Ecommerce Marketing Tactics to Win This Year

Ben Tippet
July 17, 2024

Want to drive more traffic and sales to your online store? Ecommerce marketing is key. This post covers the proven strategies – from mobile to social – to add to your marketing mix and beat the competition in the digital space.

Being competitive in ecommerce is vital. Mobile optimisation is a winner. With so many consumers using mobiles for their online shopping, having a mobile friendly site is not just a nice to have – it’s a must. A responsive design makes the user experience better by making your site easy to use and quick to load and can drive more sales for you.

Upselling and cross selling are also winners. Increasing your average order value is possible by promoting slightly better products or offering complementary items. SMS marketing is useful in this case to recover abandoned carts and promote exclusive deals. These tactics drive sales and customer engagement too.

Social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram are essential tools in today’s ecommerce marketing mix. TikTok’s algorithm which favours new creators can get your brand in front of a bigger audience. Instagram has multiple ways to show your products and engage with followers from posts and stories to reels.

Personalisation is another big winner. By customising emails, product recommendations and offers based on customer preferences and behaviour you can see significant improvement in conversion rates. Knowing your customer base and meeting them on their favourite channels with relevant offers can make all the difference in your marketing.

Ecommerce marketing is more important than ever, as online shopping changes how businesses reach customers globally, marketing strategies are key to standing out in a crowded space. A good ecommerce marketing strategy means your store not only attracts new customers but retains them and drives long term loyalty and continuous sales growth.

Ecommerce marketing is about more than just sales; it’s about creating a brand experience that makes customers come back. In a world where customers have endless options at their disposal, your marketing has to be both strategic and dynamic. Brand awareness and customer engagement can be boosted by combining SEO, social media and personalisation.

This post covers the essential elements of ecommerce marketing from the basics to advanced strategies. Whether you’re an established online store or just starting out, these tips will help you create an ecommerce marketing strategy that drives traffic, converts and grows your online sales.

What is Ecommerce Marketing

Ecommerce marketing, also known as commerce marketing, is the art and science of promoting products and services online. It’s a range of tactics to attract customers, drive conversions and build brand loyalty for an ecommerce business. Tactics like mobile optimisation which ensures your website is accessible and user friendly on all devices are part of a good ecommerce marketing strategy so you need to have a well rounded ecommerce marketing strategy.

Upselling and cross selling are also key. By offering customers slightly better products or complementary items you can increase average order value and overall shopping experience. Data driven decisions also play a big part in refining your marketing. By looking at key performance indicators like conversion rates and customer acquisition costs you can continually optimise your strategy for better results.

In the end ecommerce marketing is about creating a smooth and engaging experience for your customer. From the moment they land on your site to the final purchase every touchpoint should be optimised to meet their needs and preferences. By focusing on mobile optimisation, upselling and data driven tactics you can build a solid ecommerce marketing strategy that drives growth and success.

Ecommerce Marketing vs Ecommerce Advertising

Ecommerce marketing and ecommerce advertising are related but different.

Ecommerce marketing covers a wide range of ecommerce marketing strategies to promote products and build brand visibility in the digital space. This includes:

The aim is to have a strong online presence that attracts and retains customers.

Ecommerce advertising is a part of ecommerce marketing that focuses on paid ads to drive traffic and sales. Display ads, banner ads and rich media ads fall into this category. By using both ecommerce marketing and advertising you can boost conversions and brand awareness and have a full online presence.

Why Ecommerce Marketing

In the digital age ecommerce marketing is huge. Retail ecommerce sales account for over 19% of total retail sales globally in 2023 and will be nearly a quarter by 2027 so ecommerce marketing strategies are more important than ever.

Good digital marketing agency drives traffic, converts visitors and retains customers so are essential for small and large businesses alike.

Brand Awareness

Building brand awareness is a key part of a good ecommerce marketing strategy. Through SEO, social media marketing and email campaigns you can increase your visibility and attract more audience. SEO is key to making sure your website ranks high on search engines so potential customers can find you.

Social media marketing is creating content on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok which can reach a wide audience and drive traffic to your ecommerce site. Email marketing is direct communication with your customers to keep them informed of new products, promotions and updates so you can build brand loyalty and recognition.

Affordable Strategies

Ecommerce marketing is often more cost effective than traditional marketing. With lower upfront costs and higher return on investment you can:

  • Target customers more precisely
  • Measure results better
  • Allocate resources better
  • Boost conversions and sales

This means more effective marketing.

24/7 Availability

Ecommerce marketing is available 24/7. Unlike physical stores an online store can operate 24/7 and reach customers at any time of day or night. This continuous availability means continuous customer engagement and sales opportunities and can cater to different time zones and increase your overall reach.

Data Driven Decisions

To optimise your ecommerce marketing you need to use data analytics. By tracking key performance indicators like conversion rates, revenue and customer acquisition cost you can make informed decisions to improve.

Tools like A/B testing and real-time analytics will help you find what works best so your marketing is always in line with customer behavior and preferences.

Ecommerce Marketing Channels

Ecommerce marketing has many channels each with its own benefits. These are:

  • Social media marketing
  • Content marketing
  • Email campaigns
  • SEO
  • Paid advertising (Google Ads)
  • Influencer marketing
  • Affiliate marketing

A good ecommerce marketing strategy uses a combination of these channels to reach and engage with customers.

Social Media Marketing

In ecommerce social media marketing is key. Platforms like:

are used to engage with communities and showcase products. For example jewelry brand Rani & Co. found success on TikTok and Instagram by posting a mix of personal stories and product design content. Instagram’s features like shoppable content allows visitors to buy products directly from the platform and drive traffic and sales.

A good social media marketing campaign has:

  • Regular posts
  • Engage with followers
  • Run social media ads
  • Leverage influencers

By creating good content and participating in social media conversations businesses can build a loyal following and increase their online presence.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is key to drive traffic and build trust with your audience. This means creating and distributing valuable content like blogs, videos and podcasts to attract and retain customers. Big brands use content marketing through blogs to share stories and recipes and cross post to social media and email to maximise reach and engagement.

One way to engage with customers is by hosting webinars or workshops. These can also be used to educate customers about your products. These events can be used for tutorials and expert talks to position your brand as an authority in your niche.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is still one of the most effective channels to drive sales and get repeat customers. Automated email campaigns like drip campaigns and segmenting based on user interests can nurture leads and guide them through the buyer journey. Regular email engagement can maintain customer loyalty and encourage repeat buys.

An email campaign might be:

  • A series of emails around a theme like product launches or sales promotions
  • Personalised and timely emails
  • Keep the audience engaged
  • Drive conversions

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

SEO is key to increase online visibility and organic traffic. By using ecommerce SEO tactics you can optimise web pages to rank higher in search engines you can get more traffic to your ecommerce site. Ecommerce SEO is to get product pages to the top of search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo so you get more organic traffic.

A full SEO strategy has:

  • Keyword research
  • Content creation
  • Optimisation for search engines
  • Using video content to increase website ranking by increasing dwell time and satisfying search engine algorithms and visibility.

Paid Advertising

Paid advertising especially pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a great way to get immediate traffic to your website. PPC ads appear on platforms like Google Ads and social media where businesses pay for each ad click. This ensures your content is seen by potential customers when they search for relevant terms and is a powerful tool to increase visibility and sales.

Advertisers can bid on keywords related to their industry and get their PPC ads to appear in search engine results and on relevant websites. By running ad campaigns on platforms like Facebook and Instagram businesses can expand their reach and get in front of a bigger audience.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing uses individuals with large followings to promote products through sponsored posts. This can drive big brand awareness and sales by tapping into the influencer’s audience. For example running an influencer marketing campaign can shorten the sales cycle by getting in front of new audiences fast.

During an influencer marketing campaign you need to track metrics like post impressions, comments and engagement rates. Website traffic and conversion rates are also key to monitor. By choosing the right influencers based on their audience reach, engagement levels and authenticity you can get effective promotion and a good ROI.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a performance based strategy where affiliates promote products on behalf of a company and get sales commissions in return. This benefits both the branding and the affiliates as it builds brand awareness and drives sales without upfront costs.

Affiliates can promote products through:

  • Blog posts
  • Social media
  • Email campaigns
  • Reviews

This gets them in front of a bigger audience and potentially more sales. By managing affiliate programs through platforms like ShareASale and Skimlinks businesses can track and reward partners for their promotion.

Ecommerce Marketing Strategy

To create a successful ecommerce marketing strategy you need to do market research, set clear goals and choose the right channels to target your audience. By understanding the customer journey and making data driven decisions businesses can create a full strategy that drives traffic, conversions and sales.

Setting Goals

Setting SMART goals—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound is crucial for structured and targeted growth. These goals give direction, measure progress and ensure resources are allocated correctly. By setting clear objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs) you can measure outcomes and know how you’re performing.

SMART goals helps increase productivity by giving you a clear roadmap of what needs to be achieved. This structured approach ensures marketing efforts are aligned to business goals and gets better results.

Who’s Your Target Audience

Knowing your target audience is key to creating effective marketing strategies. This means gathering data on customer preferences, behaviors and demographics through surveys, interviews and online research. Understanding the online shopping habits of your target audience allows you to market to them and their needs.

Customer segmentation by demographics, psychographics and behaviors helps personalise marketing messages and engagement. By being in the favourite online hangouts of your target customers and using their preferred communication channels you can create more relevant and better marketing.

Campaign Plan

For a successful ecommerce marketing strategy you need a campaign plan. This plan should include the marketing channels to use, the type of content to create and the timeline. Using a mix of channels like social media, email marketing, SEO and paid advertising gets you in front of a bigger audience and more engagement.

A content calendar helps you stay consistent and on time with your audience. Planning content around key dates, product launches and promotional events can get you more engagement and sales.

Discounts and Promotions

Offering discounts and promotions is a popular ecommerce marketing tactic. Sending emails to remind customers to complete their checkout, offer help or recommend related products can increase conversions. Selling bundles can have multiple benefits for your business. It can increase average order value and clear out old stock while getting more visibility for your products.

Referral marketing and loyalty programs are other good strategies. Encouraging customers to refer others in exchange for rewards can grow your customer base while loyalty programs incentivise repeat business and user generated content. Tracking the performance of these promotions helps you see what’s working and what’s not.

Website Audits

Regular website audits is key to finding technical issues that can harm user experience and SEO. Optimise for mobile, ensure responsive design and consider the whole mobile user experience. A user friendly website with clear messaging, mobile friendly design and fast loading times is essential to engage visitors and get conversions.

When reviewing the website’s conversion funnel you need to identify drop off points and recurring issues to be addressed in the ecommerce marketing plan. This ensures a smooth shopping experience for your customers and maximises your sales.

Marketing Funnel

A marketing funnel is the shopper’s journey from first interaction to purchase. The stages of an ecommerce marketing funnel are awareness, interest and purchase. Strategies for awareness are social media, content marketing and search engine optimisation which get potential customers to your site.

Guiding customers through the stages of interest and purchase requires targeted content and personalised offers. Value based segmentation can help you identify high ROI segments so you can focus your marketing and get more conversions.

Monitor and Adjust

Monitoring metrics like conversion rates and customer feedback is key to optimising your marketing strategies. Common performance metrics are website visits, click through rates and customer acquisition cost which help you measure your campaigns.

Regularly reviewing and adjusting your marketing plan based on data ensures your strategies are in line with customer preferences and market trends. A/B testing different elements like product images, descriptions and pricing can help you find what works and refine your marketing.

International Ecommerce Marketing

Going international brings unique challenges and opportunities. Diversifying your customer base by reaching global audiences can reduce your dependence on one market and increase overall sales. But adapting your marketing to the cultural and language preferences of different regions is key to being relevant and connecting with local audiences.

Localisation

Content localisation is translating website content including product descriptions and UI elements to match local preferences. This builds trust and understanding with local audiences and gets them more engaged with your brand. Running location specific promotions and considering local events or seasons for promotions can also get you more out of your marketing.

Product images and graphics are another area to localise. By localising your content to the cultural and language preferences of your target markets you can create a more personal and impactful shopping experience for your international customers.

Understanding Local Payment Methods

Understanding local payment methods is key to smooth transactions in international markets. Offering popular local payment methods and addressing currency conversion issues gives transparency and convenience to your customers. This builds trust and gets more sales by making the buying process as easy as possible.

Shipping and Logistics

Shipping and logistics is a big part of international ecommerce. Understanding shipping regulations, customs procedures and taxes or import fees is key to managing international shipping. Partner with reliable shipping companies to get on time deliveries and reduce logistical headaches.

Localising product packaging to suit local preferences can make a big difference in different markets. By considering the specific needs and expectations of your international customers you can create a more tailored and better shopping experience.

International SEO

International SEO is key to targeting a global audience. Here’s what to do:

  1. Research keywords in different languages so your site is discoverable in international markets.
  2. Optmise website metadata for international search engines to get more visibility.
  3. Get more visitors from around the world by doing these.

Using hreflang tags on your site tells search engines what language your content is in and directs the right audience to your site. By doing these global SEO you can increase your online presence and get more organic traffic from multiple markets.

Multilingual Customer Support

Multilingual customer support increases customer satisfaction as it makes it easier for them to communicate their needs and get help quickly. Investing in translation services or hiring multilingual customer service reps means customers get accurate and effective support in their language.

By providing support across multiple channels:

  • chatbots
  • email
  • live chat
  • phone
  • social media

you can cater to your international customers’ needs. This level of support builds trust and loyalty and gets repeat business and positive word of mouth.

Personalise Customers

Personalisation is a powerful tool in ecommerce marketing. By customising marketing content and experiences to match individual customers’ needs and preferences businesses can increase customer satisfaction and build stronger relationships.

Personalised product recommendations, emails and offers based on past behaviour can increase conversion rates and average order value.

Behavioural Data

Using customer behaviour data is key to creating personalised shopping experiences. By tracking browsing history, purchase behaviour and demographics you can show relevant products and offers to individual customers. This gets higher conversion rates and better shopping experience.

Dynamic Content

Dynamic content changes the user experience based on interactions and preferences. Personalised bestseller lists by location or time period can make the shopping experience more relevant and fun.

By adapting content to individual users’ needs businesses can increase customer satisfaction and get repeat business.

User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) is a goldmine for ecommerce businesses. Social proof such as customer photos, videos and testimonials gets people to buy by showing others have had good experiences with your products.

Get customers to share their experiences and you get trust and authenticity and conversions and sales.

Customer Reviews

Getting customers to leave reviews is key to trust and authenticity. Here’s what to do:

  1. Send post purchase emails to ask for feedback
  2. Offer discounts or loyalty points to get customers to share their experiences
  3. Use customer reviews on platforms like Facebook to get social proof and influence purchase decisions.

By showcasing customer feedback you can get new customers and build a loyal following.

Customer Photos

Showing customer photos lets prospective buyers see real life usage and satisfaction and makes it more relatable and trustworthy. Create campaigns, contests or challenges that get customers to share photos of your products and you’ll get valuable user generated content. Show these photos on social media, email newsletters and product pages and you’ll make your products more desirable and sell more.

By showing customer photos you’ll create a more authentic and fun shopping experience and get more customers and more sales.

Video Marketing

Video marketing is very effective in ecommerce. 87% of businesses see increased sales from video marketing so it’s clear video content has an impact on customer engagement and conversions.

Platforms like Facebook which sees billions of video views daily are great opportunities for businesses to reach a large audience and get brand awareness.

Need help creating videos that get results? Check out our Video Production Perth service to get started with videos that capture attention and drive sales!

Product Demos

Product demo videos show key features and answer common questions about a product, provide a clear and concise overview so customers can make informed buying decisions. Good product demos have a clear voice narrating the product benefits and interactive experiences like 360 degree views or zoom-in features to make it more engaging.

By showing your products in action you can build trust and credibility and get customers to buy. Product demos are a conversion and customer satisfaction tool.

Customer Stories

Videos with customer testimonials are seen as more trustworthy than messages from brands. Case studies of customers’ success can be persuasive and show the value of your products through real life examples. Share these on your website and social media to get credibility and new customers.

Customer stories not only build trust but also creates an emotional connection with your audience. By showcasing the positive experiences of happy customers you can get others to buy and join your loyal customer community.

Conclusion

In summary, a winning ecommerce marketing strategy is all about having a holistic approach of mobile optimisation, upselling, social media marketing, personalisation and data driven decisions. By using multiple marketing channels and having a detailed plan you can reach your target audience and get conversions.

As ecommerce grows you need to stay ahead of the competition by monitoring and adjusting your strategies based on performance data and customer feedback. By following the tactics in this guide you can have a thriving ecommerce business that gets and retains loyal customers.

FAQs

What is the difference between ecommerce marketing and ecommerce advertising?

Ecommerce marketing and ecommerce advertising are two different things. Marketing includes all the strategies to promote products and get brand visibility and advertising is paid ads to drive traffic and sales.

How do I optimise my ecommerce website for mobile?

To optimise your ecommerce website design for mobile focus on responsive design, fast loading and user friendly experience. These are the must haves for mobile users and site performance.

How do I personalise the ecommerce experience?

Some ways to personalise the ecommerce experience are using customer behaviour data, sending personalised emails and offers and creating dynamic content based on interactions and preferences. These will tailor the shopping experience to individual preferences.

How does user generated content help my ecommerce business?

User generated content like customer photos and reviews can increase trust, influence buying decisions and provide social proof that drives conversions for your ecommerce business.

What are the benefits of video marketing?

Video marketing can increase sales, user understanding of products, brand awareness and customer engagement. It’s quick and easy to convey information.

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