, and ultimately increase your online sales.
You can promote your online store using e-commerce marketing tools for general business or increase sales of specific products. Below is an overview of e-commerce best Practices for successful online stores, which you can try in 2023.
21+ Ecommerce Best Practices
1. Invest in SEO
Ecommerce SEO refers to the search engine optimization of an online store. Your goal is to rank your product pages in the top 10 results on search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. It brings more organic (unrestrained) traffic to your website.
There are a few ways to invest in SEO:-
- Do keyword research and include keywords in your page URLs, product descriptions, and blog posts.
- Optimize your website structure and create an efficient user experience
- Create backlinks from other popular sites
If you do it right, you can show up for popular search terms related to your products.
SEO seems complicated initially, but you don’t have to do it alone. Also, you can improve SEO with AB testing.
2. Avoid Clutter
Ecommerce websites with a simple design can help you avoid clutter. Therefore, you can consider using eCommerce themes such as multifox, woodmart, uDesign for high conversion rates.
It should be clear what the focus is. The visitor’s eye should directly point to the call-to-action button or the product you sell. Multiple concentrations, however, make it challenging to identify CTAs.
Around 53% of websites have a CTA that takes more than three seconds to reach visitors. Then it would be best if you found a faster time.
3. Launch an influencer marketing campaign
Influencer marketing is a smart way to speed up your online eCommerce business. They help you reach new audiences, increase brand awareness, and work with content creators who drive sales for you. Influencers are like internet celebrities who work as ambassadors for your brand. You pay them to promote your products through free products, cash, or discounts.
A recent study by Mediakix revealed that 80% of marketers believe that influencer marketing is effective. Instagram is the most popular channel, used by 67% of brands.
Other marketing channels include:
- Youtube
- Snapchat
- Tik Tok
Influencer marketing is excellent for finding relevant customers. How often have you seen an influencer’s Instagram post, liked what they were wearing and wanted to buy it? Promoting products through influencers shortens the sales cycle.
4. Simplify your menu
Menus are a great way to stay organized and gather what you’re selling. But, as mentioned earlier, you don’t have to overcomplicate things.
Too many menu categories confuse customers and prevent them from finding what they are looking for.
Your menu doesn’t have to be super specific. Instead, use great keywords to categorize your products.
For example, your e-commerce brand sells clothing, including T-shirts, long-sleeve shirts, sweaters, regattas, custom shorts, and vests.
Instead of having five different menu options for each option, you can group them into one category, i.e., “top.”
5. Sell on different marketplaces
It’s no secret that marketplaces are where people shop online. Major online marketplaces sold $3.32 trillion worth of merchandise in the past year, representing two-thirds of global e-commerce sales.
Marketplaces like Amazon and eBay can help people discover your brand more quickly, reaching millions worldwide. Some customers are die-hard buyers and are likely to buy from a single channel they know.
So for e-commerce brands, using marketplaces to complement your branded storefront is recommended. You don’t have to list all your products on the market, just some of the best sellers. Create eye-catching listings that showcase your brand and add branded packaging inserts to Marketplace orders that encourage people to buy directly from your website.
6. Allow visitors to search within specific sections
Deal: By adding options like the “All Departments” filter to the left of the search box, you can help the store save time and generate more relevant search results.
It is an excellent way for sites with various products to help shop search. Offering helpful filter options from the start can provide more relevant and accurate results for your visitors.
It’s only a little help, but increasing your conversion rate will show you how important it is.
7. Create a PPC ad
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is businesses’ primary form of online advertising. It offers flexible Information management and a good return on investment. PPC advertising usually focuses on internet advertising opportunities on search engines.
Whether it’s social media or websites, these ads work well for e-commerce brands because they target ready-to-buy customers and can lead to more sales than organic marketing. Two popular platforms for running PPC ads are Facebook and Google.
8. Add a search bar
It is always a wise option to add a search bar. Some of you may not have many products to sell. But other eCommerce sites may have hundreds or thousands of options.
Forcing users to scroll through these options randomly won’t lead to sales or conversions. That’s why implementing an eCommerce search feature on your store is the best option.
9. Buy a premium web hosting service
Speed is one of the most critical components of a successful eCommerce website. Every page needs to load quickly to get high conversions.
But what if you buy a cheap web hosting plan? It will cost you in the long run. Studies have shown that a 1-second delay in page loading can lead to a 16% drop in user satisfaction and a 7% drop in conversions if your site is delayed by two to three seconds. Although, the best PHP hosting can prevent your website from site crash, bug, or even worse. Moreover, if you want to explore more options than you can check out some great wpengine alternatives.
Therefore, you should spend money on a premium web hosting plan.
10. Eliminate steps in your checkout process.
When a website visitor decides to buy something, they should be able to complete their purchase efficiently.
Each additional step in the payment process increases the probability of the transaction being abandoned. 28% of consumers said that they left their shopping cart during checkout. It is because the process is time-consuming and complex. Therefore, simplify your checkout process and eliminate any extra steps. You can use ASP.NET open source e-commerce platform, as it allows you to customize your in a way so that your customers have smoother online checkout experiences
11. Upselling your product
Most of us have heard, “Would you like to increase your order size?” It is an example of upselling or the practice of selling a product that costs a little more than the customer initially thought.
For many e-commerce businesses, upselling and cross-selling can be more effective than acquiring new customers. Sometimes your customers are unaware that a premium product is available, so they may need more evidence to understand how well the upgrade (or package) meets their needs.
There are two critical things to consider when using upsells to increase sales:
- Make sure your promotions relate to the actual product.
- Know the price range your customers expect.
12. Instagram Integration
With over 500 million daily active users, Instagram is one of the fastest growing social apps, connecting users, influencers and brands.
If you take compelling photos, use hashtags strategically, and post at the correct times, you’re on your way to building a large Instagram following of people interested in your content. Engaging with your followers is key to growing your organic presence on Instagram.
What are some ways to interact with your target audience on Instagram?
- You can try running a contest or go behind the scenes to show your product development process.
- You can also pay to play on Instagram.
- For eCommerce marketing, adding products such as tactical gear to your Instagram posts, stories and reels gives your followers a way to buy directly, which is critical to growing your online sales.
13. Sending shopping cart abandonment emails
Once a user has set up their profile, you can find out if they’ve added something to their shopping cart without making a purchase.
Often, they only had a click or two to complete the transaction and were interested enough in the product to add it to the cart.
Sending an email to the customer reminding them of the item can be enough to close the sale.
14. Write a regular blog post
How often does the same person visit your e-commerce website?
Chances are, they don’t buy anything every day. They may not buy anything even once a week. Only your top customers can make one purchase per month.
If people aren’t on your website, they obviously can’t spend any money. But running a blog in addition to your eCommerce site is a great way to build a strong following. For example, if you’ve got a men’s clothing e-commerce store, you can publish blogs on fashion tips and style guides like men’s cocktail attire, business attire, etc. Now people have a reason to check your site every day or every week. When they are on-site, they can buy something.
15. Reward loyal customers
Focusing on customer retention is a profitable way to increase online sales. According to Stitch Labs, loyal customers make up 22% of a retailer’s revenue but only 11% of total shoppers.
Another way to reward loyal customers is a customer loyalty program. There are many ways you and your customers can benefit from a loyalty program. They give customers more incentive to buy and deliver, and automated reminders keep your brand in the spotlight.
16. Customize product pages
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the practice of optimizing your website for in-place conversions and increasing sales. Practising CRO will help you identify problem areas on your site.
Where are you losing sales? Who is leaving and why? What can you do to take advantage of these missed opportunities? This process is done through qualitative and quantitative research, so you get a complete and objective view of how your site converts.
Once you’ve done your research to identify problems and opportunities, you can create forecasts and tests to determine which strategies will generate the most sales.
17. Send text messages
Sending promotional SMS messages to existing and potential customers is called SMS marketing. The messages are intended to notify customers of special offers, promotions, updates, warnings, and product information.
E-commerce is currently the most successful industry that uses SMS marketing. About 70% of consumers say that SMS is an excellent way to get their attention. According to a study by Marketo, multimedia content has a 15% higher click-through rate (CTR) and increases campaign subscriptions by 20%.
18. Think Local
Regular businesses are not the only ones that can join the local movement. Online retailers can also take a regional approach to eCommerce marketing tactics to increase online sales.
Here are some ways to find out what locality means to you:
- Determine where you have a high concentration of customers and start promoting that location.
- See what products these customers are buying and other indicators of purchase behavior, and be aware of local events or seasons to help you time your promotion right.
- If you have a warehouse or multiple warehouses, consider running a promotion with discounted free shipping or expedited shipping to nearby customers.
19. Engage Online Store Visitors With Live Chat
Besides email, there are other effective ways to interact with site visitors and customers. For example, you can use Chat to interact with customers on your site.
Many live chat tools allow you to target browsers on specific pages after they’ve been on your site for a certain period or even after landing on your site via an email newsletter. Live Chat also lets you talk directly to your customers so you can respond and resolve issues right when they’re planning a purchase.
20. Anticipate future sales
If you have the opportunity to expand your product line, you need to assess the market demand and see if it’s worth the cost. You can do this with various approaches: keyword research, geo validation, social media trends, etc. Another creative way to test your market is to Pre-sell items to see how many people order.
21. Use personalization
Personalization is another effective marketing tactic to drive online sales. The visitor is provided with a personalized experience based on their past actions and preferences.
According to BCG, personalization can increase sales by 10%, but there are many more opportunities. Only 15% of companies use this technology to its full extent.
You can also consider location in personalization to create an experience focused on where your customers are in the world.
22. Accept as many payment options as possible.
In the constantly evolving world of e-commerce, staying updated with the latest payment processing methods is vital. To truly optimize your online checkout experience and enhance customer satisfaction, consider understanding payment gateways. They play a crucial role in securely handling transactions and can impact your choice of marketing tools and strategy execution in driving conversions for your online store.
You can’t assume that everyone has a Visa or MasterCard. Even if they do, it doesn’t mean it’s your preferred payment method. One of these cards may be the maximum or have better membership benefits than the other.
Even if other credit card companies charge higher fees for business transactions, you still need to use other cards like Discover and American Express.
Your eCommerce site must also accept alternative payment methods like PayPal and Apple Pay for hassle-free payment.
CONCLUSION
Running a successful eCommerce website is not an easy task. Fortunately, you can do plenty of things to increase your chances of upselling and keeping your customers coming back for more. Don’t let this list of best practices scare you. Instead, take this as an opportunity and help expand your business. Follow the above-listed Ecommerce Best Practices for running your business successfully.
