Global e-commerce is in the midst of exponential growth, with statistics suggesting 2018 will see the industry generate over $2.8 trillion in revenue. To put it in perspective, this is more than double than the level in 2014, where it reached $1.3 trillion. In just four years, online retail will have grown by over 100% as the graph from Statista demonstrates:
(Source: Statista.com)
As unlikely as it seems, these numbers are just a fraction of the full potential of e-commerce. By 2021, the total global revenue is projected to reach $4.8 trillion. And to further underline its potential, online sales are only expected to make up for 11.9% of total retail sales. The other 88.1% will be from brick-and-mortar stores.
(Source: Statista.com)
The opportunity to grow and expand your business with e-commerce is as big as ever. However, with opportunity comes competition. This guide sets out how you can get ahead of your rivals by harnessing the full power of marketing.
At MageMail, we’ve seen our clients routinely enjoy healthy growth by being proactive and engaging with their audience. Here’s how successful businesses do e-commerce marketing:
1. Getting Started
The very first step in developing a marketing strategy is to lay the foundations before you even get started. This involves doing the following:
- Deliver your brand and message: It’s highly likely, if not certain, there will be other stores selling the same or very similar products as yours. Therefore, you need to come up with a core message about what separates your business from others. This will form a key part of your brand identity.
- Identify your resources: Work out your budgets and other resources you can dedicate to marketing. Doing so will help prioritize and shape your overall strategy.
- Research: Build buyer personas, find out where they are, and which channels will enable you to reach them. For example, you may find more potential buyers in specific Facebook groups or niche forums rather than on Twitter.
- Prioritize: Once you have completed the three previous steps, you should now be in a position to select the most promising tactics and channels for your business to focus on.
The overall theme here is focus. As a business, you need to hone in on your target audience, work with the resources you have, and deliver the right message. If you are operating on a limited budget, then a targeted, focused approach is essential.
2. Embrace Personalization
Personalization is not a new concept. As a Deloitte report points out, in the absence of mass production before the industrial revolution in the 19th century, personalized products were the norm. In the 21st century, digital marketing has enabled businesses to personalize on a mass scale.
The value of personalization in e-commerce is backed up by data. Smart Insights found 48% of shoppers spend more when their experience is personalized. Moreover, one method of personalization – “Visitors who viewed this product also viewed” – can drive up to 68% of e-commerce revenues:
(Source: Smartinsights.com)
Intriguingly, this graph does not include product recommendations based on your purchasing or browsing history.
(Source: Amazon.com)
As one of the world’s most valuable companies, it pays to learn from Amazon. It makes personalized product recommendations the focal point of its site. Once I’ve logged into my account, and scroll down on the homepage, these suggestions greet me. Amazon remembers my previous site visits and what I’ve purchased on the site before.
Highly personalized, targeted, and effective.
In one survey, 45% of respondents said they would be more likely to shop on a site that offered personalized recommendations. Tellingly, 56% said they would be more likely to return to those sites.
In a nutshell, personalized product recommendations not only help your store win new customers but also enable you to retain them.
3. Automate Email Marketing
Personalization should be a constant theme throughout your e-commerce marketing strategy. Email is one of only two digital communication channels where your business can retain complete control. The other is live chat, which we will cover later.
Though it’s one of the oldest forms of digital marketing, it has proven to be one of the most effective. In the United States, checking emails is the number one activity on the Internet, with 85% of adults doing so on a daily basis. To put it in perspective, using search engines was the second most popular daily activity at 70%.
The opportunity for your e-commerce store is a commercial one. We’ve shown time and time again how email generates $44 for every $1 invested. The first thing you need to do is to obtain the addresses of your customers and leads. The most effective way of doing this is by using sign-up forms on your site.
Email Sign-Up Process
(Source: Etsy.com)
As we can see from e-commerce platform Etsy, you can take a simple approach. The key benefit here is the ease. It would take less than ten seconds for the would-be subscriber to sign-up in this way. The store also entices site visitors with the promise of “fresh Etsy trends and unique gift ideas.”
Better still, you can encourage your site visitors to fully register an account with your store. This will allow greater flexibility in the way you can communicate with your subscribers. Again Etsy adopts a winning approach:
(Source: Etsy.com)
The standard sign-up process is clean and efficient. However, if this is not quick enough for would-be subscribers, they have the option to use the social logins. By giving options, Etsy gives no reason for visitors to drop out of the process.
Growing Your List of Subscribers
As your list of subscribers grows, you will need to ensure they get the content they are interested in. This means you should segment your list to improve accuracy and effectiveness. The evidence shows segmented emails see a 101% higher click-through rate (CTR) than non-segmented versions.
Here are just a few ways you can segment your list:
- Age
- Level of Engagement (How many times they have opened or clicked on your emails)
- Location
- Purchase History
- Gender
- Education Level
- Coffee or Tea Drinkers
The last example shows that you can segment your email list whichever way that suits your business, no matter how outlandish it seems.
At MageMail, we make it easy for our users to segment subscribers:
(Source: Magemail.co)
This kind of segmentation works well for trigger emails. For example, if you’re looking to reward active subscribers or entice inactive ones back to your store – then you can segment your list by levels of engagement.
There’s a variety of automated emails you can send:
- Cart Recovery
- Order Confirmations
- Product Recommendations
- Review Requests
- Winback Emails
- Welcome Packages
These are just some of many types of automated emails you can use for your e-commerce business.
Alternatively, if you have more than one newsletter, you can segment your subscribers at the sign-up form. The New York Times, for example, has over 50 different types of newsletters. As a result, the paper allows would-be subscribers to select the ones they’d like to receive:
(Source: Nytimes.com)
The New York Times is not an e-commerce store, but it sets an excellent example of how you can control your engagement with subscribers – by allowing them to choose.
Email Content and Design
As well as creating useful, engaging, and relevant content, you should aim for consistency across all your output. In essence, your aim should be for subscribers to know who the email is from the moment it’s opened. American department store, Bloomingdale’s has mastered this art. First, let’s take a look at its email:
(Source: Author’s screenshot)
And now we see the website:
(Source: Bloomingdales.com)
As a subscriber, you would feel familiar with the layout, and the headings along the top are consistent across the two platforms. The department store takes it to the next level, where even the content is similar across the board:
(Source: Bloomingdales.com)
4. Inform to Sell
Creating fresh, informative, and relevant content is key to getting your site ranked on Google and other major search engines. The days of being able to merely litter your text with keywords are long gone as algorithms become evermore sophisticated. Trying to “game” search engines will only see your site receive a penalty and see your ranking plummet.
These algorithms are routinely refined and updated, much to the dismay of SEO specialists around the world. As a result, there’s no long-term shortcut to the top of Google.
Whatever the type of content you’re looking to create, you should bear in mind these factors:
- Purpose: What do you want the reader to do after seeing your content?
- Tone: Consider your brand and audience. The tone for a high-end vacation would be very different from promoting a music festival for example.
- Add value: Ensure the reader comes away from your piece feeling like it’s added value, whether it’s through knowledge or entertainment.
- Share expertise and knowledge: By sharing your specialist knowledge, customers will feel more confident about buying from your store.
- Be creative: Write on topics that you’re passionate about which will lead to more creative and engaging content.
- Make it actionable: Now that you’ve given the information to your readers, entice them to take action. You can do this by using a call-to-action tab.
In this section, we’ll take a look at two types of content all e-commerce stores should have – Blogs and Product Descriptions:
Blogging
The primary purpose of a blog for e-commerce businesses is to build recurring traffic and give a reason for customers to keep coming back to your site. In order to fulfill its potential, you should stay away from hard-sell. After all, visitors to your site already know what products you have to offer. Instead, use the blog to share your knowledge and expertise creatively. This could involve:
- Latest industry news
- Reviews of new products and technological advances
- Share stories about your business
- Celebrate awards or positive media coverage
- Announce job vacancies
The idea is to build rapport with your customers and get them connected with your store. A blog gives you a creative space to develop the brand of your business.
(Source: Barkpost.com)
BarkBox delivers a box of treats and toys for your dog on a monthly basis. The company taps into the passions of dog owners on its main site, but it takes it further with a separate blog, BarkPost.
The screenshot above sums up the balance the store strikes in terms of content. You should take the opportunity to promote your own business but avoid the temptation to turn it into another sales page. The post on the “dental care box” is a smart way of promoting your products in a useful and engaging way. By having a review, the reader will be able to see how the dental care box works in real-life situations.
The second post on the 4th July fireworks may not have anything to do with the product BarkBox offers, yet it will still be appreciated by dog-owners. It helps to place BarkBox as a thought-leader in dog care, drawing yet more subscribers to the business.
Product Descriptions
This is one area where you can creatively use content to get ahead of your competitors. Most stores opt to use standard product descriptions together with the price. New York-based camera and technology store, B&H Photo Video Sound, takes it to the next level:
(Source: Bhphotovideo.com)
The description for this camera is detailed and easy for prospective customers to scan. The star-rating indicates how other users regard the product. Then, along the bottom of the page, you can see a number of tabs containing more details:
(Source: Bhphotovideo.com)
The layout B&H use allows the store to be flexible with the descriptions, catering for both visitors who wish to quickly scan through or find more detail. Displaying a high level of knowledge and expertise allows customers to feel confident about buying through the store.
5. Optimize Your Content and Pages
Though Google keeps the cards close to its chest when it comes to search ranking factors, it did reveal content is one of the top three. The first rule is to follow the points raised in the previous section – create thoughtful, useful, and relevant content. However, there’s more you can do to optimize your site even further.
Keyword Research
Finding out what your potential customers are searching for online is vital to a successful content strategy. Carrying out keyword research with a tool like Moz will enable your business to identify popular terms and searches.
There are two key elements you need to look out for:
- Search volume: Represents the number of times people search for this keyword in a given month.
- Competition: If your selected keyword has a high volume of searches, you’ll need to look out for how many other sites are ranking for it. The higher the number, the greater the difficulty to appear on the first page of results.
Another excellent tool for long tail keywords is KWFinder. It displays all the information you need, including the elements mentioned above:
(Source: Kwfinder.com)
In this case, I searched for keywords relating to the Fujifilm Camera we looked at above. As you can see, it includes search volume, alternative keywords, and the level of difficulty for ranking.
According to KWFinder, the system works like this:
- 0-9: Effortless
- 10-19: Go For It
- 20-29: Easy
- 30-39: Still Easy
- 40-54: Possible
- 55-74: Hard
- 75-89: Very Hard
- 90-100: Don’t Do It
The next step is to include your chosen keywords in the titles and headings of blog posts, as well as in the URL. Supporting these technical elements with high-quality and engaging content is essential. Taking an integrated approach will drive traffic to your e-commerce store.
6. Turn Customers Into Advocates
According to Mckinsey & Company, “word of mouth is the primary factor behind 20 to 50 percent of all purchasing decisions.” Additionally, the management consultancy pointed out the influence of word of mouth is particularly strong with relatively expensive products.
Another survey from Nielsen found that 83% of respondents said they “trust recommendations from friends and family.”
Therefore, it’s no surprise to see some of the world’s leading brands utilize the power of referral marketing. Airbnb is one such company:
(Source: Airbnb.com)
The offer works in favor of both the referee and their friends or family members who received the invitation. The amount of money involved also strikes the balance of being significant enough to be attractive but does not affect Airbnb’s bottom line.
A perfect example of a win-win situation.
For small e-commerce stores, a successful referral marketing campaign can serve as an excellent growth hack but ensure you have the resources available to back it up. Also, the basis of any referral is to deliver excellent customer service and high-quality products.
7. Utilize User-Generated Content
Following on from referral marketing, you can utilize the potential of word-of-mouth marketing through user-generated content. This can come in the form of product reviews, ratings, and social media posts.
Product Reviews and Ratings
Having product reviews on your site will help your store win over the trust of customers. According to Statista, 68% of US shoppers say “trustworthy reviews” influence their purchasing decisions.
Therefore, you should take steps to encourage your customers to leave reviews. Here are four points you need to consider:
- Ask: E-commerce stores do not need to offer any incentives. You can often get product reviews by simply asking your customers, whether it’s by email or at the end of the checkout
- Make it mobile-friendly: According to leading product review tool Yotpo, 56% of its reviews come from mobile devices
- Go social: Engage with your customers online and share any positive reviews on your channels. If you see any negative reviews, contact them and address any issues
- Reward customers: If you are struggling to get enough reviews, then you should consider offering rewards. Given the power of product reviews, it’s a worthwhile investment
British home appliances store, AO has a good example of offering an incentive for customers to leave reviews:
(Source: Author’s screenshot)
The simplicity of the email, with the image of the product, immediately draws the attention of the customer. By giving a chance to win back the cost of these relatively expensive purchases, the company increases the number of reviews each product has, which leads to an increase in sales.
The next step is to use the content your users have created.
As we’ve detailed in a recent post, you can use reviews to recommend products to shoppers:
- Show your top reviewed products
- Show the latest reviewed products
- Show best relevant reviews in your category and product pages
Zappos goes for the “latest reviewed products” on their homepage:
(Source: Zappos.com)
While Hayneedle showcases products with relevant reviews on the category page.
(Source: Exitbee.com)
8. Speak the Local Language
As the Internet makes our world increasingly smaller, there’s more opportunity than ever before to trade globally. Before e-commerce, selling products across borders would have been an expensive and difficult exercise. Online retail has changed all that.
Statistics show e-commerce sales around the world are growing at breakneck speed. Though two of the top three countries, the US and UK, are English speaking with a combined value of $440 billion, the number one spot is taken up by China, worth $672 billion in 2017.
Other Asian and European countries, including the likes of South Korea, Japan, France, and Germany, have witnessed rapid e-commerce growth. Customers are also willing to shop abroad, with one 2016 study saying 57% of global shoppers have bought from an overseas retailer in the previous six months.
Given the upward trend in global e-commerce, it’s likely the figure would be even higher today.
It makes sense for even the smallest of e-commerce businesses to capitalize on the global opportunity. While you may get away with it on Google translate, using site translation tools like Interpro or Zanata will lead to a more polished and professional outcome.
9. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising
If you’re a new e-commerce business needing a presence on Google, this is a good option. Due to the way SEO works, it can take several months to naturally rank on search engines, so PPC is a quick way to appear on the first page.
There are two things to bear in mind as we covered in a previous post:
- This is not the same as a search result: When you pay to appear on Google, your listing will be different from an organic search result. The image below shows the sponsored listing:
(Author’s screenshot)
- They will not help with SEO: PPC adverts do not have any direct impact on SEO. Just because you spent money with Google, it doesn’t mean they will bump you up the rankings. However, it will give you a prominent position within the search results and drive extra traffic to your site.
The other great appeal of PPC is that you can easily monitor the results and track the click-throughs. You can also set the campaign to your budget, so you will not overspend. Starting from just a few cents per click, PPC can be an extremely cost-efficient and quick way to get among the top search results.
Use Google Adwords or Microsoft Bing Ads to get your PPC campaigns off the ground.
10. Guide Customers Through Your Site
For e-commerce sites, the central aim should be to make it as easy as possible for shoppers to find the products they want to buy. There are a few tricks you can do:
- Display the product categories on the homepage – According to Baynard, 18% of e-commerce stores do not do this
- Display images of the most popular products on the homepage – For most e-commerce businesses, displaying every product on one page would be unrealistic, but make space for the highlights
- Breakdown main categories – A store like Amazon has thousands of products, so while it may display the main categories on the homepage, under each one, there are dozens more sub-categories
- Easy to use product search – Ensure shoppers who know exactly what they are looking for can easily find it using your product search feature. Also, have a comprehensive advanced search option to help guide your site visitors
- Personalize the homepage – By encouraging customers to set up accounts with your store, you can display content and products most relevant to them
There’s one trillion-dollar e-commerce company that ticks each of these boxes. Amazon is constantly evolving and adapting its site to ensure a smooth customer experience.
(Source: Amazon.com)
I have an account with Amazon, so whenever I visit the homepage, I see suggestions based on my browsing history. The sheer scale of the company’s product range means a drop-down menu is more efficient than including all the categories along the top tab.
Amazon has also retained the search tab on the top of the page, making it easy for customers to jump to the products they wish to buy.
(Source: Asos.com)
Fashion retailer ASOS have fewer main categories, and therefore can place them along the top of its homepage, just below the search function. The company also includes the headline special offer – to further entice shoppers to dive deeper into the site and ultimately make a purchase.
The objective of any e-commerce website is to remove the barriers between the customer and the products they want to buy. This principle should be at the core of your site design and navigation.
11. Engage Your Site Visitors With Live Chat
A recent trend for internet businesses is the adopting of live chat features. With 55% of US online shoppers saying they would abandon purchases if they do not have a quick answer to a question, it’s essential for stores to have solutions on hand.
(Source: Warbyparker.com)
Eyeglasses brand Warby Parker has the full range of customer support options, including live chat during business hours. Before talking to an actual person, it asks the nature of your inquiry and if appropriate, your order number. These simple steps ensure the support agent is prepared with the basic information before you connect.
The result is a quick dialogue which addresses any of the issues the shopper may have. It may not solve every problem, but it follows good customer practice.
At MageMail, you’ll also see the live chat feature with Jim:
(Source: Author’s screenshot)
Unlike more established marketing tactics and communication tools, live chat is yet to be adopted by the majority of e-commerce stores. By offering this service, you’ll be putting your store ahead of competitors. There’s a number of providers who specialize in setting up live chat for e-commerce businesses.
12. Focus on Product Images
Given all the advances in technology and new tools that can drive more customers to your store, it can be easy to forget the basics. The quality of your product images is critical to the success of any e-commerce business. As shoppers move from brick-and-mortar to online, they lose the ability to pick up, touch, and feel the products before they buy.
As an e-commerce store, you need to give customers as much visual information as possible. This involves being smart with product images. Here’s a list of core principles you should follow:
- Use high-resolution: To avoid blurry images, take your pictures with high-res cameras and use image compressors to shrink the file without compromising the quality
- Use different angles, dimensions, perspectives: Allow shoppers to see a 360-degree view of the product. Having a zoom feature will also help
- Showcase key attributes: By using the different angles and dimensions, you will be able to showcase any highlights or unique attributes of products
- Show products in everyday situations: For example, if you are selling a winter coat, take a picture of a model using it in a wintry scene
- Ensure the product is the focus: For most products, ensure it takes up at least 85% of the image. Crop the picture in order to draw attention to the product, not the background
Electronics brand Sony is known for selling high-quality products, and it maximizes the power of images to showcase this:
(Source: Sony.com)
Looking for headphones, I’m greeted by these prominent images against an off-white background which makes the products stand out.
(Source: Sony.com)
When I click on one of the options, I can see further images showing the complete kit the headphones come with. Sony even takes the opportunity to show its packaging, which demonstrates the brand takes care of its products.
Further down the page, the company goes into more detail:
(Source: Sony.com)
By showing the different components of the headphones, shoppers will be able to see how they work and have confidence in the brand’s knowledge and expertise, leading to more sales.
13. Be Mobile Friendly
Mobile e-commerce has become an industry in its own right. Known as m-commerce, it’s expected to account for nearly 40% of all online retail sales in the United States in 2018. By 2021, mobile devices are expected to overtake desktop and laptop computers.
(Source: Statista.com)
This trend can be seen all over the world, both in the West and developing countries.
As an e-commerce business, if your site is not mobile friendly, then you will be losing out in traffic, and more importantly, valuable revenue.
Here are the key factors to consider in m-commerce:
- Images
- Clickable options
- Font size
- Site navigation
Take a look at how leading American retailer, Target, sets out its mobile site:
(Source: Target.com)
After selecting shorts from the dropdown menu, I have a range of sub-categories to choose from. The spacing between the images and options mean my thumb has enough room to select the right option.
(Source: Target.com)
The product page itself is scrollable, and the user can clearly see all the key details with minimal content. This clean, clutter-free design means mobile shoppers can buy with confidence.
(Source: Target.com)
Once I’ve selected the product I’m interested in, I can see yet more images by scrolling horizontally. The number of images is indicated by the dots along the bottom. Additionally, the zoom function is available for those who want to see more detail.
(Source: Target.com)
Finally, we get to the final set of options for these shorts – color and size. Once again, there’s plenty of room for me to tick the right boxes.
By making your site mobile friendly, complete with an easy checkout process, you will be capitalizing on the latest trend in e-commerce.
14. Post on Other Sites
Sharing your experience, expertise, or your qualified thoughts on third-party sites is a low-cost, effective way of promoting your e-commerce business. In doing this, you should consider the following:
- Topics: Choose the topics related to the products your store sells. For example, if you offer sports equipment, then share your thoughts on the latest football or basketball results
- Objectives: Identify the purpose of your content. Whether it’s to build your brand or obtaining new email addresses, you should curate the content accordingly
- Audience: Ensure you are posting in the right places. Identify where your potential customers are most likely to be and post there
One effective way of doing this is to create posts for external sites, a practice known as guest blogging.
Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is when the author of a post is someone other than the site owner or from outside the owner’s organization. For example, if you wrote a post on the MageMail blog, it would be a guest post.
Neil Patel, one of the world’s leading marketers, sets out three key goals of guest posting:
- Positioning yourself as an authority and well-known name in the industry.
- Getting exposure (traffic) back to your website.
- Building backlinks to your website.
As defined by Modern Post Marketing, a backlink is “any link in or on a website page that points (or “links”) back to your website/page.”
Backlinks not only let others click through to your blog from somewhere else, but they also help your site appear further up in the search engine results pages (SERPs). The more authoritative the site your backlink rests on, the greater the weight your backlink will carry with Google and other search engines. They will also factor in the relevancy of the backlink’s host site when deciding its importance.
James Parsons, an entrepreneur and content marketer, further explains the benefits of guest blogging. Here are three of his 25 benefits:
- Guest posting lets you build a portfolio of articles, possibly on some major sites. You’ll probably have to work your way up, but once you’ve got one major site under your belt, you’ll have a greater chance of being able to post on sites like Forbes or Huffington Post, either of which could give your site significant exposure.
- You can reach a new audience. Guest posting is a great way to get yourself out in front of people who wouldn’t otherwise find you because they are searching for a relevant, but different, niche.
- You can glean invaluable feedback. The editors at the sites you post on may have some comments for you, or they may suggest changes before they will publish your post. Of course, you’ll need to be open to constructive criticism (a must for any writer) and make any changes to your post that they see fit. That’s just par for the course when you write for any site.
It’s essential your posts are relevant, useful, and not simply selling your products or business. Be engaging, share your knowledge and expertise, and choose reputable blogs or sites within your industry.
15. Show How Customers Can Use Products
We touched on this earlier about product images, in the sense of using a model to wear a winter coat in a wintry scene. By showing potential customers how others use your products in everyday situations
(Source: Apple.com)
Technology giant Apple uses videos on its product pages to show how various individuals use the Mac. These help to paint a picture in the minds of shoppers and engagingly display the benefits.
Not every e-commerce store will have the seemingly bottomless budget Apple enjoys. Etsy shows how it can be done in a simpler, yet just as effective way:
(Source: Etsy.com)
The e-commerce platform does not even need to show the model’s face. By zooming in on the ring, shoppers can see the detail of the high-quality product being used in an everyday situation that they can relate to.
For new or more complex products, you could use a step-by-step guide. Dollar Shave Club takes this to concept to the next level:
(Source: Dollarshaveclub.com)
Its marketing campaigns are a reflection of the company’s founder, Michael Dubin, who is trained in improv-comedy. He began with a viral Youtube video and carried on using the humor which we can see in the “How It Works” page.
However, behind the humor is a straightforward, stage-by-stage explanation of how the Dollar Shave Club works. The reader will understand the concept within a minute. Once the reader understands the company and its product, they will be more likely to buy it.
These are three methods that three very successful companies have used to inspire shoppers.
16. Embrace AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t “the next big thing.” It’s already here. AI is revolutionizing e-commerce in dozens of different ways. As Naveen Joshi showed in Forbes, every stage of a purchasing journey can now be supported by AI:
(Source: Forbes.com)
Chatbots
One of the most visible examples of AI in e-commerce is chatbots. These are “live chats” that can impersonate a human customer support assistant. They can help customers find products, compare prices, and complete the checkout journey. If your business can not support a real live chat feature, then this is a proven alternative.
In order to make the most of chatbots, follow this guidance from Accenture:
(Source: Magemail.co)
Product Recommendations
As we explained earlier, product recommendations is one of the most effective methods in connecting products with the right customers. You can use tools powered by AI to identify key metrics, process the data, and personalize the shopping experience.
For example, if a shopper has looked at a Dell laptop, these tools will look for similar models or complementary accessories for their next visit. All without human input.
Marketing and Business Analytics
AI can also help with the overall business, identifying customer trends and allowing you to plan your stock levels. The key is to understand the importance of data and how you gather it.
Platforms like NeoWize can offer complete solutions, ranging from business intelligence to delivering personalization.
17. Design a Smooth Checkout
Though it may not be thought of as marketing, the checkout process is fundamental to the customer experience. A 2017 Baynard study found, once those “just browsing” were omitted, 28% of US customers leave their carts due to a complicated checkout process.
Therefore, it’s essential to design a clean, crisp, and simple checkout for your customers.
Walmart recently revamped its site and is now one of the best in e-commerce. The redesign incorporated the checkout process, as demonstrated below.
Once I added my chosen product to my cart this pops-up:
(Source: Walmart.com)
It clearly shows what items I’ve added to the cart and gives me the options to carry on shopping or proceed to the checkout. I go for the second option, which leads me to this page:
(Source: Walmart.com)
With minimal content, I can see exactly what is in my cart and what stages I have to complete. I can also see the shipping options and the total cost I have to pay. The transparency is critical as it averts any confusion over payment at the end of the process, which could lead to customers abandoning their carts.
You should also provide different payment options:
(Source: Walmart.com)
Statistics show 39% of e-commerce customers are happy to pay through methods other than credit or debit cards. By making all the main payment methods available, you will minimize the risk of cart abandonment and delivering a positive shopping experience.
Conclusion
It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the opportunity e-commerce offers. It’s already a $2.8 trillion industry and yet only takes up 12% of the total retail market. In short, there’s plenty of room for staggering growth.
E-commerce marketing is a continually evolving landscape. New ideas and technologies are coming up all the time, including areas we’ve covered in this post. The emergence of AI is truly exciting, but it should not distract from the core principles.
Many of the marketing methods we have listed have been around for decades. The internet has simply allowed stores to be more creative with them. Take Apple’s customer videos for instance, or the ability to incorporate product reviews with recommendations. AI has given businesses the ability to personalize on a mass scale.
The focus should always be on delivering value for shoppers. Explain why they should purchase a particular product with your store. Share your knowledge and expertise, give your customers confidence in your business.
In essence, E-commerce marketing is about understanding customer service begins at the very first interaction with your store. Not at the checkout.
