10 Smart E-commerce Marketing Tips To Convert Visitors Into Sales

Whether you’re a fledgling online store just starting out, or have been in business for a few years now, e-commerce marketing should be an essential part of your growth strategy. With new brands cropping up every day, it’s only those brands that continually fine-tune their marketing manage to stand out from the crowd.

It’s also important to keep in mind that e-commerce marketing is more than just attracting visitors to your Shopify page. In today’s cutthroat e-commerce world, the real challenge and growth lie in converting them to paying customers. 

The good news is that there are a few needle movers that can massively tip the scales in your favor. With that mission in mind, we’ve rounded up the 10 most effective e-commerce marketing strategies that you can take immediate action on to improve conversions in 2021 and beyond.

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1. Maintain Cohesive Social Media Branding 

With 4.26 billion people flocking to social media every day, it is an absolute no-brainer to establish your brand in this space. With multiple social media platforms out there, you also likely have a presence on more than one platform.

 No matter what, you’ll definitely want to ensure that all your social branding is consistent. Starting from the way you communicate to your brand design collateral, you need to make them all look cohesive across the board — whether they see your Facebook ad or engage with your Pinterest post.

 Not only does it make it easier for your design and dev teams but it also imprints your branding ethos in their mind and makes your brand easily recognizable from the rest of the crowd.

 While this tip may not directly quantify an improvement in conversions, it carries the heavier weight of overall brand awareness. There’s a reason why the e-commerce heavyweights in the industry swear by social branding and also religiously stick to them.

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2. Leverage Video Marketing

Popular with consumers and marketers alike, video marketing is blowing up like never before. 

While images provide a visual of how a product looks, videos do a much better job of providing a multi-sensory and engaging experience to the user.

From blogs, social media ads, and landing pages you can sneak them into any phase of the customer’s journey and surprisingly in any platform as well. Plus you can even complement your current marketing channels with video – like repurposing your blog into a Youtube video or even a Youtube video into Tik Tok video.

An easier and quicker way to dip your toes into the realm of video is to seek the help of influencers and content creators. ‍

By using influencers in your marketing you can create relatable content that resonates with buyers and also expand your creativity and idea bank.

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3. Build/Grow Your Email List

‍Email marketing is one of the highest revenue generators in the digital marketing world. By including email marketing in your arsenal, you are essentially opening up another avenue to make the cash register ring.

Unfortunately, most e-commerce brands don’t get this right. Simply putting up a lackluster e-mail newsletter sign-up on the website is not enough. You need to have a strong CTA that encourages them to have a reason to submit a valid email address.

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Here are a few ways you can start building a list:

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• Leverage your social media platforms to build an email list. 

You can add your webpage link or newsletter signup link to your social media handle. You can then use Instagram posts, stories, contests, and giveaways to drive traffic toward this link.

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• Build a lead magnet

A lead magnet is the marketing equivalent of bait. You attract leads and prospects by offering them something of value in return for their email address. This transaction lies in the human’s innate need to reciprocate favors.

The lead magnet could be an e-book, a guide, a cheat sheet, a quiz, a free trial, or anything that gets them quick results. If you are pressed for time, you can create  incentives such as coupons, free spins, and discount offers as your lead magnet.

No matter what lead magnet you decide to go with, make sure it fits the user’s needs and desires. It should be something irresistible that they simply can’t say no to.

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• Use pop-ups and notification bars to draw eyeballs to your lead magnet.

Consumers today have the attention span of a goldfish. They simply don’t have the patience to scroll down to the bottom of the page to sign up for an email newsletter. Instead, your plan of action should be to bring the offer, front and center of their attention. You can achieve this by strategically placing pop-ups and navigation bars on your website.

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• Run Social Media Ads To Your Lead Magnet

If you want to boost traffic to your lead magnet AND have some money to spare in your advertising budget then definitely give social media ads a try. The advanced targeting capabilities of social media make it effortless to build email lists that align with your target demographic.

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4. Send Cart Abandonment Emails

One of the most common funnel leaks that hurt e-commerce brands and businesses is the abandoned cart. An abandoned cart is a scenario when a prospect adds products to a cart but then abandons the checkout without purchasing. Nearly 70% of consumers are guilty of this for various reasons ranging from high shipping costs, long checkout process, account creation, etc.

A powerful option to overcome this situation is to target such abandoned carts with a cart abandonment email sequence. It is a follow-up email sent to cart abandoned shoppers reminding people about the order and gently nudging them to take the final step. While targeting you can also target prospects that have simply checked out your website. 

And keep in mind, when it comes to cart abandonment emails, the quicker you deploy them, the more potential sales you can expect. You have a much harder job of getting a sale later down the road.

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Pro-Tip: Targeting these shoppers with discount codes and coupons is a great way to get them fired up to smash the buy button.

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5. Repurpose User-Generated Content (UGC) To Boost Ad Performance

When it comes to creating killer marketing, why look anywhere else when you already have your brand ambassadors doing the selling for you? 

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Let’s face it… 

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Consumers today have become numb to the stock photos and images popping up in their feed. However, they will stop and pay attention when it is something that is relevant, relatable, and engaging to them. This is where user-generated content comes into play. Research shows that an estimated 90% of consumers say UGC has more influence over their buying decisions as compared to any other channel. 

If you’ve already been playing around with advertising then you’ll definitely want to add UGC ads to your campaign. With higher click-through rates, social media ads coupled with UGC perform way better than the average one and because of the native feel of user-generated content, they are more prone to being trusted, read, and engaged.

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6. Upsell To Your Current Customers

The probability and ease of retaining an existing customer are better than finding a new one. Based on this marketing principle, this tip is one of the easiest ways to make more sales. 

Upselling is the process of encouraging and nudging customers to buy a pricier and upgraded version of the item that they already possess. This is your best bet when it comes to selling to your current customers.

Think about it, you are already so much ahead of the pack by targeting people who are aware of you and have already expressed interest in what you’re selling. 

While it may seem aggressive and pushy…. when done right, it can immensely enhance your customer’s shopping experience.

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Here are a few tips to nail upselling…

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• While the shopping activity is live, offer recommendations by using pop-ups either on the shopping feed or on the checkout page.
• Set up decoy pricing or the “rule of three”. Studies have shown that whenever three price ranges are offered, consumers often choose the middle price.
• Follow up with personalized emails after the sale and lure them in to get an upgrade.
• Use time urgency or quantity scarcity to boost the value of the upsell.

7. Use Referral Marketing

Commonly referred to as word-of-mouth marketing(WoMM), referral marketing is the process of leveraging your current customers to “bring in” or refer business to their friends and family, usually through incentives.

While referrals often take place organically, businesses too can offer loyalty and referral programs to hasten this process and make it easier for their customers.

While you can have your referral program listed on your website, people are more likely to take notice when you advertise it on social media. Run a campaign offering a discount to your existing customers, in exchange for a referral.

While you set up your referral program, ensure to always focus on offering fine products, stellar customer service, and a standout buying experience because this trifecta lies at the core of every successful referral marketing campaign.

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8. Set up your omnichannel marketing experience

If you want to give your brand the ultimate marketing boost, you should look into omnichannel marketing. Omnichannel marketing is the process of leveraging multiple channels and platforms to create an almost unified and seamless shopping experience for the customer.

Not only do consumers hang out on multiple platforms today, but they also use these platforms for different purposes and at different times. On the same note, their shopping and browsing behaviors also vary from platform to platform. By deploying omnichannel marketing, you have the opportunity of marketing to them across many more touchpoints while also being relevant to their needs.

A simple example of this approach is when a prospect visits a website and is then ad-retargeted almost immediately on social media.

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9. Show your social proof

Sounds simple, but packs a punch. Social proof is a major needle mover in persuading customers to take action, especially now, when there is significant competition while selling online. Plus, nearly all consumers compare several brands and solutions before making the final call. 

This is precisely why social proof is so important!

Social proof can be anything from case studies, written testimonials, and video reviews. You can also leverage awards won, press articles, and interviews to further strengthen the proof.

Go through your customer database, compile all the proof that you can possibly get your hands on, and scatter them all across your funnel. Create a separate testimonial story on Instagram. Use your case studies in your promotional email sequences. Drop them across your homepage. Pin them, link them and scream them from the rooftops!

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10. Engage Instagram followers with DM automation

This a newbie to the scene, but a powerful and high-impact one at best. It is a slowly blooming field that has not yet caught the attention of the masses, but right now, it presents a perfect opportunity to get in on the action.

DM automation is similar to chatbot messaging but much more complicated, and dynamic. Using automated message funnels based on algorithms and sequence workflow, you can now ignite conversations, address concerns and engage with your followers. From customer support, and lead generation to sales you can use them for various purposes.

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Conclusion

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If you’d like to put these tips into play without having to figure it out all by yourself, reach out to Growthhub.

At Growthhub, we’re obsessed with helping businesses like yours get the growth it deserves. 

Get in touch with us and we can match you with savvy influencers in as little as 24 hrs. We screen and pre-vet the marketers on our platform, so you don’t have to. Book a call with us today!