What is the perfect marketing strategy? Not even experts can answer this question because, as in other areas, here too the rules of the game change from year to year, incorporating the latest and recycling the outdated. Each store has to find its most suitable online marketing strategy commerce inspector. With our recommendations you will be able to optimize them, regardless of whether they focus on search engine positioning, on social networks or if display advertising is combined with large Email Marketing campaigns.
1. Don’t forget SEO
Search engines are the most important channel for a user to reach a store. In search engine optimization or SEO several factors come into play: the technical implementation, the concept of the page, the contents, the link profile and the keyword strategy. SEO measures have a long-term effect on visibility and traffic.
Since Google is the most widely used search engine globally (more than 90% of users) and the one that ultimately sets the pace, all online store managers should internalize their positioning criteria. It is common that if any rule is broken, you have to expect ranking and traffic losses.
2. Mobile sales
The use of mobile devices to make online purchases is growing unstoppably. According to a study by the zanox Mobile Performance Barometer, in Europe this trend increased by 60% in 2015 and is expected to continue growing in 2016. In Spain, the increase has been 49%. With these figures it is clear the central role of tablets and smartphones in the daily life of many users and, with it, the importance of optimizing online stores for mobile commerce as well. Learn more about the so-called mCommerce in our digital guide.
3. Find what sets you apart
The competition in the field of electronic commerce is enormous, so the first thing to do is an analysis to define what differentiates your company from all the others (USP or Unique Selling Point). In this way, you will lay the appropriate foundations for a marketing strategy for your online store. The lowest price is not always the definitive argument. Sometimes users prefer particularly fast or even free shipping, or impeccable customer service.
4. Take advantage of recommendations
Once you have defined what sets your business apart from your competitors, it is time to let the client communicate it: this is what is called recommendation marketing. Thanks to the linking of stores with social channels and rating platforms, customers have the opportunity to rate companies and act as advocates or testimonials. By actively requesting the customer’s opinion through a call to action or CTA (call to action) in the shipping or payment confirmation, transparency is transmitted and trust towards the company is strengthened. These reviews are not just a loyalty instrument, but also advertising, since they will be shown in the rich snippets of the Google results lists as detailed descriptions with additional information (contact details, etc.).
5. The perfect content strategy
If you offer relevant and specifically tailored content to the audience, you can pick up the customer at the right time in their business life cycle (customer life cycle). This concept designates the path that the customer follows from the first contact with the company, perhaps from an advertisement, until the end of the commercial relationship with the purchase.
Providing useful information to the customer not only arouses their interest, but also draws their attention to a specific product. Therefore, optimized content also serves as a form of communication with the target audience. Through the appropriate content strategy, it is possible to adapt a certain product or service to your expectations and make it tangible, establishing a personal level of communication that will later serve to build a relationship with the potential client.
From an SEO point of view, good content improves ranking, widens reach radius, and increases conversion rate.
6. From potential customers to leads
There are online marketing measures for eCommerce that do not aspire to close a contract or sell a specific product. Often, it can be much more important to generate so-called leads (contacts or requests), especially when the client is still at the beginning of the process and is only looking for information. This is how contact is established with users who have not yet made any purchase decision, but who are interested in the products or services offered by the company. These leads can be newsletter signups or an eBook download. Later, you can continue to encourage contact through advertisements or individualized content.
7. Enhance usability
All these strategies to attract the customer’s attention are useless if the user leaves the store without buying. To prevent this from happening, it is convenient to check the usability of the pages and processes that make up an online store (product descriptions, shopping cart, checkout, etc.). The most frequent frustration factors in eCommerce are excessive loading times, complex and poorly structured pages, and unfulfilled expectations, especially if the user, due to poor optimization, has reached the store through keywords that are not correspond to the content of the page. The shopping cart and payment methods are another weak point. In this article we have compiled some tips for improve the usability of your mobile page.
8. Encourage conversion
One step further is constituted by the elements that pursue conversion. Along with the aforementioned customer ratings, so-called trust seals can also be included, which, strategically placed on the home page and in the purchase process, convey to the visitor the quality and reliability of the store. Another motivating element is the HTTPPS encryption, recognizable by the small green padlock in the browser window, next to the store address.
It all starts with quality and usability
Before proposing to increase traffic or conversion rate, the foundation must be laid so that marketing measures can bear fruit. Along with solid software and impeccable performance, attention should also be paid to the ease of use of the store (usability). Investing the budget in complicated SEO, SEA or social media strategies without having previously adapted the platform does not achieve remarkable results, since the quality of the content and processes of the store is in first place. The marketing strategy comes later.