Conversion rates and lead generation hacks for ecommerce brands go hand-in-hand.
In fact, we can consider them mutually inclusive entities used as a benchmark to test an ecommerce website’s efficacy, and rightfully so.
But why?
If your lead generation tactics are not up to the mark, you won’t end up engaging your target audience, and your website visitors are bound to dry up.
So, what can you do in such a situation?
If you want to generate leads for your ecommerce business, you’ve come to the right place. Here, we will list the top lead generation hacks for ecommerce brands that can drive more traffic organically and sustainably.
Let’s dive in.
Disclaimer: This content contains some affiliate links for which we will earn a commission (at no additional cost to you). This is to ensure that we can keep creating free content for you.
Table of Contents
13 Powerful Lead Generation Hacks for Ecommerce Brands
Here are the best lead generation hacks for ecommerce brands that you can use for your business.
1. Determine Your Dream Lead
The first, unmissable step in your lead generation journey is to chalk out what your “ideal prospect” looks like and create a buyer persona.
You can conduct interviews and surveys in addition to researching critical key factors such as:
- Income
- Age and gender
- Qualifications
- Location
- Interests
- Motivations
- Pain points.
You can then define the buyer persona based on these factors and target new audiences better with customized marketing.
An accurate marketing persona can help you gain insights into the lifestyle of your potential customers. It can also help refine your inbound marketing efforts to better align with your user’s expectations
2. Use Live Chat for Generating Leads
Delivering great customer service is one of the important lead generation hacks for ecommerce to retain customers and generate new leads for ecommerce brands.
But why?
If you don’t provide instant problem resolution, the chances are that your existing customers may move to a different brand.
Whether it is overnight shipping or instant access to your product or service, your customers want things instantly. And more often than not, they usually get it. However, this is not the case with customer service.
Research shows that the average response time for customer service requests is longer around 12 hours. And customers hate to wait.
Image via Superoffice
So, what is the best possible way to quickly respond to your target customers?
The answer lies in using an ingenious live chat software solution.
Apart from quick responses, live chat software offers an array of benefits as well.
Here are some of the benefits of using an effective live chat software solution.
- Assists in increasing ecommerce sales and conversions
- Reduces support costs
- Builds trust among buyers
- Helps you gain a competitive advantage
- Enhances average order value (AOV)
- Satisfies your customers
- Helps you maintain contact with your website visitors
- Improves the overall website experience
- Aids in comprehending the needs of your customers in a better way
If you are not using live chat on your website, you are definitely missing out on several benefits. These include reducing costs, improving customer satisfaction rates, and increasing revenue.
Lots of ecommerce companies are utilizing live chat support to quicken the response rate on their websites and improve their customer service.
Want to do the same for your online store?
Use Zendesk’s specialized software program to tackle requests from multiple platforms and convert them into easily trackable tickets.
3. Create Content that Adds More Value to Your Offering
Creating a sales page is all well and good, but curating your content to match your products or services is equally important.
From providing interesting tips to informing both website and mobile users about your current products, you need to create content that is informative and engaging. Content marketing also involves including the right keywords and improving your on-page SEO – there’s much more scope to experiment with.
And this is why having a content marketing strategy is one of the greatest lead generation hacks for ecommerce brands.
For example:
Take a look at the Beardbrand website. They have a blog dedicated to beards, which provides valuable information to their customers.
Image via Beardbrand
It’s no surprise that such engaging content can drive significant traffic to the website and thus generate quality leads.
Sounds too good to be true, right?
Well, that’s the power of content marketing, if done right.
4. Offer Freebies
Freebies are one of the simplest and most effective lead generation hacks for ecommerce brands.
But why?
Nothing attracts visitors to a website like freebies or lead magnets – it could be ebooks, free demos, “How-to” product videos and tips, etc.
For instance, Upcycleluxe captures leads by offering new subscribers a 20% discount and exclusive discounts through their exit intent popups.
Image via Upcycleluxe
The central idea of this effective lead generation strategy is to offer users what they would consider a value addition — even before they make a purchase on your website.
This allows the potential customers to feel that you’re not just about selling products.
It’s about providing something extra to your customers. And in the ecommerce world, you first need to give to get.
5. Leverage Social Media Marketing
There are more than 5.22 billion social media users around the world. And in absolute numbers, this translates to nearly 64% of the world’s total population.
So, if you’re not leveraging social media marketing the right way, you’re failing to use one of the best lead generation hacks for ecommerce brands.
The digitally connected customers today proactively embrace social platforms to thank and reprimand brands in equal measure.
From the brand’s perspective, you can use a platform like Facebook as an effective advertising option to drive more social media traffic and create brand awareness.
For example, note how Ralph Lauren uses Facebook Ads to its advantage.
Image via ShortStack
Then, of course, there’s user-generated content (UGC), which allows you to use content created by customers to your advantage.
Apple created a hashtag — #shotoniphone — to encourage its customers to shoot unique pictures using their latest iPhones and share them on Instagram. The campaign is immensely successful as more than 30.6 million posts were created using this hashtag.
Image via Instagram
What is the benefit of this campaign? On one hand, the brand can gather spectacular images to establish dominance in the market. On the other hand, these images attract prospective customers to check out Apple products.
In other words, social media marketing is one of the best lead generation hacks for ecommerce brands you can’t sweep under a rug. With it, you not only get more leads but can also increase brand awareness and boost reach.
6. Use Personalization & Email Marketing
One of the most effective lead generation hacks for ecommerce brands already in play involves offering discounts and incentives in exchange for a user’s email address.
These lead magnets can help you capture the visitor’s email address so that you can add them to your email list.
After that, you can send out personalized emails to them regarding upcoming product launches, deals, offers, etc., to convert them and close the deal.
Spotify, for example, uses email marketing to send out regular emails to their existing customers to promote their brand and generate sales.
Image via Invesp
7. Leverage Conversion Rate Optimization
Conversion rate optimization revolves around using various methods to increase your sales conversion rate. It’s also one of those lead generation hacks for ecommerce brands that are easy to implement.
For example, it could be something as simple as strategically placing your calls-to-action (CTAs) and signup buttons. It can also involve having great layouts for your checkout and product pages.
By optimizing these for various parameters such as placement, colors used, visibility, etc., you can increase your conversion rate.
What’s more?
A/B testing various elements of your website can provide useful insights into potential customer behavior and help you enhance your user experience by leaps and bounds. This is one of those lead generation hacks for ecommerce you shouldn’t miss.
8. Create Impressive Forms
One of the best lead generation hacks for ecommerce platforms is optimizing your forms. While most users who visit your website for the first time aren’t ready to buy, they’re almost always open to knowing more about your business.
You can create impressive and engaging lead capture forms to grab the attention of these site visitors. With the help of a simple form, you can gather their contact details to connect with them and educate them about your offerings.
Alternatively, you can create a detailed signup form like this one by Primal Pet Foods.
Image via Primalpetfoods
Along with the visitor’s name and email address, the brand also gathers some essential information for relevant product recommendations. This increases the chances of turning leads into customers. Such lead generation hacks for ecommerce always deliver great results.
9. Support a Cause
A broader vision for every brand is to give back to society in one way or the other. Supporting a cause isn’t only one of the trusted lead generation hacks for ecommerce. It also highlights the compassionate side of your business.
Most younger consumers want to associate with a brand that believes in sustainability and eco-friendliness and is proactively supporting a cause.
To appeal to this audience, you can create a lead generation campaign focused on supporting a cause. For instance, you can pledge to donate a certain percentage of your festive sales to people struck by natural calamities.
As a result of such lead generation hacks for ecommerce, you can see a boost in your sales and brand trust. When consumers align with the cause you’re supporting, they’ll likely recommend your products to others.
10. Leverage the Power of Referrals
Every customer loves a good reward. This is where referral marketing comes in. When your loyal customers refer your brand to their friends, you can offer both of them a reward.
What is in it for you?
You can generate high-quality leads as well as encourage your existing customer to make a purchase to redeem their reward. It’s a win-win.
Take a look at this referral marketing email by Peloton. The brand promises to reward customers and their friends with $100 each. They only need to use the coupon code and buy a product.
Image via Really Good Emails
You can run your referral programs on your social media channels, website, paid ads, and email marketing to gain more paying customers.
11. Optimize for Mobile First
As we continue our list of lead generation hacks for ecommerce, here’s the next one. As more consumers use their mobile devices to shop online, not optimizing for mobile users can cause you to miss out on capturing high-quality leads.
The goal of mobile optimization is to build an ecommerce website that delivers exceptional experience on all devices. For this, you need to have a responsive website design, seamless navigation, high-quality media, and a simplified shopping experience.
Landing pages should also be optimized for mobile devices. From here, you can either ask them to join your email list or guide them to specific product pages.
12. Craft Compelling CTAs
CTAs can simply be defined as a direct invitation that nudges your target audience to check out our brand’s offerings.
If you thought a CTA is only used in an exit intent popup, think again. There are many ways to incorporate this lead generation hack for ecommerce brands. Effective CTA buttons can be placed in your emails, SMS messages, landing pages, feedback forms, social media posts, and paid ads.
To generate warm leads for your ecommerce website, move away from standard CTAs and experiment with new ones. For example, you can use conversational CTAs. Once in a while, a funny or witty CTA can work as well.
When it comes to generating leads for ecommerce businesses, you can strategically place multiple CTA buttons on a landing page or social media page to engage users and encourage them to take the desired action.
13. Create Shoppable Social Posts
Social commerce or social shopping is one of the rapidly growing top lead generation hacks for ecommerce brands. It helps brands generate sales through social media.
With this strategy, you can use your social media page to sell products to your followers. All leading social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X, TikTok, Pinterest, and others provide this feature.
Some of the most preferred tactics to sell products on social media are:
- Inserting clickable links on posts, reels, and stories
- Adding product tags in posts, leading to product pages
- Providing your ecommerce website link in your bio
- Creating a shoppable gallery
- Setting up shops on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and so on
For instance, Prada created shoppable stories to showcase premium and newly launched products. Users can click the clickable link added in the post to visit the product page and shop for their desired products.
Image via Instagram
FAQs
Q1. How do I get ecommerce leads?
A. Use these lead generation hacks for ecommerce brands:
- Create lead magnets
- Harness the power of referral marketing
- Create targeted social campaigns
- Leverage landing pages
- Run pay-per-click and social media ads
- Promote your products regularly
- Offer free shipping
- Run influencer campaigns
Q2. What should the company do to increase lead generation?
A. Effective lead generation hacks for ecommerce include:
- Test landing page elements and improve depending on analytics
- Include offers at each stage of the buying process
- Strategically place calls to action
- Include video and relevant visuals
- Work on stimulating interest by clearly explaining your offer with emotional content
- Run giveaways
- Invite your target audience to webinars
Q3. What is lead generation in ecommerce?
A. Lead generation in ecommerce involves providing your target audience with valuable products or services in exchange for their contact information. These can include giving them discounts in exchange for emails, running contests that require contact information to join, etc.
Q4. Where can I find ecommerce clients?
A. There are different places to find potential leads for your ecommerce business. They include:
- Social media platforms
- On your ecommerce store, if you have an effective search engine optimization strategy.
- Pop-ups and banners on your ecommerce store
- Collaborations with complementary businesses
- Influencer marketing campaign
- Google Ads
- Ecommerce marketplaces like Amazon
Q5.What are the best lead generation tools?
A. Lead generation tools that most digital marketers use include:
- SeedProd
- Leadfeeder
- WPForms
- Lead Forensics
- Prospect.io
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Q6. What is an active lead?
A. Active leads have demonstrated purchase intent. They are actively engaging different businesses in search of products or services you offer. And if you provide them with exactly what they want, you can increase their chances of conversion.
Q7. What are sales leads?
A. These are people who may eventually become customers. The term also refers to data you use to identify potential buyers.
Q8. Which platform is best for lead generation?
A. Some of the best platforms for lead generation include:
- Google Ads
- YouTube
Q9. How can I generate more sales?
A. Use these techniques to generate more sales:
- Use Google Ads and social media ads.
- Create urgency on offers.
- Offer time-limited discounts.
- Micro-target on Facebook.
- Offer a seamless checkout journey.
- Provide numerous payment options.
- Use video and quality images.
- Show reviews and ratings.
- Run regular promotions.
Q10. How do you find leads?
A. These tactics can help you find more leads:
- Referral programs
- Testimonials from customers
- Influencer marketing
- Social media promotions
- Ads on Google and social media platforms
- Content marketing
- Networking at events
- Guest posting
- Live chat
Ready to Craft Effective Ecommerce Lead Generation Strategies?
These lead generation hacks for ecommerce brands can help you gain quality leads and increase conversions.
And even though there really is no one-size-fits-all approach that you can apply across the board, you can use some general tactics. These include implementing live chat, having a working content marketing strategy, and offering freebies.
What’s more?
You can use social media and email marketing to generate more leads. A/B testing your campaign elements can help you optimize your lead generation strategy further.
Do you have any questions about any of the lead generation hacks for ecommerce brands mentioned above? If so, let us know in the comments.
Disclaimer: This content contains some affiliate links for which we will earn a commission (at no additional cost to you). This is to ensure that we can keep creating free content for you.
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