The impetus and desire we have to launch our online store can be counterproductive if we have not defined a pre-launch strategy. If we are determined to launch our ecommerce without having stopped to think if we are doing it right, there is a good chance that we will fail.
That is why we must know those factors that make online stores can succeed, but never without leaving aside the trial and error that you can go experienced continuously in your ecommerce: create, measure, learn and implement.
Some stats about the actual e-commerce status:
- E-commerce sales are expected to surpass $6.5 trillion during 2023,
- E-retail sales account for 22.3% of total retail sales,
- There are currently 12 to 24 million e-retail stores globally,
- 33% of the world shops online,
- 95% of all shopping will be done online by 2040.
Here are some tips that may be useful on how to create an online marketing strategy for ecommerce:
Trust: If someone is going to buy in your store, they have to feel that they can trust it and that is something that can be perceived with a clear and clean structure, as well as with a design in accordance with the times we are in and the corporate image you intend to show.
Multiple payment systems: The more payment methods we offer, the more possibilities the customer will have to buy our products. Today the basic forms of payment that should appear in your ecommerce are these: credit card, PayPal and bank transfer.
Responsive Design: The influence that mobile devices have (smartphones, tablets...) when it comes to materialize a purchase is enormous, so we must facilitate the display of our online store through them and adapt our content so that users achieve a good browsing experience through mobile devices that facilitate the achievement of the purchase.
Web positioning: Positioning in Google is key for users to find your website. Nowadays if you do not appear in Google you do not exist. Surely you have to put yourself in the hands of an expert, but some tips that can help you improve it are: page loading speed, keyword density, write your own original content, use the metatags and names and urls of your site appropriately, publication in Social Networks, clean HTML code, responsive design...
Creation of a blog: Frequent updating of a blog hosted under the same domain as our ecommerce, in addition to helping with web positioning and increasing the number of visitors, will help create a brand image and stand out within the sector in which your business is present. However, we must take into account that a blog needs to be updated with a very high frequency. There is no point in having a blog if you do not contribute content to it.
The product is always present: When selling a certain product, it must always have a detailed description and, above all, images that can be enlarged so that the user can see exactly what the product he is going to buy looks like. In the absence of images we can also use a demonstration video in which the functionalities of the product are indicated and it is clearly seen how it is, as well as a demonstration of its use.
Cross-selling: Let's help users and enhance our sales opportunities by offering complementary products. We can do this from the product page itself, to the page to initiate payment or even through a subsequent email with products related to your recent purchase.
Search engine: The inclusion of a search engine within the online store greatly facilitates that users find the products they want. When you are looking for a very specific product, the possibility of finding it instantly, without forcing the user to find it by browsing the web, increases the possibility of the purchase materializing.
Shipping costs: On many occasions the inclusion of shipping costs on the total purchase price can lead to a disappointment in the preconceived idea of payment in customers. Whenever possible, shipping costs should be free. What is usually done is to establish the free shipping costs from a minimum of euros spent. For example: free shipping costs from orders over 50 euros.
Return policy: Regarding the return policy, it is necessary to provide a system in which users can return the products they have bought, because one of the limitations of online shopping is that you cannot see the product on site, nor try it on. The usual thing is that if the product is defective or incorrect, the return costs are paid by the online store and if you want to change it because you do not like it, the costs are paid by the user.
Online chat: When our visitors do not find the information they are looking for or need to solve their doubts instantly in order to continue shopping, the most advisable thing to do is to insert an online chat. Surely you have already seen them on many pages. This is a small window that appears at the bottom right of the web page where the user can ask questions and you can answer them instantly. This facilitates the resolution of doubts, better customer service, security and a superior shopping experience. There are different companies that are dedicated to this type of chat. They are pre-made tools that adapt to your needs and have a minimum monthly maintenance cost. It simply consists of inserting the code into your web page so that it is displayed... and it works! Try it out and see how your ROI increases. In addition, you can choose the moment you want the chat window to appear: at the top of the page, throughout the website, in the final phase of purchase, on the three pages viewed...
Users' evaluation of the products: When we go to buy something we need someone to corroborate that we are not wrong, that we are making the right decision. That's why it's very useful to have other users' evaluations (number of stars or score) and also their comments.
Private area: Provide your customers with an area where they can see all the purchases they have made, the invoices, an economic summary and a place where they can manage their returns. In short, a way to know everything they have done with you and simplify their life when they access your online store.
Cookies: Cookies are small files that can be installed in the browser of visitors to our website under a previous "information". This is the typical message that appears when we access a website "We use cookies on this website". They can be analytical cookies to know the views and statistics of your website, such as Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a very good analytical tool that will allow us to know what is most visited and why, create events and objectives that will give us data to improve our website. Because what is not measured cannot be improved. But there are also other types of cookies, for example session cookies. With these cookies we can know the person who is browsing our website, the products they are looking at and the ones they add to the shopping basket but finally do not buy. Thanks to this data we can later send you personalized offers and purchase reminders.
Analytics and Usability: As I said, what cannot be measured cannot be improved. So you have to measure everything on your website to evaluate the data and apply the corresponding improvements. The free analytical tool par excellence is Google Analytics, but there are other more complete paid tools such as Omniture. Regarding usability, you must structure the content of the ecommerce correctly to facilitate the purchase, as well as a good loading speed, the style of the language we use, the visual hierarchy, the design, the functionality.
Email Marketing: Periodically it is advisable to send an email with our promotions and offers. Let's remind the user that we are there and those are our featured products that may interest them. In email marketing we must bear in mind that we do not have to be very repetitive because we will saturate the users and we will manage to generate rejection. When preparing an email must be optimized for mobile, since the opening is almost 50% of views from mobile devices, compared to 50% compared to conventional computers. The subject is also very important. The subject is the first thing the user sees, the subject is what will get him to open our email or send it to the trash. That's why it must be an attractive subject, not too long and without words like "offer" "free", because it will be identified as spam. Click here for tips on writing email subjects. When we write an email you will have to have a call to action or several, we want our clients to do something. In addition we have to always give them the option to unsubscribe and not receive any more mailings.
Loyalty: Let's take care of our customers. Getting new customers is very complicated, so we have to keep the ones we have. We have to make them loyal so that they buy from us again. Let's treat them as we would like them to treat us. For example: congratulate them for their birthdays or Christmas, offer them discount coupons, send them personalized promotions, create a points club.
Outlet section: In your ecommerce you can create outlet sections to encourage purchases at lower prices than usual. This has to be evaluated according to the brand image you want to convey. If you want to position yourself as an elitist brand, an outlet section is not recommended.
Sales: Online stores already work like physical stores in the aspect of sales. So when the desired sales come in, we will have to adapt our ecommerce. The home of our website is our showcase. Create attractive banners and show the old prices along with the new prices, so psychologically we will encourage our users to buy seeing the discount applied.
Landing Pages: For very specific products, seasonal dates or promotions we recommend the creation of these landing pages, which focus the information displayed without being distracted by other elements. In this article you will see how to create a good landing page.
Test A/B: It is a tool that allows you to offer different versions of the same web page to different users during a certain period of time. According to the design shown, information is collected about the performance of each of the versions to analyze it later and know which one works best and then apply it to the entire online store.
You can test everything from forms, to the size of the logo, to the colors of the design or the reproduction of a video. Everything can be tested.
The behavior in the navigability of the users varies a lot and thanks to the A/B tests we will know what works best.
Social Networking: Social Networking is essential, but first we must choose which networks to be on and why. You don't have to cover all the RRSS, only the most appropriate for your business. Analyze the characteristics and audiences of each Social Network and choose the ones you want to be present on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube, LinkedIn...
SEM Advertising: SEM (Search Engine Marketing) advertising is paid advertising to appear on search engines (Google) and aimed at attracting, retaining and converting traffic to our website. It is the fastest way to appear in Google and for users to find you. To do this you have to make a monthly investment, but if you have a good optimized campaign is recovered for sure with a very high ROI. Since you can segment by keywords, time of appearance, devices, language, date...
The benefits of SEM advertising are:
1. Increased visits, potential customers.
2. Short term and high quality results
3. Brand generation
4. Presence where your competition is
5. Increase in conversions
Within this type of advertising we can carry out campaigns of: search, display, remarketing, shopping, Youtube, Gmail, dynamic ads... But this would already need a separate article.
APP Mobile: Although we have already mentioned the importance of having a website adapted for mobile devices, if you see that your mobile traffic is very high, perhaps you should consider creating a mobile application. This application can do the same as the website or it can be a complement to the website and offer other types of different services. It will depend on each business situation.
Sending SMS and WhatsApp: Another way to reach our customers is by sending SMS, for which we have a limit of 160 characters. In this case we have to be very direct and if possible include the link to the website in question. Another very fashionable way now is to contact via WhatsApp, which achieves higher open rates, better quality and information than SMS, the possibility of including images, text and videos, setting up automatic responses and achieving greater speed.
Here are some tips that can help you with your online store, but there are many others.
I hope you find them useful and put them into practice. And keep in mind that there is no magic wand to make your ecommerce work, but this formula can be useful: Quality of the product + Quality of the service + Customization + Loyalty.
Silvia Mazzetta
Web Developer, Blogger, Creative Thinker, Social media enthusiast, Italian expat in Spain, mom of little 9 years old geek, founder of @manoweb. A strong conceptual and creative thinker who has a keen interest in all things relate to the Internet. A technically savvy web developer, who has multiple years of website design expertise behind her. She turns conceptual ideas into highly creative visual digital products.
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