When you think of buying a product do you think of going to a store or buying the product online? Most people will say they are going to buy it online instead of making the trip to the store. In fact, eCommerce revenue now represents 10.7% of U.S. retail sales. Consumers are increasingly relying on online shopping. It is estimated that 95% of purchases will be made online by 2040. The new wave of ecommerce is opening up the doors of opportunities to countless entrepreneurs and small businesses.
A big part of ecommerce is making sure that you are looking at the big picture and not just short-term goals. By successfully implementing ecommerce strategies into a business plan it can help to grow the business. We have outlined ten ecommerce strategies to help grow your business in 2020.
10 Ecommerce Strategies
Customer Personalization: Over 80% of customers are more likely to buy from an online store that provides personalized experiences. Businesses should stray away from a one-size fits all method and focus on personalized experiences for their specific target audience. The personalized experience needs to be implemented throughout the entire customer journey. Personalization tactics should be included in on-site browsing, email, social media activity, and even paid ads.
Ecommerce Conversion Optimization: The ecommerce market is highly competitive unless the business operates in a niche market. Due to this, ecommerce optimization is key. It can help businesses stand out from the competitors, build trust, offer better customer experience and finally, and to have higher conversions. The average ecommerce conversion rate is about 2.77% but it can vary depending on a number of factors. This is why a business should have a goal of increasing their own ecommerce conversion by looking at their Google analytics and adjusting based on data from week-to-week, month-to-month, and year-to-year.
Use Social Media to Your Advantage: Social media can be a great ecommerce tool. In fact, 57% of consumers said that social media influences their shopping. With platforms such as Instagram and Facebook you can boosts posts about products or use Facebook advertising to promote product deals. A whopping 39% of customers say they will follow a business’s page on Facebook in order to learn more about deals and promotions. It may feel like a hassle to have a strong business presence on social media, but it really does make a difference in a business’s success.
Tap into User Generated Content (USG) & Influencer Marketing: Sometimes the best kind of advertising is free advertising. Instead of paying a Kardashian like influencer to promote your product encourage your own regular customers to promote your product. By doing this your customers become micro-influencers and serve as great advertisers for your brand. Serengetee is a popular clothing brand that excels at this. They have micro-influencers promote their products on their social media platforms by wearing their clothes and taking pictures in them. Micro-influencers are incentivized to do this because the company normally will give them products at a discounted price. By doing this a business receives brand exposure and will increase their ecommerce.
Chatbots: Chatbots are the way of the future. The global chatbot market has attained a massive 24.3% Compound Annual Growth Rate and 45% of users consider chatbots their primary choice for customer service inquiries. Chatbots make interacting with customers quick and easy. When a customer needs help, they do not want to wait. Having a chatbot or a live chat feature helps to mitigate customer confusion and increase the number of conversions for a business. Learn more about Chatbots from MobileMonkey: "Smart, Flexible, Easy-to-Install Multi-Channel Website Chatbot."
Implement Google Shopping Ads: Google Shopping ads are a great way to get your products out to customers. Google Shopping ads include product image, price, and the merchant name. The ads are created using attributes from product information submitted to the Merchant data feed. Customers will search for a product and if your product description meets the searched criteria then it will appear for the customer.
Develop a Strong Omnichannel Strategy: Just having an online store is not enough. Strong brands use pop-up stores or open education centers to help interact with their customers. Omnichannel marketing techniques allow a business to attain a unified view of their customers and it helps to understand buyer’s purchasing behavior. A strong omnichannel strategy beyond the website that increases customer interaction will give a business a clear competitive advantage.
Create Subscription Programs: One of the best ways for an ecommerce business to increase sales is through subscription programs. BarkBox does a great job of creating personalized subscription programs for their customers. Customers answer a couple of questions about their dogs and then each month a specialized box is shipped to a customer based on their feedback from the prior box. Subscription programs allow businesses to create a relationship with their customers and create a personalized program.
Grow Your Customer List: Email marketing is a huge part of ecommerce that should not be ignored. Consumers purchasing products through email spend 138% more than those that don’t receive email offers. Businesses should have a place for customers to sign-up to receive emails on their website and it should give them the same option at the end of completing a purchase. The more a business can grow their list the more customers they can build a relationship with and therefore increase their ecommerce conversion rate.
Write Newsletters and Blogs: A proven strategy for ecommerce is to write and post content. The more a business talks about what they have to offer the more people are going to listen. Long-form blog posts with informational guides can boost organic SEO by as much as 2 to 3 times over the course of a year. Also, sending newsletters to your customers reminding them of what products you have in stock or what promotions are going on it will help usher them to your website or online store.
These ten strategies are great to incorporate in your ecommerce strategy. We know creating a strong ecommerce strategy can seem daunting. However, if you invest the time in doing it you will see immense results.