31 October 2021
By Roger L Jones
roger@TheCork.ie
2020 was the turning point – In years to come, we will all collectively look back and recognise how the digital revolution really gained momentum in the most extreme of circumstances.
The COVID-19 pandemic completely shuttered business, as rolling lockdowns became the norm, consumers had to move to the only thing available, digital.
People around the world went online in their droves in search of information, goods and services and according to recent figures released by UNCTAD, E-commerce’s global share of the retail trade jumped from 14% in 2019 to 17% in 2020. But as more and more businesses jump on the growing e-commerce bandwagon, how do you make your organisation stand out?
We’ve compiled some very simple tips on how to drive more sales online –
Google Shopping Ads
These campaigns are simply a must, you can place your products front and centre at the top of the Google search results page exactly when people are looking for the types of products you sell. These shopping ads can include different things like images, prices, offers, ratings, and lots more key point that will actively encourage a potential customer to make a purchase. All you need to do is upload a product data feed that describes the key points of your product to the Google Merchant Centre, then connect this account with your Google Ads account – Google will do the rest and generate ads automatically for your product whenever someone searches a relevant query. This is an excellent way to drive highly relevant traffic to your site quickly.
Display Ads
According to a report released by WordStream in May of 2020, the average Google Shopping conversion rate is 2% – You may think that sounds low, but the fact of the matter is this – Every single click onto your ad is a valuable interaction between a potential customer and your business. You can use this 2% conversion rate as a guide and put in some extra work to bring these shoppers back to your website through remarketing. You can increase your conversion rate because it nabs a 50-50 customer and reminds them about that item, they were looking at a week ago, maybe now they’re ready to buy. Remarketing has become an important tactic in the e-commerce digital marketing world, you can even use these campaigns to target individuals who found you through Google whilst they’re browsing Facebook. If you’re looking to craft the ideal display ad, get in touch with our expert Graphic Design team.
Reviews
So, you’re driving traffic to your product pages and things are going well on that front, but the pageviews aren’t converting into sales – So how do we fix this? Well, customer reviews are hugely effective. When a customer comes across your product on a platform like Google Shopping Ads or even somewhere like Instagram, they may be a bit wary when it comes to parting with their cash. A 5-star review can be very persuasive and loading your product pages with comments & reviews can be a very straightforward way to turn more site visitors into customers!
Instagram Shopping
For years the methodology has been simple – Search marketing is designed to drive sales whereas social media marketing is to build brand awareness. That’s just not the case anymore. Instagram shopping has taken off in a big way and allows you to advertise products natively in the app. Once you’ve organised a business profile on Instagram and uploaded a product to Facebook’s catalogue you can now tag your products in stories and posts. Now, users don’t need to head to your website if they want to purchase something, rather they can see the tagged product in an organic post and follow the link to the corresponding page on your e-commerce site.
“Social shopping” has become increasingly popular mainly because it removes all of that unnecessary friction. By allowing your customer base to make purchases from Instagram you’re increasing your chance of conversion significantly.
The Power of Referrals
Your best customers can also be some of your best sales reps. Referral marketing is the practice of incentivising your customers to actively inform others about how great your business is. The premise behind the idea is simple. Potential customers are far more likely to trust the opinion of their friends & family rather than a flashy advertising campaign. For example, when you enroll in an MBA online program, the network you can make through your classmates will also greatly help market your business.
These are incredibly similar to customer reviews, but the biggest difference is that these are far more direct. Perhaps one of the most known referral campaigns in Ireland at the moment comes courtesy of Revolut, you’ve probably all seen it. If you get another person to sign up to Revolut using your unique code you get €60, simple as. The other person just needs to create an account and Revolut card and complete three transactions for you to get your cash – It’s an extremely effective system.
Branding
When it comes to e-commerce, you need to really establish a strong brand. Your brand effectively reflects your reputation, when a potential customer sees your business, you need to impress right from the get-go, it’s imperative to display an air of authority, transparency and trustworthiness. It’s important then to focus on a strong logo design and have a consistent theme throughout your website design and subsequent materials.
With e-commerce especially its easy to fall into the common pitfall of becoming entirely sales-focused, with product-heavy ads, discounts, calls to action and more. If you do this, your brand will end up looking and sounding the same as almost every other one on the market today. So, what can you do?
Firstly, undertake a full review of your brand messaging and ensure it is relevant across all elements of the business, including e-commerce. Ensure the content you’re creating matches your brand’s overall look and feel, alongside the overall tone of voice. If your business is a more traditional, bricks-and-mortar style business that usually would have engaged in more traditional type marketing agency efforts, ensure you’re including your e-commerce operations in any advertising content you may be running. For example, if you’re running a TV spot, have a voice over mention how you can be found online.
Apple is effectively the gold standard here; they are hyper-fixated on their brand whilst maintaining a consistent brand experience channel across all platforms. The California based operation treats their in-person stores and e-commerce operations as equal which in turn creates more demand without neglecting either side.
This is just a starting point of how to boost your e-commerce business and take it to the next level, things like pay per click ads are also an option, Promotive is a PPC marketing agency, so when you deal with us you know you’re getting top class help. We also offer a huge array of physical branding solutions, like large format printing, personalised merchandise, business stationery, promotional products, memorial cards and just general printing services. Visit Promotives blog to find out more about digital marketing. Maybe you want to learn about the benefits of social media marketing, what make a good logo design or how to increase brand awareness.
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