Member Article

Strong Marketing Plans for Your E-commerce Site

One of the cornerstone rules in starting a business is finding the best possible location, which used to be a big challenge for many entrepreneurs. However, the Internet was a welcome addition to the options of perfect spots to open up shop.

Many business owners did well with setting up e-commerce stores instead of a brick-and-mortar one. To be fair, not all types of businesses can be done through the Internet alone, which means it’s still important to have a physical store. But to be able to reach a wider target audience, it is essential to have an active online presence.

The Importance of a Marketing Plan

On the other hand, just because the Internet is an ideal business platform doesn’t mean that your product or service will sell on its own. Sure, your business’ ultimate goal is to make sales and to scale, but for you to achieve the goals that precede these, you need to have a strong marketing plan.

This plan should comprise of the actions you need to take to realize each goal and to accomplish the bigger ones. You should also include metrics that you will use in assessing the performance of your campaign. Furthermore, you have to make room for alternatives in case Plan A doesn’t work.

In one of our recent blog posts, we talked about venturing into e-commerce, as well as how to get started with it. Just like with any other business, it’s fundamental that you set goals, identify your target audience, and use the appropriate marketing channels to promote your business. These data will serve as the backbone of your marketing strategy, but for them to be constantly reliable you also have to subject it to testing. Product and market tests will also require you to spend, so you have to allot a budget for that. In addition, you can’t expect your customers to just find your site, which means you have to plan a way to drive them there. Once you’ve gone through tests, you can always make changes on the product and marketing strategy to best fit the demands of your customers.

In this article, we’re going to learn how to create an e-commerce site marketing plan that can help you not just in your testing period but also in implementing upgrades in your existing marketing strategy.

Maximizing E-commerce Sales

E-commerce has surely changed the way people shop these days, and the convenience it avails us can be unmatched. This is the kind of experience you’d want to give your customers, but sometimes this means making several tweaks on your e-commerce site. Listed below are four ways that can help you convert customer visits to successful sales.

Avoid shopping dead ends.

Time is one of the best commodities your customers can spend on your site, and the longer they stay on your site, the likelier they are to spend money. The question is, how do you make them linger in your online store?

You can do so by adding call to action buttons such as ‘Continue Shopping’ after they put something in their cart, or by including a preview of deals that will soon be closed. Another way of keeping your customers interested is by putting up a panel that displays items that are on sale and relevant to their previous purchase. For instance, if you’re selling cookware and one of your customers bought a saucepan, she may also be interested in buying a multipurpose pot or a grill pan.

The point is, you have to give them something more to do while they are in your website—and yes, even if they already purchased something.

Make use of cross-selling.

Another technique that works for supermarkets that you can also use is cross-selling. This is where you sell products that complement the ones your customers purchased. The previous example we gave above is one way to cross-sell, but it’s not the only way you can cross-sell.

Other things you can match the original items your customer bought are extended warranties, wrapping services, or free membership in your loyalty program. This way, you can give your customers a value added item that will encourage them to return to your site.

Leave customer footprints.

Consumers tend to look at things fellow buyers have bought or viewed while shopping, especially when they need a second opinion. You can help them by leaving a trail of the products other customers purchased below the item they are currently viewing.

This will also allow you to promote new products especially when customers see how many people have bought the item. Sustain this strategy by encouraging your customers to write product reviews. This way, it will be easier for other customers to compare similar items.

Focus on different buyer personas.

If you did your market research, you should have a good idea on who your customers are by now. On the other hand, it’s also important to segment your target market into different personas if you’re selling a variety of products in your e-commerce site.

Let’s go back to the cookware example. If you’re selling different types of cookware, you can make shopping easier for your customers by providing landing pages to bake ware, grillers, and roasting appliances. You can also make use of other categories like the materials (aluminum, glass, and ceramics), brands, or essential pieces. Depending on the season, you can also put up special categories like gift packages, limited editions, and discounted products.

Marketing Plan Essentials

Before you begin creating your marketing plan, you need to arm your team with the right tools. Here are five things that you need when laying down a marketing strategy for your e-commerce site.

Always update your data.

No marketing plan will work unless you have accurate and up-to-date information. You may have gathered the data you need when you started your e-commerce site, but it pays to do regular assessment especially if the direction your business is taking deviates from the goals you set. You can begin with the data off analytics and compare your expectations to the present results your site is getting. Once you see the disparity, the ideas for required changes will start rolling in.

For instance, if in your initial market research you predicted that your target market is mostly male but your analytics tell you that most of your shoppers in the last quarter are women, you can tweak your ads and promotions to appeal more to your female customers. At the same time, you can also think of ways to attract more male customers to buy from your store. In short, learn from your customers’ buying behavior.

It’s also worthwhile to keep abreast with industry trends so that you can ensure that your business is keeping pace with your competitors. Take the time to check how your other players are performing in the market, and see how you can adapt the industry’s best practices in the way you run your business.

Consider going mobile.

If your e-commerce site doesn’t have a mobile version yet, it’s high time you have one created. These days, plenty of consumers rely on their mobile phones when shopping. While they might love your website, it’s possible that they don’t have access to a computer all the time.

Having a mobile version of your e-commerce site increases your visibility, and tells your customers that you are a reliable brand. In addition, having a mobile app can give you access to your customers’s location (with their permission, of course) and then offer them your products that will be the most convenient for them to pick up or have delivered.

Invest in content marketing.

Apart from quality products, your customers will also look for something that will make the purchase more worthwhile. This is where your blog comes in. You need to create relevant content that will help you build relationships with your customers and make them want to return. Talk about your products in your articles and give your customers tips, hacks, and tutorials so that they can make the best of the products they bought from your site. You can even post videos every once in a while. This makes you not only a source of valuable products, but also a goldmine of information.

However, content marketing doesn’t stop at having a substantial blog. For you to drive more customers to your site, you need to promote your content assets, say by linking them to article contributions in authoritative sites. Keep in mind though that content marketing takes time, but if you’re able to generate more leads, you can look into the possibility of better conversions.

Make your website efficient.

Finding an online store that sells nice products but takes forever to load can be disappointing, and this is something you wouldn’t want to happen to your own site. You can prevent such a case by working on what’s under the hood of your website.

One of the things you can do is by making your site SEO-friendly. While the success of this step can also take time to be fully realized, the rewards you’ll get for landing the first search engine results page will be worth every effort you spend on it. Work on making specific pages of your website rank whether it’s a blog entry, an ultimate guide, or a directory, and make this known to sites relevant to yours. Once the search engines notice that your site’s content assets are gaining popularity on the searches, you will start building authority—which is what you need to land the first SERP.

You should also invest in a content management system (CMS) and a customer relationship management (CRM) system. CMS allows you to create, modify, or remove contents from your site despite the absence of a Webmaster. CRM, on the other hand, lets you manage your customers, leads, and prospects in one platform. You can track your lead generation efforts, as well as oversee customer feedback and complaints in one place, and even make sales forecast with the use of its corresponding analytics.

Promote your e-commerce site.

Advertisements are always a good way of promoting your business, and one way you can do this is through PPC advertising. Also known as Pay-Per-Click, PPC allows you to put up ads on search engines, and every click they get will drive traffic to your site for a charge.

Another method of plugging your business is through email marketing. This is where building email lists comes in, and you can do this by encouraging your visitors to sign up once they visit your site. Make the invitation more appealing by offering a small discount or fee that is only available to those who register. The people in this list should be prioritized when it comes to updates about your products or changes in policies to keep them interested in your brand.

Social media is also a great way of advertising and interacting with the customers. With the increasing rate of mobile phone ownership and people who have Internet access, it is probable that most of your shoppers will look for you on social media to make inquiries, provide feedback, or simply ask questions. Sign up to social networking sites relevant to your business’s niche and engage customers who want to connect with you through this channel.

It’s also worth noting that to accelerate the promotion of your e-commerce site, you can consult with your friends in the business. It pays to keep and build a network of entrepreneurs whom you can swap advice and feedback with. Finally, don’t be afraid to experiment with different marketing techniques. Just make sure you do prior research and not put your eggs all in one basket.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Johann .