Ecommerce has grown on large brands, such as Alessi, Walmart, LVMH, it has eaten up the retail market and made online shopping everywhere. But, as a marketer, how do you help your company or business WOW in this fast-changing marketplace? How do you attract these’’ moving targets’’ to engage with your brand, pitch on your offers, and buy your products or services?
Here are the five most important things that I resonate with in my Ecommerce class at NYU and the features for success in Ecommerce that online retailers can’t afford to ignore.
1. Smart personalized marketing
When you are checking your inbox, you may notice that Amazon recommends things that are similar to what you have searched, reminds you that you left something in your cart, or hope you review your most recent items. Amazon recognizes and proves they know their customers, with personalized marketing, they increase customer engagement and retention, drive up conversion, ultimately, generate higher revenue.
Marketing personalization, in a nutshell, you deliver an experience customized to your audience and customers, interact with them in a way that feels human, and consider their preferences and interests. Research by Epsilon indicates 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when brands offer personalized experiences. A survey by Evergage also has found that 96% of respondents felt that personalization helped them advance customer relationships.
A personalization strategy can include customized email marketing, AI assistants and chatbots, personalizing content and user experience (UX), targeted product recommendations, and much more.
2. Get started with mobile-friendly design
Mobile usage is overtaking desktops, more users are spending larger amounts of time engaged with mobile devices than ever before. So, mobile marketing is not the future, it should be implemented into your business right now!
Before diving into it, design a mobile-friendly website that responds the exact same way across devices makes for a streamlined experience when viewing the website. People generally don’t enjoy the experience of pinch and zoom to see what they’re looking for. In fact, Google finds that 61% of mobile users leave a website immediately when they find it’s not mobile-friendly. More importantly, now, Google ranks websites based on their ability to display and function on mobile. Therefore, make sure your website is ready with a mobile-friendly design that would power your mobile conversion rate, improve user experience, and develop a higher ranking on search engines.
3. Trustworthy social proof
Which do you buy? Product A has more than 1200 reviews with an average rating of 4.8 stars. Product B has 36 reviews and a 1.5-star rating. Of course, you’re drawn to product A with over 1200 satisfied customers. In marketing, social proof is a term that when people shop, they look for reviews, recommendations before making their decision. Also, it helps connect to consumers emotionally and 40% of consumers find new brands to follow online based on recommendations from friends and family. There are several ways you can build social proof into your market and get your business more sales. For example, social proof from your existing customers, from experts in your industry, from celebrities or influencers.
4. Work on retargeting and remarketing strategies
Retargeting and remarketing are an opportunity to shorten up awareness and decisions from consumers. About 96% of the people that visit a website for the first time are not ready to buy. They need more than one interaction or compelling element with a brand to feel connected and to become a customer. These strategies are useful because they focus on people who are already familiar with a particular brand. And the consumers have shown interest in the brand. In order to do so, email marketing plays an effective role in retargeting and remarketing, for instance, target shoppers through newsletters, abandoned carts reminders. Moreover, creating individualized options to drive engagement like shoppers can share the wish list with their family or friend. This way helps send free traffic with built-in social proof to a website and remarket to a new buyer.
5. Make lots of relevant videos
Not sure why video matters? Think about Instagram. Stories make for better going viral, communicating significant features, being more persuasive. Videos are memorable, actionable, and approachable. YouTube, for another example, is the leading online platform with a reach of 90% in the United States, it can be used to teach complex concepts or information, answer relevant questions to a given customer base, share within multi-channel, and engage customers and help with decision making. Here are some benefits of video marketing to thrive your business.
- Drive traffic and revenue
- Rank higher in search
- Reach decision makers
- Boost conversion rates
- Encourage social shares
