Ecommerce growth infographic on laptop.
E-commerce has swept the shopping scene. According to statistice-commerce accounted for nearly 20% of global retail sales in 2021. Estimates indicate that these online stores will account for nearly a quarter of total retail sales worldwide by 2025.
A major factor in the growth of this way of online shopping has been the COVID-19 pandemic. As individuals stayed home to avoid the virus, people turned their attention to online shopping. Census Bureau reported that “e-commerce sales increased by $244.2 billion or 43% in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, from $571.2 billion in 2019 to $815.4 billion in 2020.”
As the number of e-commerce stores has increased, so has the need to stand out from competitors. Since the ecommerce experience is virtual, digital marketing strategies are crucial to differentiate your brand from others. Implementing these three essential tactics is the best place to start.
1. Personalized Outreach Campaigns
In 2020, CEO and Founder Danielle Hixenbaugh Bloom digitala remote digital marketing agency, and saw the impact of personalized SMS campaigns on consumers.
Hixenbaugh says, “Since COVID-19, I’ve noticed significantly more customers wanting an emotional connection to a purchase. Many of these individuals will appear on your texting lists. This is because texting is intimate. Your SMS list is made up of people who really want to hear from you and be informed about upcoming discounts or new products. Use this tool wisely and address your audience as you would a friend.”
Email campaigns are another personalized way to invest in customers, especially for brands with smaller marketing budgets. While some customers may say they don’t want to receive email, the data shows otherwise. According to Litmus, the e-commerce industry has the highest ROI for email marketing. For every $1 marketers spend on email marketing, they receive $45 in return.
2. Loyalty Programs
A recent survey by CommerceNext, in collaboration with CommX, surveyed 118 digital marketing and e-commerce executives. The results showed that a top priority for these executives is to create loyalty programs that will build more meaningful customer relationships. More than half of the participants indicated that they plan to expand or launch loyalty programs in 2022.
For brands looking to increase the loyalty of their buyers, Zsuzsa Kecsmar suggests focusing on the emotional aspect of loyalty programs. Kecsmar is the CMO and co-founder of Antavo, a loyalty technology provider that recently published its 2022 Global Customer Loyalty Report. This research used survey responses from more than 320 global companies, as well as data from more than 25 million member actions on the Antava platform, to highlight the importance of emotional attraction in loyalty programs.
“At a time when customers have access to a huge choice of online stores and retailers, a brand needs to take the customer by the heart and not the wallet, because discounts are now less effective than rewards with an emotional component,” says Kecsmar. . “In our survey, only 20.7% of existing program owners classified their program as more emotional than rational, while 53.6% of companies in the process of launching or relaunching their program said their program was more emotional. than would be rational, indicating that in the future, many more loyalty programs will focus on generating emotional loyalty.’
Kecsmar adds: ‘It is worth emphasizing that emotional loyalty is not a zero-sum game. You can still have transactional elements, such as coupons and collection, in your loyalty program – don’t forget to add a few features and rewards that emphasize emotional attachment.”
3. Optimize content for SEO
No matter the size of your business or budget, SEO is a cost-effective digital marketing strategy that helps you connect with your audience. A website optimized for SEO also serves as a valuable tool for building brand awareness, increasing engagement, and nurturing your other marketing channels.
If you’re wondering where to start when it comes to SEO, consider the content you already have. ‘Content is king’ is a well-known expression among marketers. In fact, Alex Valencia, President and Director of Business Development at We Do Web, calls content the “backbone” of an SEO strategy.
Keep the quality of your content relevant and current. These factors are critical as they can affect how Google’s algorithms will rank your web page. The higher your ranking, the more potential customers will see your valuable content and the more they will relate to your brand.
“The quality of the content you create and where it appears online plays a huge role in the success of your larger marketing strategy,” Valencia says. “Every piece of content provides an opportunity for users to get to know your brand, engage with your offering and, hopefully, turn it into a paying customer or customer. With this in mind, your content should be at the center of your marketing plan, not an afterthought. And, in short, a silo approach ensures that your content is on-topic and relevant to the audience you want to reach.’
By implementing these three tactics, you can boost your digital marketing efforts and grow your ecommerce business. As traditional marketing shifts, consumers value experiences above all else. Don’t forget to personalize your campaigns, reward current customers with reward programs and optimize your content for search engines. As customers become aware of your presence and appreciate your customer-centric approach, you will see your efforts turn into sales.
