Online retail has been growing steadily in the last couple of decades and the COVID-19 pandemic only gave it the extra push in 2020. The global eCommerce market is projected to reach a staggering $4,206 billion by the end of the year, so the timing is ideal for you to make a move and strengthen your marketing strategy.

But how do you build a credible eCommerce promo plan to turn website visitors into full-time customers? 

It depends on many factors such as the branding strategy, your niche, portfolio of products, and many more. However, a few techniques proved to be extremely useful for almost every eCommerce company out there, which is why we want to discuss them thoroughly in this post. 

If you are interested in learning the best practices of eCommerce marketing, keep reading to see the top seven tips and hacks. 

1 Design a Professional and Trustworthy Website

You probably know that you’ll never get a second chance to make a first impression. Online customers are visual creatures who judge businesses at a glance, so keep in mind that your marketing efforts must start from scratch. In this case, the scratch is nothing but website creation. 

How’s your eCommerce site supposed to look?

Jake Gardner, one of the best essay writers in charge of web design topics, says the first tip is to craft a site professionally in order to showcase trustworthiness and authority: “There’s no room for overwhelming banner ads, unnecessary elements, and other distractions that serve no real purpose.”

Secondly, your site has to be easily navigable, thus enabling visitors to find what they are looking for quickly. And thirdly, don’t forget to increase page load speed because even a one-second delay can seriously undermine the user experience.

2 Create Standout Product Descriptions and Visuals

The main challenge every eCommerce marketer is facing is how to present the portfolio in a realistic and tangible manner. The only solution is, of course, to create standout product descriptions and visual elements. Here’s how it works:

• Product descriptions: A lot of marketers write simple descriptions or copy the text from their suppliers. This is not a good practice as it makes you look sloppy and inert, so we strongly encourage you to write quality descriptions and focus on the benefits of your products.
• Images: A picture is worth a thousand words, which is why product images need to follow well-written descriptions. 
• Videos: If possible, it would be great to produce product videos because they impress eCommerce buyers and help you stand out from competitors.

3 Launch Shopping Campaigns on Google Ads

Advertising is the core of digital marketing, but eCommerce businesses can take the extra step with shopping campaigns on Google Ads. You can use shopping campaigns to promote your online and local inventory, boost traffic to your website or local store, and find qualified leads.  

This advertising method is not based on keywords, but rather on the merchant’s product information. That way, users can find the most relevant products through Google searches. Shopping campaigns come in three formats:

• Product shopping ads that focus on a specific item from your portfolio
• Showcase shopping ads promoting a group of correlated products
• Local inventory ads that drive interest in physical stores

4 Personalized Marketing Campaigns

Do you know that 44% of consumers say that they will likely become repeat buyers after a personalized shopping experience with a particular company? That’s how personalization influences modern businesses, so your job is to give it a try and grow conversion rates very quickly.

Using marketing automation, you can pinpoint individual prospects based on their previous browsing experiences. In case they visited your website or checked out competitors’ products you can immediately react by displaying personalized ads promoting your products. 

For instance, Amazon will always show you a full list of items closely related to the ones you’ve bought during your previous visits. You can do the same thing and ensure an entire army of recurring shoppers.

5 Create a Sense of Urgency or Scarcity 

How do you react when someone tells you that you have only a minute or so to complete something? We don’t know the answer for sure, but we bet you jump straight into the action to get the job done as quickly as possible.

This is pretty much how an average eCommerce customer behaves online. If you create a sense of scarcity or urgency, you can convince people to take action and complete the purchase based on your instructions. A typical solution is to show limited-time offers or state that you only have a small number left in stock.

6 Embrace the Mobile-First Mindset

According to industry forecasts, mobile commerce will make more than half of all eCommerce sales by 2021. What does it tell you?

The answer is fairly simple – every online retail store should focus on smartphone users and create responsive websites. Your site must suit all sorts of mobile devices as well as other tools such as laptops, desktop computers, and tablets. 

Responsive design simplifies the user experience, which helps eCommerce firms to create better content and grow the number of mobile-driven purchases in the long run.

7 Send Email Reminders for Cart Abandonment

This one goes without saying, but email reminders are simply too important to neglect. Only 2% of website visitors convert during their first visit, but retargeting has the ability to increase conversion rates by almost 150%.

You must take advantage of it by sending personalized email reminders for prospects who abandon their shopping carts. The tactic doesn’t guarantee conversions in 100% of the cases, but even a 5% or 10% increase is enough to give a big boost to your business.

Up to You!

Every eCommerce business is trying to build a unique marketing model with lots of tempting offers and memorable sales tricks, but some promo techniques deliver the right results in just about any type of online retail business. We showed you seven ways to craft a credible marketing plan and turn website visitors into buyers, so make sure to play with these tips and use the ones that suit your eCommerce business model.

AUTHOR BIO

Thomas Lanigan is a digital marketer and a part-time blogger from San Francisco, CA. He is interested in topics such as business, finance, digital marketing, and brand building. Besides that, Thomas is the father of two kids and a passionate long-distance runner.