The digital marketing world is packed with as many myths as an anthology of your favourite fairy tales. Just because something is written in black and white doesn’t make it true – and doesn’t mean it will do your marketing strategy any favours.
Close the book on sprites, pixies and unicorns and dig down to the cold, hard facts. It might not be pretty – a good digital marketing strategy is all about getting your hands dirty with some tough, continuous work, but that’s the only way to get those long-lasting, real results.
Make smart choices for your eCommerce marketing strategy by knowing how to separate the myths from the facts. Don’t base your company’s future on a fantasy and keep these eCommerce marketing gimmicks in the fiction pile.
Only Focusing on Sales and Profits
It’s an ancient belief that revenue and profit are the only KPIs that properly indicate the health of a business. Yes, it’s true that most businesses boil down to how much money they’re making in comparison to what they’re spending, but your strategy has to focus on the paths you take to get there, too.
A few other metrics that can largely determine how well your eCommerce marketing strategy is performing include conversion rates and traffic. Don’t overlook these statistics or you’ll be left wondering where your traffic came from (or where it went!).
Conversion rates: Conversion rates look at the percentage of your visitors that end up making a purchase or converting in some other way. Pay close attention to landing pages, social media campaigns and other traffic sources so you know how certain changes impact your conversion rates.
Traffic: Web traffic isn’t the shallow metric that some people make it out to be. Although we’re more interested in whether that traffic is spending money, it’s also important to keep track of web traffic and where it’s coming from.
Ignoring Social Media
Forget the belief that social media doesn’t make sales. While it might not be your first destination when you’re looking to buy something, social is still highly profitable for eCommerce companies when done right. In fact, 26% of Facebook users that click on ads they see on the platform then go on to make a purchase.
Leaving sales aside for a moment, you should be using social media to connect with your customers and provide glowing customer service, making people more likely to recommend your brand to others.
Develop a strong social media strategy to capture relevant traffic and put your brand in front of audiences that previously may not have known about it.
Leaving eCommerce Email Marketing in the Past
Though email is an old technology, that doesn’t mean eCommerce brands and email marketing don’t go together. People still check their inboxes on a daily basis, so it can be a great tool to connect with buyers. You should view email as a direct line to connect with customers, rather than a passive message that you hope they’ll see.
Seasonal promotions, exciting launches of new lines and end-of-season sales are all things that your subscribers might want to know about, so keep them in the loop with email.
Another thing to note is how well your email renders on mobile devices, because 70% of mobile users will go ahead and delete an email if it doesn’t look good on their phone, which will be a huge waste of your eCommerce email marketing strategy.
The Goal of Social Media is to Go Viral
We’ve seen brands try hard to go viral and it’s damaged their reputation somewhat. Virality should be seen as a bonus rather than a goal, assuming your ad has blown up for all the right reasons.
Content is more likely to go viral when it’s shared by an influencer, rather than by friends of friends of friends. For social media success, focus less on quick gimmicks and more on reaching new audiences and retaining existing audiences through targeted marketing and clever ads.
Not only that, if your content does happen to go viral, you’d fly through your target audience in a day and not necessarily have the conversions you’d like to show for it.
Good Products Don’t Need Marketing
Don’t rest on the notion that good products market themselves. Though your eCommerce store is the centre of your world and is the best out there in your opinion, it’s your job to help it grow legs and get in front of more people. In order words, an effective eCommerce marketing strategy is completely vital.
Don’t forget that your audience is exposed to so much information every day and they won’t pay attention if your marketing strategy isn’t well-polished and focused. While a quality product can make sales through word-of-mouth and positive reviews, it can’t reach the majority of your audience through these avenues alone.
Neglecting Existing Customers
It’s great to branch out and attract new customers, but it’s more cost-effective to sell to your current customers. You’ve already built a relationship with them and you know they enjoy your products.
A good way to stay relevant to new customers is to build loyalty programmes, send them birthday cards and share exclusive content that is tailored to them.
Not Taking the Time to Learn Who Your Target Audience is
It’s no use to present to a broad audience. Everyone’s different and you could be throwing valuable advertising dollars down the drain. Instead, pay attention to age, behaviour and demographics and use digital marketing tools like PPC and Facebook advertising to target the right audience.
Try segmenting your audience to attract the right people and increase your ROI. For example, market to younger demographics via video and social media, because that’s what they’re most interested in.
Get a Fierce eCommerce Marketing Strategy
Statista estimates that eCommerce sales will reach around 4.5 billion USD by 2021. To make a ripple in the industry, you’re going to want to make sure you’re making the most of your eCommerce email marketing, social media and other online approaches.
Don’t listen to myth-spinning websites, speak to the experts instead. At Impressive Digital, our success depends on the success of your eCommerce store, so we make sure we get the facts right. If you’re based in Australia and you want a real-life, goal-smashing eCommerce marketing strategy, get in touch.
