Driving traffic to an online store and converting leads into paying customers is the goal of every eCommerce business owner-whether you run a multinational company or a mom-and-pop shop. But the million-dollar question is:how?
In an increasingly crowded (and lucrative) eCommerce marketspace, you need to stand out from the competition or find a way to get in front of your target audience to survive. For this reason, you must leverage the best practices in online marketing-which is why this article exists.
Read for 9 inspired tips to market your online store and boost your sales.
Mobile and Web Design
Promoting your online store starts with how you present yourself. You may have the best products and the best offers on the table-but if customers can barely navigate your store, sales are bound to drop.
According to statistics, the chances of a prospective customer buying from your online store drops by 62% if they have a negative mobile website experience. So ensure both your desktop and mobile web design are responsive with clean, distraction-free layouts.
If you can’t hire a web designer (or do it yourself), there are tons of optimized web design templates available on the internet for inspiration.
SEO Strategy – Optimize Your Content
In addition to an intuitive web design, you must incorporate SEO (Search Engine Optimization) best practices to help market your eCommerce store. An optimized SEO strategy is an effective way to drive organic traffic to your website. Here’s how.
- Use tools such as SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Google Keyword Planner to find frequently-search terms/phrases (aka. keywords) in your niche.
- Include these keywords in your product titles, descriptions, and images-as well as meta descriptions and title tags. (Tip: Use language that potential customers are likely to use in their search bars).
- Measure the success of your SEO strategy and optimize your site.
Social Media Marketing
Your ideal customer is likely scrolling through a social media page at this very moment. So why not throw an ad to your eCommerce business in their feed?
In a nutshell, the trick to building a great social media presence is investing in branding, consistency, driving engagement by being personable, focusing on where your ideal customer tends to hang out on social media, and constantly monitoring the performance of your marketing campaigns.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising
According to Google, you could increase your brand awareness by up to 80% by using search ads [PPC]. As the most popular PPC service, Google AdWords allows you to bid on keywords for ads that appear on the search engine’s first page for the selected keywords.
PPC models are also available on social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. With paid advertising, you’re able to measure the effectiveness of a campaign by comparing the traffic/sales generated to the Ad costs.
Blogging
Running a SEO blog with great content alongside your eCommerce store is a low-cost-yet effective-strategy to pull traffic to your online store. This makes blogging a must-have tool in every business owner’s online marketing strategy.
“Great content is the best sales tool in the world.”
–Marcus Sheridan
A blog is a way to connect with prospects or customers beyond the ‘salesy’ aspects of your store. It offers useful information that helps build buyers’ trust and set you up as the go-to authority in your niche. But remember, consistency and valuable content are key!
Strategic Partnerships
This may include strategies such as co-sponsoring activities, offering each other’s products in promotional offers, or even influencer marketing.
Regarding influencer marketing, ensure the influencers you partner with align with your target audience and have the power to influence their follower’s purchasing behavior. As the saying goes, “Alone we are strong, together we are stronger.”
Email Promotion – Build an Email List
It’s a great way to announce new products, guide prospects down the sales funnel, and re-target leads with discounts.
Best of all, email marketing for your online store allows you to engage with audiences and address their specific needs based on their purchasing activity. According to industry estimates, abandoned cart emails have a 41% open rate compared to the average open rate of 18%.
Product Reviews – Boost Your Credibility
Buyers (including you) often require social proof before investing their hard-earned money in a product or service. This is especially important for eCommerce-whereby buyer can’t interact with sellers or their products in-person.
For this reason, you should consider using buyers feedback (ratings and reviews) to build your credibility and trustworthiness.
Gently nudge your happy customer to leave behind reviews on their shopping experience and try to display as many reviews as possible.
Support Services – Improve the Shopping Experience
Convincing prospects to buy your products is only one part of the eCommerce equation. You must also pay special attention to their shopping experience. Make sure your customers feel comfortable and catered for as they navigate your store.
Some support services to promote your online store include.
- Offering free shipping: This is one of the main reasons people shop online.
- Avoid high extra costs: Some studies rate this as the main reason behind cart abandonment.
- An informative “About Us” page and contact information: According to KPMG online users trust a business that makes effort to facilitate seamless communication. Consider adding chat features, email addresses, or phone numbers.
Takeaway?
There are many ways to promote your online store today. You just have to find which techniques work best for your unique business and make the time/monetary investment. This guide is designed to nudge you in the right direction and hopefully boost your online sales.
And remember, your existing customers are more valuable than a new customer!
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