Ecommerce Digital Marketing Strategy: 10 Ideas to Try

If you don’t have an ecommerce digital marketing strategy, you’re missing a prime opportunity to grow your business online by obtaining more leads and earning more sales. Investing in digital marketing for ecommerce will help you build an online presence and enable more people to discover your business. Keep reading to learn 10 digital strategies you can use as part of your online store’s marketing strategy.

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1. Create social media ads to reach qualified leads

The first strategy we recommend for ecommerce companies is social media ads. Social media ads are paid posts that appear in users’ newsfeeds. Paid social ads enable you to put your company in front of leads that haven’t discovered your business yet.

With social media’s precise targeting, you reach more people you know are interested in your products. To get started, you need to figure out which platform you want to advertise on for your company. You can choose from numerous platforms, including:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Pinterest
• Instagram
• LinkedIn

Once you select your networks, you can start advertising. Each platform offers different types of advertisements you can run for your ecommerce business. Here are a few examples:

• Photo ads: Photo ads feature a single photo of your product.
• Video ads: Video ads feature a video of your product or people using your product.
• Carousel ads: Carousel ads feature multiple photos or videos of your products.

Create compelling social media ads by using high-quality visuals and compelling ad copy to entice leads to click on your ad and check out your products. If you want to create a successful digital marketing strategy for ecommerce, start by making social media advertising an integral part of it.

2. Use shoppable posts on Instagram to increase sales

Another great tactic for your ecommerce digital marketing strategy is shoppable posts on Instagram. When you create a shoppable post, you tag parts of your photo that showcase your product and link to the matching product page. In this example, from Target, they include links to the sports bra and workout pants included in their photo.

These tags appear as dots on the photo. If a user likes the product they see, they can click on the dot, and it will turn into a box that includes the product name, price, and sale price (if applicable). Users can click the box, and it will take them to a page that has more featured images for browsing.

It also has a button for users to click so they can view the product on Target’s website and purchase it. Shoppable posts are an excellent way for your business to earn conversions. You entice leads by sharing an appealing photo of your product and make it easy for them to buy the product by tagging the product page in the photo.

If you want to earn more sales for your business, include shoppable Instagram posts as part of your ecommerce digital marketing strategy.

3. Utilize Google Shopping ads to earn conversions

Next on our list of key tactics for your ecommerce online marketing strategy is Google Shopping ads. These ads appear at the top of the search results to help users find the right product fast.

Since these ads appear at the top, users are more likely to engage with the ads to see if the product fits their needs.   These listings include valuable information like:

• Product photo
• Product name
• Company name
• Star rating
• Special offer (free shipping, discount)

These ads provide users with all the information they need to decide if a product is right for them. It’s simple and easy to set up these ads, too. Google provides step-by-step instructions for setting up your Shopping campaign.

If you want to get your ecommerce products in front of more interested leads, add Google Shopping ads to your ecommerce digital marketing strategy. It will help more leads find your products and ultimately purchase them.

4. Make sure your ecommerce site is mobile-friendly to boost sales

If you want to make more sales for your ecommerce business, you need a mobile-friendly site. More people are using mobile devices to shop online. In fact, 76% of consumers use smartphones to shop, and 90% of consumers purchase through smartphones.

With so many people shopping and buying on mobile, you must ensure that your site is mobile-friendly.

To add to that, 67% of users are more likely to purchase from your company if your site is mobile-friendly. So, how do you make a mobile-friendly site?

• Integrate responsive design

Responsive design enables your site to adapt to whatever device a user uses. From smartphones to tablets, your website will adjust to fit within that device’s screen and provide the best experience.

• Improve site load time

When users shop, they don’t want to wait for your site to load. Improving your site load time can have dramatic effects — improving it by just one second can increase conversions by 7%. Page speed improvements can be difficult, so you may need to invest in page speed services from a digital marketing company.

• Utilize mobile-friendly elements

Mobile-friendly elements help you provide your audience with a better experience. From larger fonts to thumb-friendly buttons to hamburger navigation menus, these elements will help you improve the mobile user’s experience on your site and make it easier for them to purchase.

 5. Utilize remarketing ads to get customers back

Some consumers will visit your ecommerce website and not purchase right away. It may feel like you’re losing these customers for good, but that’s not the case. By adding remarketing to your ecommerce online marketing strategy, you can reel these leads back in and get them to purchase.

Remarketing enables you to put your products in front of interested leads and get them to reconsider purchasing the products they looked at on your website. It can be the final nudge someone needs to convert. You have dozens of options for remarketing.

You can run a remarketing ad on Google’s Display Network, remarket to leads through social media platforms like Facebook, or through mobile apps. These avenues enable you to reach the right leads on channels where your message is likely to resonate. Remarketing works like this:

• The user visits your site and browses your products
• The user leaves without purchasing any products
• The user browses other sites
• The user sees remarketing ads on these sites
• The user remembers the product and reconsiders purchasing
• The user returns to your site to purchase the product of interest

Integrating remarketing into your ecommerce digital marketing strategy is critical if you don’t want to miss out on valuable sales for your business.

 6. Run an email marketing campaign to nurture leads

As you develop your digital marketing strategy for ecommerce, don’t forget to include email marketing as one of your strategies. Email marketing will help you nurture leads into conversions for your business by sending information directly to interested leads. When you have a list of subscribers, which you can obtain through email sign-ups on your website, you can send them information about exclusive deals and promotions from your business.

It enables you to send enticing offers that can get leads to convert. Drive the most success with your email marketing strategy by using personalization. Personalization focuses on tailoring your message to different members of your audience based on their preferences and interests.

It allows you to send only relevant information to your subscribers to make them more likely to open your emails and engage with them. Additionally, you can send abandoned cart emails to remind users of the products they put in their carts previously. It can help you recover what would have been a lost sale.

7. Create a referral program to obtain new leads

To coincide with email marketing, you can also add a referral program to your digital marketing strategy for ecommerce. A referral program allows you to capture qualified leads by having your current subscribers direct them to your business. So, how does this work?

Let’s say Jane is a loyal customer for your business and buys your products every month. You want Jane to recommend your company and products to her friends. To encourage her, you create a referral program and send it to her email.

The email motivates Jane to forward this message to five of her friends for $10 off their next order if they’re a new customer. If those friends complete a purchase using the referral code, Jane will receive $10 off her next order for every friend that completes an order. As a result, Jane forwards the email to friends that she knows are most likely to like the products and purchase them.

She may even share her own experience with the products to build her friends’ confidence in your business. As a result, three of her friends make a purchase, so Jane gets three coupons for $10 off. This scenario is the basic process for how referral programs work.

You reach out to current, loyal customers, ask them to recommend your business to a friend, and the friend makes a purchase. Most referral programs utilize an incentive to encourage users to participate. In this case, Jane was incentivized to refer her friends with the promise of getting $10 off her next order.

Referral programs are extremely valuable because they help you reach qualified leads while barely lifting a finger.

8. Utilize videos to nudge leads to purchase

Video marketing is a critical component for nurturing leads, so you must include it as part of your ecommerce digital marketing strategy.

When making a purchasing decision, 90% of people say videos help them make the decision to buy.

Video is an excellent way for you to showcase your products to your audience. You can give your audience a 360-degree view of your product, as well as show it in action. Demonstrating how to use your product, how to wear it, or how it looks, can help nudge people to convert.

When you create videos, ensure you use high-quality footage so your audience can see everything. Once you create your videos, share them with your audience. You can share videos on social media, through email, or via your site.

9. Use chatbots for better customer service

You can’t cater to your customers 24/7, even if you’d like to have live representatives available at all hours. With chatbots, however, you can make it feel like your company is available 24/7. Chatbots help you provide customer service whenever your prospects need it.

Whether someone messages your business on your website or through social media, chatbots can help resolve issues quickly.

People will have a simple question that prevents them from purchasing because no one is available to answer their questions. With a chatbot, you can answer those questions fast, which encourages these leads to convert. Chatbots can save your business time, too.

You can have your chatbots answer common, simple questions and focus on having your customer service team answer more complicated and intricate ones.

10.  Share user-generated content to showcase your products

User-generated content is a valuable tool to add to your ecommerce digital marketing strategy. With user-generated content, you share photos and videos from customers using your products (with their permission) on your social media pages.     User-generated content is valuable because it helps provide prospects with social proof about your products.

People rely on others to help guide their purchases and will turn to friends, family, and reviews to help them decide. With user-generated content, you provide your audience with insight into how others use your products or what features users like about your products. It’s a great way to provide your audience with firsthand experience of your product.

Additionally, this strategy encourages others to post content about your products. If your customers see that others get featured on your social profiles, it will encourage them to post about their own experience with your products. This strategy works as great publicity for your business.

Not only does it provide you with great content, but it provides you with the opportunity to increase brand exposure, reach more leads, and build trust with your audience.

Create your ecommerce digital marketing strategy today

A robust digital marketing strategy for ecommerce will help you grow your business online. You’ll reach more qualified leads and turn them into conversions for your business. It can be tricky to know how to get started with your ecommerce digital marketing strategy, which is why WebFX is here to help.

With over two decades of experience, you can count on us to help you create a successful digital marketing strategy. In the past five years, we’ve driven over $6 billion in sales and over 24 million leads for our clients. We can help you earn the sales and leads you desire.

Give us a call today at 888-601-5359 or contact us online to speak with a strategist about launching your digital marketing strategy for ecommerce!