Let’s face it, your website may never be able to compete with Amazon, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. E-commerce marketing may seem overwhelming, but really it’s just about being a smart and consistent marketer who knows where to put resources, and where not to.
To get a leg up on Amazon, here are tips and a few smart tweaks that are musts for a winning e-commerce marketing strategy:
Content is king
If you don’t know Google by now, you will never, ever, ever know it!
I like to refer to your greatest e-commerce marketing ally or foe as the “Almighty Google of Web” because, like Henry Gale behind the curtain, its reign is supreme. We’re not always sure what’s going on behind the curtain, and it only shares some of what it wants, and even then, not always with the clearest instructions. But one thing we can be sure of for the foreseeable future is that these four content bits are essential:
- Keywords
- Originality of content
- Freshness of content
- Length of content
So many websites simply mimic or literally copy what their competitors are doing. Google hates repeat content, and when you are copying from one of its favorites like Amazon or Wikipedia, your ranking is going to be punished harshly by the “All-Powerful Search Engine.”
That’s OK; it doesn’t take much time to catch up, and this effort will pay off with a fantastic boost in rankings. Use Google Keyword Planner to find the right keywords that have low competition with still relatively high search results in your desired geographic region and language. Weave these words throughout unique product descriptions, adding as much detail as a customer or Big G could want, and formatting it in a way that’s easy on the eyes (i.e., bulleting or bolding of keywords and concepts). As soon as you have new content, update your website as often as you can.
IRONIC HINT: Don’t use the word “e-commerce” in any part of your keyword strategy, because us crazy e-commerce marketers are already spending way too much money to fight for way too few searches.
Photos must be optimized
For most of the companies that I have planned B2B or B2C content strategies, the number two source of organic traffic (of course, second to Google itself) is always Google Images. It is vital to save images as keywords before uploading them. We are visual shoppers so this makes even more sense that we may go straight to Google Images to begin our perusing.
Just make sure that for each keyworded photo, you are saving images as somewhat different names—even just adding a number—or else your content management system or CMS may get confused and post the wrong items in the wrong places. Also, if you use a CMS like WordPress, make sure to delete the automatic URL generated for each image; otherwise, people will click and be redirected to a new window, getting distracted from making that purpose.
Facebook retargeting says, ‘‘Hey, hey remember me? Over here!’’
Someone who visits your website, looks around, but doesn’t convert—which can mean making a purchase, downloading a guide, or signing up for a trial or event—is a very qualified lead. Working for both B2C and B2B, Facebook retargeting campaigns are a great way to give those folks a nudge to come back on over.
Simply place a Facebook tracking pixel on your site, and when customers don’t convert, Facebook will send a follow-up ad within their Facebook accounts. These ads usually cost significantly less than other campaigns like AdWords, but you can (and should!) still perform extensive A/B testing. Some companies have even touted numbers like 500 percent return on investment.
Fight abandoned-cart syndrome
Someone who visits your website, selects items for their shopping cart, but then, for whatever reason, doesn’t finalize the sale is an even stronger lead to follow up with. They not only window-shopped around, but they took the time to select items, and maybe even quantities and sizes.
We’ve all done it, we intend to make a purchase but we just get plum distracted. Try sending a Shopping Cart Abandonment email which has their items preselected, all in a neat little package of a click to finally finalize that sale.
My friend William Harris of Dollar Hobbyz, an RC parts e-retailer, shares his experience:
“One month after our director of marketing, Nathan Peck, initiated our Cart Abandonment email, we were seeing an open rate of 38.5 percent with a CTR [click-through rate] of 26.64 percent. This translated into 26 more sales and over $2,000 in revenue just this month. That’s money we were leaving on the table every month prior to having a Cart Abandonment email.”
Harris says they are using dotMailer to manage it all.
Don’t forget the upsell
If you are spending money on banner ads, AdWords campaigns, and Facebook retargeting to drive traffic to certain products, make sure to suggest other products. Are customers looking at an iPad? Make sure you offer them simple-to-buy covers. Similarly, if you are selling a formal dress, offer the shoes to match.
Both of these items could be your own stock or you could work with strategic partners, affiliate programs, or become an Amazon Certified Reseller. This way, if you can’t compete with the big guys by selling everything in your area, you can at least offer a more complete customer experience. And you can make this upsell a part of other email campaigns—like cart abandonment ones too. Smart marketing has smart overlap.
Amazon can’t get social, but you can!
We saw with the Amazon Prime Day fail, the e-commerce giant just couldn’t quite make a personal connection to close a sale. That’s OK. As an e-commerce shop owner, you need to be active on social media.
Why? They (the people that tout statistics) say about 70 percent of people do their research on social media before making a purchase. Plus, you want to be present on social media because Google loves it, it gives you a chance to build relationships, and it gives a people an easier way to brag about you!
What are your smartest e-commerce tricks of the trade? How do you build your e-commerce marketing plan?