5 Ways you can Energize Your eCommerce Marketing Strategies

 It is important to note that this is not simply a trend due to the restrictions of 2020, prior to the pandemic, in a study by CouriersPlease, it was found that over half of all Australians will spend more time shopping online than in traditional brick and mortar stores.

However, this growth also brings fierce competition as an increasing number of businesses compete for customer’s attention and wallet space. Ecommerce businesses are constantly finding ways to outpace their competitors. As such, it is essential for businesses to both innovate and stay up to date with e-commerce trends.

User-generated content

User-generated content is any content (videos, images, reviews) that is developed by people, rather than the brands themselves.  It is the modern-day equivalent of word-of-mouth marketing, but with significantly greater potential for reach.

This is arguably the best strategy a business can adopt to connect your brand with your desired target audience.  The benefit of user-generated content is that it helps your brand earn “social proof” that your product is worth the purchase.

For the most part, the people who create this content are not paid to do so. It is simply because they enjoy the products and are recommending it to their peers. In fact, user-generated content is 2.4 times more likely to be viewed as authentic content, compared to content generated by brands.

There are multiple ways to adopt User Generated Content.

You can find influencers relevant to your brand and reach out to them. You do not necessarily have to go for the influencer with an incredibly large audience. A smaller influencer with higher quality content is just as, if not more likely to generate conversions.

Alternatively, you can encourage user-generated content through sharing existing customer photos to promote loyalty, running social media giveaways, and offering incentives.

Sell products directly through social media  

The growth of eCommerce is parallel to the rise of social media.  Social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are making it incredibly easier for companies to sell directly through them. Instagram launched its in-app shopping feature this year, giving your customer the ability to directly buy your products through your Instagram page. The Instagram Shop tab is now also a permanent tab on your customer’s page, where they can shop products personalised to their tastes.

Selling directly through social media networks offers customers the ability to checkout directly within the platform they are already using. Essentially making it easier for the customer to complete their purchase, reducing potential objections, and reducing abandonment rates. 

For more information on selling through social media, check out this article.

Search engine optimisation

Search engine optimisation strategies are well-developed plans which aim to rank your site as high as possible on search engine platforms in relation to relevant keywords.  With such high levels of competition, it is particularly important that your company ranks well on search engines.  Especially considering 87% of shoppers begin their search online when considering products to buy. Having rich and relevant content means that you will attract relevant customers to your website and thus create a positive user relationship and experience.

When providing product information or post content on the website, you must ensure that it is useful and connected to what your customers may search for. Having relevant keywords will improve your results on search engines, beating out your competitors, and garnering greater brand awareness. Search engine optimization is a particularly low-cost strategy, with a high return on investment.
 

Use videos to market products

In particular, the use of videos should be a priority in your marketing strategy. Video content marketing is the use of videos to promote your produce, service or overall brand.  If you are not making the most of video marketing content, you will fall behind your competitors. According to Wyzowl Research, 86% of businesses use video as a marketing tool. 

The use of video marketing enables users a greater understanding of the product or service. Not only does video content encourage sales, but it also reduces the potential number of product support questions or calls which your business may receive. 

This can be linked directly back to our previous point of user-generated content. Videos of customers using or recommending your products can be a key driving promotion for your brand.

Types of videos you can create for your business

• Instructional videos
• Product reviews
• Product recommendations
• Videos answering frequently asked questions
• Promotional videos
• Product demonstration videos

Optimise the user experience for mobile usage

Following the trends of mobile payment applications (e.g Paypal, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, etc), there is strong potential for mobile commerce for online retailers.  In 2021, mobile commerce sales were expected to make up 53.9% of all e-commerce sales and the estimated number of global smartphone users is 6.4 billion.

Therefore, to cater to these usage patterns, it is both important and necessary to ensure that you invest in optimising the user experience for mobile users. When people visit your website, they want to be directed straight to their source of interest. IF they are redirected to a mobile app download page or a web version that is difficult to navigate via mobile, this can lead to seriously high bounce rates.

Having a website that is not optimised for mobile is like putting products on shelves that customers cannot reach themselves. It makes the sales process more difficult and leads to many missed opportunities. From using micro-influencers to user experience optimisation, there are many small tangible strategies that you can adopt to boost your eCommerce marketing strategies. 

Still not sure what else you can do to improve your marketing? Contact the Marketing Eye team to generate conversions on your e-commerce platform through a tailored marketing strategy.