eCommerce Marketing Tips

Intro

eCommerce is "commercial transactions conducted electronically on the Internet." Some examples of eCommerce platforms that you may have heard of are eBay, Amazon, Shopify, and Alibaba. If you are currently selling on an eCommerce platform, or plan to in the future, learning how to market your products on eCommerce platforms will help you stand out. eCommerce marketing is quite similar to digital marketing, in many instances the same strategies will work. Here are 5 tips for eCommerce Marketing...

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1. Directly Ask for a Sale

‍There may be times when your objective isn't extremely clear or obvious. Just as having clear Calls-to-Action (CTAs) is important in digital marketing, clearly asking for sales in the eCommerce space is important. Having plenty of clickable buttons on a page around the "Buy Now" button can cause confusion among customers. Here are a few ways to go about asking for a sale.

1. Upselling: Upselling can add 30+% to your sales. Once a shopper has indicated a preference for what they want to buy (possibly by placing an item in their shopping cart), try upselling them by displaying slightly better, but more expensive options. While it's not guaranteed that customers may buy the more expensive item (only about 4.25% of shoppers do this), it's worth a shot!
2. Cross-Selling: There's a reason Amazon includes a "customers also bought" section every time you try to buy something. Cross-Selling is when after selling the main item, such as a laptop, you attempt to sell other items customers would be interested in, such as warranties, headphones, laptop bags, etc. Cross-Selling will increase your revenue; a study showed that 31% of retailers see conversion rates skyrocket from 1% to 15%!

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2. Integrate your Social Media platforms with your eCommerce platform

Your social media accounts are a great way to advertise your products. Make sure to incorporate them with your eCommerce marketing. Here is how to do so...

1. Instagram enables you to make clickable galleries where customers can click on direct links in photos to purchase your products.
2. Facebook offers highly segmented targetting for their advertisements using consumer demographics and locations.
3. YouTube enables you to post product reviews, video testimonies, announce new products, etc.
4. Pinterest is a great place to showcase photos of your products. Consumers can "Pin" and "Save Concept" your images and come back to them later to complete a purchase.

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3. Support your eCommerce business with email marketing

Types of emails you can send include:

1. Welcome Emails
2. Informational Emails
3. Promotional Emails with coupons or discounts
4. Emails asking for feedback or a review
5. Emails with reminders if a customer is still shopping (has an incomplete transaction)

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4. Include Product Reviews

People are more likely to buy something that other people recommend to them. They want to buy things with good reviews. Research has shown that 92% of people trust word-of-mouth more than other kinds of advertising. Showcasing positive reviews or having a review section like Amazon does will help convert people who may be feeling iffy about a product. Having direct quotes from satisfied customers is useful. You can also ask them if they'd be willing to post about your product on their social media accounts or appear in a YouTube video to talk about their experience.

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5. Create and Deliver a Unique Customer Experience

People tend to remember bad experiences more than they tend to remember good ones. This is why it is especially important to ensure that your customers have no issues using your website and purchasing your product. You also want to make your customer experience unique in some way. If you are selling on a platform like eBay or Amazon, it may be hard to make your products stand out. However, if you have a website, attempt to offer customers personalized treatment. It is easier to do this online versus at a brick-and-mortar store due to the vast amount of data about the consumer that you have at your disposal. Use this to your advantage!

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Conclusion

Marketing on eCommerce platforms is a lot like general digital marketing. Directly asking for sales, integrating your social media accounts with your eCommerce business, supporting your business with email marketing, including product reviews, and creating and delivering a unique customer experience will increase your revenue. Good luck!

About the Author

Nikith Deo is the Digital Marketing intern for Sparrow Marketing. He is an incoming MS IMC student at Northwestern University.

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