It’s no secret that ecommerce has revolutionized the retail landscape. And while building a beautiful online store on a platform like Shopify is a great place to start — the existence of a store means nothing without eager customers to buy from it.
When it comes to eCommerce advertising, you want to optimize your marketing strategy not only to drive traffic but to drive that traffic into conversions.
That means targeting the right people who are primed to make a purchase. In this article, we’re giving you a comprehensive guide to eCommerce advertising so that you can be sure you’re doing everything in your power to generate sales.
Let’s dive right in!
SEO Optimization
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is more important than ever before. In order for your customers to land on your website in the first place, it’s important that you are hitting the right keywords.
You’ve probably heard that your Home Page and About Page need to be optimized, and that’s certainly the truth. However, you don’t want to overlook your product pages, as well. Here are some tips for optimizing product pages:
- Optimize meta descriptions and tags with relevant keywords
- Ensure that there is no duplicate copy
- Have the page load quickly on both desktop and mobile (the Google algorithm doesn’t like messy, slow pages)
Utilizing Your Email List
Email is an extremely powerful tool for eCommerce advertising, especially when it comes to converting customers. It’s a great way for you to:
- Deliver brand messaging
- Send announcements about specials and discounts
- Incentivize subscribers to take action
Make sure that every email you send has a clear Call to Action (CTA) for what you want customers to do and delivers some sort of promise. It’s also a good idea to optimize your subject lines with a name tag and a curiosity gap.
For ideas on how to build your email list, make sure to check out this helpful article.
Understand the Marketing Funnel
There are a lot of things that go into a purchase decision for the consumer, including:
- An emotional response
- Logistical information to justify a purchase
- Education surrounding the product
- Visualization of how the product will solve a key problem
While it would be great to send everyone to a landing page and have them convert right away, it’s just not realistic in most cases. Therefore, you should put together a series of “micro-campaigns” that aren’t necessarily conversion-focused, but rather aim to acquire an email, social media following, or other material for retargeting.
Social Media
Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have basically become an extended digital storefront for your eCommerce store. And if you utilize them correctly, you can cultivate a dedicated following and sense of community.
You should set a social media schedule and stick to it. You can even prepare posts in advance and schedule them through a platform like Buffer to ensure you’re staying on track.
Follow these tips for social media best practices:
- Engage with followers through likes, follow-backs, comments, and DMs
- Utilize shopping posts that lead viewers directly to product pages
- Post high quality content that catches the eye
- Run promotions and/or giveaways that promote engagement with posts to help the algorithm know that people are participating with your page
Another great way to mobilize social media is through connecting with influencers — trusted voices in your niche with a large following. When people see someone they admire using and enjoying their product, they’re already emotionally primed to believe in your mission.
Paid Search
Paid search ads target customers when they are closest to conversion. By hitting the right adwords on Google, you can target a cold audience that is already ready to buy.
What’s important to note here is that you want to capture the traffic you’re generating through paid search. Even if they don’t convert right away, you can capture that user data and send them an ad through the use of tools like Facebook Pixel.
Landing Pages
In so many cases, we see eCommerce business owners run a Facebook ad and send people directly to their homepage.
This is a HUGE mistake!
You need to be building tailored landing pages that provide additional information about the ad that they clicked, with prominent ‘Buy’ buttons throughout the page serving as your CTA. Once they have the information they need, then you can send them to the product page to make a purchase.
Consider A/B testing your landing pages to ensure that they are optimized. If your conversion rates are too low, you can consider switching up:
- Headlines and subheadlines
- Creative images / videos
- Supporting copy
You can also use landing pages for your micro-campaigns, such as building your email list. To learn more about this, read this article:
Top 6 Landing Page Software Tools To Get Email Subscribers
Optimizing Cart and Checkout
People abandon their cart for all sorts of reasons, but that doesn’t mean you’ve lost the chance for a conversion. If a potential customer does not complete their transaction, send them automated follow-up emails to entice them to come back.
You can also offer for them to respond to the email to answer any questions that they may have.
When it comes to the checkout process in general, be sure that you’re implementing these tips:
- Show shipping costs & offer free shipping, if possible
- Offer ‘Guest Checkout’
- Offer multiple payment gateways like PayPal and all major credit cards
- Auto-enroll in email list upon making a purchase
- Avoid surprises at checkout (e.g high taxes or shipping costs)
- Have product reviews and testimonials available for customer review
You should also consider sending a follow-up email thanking them for their purchase, and hitting them with another CTA to keep the conversation going.
Conclusions
When it comes to building an eCommerce advertising strategy, there’s a lot to digest. We hope that this article served as a launching point for you to build your online marketing plan.
Looking for a personalized marketing strategy that uses all of the best industry practices to see more sales? Book a coaching call with the founder of CrowdCrux Salvador Briggman — our expert marketing team has helped many stores smash their Key Performance Indicators and see more sales.
Not ready for that quite yet? No problem. We have some great educational resources to keep you in the loop:
- Subscribe to the CrowdCrux email newsletter for weekly insights directly to your inbox.
- Visit our Youtube Channel for all the best insider tips, tricks, and secrets.
- Check out the Crowdfunding Demystified Podcast for interviews with wildly successful digital entrepreneurs.
Good luck with your eCommerce advertising strategy! Call upon the experts here at CrowdCrux when you need us!
