5 eCommerce Marketing Tactics All Sellers Should Consider

Every good eCommerce marketing strategy aims to increase sales, improve brand visibility and encourage company growth. But with so many different recommendations out there, it can be hard for online sellers to figure out which approach is best for their business.

That’s why we’re here today to define, explain and simplify some of the most popular marketing strategies for eCommerce. Here are 5 eCommerce marketing tactics that all sellers should consider implementing.

Product Recommendations

Product recommendations are a great way for online sellers to up-sell or cross-sell. This approach involves recommending additional items to shoppers based on their browsing history, and it’s fairly simple to deploy. 

In order to offer product recommendations, you just need to set up rules for your store that suggest certain items when a shopper is looking at another similar or related product. For example, if you sell a blue henley t-shirt, you can set up product recommendations for the same shirt in red (or even pants that go well with the blue shirt) that will pop up any time a shopper is looking at the blue henley. Or, you can set the product recommendation to pop up when a shopper adds the blue shirt to their cart. 

If you sell laptops, offer accessories in your product recommendations. Or are you a cosmetics retailer? Maybe you can provide primer recommendations when someone is browsing foundations or brush recommendations for anyone shopping eyeshadows. The options are endless, but using this eCommerce marketing tactic can result in higher revenues per purchase by enticing customers to buy other items in addition to what they were originally looking for.

Wish Lists

Similar to product recommendations, wish lists involve encouraging shoppers to buy items they like from your store. However, in this eCommerce marketing tactic, you are allowing customers to add products to their list with the intention of coming back later to actually buy them.

This tactic works because shoppers can be forgetful. We may see an item we love but think, “I want to wait until I get paid again to make that purchase.” However, once payday comes around, we might have forgotten all about our previous browsing experience.

Thankfully, if a customer has set up a wish list, they will see those items and be reminded to purchase them any time they are logged in to your website. 

Reviews

Our next eCommerce marketing strategy is all about building up consumer trust in your brand. Few factors instill confidence more than positive reviews. In fact, as we’ve written about before, a whopping 90% of customers report using online reviews to make their shopping decisions.

So be sure to showcase your customer reviews, and do everything you can to keep them positive. That means selling high-quality products, being honest in your product listings, shipping orders out quickly and providing a great customer experience (which we will cover later in this article). 

SEO

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is one of the most crucial eCommerce marketing tactics for any online business. After all, if you want shoppers to find your products, you need to optimize your product listings.

Good optimization means utilizing specific keywords and layouts in order to position your product listings for high visibility in search engines. This could be for Amazon, eBay, Google or any other platform, but the concept essentially remains the same. 

You need to conduct industry research to learn about the keywords and phrases shoppers are using to find the types of products you’re selling. Take a look at some of your most successful competitors to see how they’re wording their listings. And also think about the ways in which your products are used when putting together product descriptions. This will help you to adequately describe your item’s features and benefits in a well-optimized way.

Finally, you need to structure your listings in the best way possible for readability and scannability. Your headline should be clear and to the point. Your images should be high-resolution and show the item accurately. And the body of your listing should cover all of the features and benefits of your product. Want to learn more about writing product listings that sell? Check out our recent guide on the subject.

Customer Experience

Finally, perhaps the most important eCommerce marketing tactic of all is to provide a great customer experience. Not only will delighting your shoppers keep them coming back to you again and again, it will also encourage them to recommend you to their friends and leave glowing reviews. 

In order to make your customer experience a positive and memorable one, you need to look at every aspect of the shopping journey with your brand. Make sure your website is easy to search, browse and navigate. Keep both your checkout and returns processes simple. Offer help documentation, answers to FAQs and other self-serve options right on your website.

It’s also important to process orders and ship them out quickly. And if you know your courier is delayed, communicate with your customers so they know to expect a later delivery date. Most often, they will appreciate your honesty. 

And while we’re on the topic of communication, you need to shore up every aspect of your customer messaging. Respond quickly to inquiries. Use live chat or instant messaging to meet customers where they are at the point of sale. Deploy auto-responders and message templates to save time and even keep customers happy when you’re not in the office.

Sound overwhelming? It doesn’t have to be. Replyco enables you to do all of this and more. 

Take a tour of our features to learn more. Or get started now with your 7-day free trial!