What is e-commerce marketing?
An ecommerce marketing strategy is a plan for promoting your online store and increasing sales. The strategy is a long-term vision for your ecommerce company. Market, trend, consumer research, brand values and product knowledge are all factors.
An industry with so many products, business models, and target groups that it’s impossible to pick one best practice. What works for one seller selling a specific product may not work for another selling to a different market or audience.
Here are some general marketing ideas to help you develop an ecommerce marketing strategy.
1. Set your target market and audience
To find the right voice, messaging, channels, and offers, first understand your target audience.
2. Study your competitors’ moves
It’s not worth reinventing the wheel if it’s working. But also look for improvements. This can give you a competitive edge.
3. Set benchmarks-based goals
Make projections based on industry data before collecting your own. This will help you focus.
4. As you gain ground, add more marketing channels
If your initial marketing strategy is working, try new channels and tactics. For example, a dedicated customer service person can add a live chat.
5. Find marketing tools that can help you
As you can see, ecommerce marketing is complex. Luckily, there are tools available to help you get started with many of the tactics mentioned.
6. Customize your message
Personalized ads, emails, SMS, and live chat deliver better results. Customers enjoy being understood rather than receiving a generic message.
7. Automate everything
Small businesses need autopilot sales to scale. The less you have to do, the better. Then marketing automation tools like bulk emails, workflows and lead scoring can help.
8. Track and refine your ecommerce marketing results.
The only way to measure an ecommerce marketing strategy’s success is to track ROI (ROI). Non-productive campaigns are not worth the money spent. Reuse the ones that work for a larger audience.
9. Aim for profit, not just sales
Paying for new customers may reduce your profit. You pay more for one-off sales due to ad prices and more returns and exchanges (new customers don’t know their size, etc.). It’s cheaper to sell to existing customers.
10. Embrace your brand’s loyalty
Customer loyalty boosts profits, improves brand image, and attracts new customers referred by fans. It has a long-term impact, so start working on it now. CRM loyalty tiers, automations, and behavior insights will help.