13 Digital Marketing Strategies for E-commerce

Digital marketing is vital for e-commerce companies. It boosts sales and allows customers to reach customers easily.

Digital marketing strategies such as SEO, PPC, social media marketing, etc., enhance your store’s visibility, allowing potential customers to discover your ecommerce website easily.

Plus, with a solid digital marketing approach, you can target your audience based on demographics, interests, behaviour, and other factors, track and measure the performance of your retail business in real-time, make data-driven decisions, and optimize your strategies for better results.

According to a resource, over 2.7 billion people worldwide are expected to shop online by 2024, and digital commerce continues to grow.

In this article, we will discuss 13 of these digital marketing techniques further to help you better understand your business needs.

1. Boost Product Visualization

When shoppers browse your site, high-quality product images can make or break the sale. Comparing HD to low-quality product photos revealed a 94% increase in conversion rate.

After all, customers can’t touch or feel your products online, so vivid photos are sometimes the only way for them to envision what they’re buying.

That’s why it’s so important to invest in professional-grade product photography that really shows off your items. 

Clear, well-lit images from multiple angles help customers understand exactly what they’re getting. Beyond just having photos of each product, think about creative ways to showcase your items being used or worn. Snapshots of your accessories paired with different outfits.

2. Add Video

Video content is a powerful way to engage customers and boost conversions for e-commerce brands.

Some ideas for video content include product demonstrations, behind-the-scenes looks at your production process, interviews with customers or company leadership, and tutorials or tips related to what you sell.

Keep your videos short—around 1 minute is typically the ideal length—and focus on clearly communicating your message in an attention-grabbing way.

Be sure to feature prominent call-to-action overlays throughout the video, directing viewers where to click next.

3. Leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence is an incredibly powerful tool that all e-commerce brands should use. By 2030, AI is likely to reduce e-commerce operating expenses.

AI-powered technologies like machine learning and deep learning algorithms can analyze massive amounts of data to help optimize everything from product recommendations to marketing campaigns.

Also Read: 8 AI-Powered eCommerce SEO Strategies to Boost Sales

Retailers that harness the power of AI will be able to deliver hyper-personalized customer experiences at scale. By analyzing each customer’s browsing behaviour, purchase history, demographics, and more, AI helps retailers understand their customers like never before.

To learn more, read this blog: Ecommerce vs. Retail: What’s the Difference?

4. Cutting-Edge Product Filtering

As online shopping has grown in popularity, e-commerce sites offer customers an immense selection of products.

While choice is good, it can also overwhelm buyers and make it difficult to find exactly what they want. That’s why it’s so important to implement sophisticated product filtering options on your site.

Filters allow customers to narrow down long lists of items based on relevant attributes like size, colour, price range, and more. Giving shoppers control over how they view products empowers them to participate actively in the shopping experience.

5. Automate with Chatbots

Customers’ expectations for quick responses and 24/7 service also increase. However, it can be difficult for brands to meet these demands solely with human customer support agents, especially outside normal business hours.

When looking for simple answers, 74% of internet users prefer dealing with chatbots.

This is where chatbots come in; they allow businesses to automate basic customer service interactions, freeing up support staff to handle more complex inquiries.

6. Reduce Cart Abandonment

One of the biggest challenges for e-commerce sites is reducing the number of customers who add items to their cart but don’t complete the purchase. Known as cart abandonment, this can result in a major loss of potential sales.

However, there are some effective strategies you can use to encourage customers to finish checking out. Sending timely reminders to customers after they’ve left items unpurchased in their cart is a proven way to get them back and complete the sale.

7. Leverage Wish Lists

Wish lists are powerful tools for capturing customer interest and driving future sales. By making wish lists easy to browse and share, you encourage customers to bookmark products they want to research more about or purchase later.

Related: Ecommerce SEO Best Practices for Online Stores

There are a few effective ways to leverage wish lists:

• Integrate wish lists prominently on product pages so customers can easily add items as they browse.
• Allow the private sharing of wish lists via social media or email to get friends and family involved in gift-finding.
• Send automated emails about price drops or new related products to reengage wish list owners with your store.
• Offer wishlist owners incentives like loyalty points or coupons to keep populating their lists over time.
• Analyze popular wish-listed items to determine bestsellers or get ideas for new products to feature.

8. Encourage User-Generated Content (UGC)

UGC opens a new door for e-commerce brands to solidly engage an audience, creating brand awareness and marketing success. When customers share their experiences, even through word of mouth, they build up trust and credibility that money can’t buy through the traditional advertising medium.

9. Mobile-Friendly

A responsive design that automatically adapts to different screen sizes is a must.

• Make sure all product images are high-resolution to avoid pixelation on smaller screens.
• Optimize page loading speeds as well; mobile users have a very low tolerance for slow sites.
• Consider implementing features like one-click checkout for a faster purchase process on the go.
• Test your mobile site thoroughly across various devices and platforms.
• Engage a third party to audit mobile usability.

Experts at Statista project $3.4 trillion in revenues from mobile e-commerce in 2027.

The easier it is for customers to shop from their phones, the more likely they are to complete purchases and return for repeat visits. A mobile-friendly presence is now table stakes for any e-commerce brand hoping to stay competitive.

10. Personalize, Personalize, Personalize

Personalization is key to standing out and keeping customers engaged with your brand.

More than ever before, buyers expect a tailored experience when shopping online. They want retailers to understand their unique preferences and put forth the effort to deliver highly relevant recommendations, content, and offers.

Done right, personalization builds trust that you truly value each customer, which will drive them to choose you over a competitor repeatedly.

Some ideas for personalization include using past purchase data to serve up personalized product recommendations on the homepage. Send targeted emails with discounts on related items customers may like based on what they’ve viewed previously.

11. Use Retargeting

Have you ever visited an online store and put something in your cart but didn’t complete the purchase?

Retargeting is a digital marketing strategy that can help bring those abandoned shoppers back and turn them into paying customers. By installing tracking pixels on your website, you can identify visitors who have shown interest in your products but didn’t complete a purchase.

You can then “retarget” those shoppers with advertisements on other websites they visit, reminding them of the items they left in their carts and enticing them to make a purchase.

12. Improve Checkout

Checkout is one of the most critical parts of the customer journey. A smooth checkout experience can help convert browsers into buyers. However, a lengthy or confusing checkout is a surefire way to lose sales.

Here are some tips to streamline checkout on your e-commerce site:

• Reduce steps and requests for information. Only ask for the minimum required fields like name, email, address, payment details, etc. Remove any unnecessary or optional fields from the checkout.
• Offer simplified or express checkout options for returning customers. Allow customers to check out more quickly if they are signed in or have shopped. Pre-fill in their information when possible.
• Clearly show order summaries and totals. Make it easy for customers to verify their order, shipping costs, payment method, and total amount due before confirming.
• Support popular payment methods. Based on your target customers, accept credit and debit cards and buy now, pay later, use debit cards, make bank transfers, etc.

Related: Shopify Checkout Optimization Checklist (Easy Tips)

Offer order tracking and shipment notifications. Provide order and shipment tracking numbers for transparency. Send automated order and shipment emails to improve the perceived order process.

13. Encourage Social Purchases

One of the most effective digital marketing strategies for e-commerce businesses is getting customers to share their purchases and experiences with your brand on social media.

• Offer social sharing incentives. Customers who share their orders on Facebook, Twitter, etc., can receive a discount on their next purchase or entry into a prize draw.
• Make it easy to share. Include prominent social sharing buttons, order confirmations, and thank-you emails on product pages. The easier you make it, the more likely customers are to share.

Ask for social reviews. When requesting a product review on your site, ask if the reviewer is willing to share it on social media to help others. Positive social reviews are extremely valuable trust signals.

Conclusion

There are lots of online marketing tactics from which e-commerce businesses can choose to get their business more sales and build their brand online. However, ensuring that you test different strategies for your niche is important, as you will know what appeals the best to your audience. Keep very close tabs on the analytics to understand which strategies are working, and then do more of the ones that work.

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