Since the pandemic began, 84% of buyers have shopped online.

And while it's a good thing for online sellers, it also means high competition from retailers who've also moved their businesses online.

The question is, which ecommerce marketing strategies can your brand use to attract potential customers, convince them to purchase, and turn them into ambassadors?

This post examines essential ecommerce marketing strategies you can use to set your products apart from competitors and boost sales.

Check them out!

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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.

Ecommerce Marketing Strategies to Fuel a Successful Ecommerce Store

While most brands struggle to get to the first pages of search results, drive traffic, and increase conversions, you can do it with the following ecommerce marketing strategies. Use them to make your products stand out, get more sales, and grow your business.

1. Marketing Automation

Automation is one of those ecommerce marketing strategies that save your team time and help you increase sales.

Best of all?

You can apply it to different areas of your business, from customer service, sales, fulfillment, to marketing. And since most of these functions tend to be repetitive, automation can ensure they run smoothly while also boosting your service quality.

But how exactly can you use automation to market ecommerce sites?

There are several use cases, including:

Recover Abandoned Carts

Abandoned cart automated emails let you automatically reach visitors who abandoned their cart and remind them to complete their purchase.

And while the average open rate for emails is 18.0%, abandoned cart emails in retail get an average open rate of 38.16%. They also have a high click-through rate of 31.8% and a 28.13% conversion rate.

So, how do you ensure this email marketing strategy works in your favor?

  • Create a series of two to three emails reminding visitors to complete their purchase.
  • Optimize for mobile.
  • Use your messaging to trigger FOMO (fear of missing out) or offer discounts.
  • Craft great subject lines.
  • Include product photos that remind them what they left in their cart.
  • Use a call-to-action that directs them to the next step.
  • Include social proof.

Win-Back Campaign Ecommerce Marketing Strategy

Win-back campaigns are one of those ecommerce marketing strategies that help you stay top of mind with current customers.

But how?

This ecommerce email marketing strategy tries to win back people who've stayed for long without interacting with your content or purchasing emails.

And when you automate win-back campaigns, you can keep track of when customers last bought or clicked your emails. You can also trigger win-back automated emails when a customer hits a certain duration without engagement.

ActiveCampaign
Image via ActiveCampaign

Reward Loyal Customers

As one of the most used ecommerce marketing strategies, automation can make it easy to know your customers, see which ones engage you most, and reward them.

And guess what?

If you segment customers by repeat purchases or average order value, you can build a loyalty program and use it to share offers.

Nurture Leads and Gain Loyalty

With ecommerce automation, you can create high converting emails, measure engagement, and develop personalized lead nurture campaigns.

And as one of the top ecommerce marketing strategies, automation helps you track contact progress so that you can send the right messages to your leads.

Best of all?

This ecommerce email marketing strategy can enable you to send messages relevant to individual leads interests, pain points, and their stage in the purchase journey.

For example, check out how Clinique used this email marketing strategy to ask the customer to replenish their supplies while including multiple cross-sells.

SmartMail
Image via SmartMail

Pro Tip: Automate customer support so that those who begin their searches with “help” or “how” can get directed to the FAQ page. It may not always lead to a sale, but it can make it easier for them to find answers that may lead to a sale.

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2. Retargeting

Retargeting is one of those ecommerce marketing strategies that can help you increase conversions since you show ads to those who’ve been to your website.

And why is it one of the essential ecommerce marketing strategies?

It gives off an always there feeling and can make your products memorable. It can also increase your click-through rates since people already know about the products you advertise.

But where can you use remarketing?

Google Ads and Facebook Ads.

When you use Google Ads, people will see your ads on blogs, YouTube videos, websites, and third-party mobile apps when they leave your site.

With Facebook retargeting ads, your ads will show on users' timelines and Instagram.

But what techniques can you use to increase sales with this strategy?

  • Showcase deals and offers.
  • Encourage those who abandoned carts to purchase with discounts.
  • Offer related or complementary products to those who purchased.
  • Resell periodical products people use like pet food or shaving gel.
  • Offer free or discounted shipping to people who get to the shipping or return policy page but don't purchase.
  • Use characteristics of current buyers to target similar potential customers.
  • Target those who only purchase when you offer discounts.

Pro Tip: Aggressively retarget people who visit your ecommerce platform for the first time but don't add anything to their cart. Give them compelling reasons to buy, like a 50% off their first purchase.

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3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Getting new customers to your ecommerce business can get tricky, especially if search engines do not find your site.

But it's not impossible to get and retain audience attention, especially if you use the right ecommerce marketing strategies.

And one of the most-used ecommerce marketing strategies?

SEO

Using ecommerce SEO can make it easy for potential customers to find your products through organic search.

But how?

Keyword Research: Create a list of intent-based target keywords that help you in your ecommerce SEO.

On-Page SEO: Implement the keywords you find on your product pages, meta descriptions, titles, URLs, H1 tags, product and category descriptions, etc.

Product pages: Ensure they have unique descriptions, highlight technical specs, include social media share buttons, clear images, and helpful product videos.

Technical SEO: Fix duplicate content, orphaned pages, keyword cannibalization issues, broken links, duplicate URLs, missing descriptions and alt text, etc. Additionally, build your backlink profile and increase page speed.

Local SEO: Leverage local marketing tactics like claiming your Google My Business profile, getting local links, and building backlinks from local sites.

Other marketing tactics you can use to ensure users have great experiences while on your website:

  • Improve site architecture by ensuring your ecommerce website visitor does not take more than three clicks to get to a product.
  • Add structured data to help search engines crawl and index your site with ease.
  • Optimize for voice search.
  • Apply augmented technology.
  • Allow users to scan products with QR codes and try them on or see how they would look in their homes.

Pro Tip: While adding keywords on each product and category page may take a long time, you can start by updating the most important pages. Go to Google Analytics if you've set up ecommerce tracking, and sort your pages by revenue or traffic sessions to find the most popular.

4. Content Marketing

While related to SEO, content marketing is one of the ecommerce marketing strategies that can make it easy for your products to rank while helping you build backlinks.

But what’s the procedure for succeeding with ecommerce content marketing?

Create blog posts by first finding purchase intent keywords you can use to create informative content related to your products.

For example, you can use keyword research tools or Google to find phrases people use when they need more information about products.

Content Marketing Google
Image via Google

Alternatively, use topic research tools, brainstorm with your team, monitor audience interest online, etc.

Then, once you create your content, publish and promote it on other marketing channels, including email, social media platforms, forums, question & answer sites, guest blogs, etc.

Pro Tip: As content marketing is one of those ecommerce marketing strategies that help ecommerce websites guide buyers across their journey, create content for every stage. Create educational content for the awareness, point them towards your products during consideration, and show them why your products are the best during the decision stage.

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5. Reviews

What positions reviews as one of the most critical ecommerce marketing strategies?

Almost everyone reads online reviews in today's online world. They also depend on them when making purchase decisions. 89% of consumers consult reviews before purchasing, with 45% saying they’ve increased their review usage.

Reviews act as social proof, and you can showcase them in the form of ratings, product reviews, social posts, and unboxing videos.

Furthermore, knowing others had a great experience with your products sends a powerful signal that your target audience can trust your brand and that you have legitimate products.

But how do ecommerce brands use reviews to drive sales?

  • Strategically place them in marketing messages and throughout your ecommerce store to give potential customers the reassurance they need to buy.
  • Make leaving reviews on your ecommerce site, social media pages, and other review sites easy.
  • Respond to reviews. Responding fast to the negative ones can help you turn negative sentiments into positive ones.
  • Once you collect reviews, use them strategically in your social media posts, emails, website, and advertising messages.

Really Good Emails
Image via Really Good Emails

Pro Tip: Identify terminologies and vocabulary customers use when reviewing your products. Then, use them to inspire your product descriptions, ads, packaging, and overall ecommerce marketing strategies.

6. Social Media Marketing

According to a study, people now use social media platforms to research brands, products, and services they want to purchase.


Image via We Are Social

In yet another study, Facebook and YouTube were the leading platforms for driving traffic to ecommerce businesses.

Apptopia
Image via Apptopia

Most importantly, most social platforms offer built-in features to help you advertise or promote your products.

So, what's your excuse for not including social media campaigns in your ecommerce marketing strategies?

Not sure how to do it right?

Social media ecommerce marketing involves a set of tactics that can help you market an ecommerce business. For example:

Build brand awareness: Use images, blog post links, video marketing, etc., to build awareness on current products or create a buzz for a new product launch.

Advertise: Leverage advanced targeting features on most social media platforms to advertise your products. These can help you drive traffic to your online store or increase conversions.

Social Commerce: Take advantage of native shopping features to sell your products directly to customers. These include Facebook and Instagram Shops, Instagram Shopping, and Product Pins on Pinterest.

Customer service: Use these platforms to reply to customer questions, engage their comments, and collect feedback.

Social listening: Monitor mentions and conversations around your ecommerce brand online. Use the information to understand what people love about your products, the problems they encounter, and overall sentiments.

But what best practices govern social media for ecommerce?

  • Use influencer marketing.
  • Work with affiliate marketers to increase your reach and sales. You can find affiliate partners who sell complementary products and leverage them to drive sales for you.
  • Use short videos on Stories, Reels, TikTok, Live streams, etc.
  • Run promotions, including contests, free shipping offers, limited-time offers, etc.
  • Encourage sharing of experiences on social media using videos and images. Then, share this user-generated content on your accounts for social proof.
  • Post regularly.
  • Leverage tools that make it easy to schedule, post at the right time, manage messages across platforms, and analyze performance.

Pro Tip:Leverage link retargeting on Facebook to target anyone who clicks on your curated content. These include media coverage, industry news, reviews, or content taking people to third-party websites. Doing this enables you to offer value while expanding your retargeting reach.

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7. Google Shopping Ads

As one of the most popular ecommerce marketing strategies, Google Shopping shows users products related to what they search for at the top of the search engine results page. And when they click on an item from your ecommerce website, they get directed to it.

But how do you get your products eligible?

Submit a catalog of your products to Google Merchant Center. Google then uses your data, including titles, descriptions, images, etc., to show your products on search results when potential buyers run a search.

But what makes it one of the best ecommerce marketing strategies?

Broader reach: Most consumers start their research on Google search, allowing you to place your products in front of many potential buyers.

Better qualified leads: Traffic from Shopping ads is mostly intent-based or from shoppers who know exactly what they want now.

Increase returns on investment: Proper management of Shopping ads can increase your profits, especially if you leverage Surfaces across Google. This way, you can attract buyers without paying when they click on your listings.

Hyper-targeted marketing: Combining this with Google Ads can provide you with a targeted way to reach more potential customers. It can also enable you to reach shoppers on home devices and Google Assistant on smartphones.

Pro Tip: To make your pricing competitive, see whether you can lower your shipping cost since Google showcases the total purchase cost.

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FAQs

Q1. What are ecommerce marketing strategies?

A. Ecommerce marketing strategies are tactics you use to drive traffic to your ecommerce business, convert visitors to paying customers, and retain those who purchase.

Q2. How do you create a digital marketing strategy for ecommerce?

A. Use the following tactics to create a successful strategy for your online store.

Get an in-depth look at these and more ecommerce marketing strategies above.

Q3. How do you advertise ecommerce?

A. Ecommerce advertising is one of the ecommerce marketing strategies where you use paid messaging to promote your products online. You pay for clicks, placements, impressions, etc., on platforms like Google, Facebook, YouTube, news sites, etc.

Q4. How do you develop an ecommerce marketing plan?

A. Use these steps to develop a working plan:

  • Outline ecommerce goals
  • Identify your target customers and marketing channels they prefer
  • Research competitors
  • Position your brand
  • Leverage tools
  • Use different marketing strategies to promote products
  • Test, rinse, repeat.

Q5. How is Ecommerce useful in marketing?

A. The following are reasons ecommerce is useful in marketing.

  • Helps you increase visibility and attract new customers
  • No geographical limitations
  • Enables 24/7 product accessibility
  • Helps you collect customer data that you can use to refine your marketing strategies
  • Has lower operational costs

Q6. What are the 3 types of ecommerce?

A. They are:

  • Consumer to business (C2B)
  • Business to business(B2B) (This also includes Business to government (B2G)
  • Consumer to consumer(C2C)

Q7. Will the ecommerce market survive for long?

A. Yes, it will.

With lockdowns, travel bans, and retail store closures, most people have started shopping online. Additionally, most of them say they will continue shopping online even after the pandemic.

Q8. What are the best ways to increase ecommerce sales?

A. Use these ecommerce marketing strategies to increase online sales:

  • Email marketing
  • Social media marketing
  • Optimize product pages
  • Give visitors easy choices\run promotions

Check out other tactics to increase ecommerce sales and boost revenue.

Q9. How do ecommerce get sales?

A. Ecommerce marketers get sales from selling their products and services online. They use various ecommerce marketing strategies to promote their products, then give consumers who visit their site a range of options to pay for the goods or services.

Q10. What are the ecommerce marketing metrics?

A. Some important ecommerce metrics to track include:

  • Cost per acquisition (CPA)
  • Email click-through-rate
  • Abandonment
  • Sales conversion rates
  • Reach
  • Customer lifetime value (CLV)
  • Impressions
  • Average order value (AOV)

Check out other crucial ecommerce metrics you should measure.

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Winning Big with Money-Making Ecommerce Marketing Tactics!

Implement all of these ecommerce marketing strategies if you want to build brand awareness, drive traffic, and increase online sales.

Most importantly, don't forget to track and improve those that work better with your type of audience.

What ecommerce marketing strategies mentioned above will you try out first? Is there any you need more details about? Comment below, and we can offer more guidelines to help you succeed.

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.