10 Best Ecommerce Marketing Strategies (+ Examples)

The world of ecommerce is crazy big and broad. With almost 5 trillion dollar sales in just 2021, your commerce business simply can’t afford to be only off the web. Sure, you can keep your brick-and-mortar shop, but ignoring those 2.14 billion online shoppers is not smart. Instead, you can use all the channels available to boost your business in this digital age. But how will you do that?

If you don’t have an ecommerce website already, there are three main ways how to start an ecommerce business. You can use online ecommerce platforms like Shopify and Wix to build one yourself, hire a developer to build one for you, or learn how to build an ecommerce website on your own. The last one may take too long, so we recommend going with one of the first two.

In reality, your ecommerce site can become your main source of sales, that is, if you do it right. If you’re completely new to ecommerce marketing, you’ve come to the right place.

Read on to learn what an ecommerce marketing strategy is, what you can gain from it, and get the 10 best ecommerce marketing strategies you can use.

What is an ecommerce marketing strategy?

If you already have an ecommerce website set up, you’re on the right track. Now, all you have to do is figure out how to bring in potential clients and actually convert them into buyers. This is where ecommerce marketing strategies come in. Yes, the topic is so big that it has its own marketing segment.

An ecommerce marketing strategy is a technique you use to establish your ecommerce business as a brand, generate website traffic, and ultimately convert it into sales. From ecommerce digital marketing to email campaigns and SEO, so long as your end goal is to promote your ecommerce site, it all falls under the ecommerce marketing strategy category.

Whether you’ve had your online store for a while or are starting from scratch, this article will help you figure it all out. But before we dive into the specific strategies, let’s see what an ecommerce marketing plan can do for your business.

Benefits of ecommerce marketing

If you’ve been running an ecommerce site for a while, chances are that you’ve been doing ecommerce marketing without realizing it. Consider all your digital advertising and promotional tactics. In reality, most of them were ecommerce strategies.

Ecommerce marketing can be the fuel for your ecommerce website. It’ll bring in new visitors and boost the performance of your site. But the best part is that some of it can be completely free and only requires expertise.

 

Some of the main benefits of ecommerce marketing include:

– Generating Sales

– Increasing brand awareness

– Making your business more credible and trustworthy

– Tracking customer behavior

The bottom line is – an ecommerce marketing plan is a key to making your ecommerce business succeed in all aspects, whether it be sales, brand name, trustworthiness, or else.

10 best ecommerce marketing strategies (+ examples)

With all the different ecommerce advertising channels out there, deciding where to start can be complex. Do you start with an aggressive PPC campaign until your SEO efforts kick in? Do you focus on social media and promote your ecommerce site through organic reach? And is there a correct formula to follow? The ecommerce strategy plan you create has to answer all these questions.

Every business is unique. Thus, there is sadly no formula for ecommerce marketing success. Nevertheless, many strategies can be beneficial for your business. All you have to do is figure out which ones.

To help you figure out how to start and grow ecommerce business and how to market it properly, we’ve put together a list of the 10 best ecommerce marketing strategies out there. Whether you want to get your site off the ground or improve how it already operates, these strategies can help your journey.

1․ Optimize your ecommerce website with SEO

First things first, you have set up the right foundation for your site. Have a clear sitemap, optimize your content, and ensure your potential customers can find you online. If you haven’t built your site yet, make sure to include SEO in your ecommerce website cost. This way, you’ll start from a solid foundation.

If you already have a website, get an SEO Specialist to conduct an SEO audit for it. You may find out about issues that are holding you back from performing better. Fix those issues and always follow SEO trends to ensure your website ranks for relevant keywords.

 

Naturally, there’s more to SEO than just keywords. For an ecommerce website with many product pages, it can be even more difficult. Since SEO is a free alternative to PPC ads, you shouldn’t ignore its capabilities.

Example: If your website includes relevant keywords, has a clear sitemap, and actually features relevant products, Google will take note. They aim to show the most valuable and useful result to the searcher. Follow their rules, create value, and don’t try to use any black hat tricks. You’ll probably need the help of an SEO Specialist to get started. To make your website secure, you need to add an SSL certificate, like a wildcard SSL certificate, to your website, which is an integral part of an SEO strategy. There will be strong encryption between the server and the browser through which the data can be transferred easily, averting spying activities.

2․ Start content marketing with a blog

One of the best free ways to lure traffic into your ecommerce website is through blogs. Not only does it help with ranking for keywords, but it also brings visitors who are actually interested in what you have to say. If you start writing blogs about topics your specific niche is interested in and manage to rank high for them, you’ll be bringing quality leads to your website for free.

Example: If your ecommerce store sells electronic gadgets, you could write a blog about “The top 5 tech gadgets you needed in 2021.” You can then link these products to the pages on your site and hope that they’re convinced enough to purchase them.

If you notice your visitors getting stuck in your sales and marketing funnels, you can try turning them into marketing qualified leads with downloadable white paper templates or checklists. From there, you can use email marketing to close the deal.

3․ Create and share product-related videos

YouTube is one of the largest worldwide search engines. In fact, it’s in second place – right behind Google. With over 1 billion active users, you don’t want to miss out on reaching them. In fact, videos are very trendy in this digital era. Whether you’re going to post on YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram Reels, the video format can be your golden ticket to going viral.

Go on YouTube and search for a relevant term to your business. Analyze what kind of content is already available, and look for any gaps you can fill. If you create valuable video content that’s also aesthetically pleasing, you’ll have a good chance of reaching the top.

Example: If your store sells cooking supplies, you’ll see that cooking videos are very famous on all platforms. You’ll probably want to create visually entertaining, detailed videos, perhaps with ASMR soundtracks in the background. You can customize them to fit the specifics of each platform and share them everywhere.

Not only does it give your customers a demo of your product, but it also increases your brand credibility and trustworthiness.

4․ Make your website mobile-friendly

Did you know that 45% of all ecommerce sales in the US are attributed to mobile device users? If you don’t make your website responsive, you’ll only reach about 55% of your potential customers. And it wouldn’t stop there.

In this day and age, having a responsive website is a must. If you have a poorly-built ecommerce store, many users who see it on mobile will be very off-put by your brand. So, not only will you lose those mobile ecommerce buyers, but you’ll lose potential customers as well. Trust plays a crucial role in the buyer’s purchasing decision. If at any point, they see something sketchy, they may leave and never look back.

Example: Making your website mobile-friendly means that all the buttons will be in their place, images will be the right size, and the site will feel native to your phone. If someone sees your Instagram account and decides to visit your store, you should remember that they’ll mostly do that on mobile.

If you’re building a website through ecommerce platforms like Shopify, they’ll ensure that your website is responsive on mobile. But if you’re building it on your own or with the help of a developer, you should include it in your ecommerce website cost.

5․ Optimize your product pages

As an ecommerce store owner, you can understand how your product pages might be your biggest assets. Instead of focusing on bringing visitors in through the home page, you can utilize all the other channels. Consider each of your product pages as a landing page. Optimize their keywords, images, their alt descriptions, etc.

Focus on bringing the traffic in, but don’t forget about your user’s experience. In other words, optimize your product pages for the search engines, but pay close attention and nurture your leads (searchers) too.

Example: If you sell waterproof backpacks, you’d want to rank for the “waterproof backpacks” keyword, so you should include that phrase in your product title. You should also categorize your products and include relevant keywords in the URL, product description, meta tags, etc.

Also, don’t forget to add featured products under each different product. It won’t only serve as a backlink but will keep the visitors browsing on your site longer.

6․ Work on abandoned carts

Almost 70% of shopping carts are abandoned. This means that you should always have a follow-up strategy – the last push to help your leads finally convert. Although there are many reasons why visitors abandon their carts, such as high shipping costs or complicated checkout processes, you can still bring some of them back. Most ecommerce businesses use email reminders to help in that process. In fact, reducing abandoned carts is one of the biggest ecommerce processes.

Example: Here’s an abandoned cart reminder from Google.

– They mention that the item is almost sold out to create a sense of urgency and scarcity.

– They’ve also mentioned that they have free shipping on all orders, so the buyer isn’t going to have a price shock at the end of the checkout.

– Plus, they’ve mentioned a customer support contact, showcasing that they’re in good hands, which instills trust in the buyer.

7․ Write guest posts on other blogs

Guest posting is a very popular method of generating more and more traffic. Essentially, guest posting means posting your blogs on a different website as a guest. It helps you position your brand as an expert in the field and helps you reel in new visitors from other sites through a referral.

Guest blogging also helps you build backlinks to your website. But don’t get too excited and start guest posting anywhere you can. Google is onto you and will notice if you’re abusing guest posts for backlinks.

Instead, make your guest posts relevant and educational. That way, the readers will start trusting your brand. Just like SEO, guest posting is a long-term investment.

Example: Imagine you are representing a cybersecurity solutions company. You can write a guest post about “The Future of Cybersecurity.” Simply find relevant websites where you’d want to be featured, check if they accept guest posts, and send them your pitch.

8․ Promote on social media

Social media is one of the biggest players in digital marketing. Your brand’s social media pages essentially represent who you are. Based on your social media presence and tone, potential customers can decide whether they like you or not.

Example: One of the best brands that truly represent their values and mood on social media is ASOS. They know they sell killer outfits, and they show it off. Specifically, they use User Generated Content (UGC) to both show credibility and support their community. They also post outfit guides and inspirations, which are naturally created using their own products.

9․ Create Instagram and Facebook stores

Having separate stores on social media that leads to your ecommerce website can increase your social media conversions. Potential customers view your collection directly in their favorite apps, which eases the trust factor. Not only that, but those social platforms also have store sections where new users could potentially discover your products.

It’s unsurprising that many brands who use social media shop features see increased traffic and revenue.

Example: Here’s the Instagram shop of H&M – one of the biggest global ecommerce brands. They feature images, pricing, suggestions, product details, and, most importantly, a link to their website for purchasing the item. As you can tell, this is an ideal gateway for generating traffic and trying to convert leads.

10․ PPC ads

Last but not least, one of the most common ecommerce marketing strategies is pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. It’s ideal for getting your business off the ground and generating any extra traffic you’re willing to pay for. PPC is ultimately the paid version of SEO. So, instead of generating organic traffic from search engines, you can simply pay to be one of the first results on a Google search page.

Example: Here are 4 different ecommerce businesses that have used PPC ads to target the keyword in the search bar. This tactic works on specific audiences. Some visitors like to view only organic results. Others don’t mind clicking an ad and risking going to an irrelevant site.

Ideally, PPC ads should be used when the brand is just starting off and needs recognition. Since it can be challenging to grow organically from the get-go, PPC ads temporarily replace SEO results for a price. We recommend you test it to determine if it works for your business. If you see a good return on investment, it’s definitely worth including in your ecommerce strategy.

Final thoughts

To truly know how to start an ecommerce business, one must deeply research all its aspects, including the ecommerce marketing strategies they want to implement. Starting with the foundation of SEO, optimizing product pages, and writing guest blogs to PPC ads, Instagram Shopping, and email reminders, marketing an ecommerce website is complicated.

There is no specific formula that’ll bring you success. It’s all based on trial and error, seeing what works for your business and what doesn’t. Nevertheless, having a responsive website and a social media presence will benefit almost any brand.