Digital marketing is everything an eCommerce business needs for its marketing and advertising goals. With the advanced use of technology and digital means, the world is more connected and accessible, which makes the eCommerce world expand its growth across the world at an exceptional growth rate.
Every eCommerce store wants to jump into this growth drive for more traffic, better conversion rates, and higher revenues to stay ahead of the curve along with the way the eCommerce industry is shaping up.
Yet, there are many obstacles despite all the strategic moves to win new customers and grow more with the existing ones for eCommerce brands. The ever-evolving nature of the eCommerce industry makes the marketers’ job a little more challenging; that’s why we have this eCommerce digital marketing strategic guide for you to thrive in 2024.
Before we move further, let’s look over the role and importance of digital marketing for an eCommerce business.
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Importance of Digital Marketing for eCommerce Businesses: Expert’s Outlook
According to Hostinger International Ltd., 6 out of 10 shopping journeys start online, a clear sign of why digital marketing and social media channels greatly impact digital shoppers. It empowers eCommerce brands to acquire more visitors and new customers, earn colossal revenue through multiple ways, and build a brand-loyal customer base.
eCommerce digital marketing tactics and practices include email marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing, Social Engine Optimization, Content Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Brand Collaboration, and more.
Digital marketing for eCommerce businesses helps these brands increase awareness, engagement, and interaction to drive traffic to their eStores and turn visitors into potential shoppers and then valuable customers.
It enables eCommerce stores to achieve awareness, key business goals, and high ROIs to stay competitive in the market. eCommerce brands need to understand and strategize marketing according to the digital channels for broader brand engagement and awareness.
You can get in touch with an experienced eCommerce agency that provides digital marketing services to create impactful, high-converting campaigns.
Digital Marketing Strategies for eCommerce to Succeed in 2024
Product Description
A well-explained, engaging product description is essential for a successful digital marketing strategy. The product description is a marketing copy explaining the shoppers’ essential features, benefits, and USPs.
A great product description is vital for an online store and shoppers as it gives the value a shopper seeks before buying and decides if that product matches their requirements. Engaging product description stimulates impulse shopping and converts visitors into customers; in a nutshell, it is one of the deciding factors in a buyer’s journey.
eCommerce brands should focus on value-driven, engaging product descriptions for a better conversion rate. Good product descriptions not only give product information but educate shoppers about the brand, product uses, and how it adds value to their lives.
Cart Abandonment
Cart abandonment is a scenario with eCommerce businesses when a customer gets to the checkout process and finds something that doesn’t suit them, be it delivery charges, delivery time, discount offers, payment methods, or anything similar, and incomplete the purchase after adding in the cart.
It turns out to be one of the most complex issues to be tackled by eCommerce marketers as it shows a complex user experience (UX) journey or a broken sales funnel. Cart abandonment highly impacts revenue, sales figures, and customer loyalty.
eCommerce digital marketing focuses on reducing the cart abandonment rate that impacts high sales and revenue figures. The foremost strategy is streamlining the checkout process with minimal (or zero) delivery charges and a simple login or guest checkout facility.
And then, ‘Abandoned Cart emails’ and ‘Abandoned Cart Retargeting Ads’ should be used to stimulate shoppers to complete the purchase. An email to your shoppers with an offer or coupon code to entice them to make the purchase helps brands.
Retargeting ads are also a profitable tactic that connects shoppers on different social media platforms without even going into their emails.
Product Visualization with Video
eCommerce stores showcase products in the intangible form with product information that sometimes needs more information to get into a detailed understanding to match the customers’ needs. There have been instances where shoppers found it unable to get real-like product visualization and left the shopping without buying.
Exceptional product visualization allows shoppers to experience it virtually in multiple ways: zoom in, full-screen view, spin your product for a complete 3D view, and add roll-over, making shopping a delightful experience for a higher conversion rate.
Product video is another powerful strategy to keep shoppers engaged and drive them to complete the purchase. Though not all products require a video, when you offer it and it suits your product category too, then the results are in your favor with higher sales figures.
Chatbots
Customer experience and customer support are at the center of online shopping, where the first point of interaction and engagement occurs. With ample product information and features, customers could have some queries to be answered instantly.
If there is no assistance available at the moment before making a decision, then the customer will switch to another competitive online store.
The use of chatbots as virtual assistance, customer support, and shopping allies has been a prominent strategy for eCommerce digital marketing. It empowers online stores with better customer engagement, exceptional customer support, personalized product recommendations, and cross-selling.
Chatbots are great for customer support and good sales representatives, too. They help shoppers with their queries, provide them with information, and promote cross-selling and up-selling based on their queries and requirements.
Payment Options
Payment is the last step in the customer buying journey in the checkout process, yet it has a significant role in the success of an eCommerce business. A customer-centric payment experience boosts shoppers’ confidence in buying and minimizes the cart abandonment hurdle.
A smoother payment process with flexible payment can make any eCommerce business where the shoppers are sensitive to the availability of payment options.
Though millennials comprise a significant customer population for the eCommerce industry, the members of Gen Z are gradually closing the gap and becoming the most prominent target group for these businesses.
Gen Z and even millennials have different preferences and expectations from payment experiences, especially when the former group doesn’t belong to a credit card-holding population.
A flexible payment option in ‘Interest-Free Installments’ or ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ brings convenience, ease, and trust among these target audiences and stimulates them to buy more. eCommerce businesses should follow this convenient payment practice to secure the buy-in of Gen Z shoppers and keep their sales figures higher.
Delivery Options
eCommerce delivery is the convenience quotient for shoppers. Delivery also has a significant impact on the brand loyalty of shoppers; that’s why eCommerce brands need to keep an eye on their delivery strategy and partner to meet customer expectations.
eCommerce delivery is also a component that defines customer experience (CX). An impactful delivery strategy for any eCommerce business helps differentiate from others, ultimately earning more revenue and better customer loyalty.
The shopper wants to know the delivery time and wait for it to get delivered. Sometimes, they seek quick delivery, instant delivery, midnight delivery, delivery on weekends, and more. Due to the requirements, they prefer an eCommerce brand offering multiple delivery options and a serviceable delivery partner network before making a purchase.
The reverse pickup delivery is also part of a delivery option that plays a vital role in last-mile delivery expectations. An eCommerce store should consider its customer preferences for delivery and try to accommodate all of its delivery options.
Email Marketing Campaigns
Email marketing is one of the conventional digital marketing strategies used by marketers since its inception. It has a significant role in eCommerce digital marketing with a proven impact.
Use your customer’s email database and subscriber email list to run campaigns at various levels of customer journeys; the best part is that you can automate your email campaigns using multiple tools.
eCommerce marketers might use email marketing in various ways: sending welcome emails, offering exclusive promo codes and free gifts, running festival and holiday offer campaigns, abandoning cart offer emails, sharing insights and newsletters, post-purchase follow-ups, feedback emails, and more.
eCommerce marketers can use the customer wish list and share personalized offers or clearance warnings as reminder emails for the items on their wish list. Use email marketing as a personalized direct communication medium.
Personalized Experience
As we know, Gen Z is one of the prominent target audiences for eCommerce marketers. Their preference for personalized experience has been one of the key factors in staying with an eCommerce brand, so add personalized experience as one of your strategic moves.
Personalized experience is one of the effective digital marketing tactics for eCommerce businesses for effective sales and engagement.
Personalization is a way to customize your offerings to cater to individual preferences to be incorporated within your existing marketing strategy. It gives a sense of belongingness to the customers with your brand and earns their brand loyalty.
It also empowers shoppers to move along their customer buying journey faster instead of searching for their required products, price comparison, and best offer and then making a purchase.
User-Generated Content (UGC)
The digital commerce world is highly driven by social proofs, testimonials, reviews, and customer feedback. User-generated content (UGC) is one of the leading eCommerce digital marketing tactics for brands to earn social proof and customer loyalty.
In the social media world, where an Instagram post or a Google review can help you decide whether to buy or not, the use of User-Generated Content (UGC) is inevitable.
In this marketing strategy, your existing customers or users promote your products on various social media posts visible to your prospective customers, which turn into an impactful marketing campaign.
It helps you drive more traffic to your eCommerce store, build confidence, create an authentic followers base, promote your business, and improve your conversion rate.
Responsive Design and Page Optimization
eCommerce marketers should make it a practice to periodically review their eCommerce store and its responsiveness of design across mobile devices and platforms. Your eStore should be designed to be easily maneuverable via any device (laptop, smartphone, iPad, or tablet) and should be mobile-friendly, too.
Today, most users are always on the go and using their mobile phones for online shopping, so make sure to get your eCommerce store optimized for mobile with a responsive design. Here, product page optimization is also a factor to be considered.
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) helps digital marketers optimize their eCommerce store for on-site conversions and increased sales after carefully analyzing what works for you and what does not.
It has been observed that despite all the engagement, it becomes a challenge to convert visitors into shoppers, so conversion rate optimization (CRO) helps brands.
Customer Loyalty Program
In the eCommerce world, it has been evident that the cost to acquire new customers is higher than the cost to retain an existing customer. An existing loyal customer has a higher Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) that contributes to a large portion of revenue, gives ‘Word-of-mouth’ publicity, and adds value to product development through constant feedback.
For eCommerce marketers, rewarding loyal customers through a ‘Customer Loyalty Program’ is an impactful, credible, and rewarding digital marketing strategy. Bring a loyalty program for your loyal customers and big spenders with some extra incentive each time they buy from you and give them personalized offers. You reward your customers for their loyalty, and they give you higher sales figures in return.
Conclusion
eCommerce is highly driven by customers and their preferences for experience. Customers are always curious to learn and explore competitive products and eCommerce offerings in search of a unique shopping experience.
They are smart enough to search and find what suits their requirements and whatnot; deep engagement and constant communication can keep them with your brand for longer. No wonder, brands have started applying headless commerce and all those advanced technologies to build their eCommerce website.
Digital marketing for eCommerce businesses is a boon to boost their revenue, conversion rates, sales figures, customer engagement, and more to spike up in the ever-evolving eCommerce ecosystem.
The primary takeaway is that digital marketing uses multiple social media channels and engagement strategies to boost any eCommerce business and stay ahead of the curve.
