How to stay ahead in a highly competitive e-commerce market
Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2024 5:57 am
There are more than 24 million e-commerce sites worldwide. In the era of social distancing, many businesses are also transitioning online.
However, more e-commerce businesses mean more competition. Therefore, businesses must be able to use effective marketing tactics to stay ahead of the competition despite a cutthroat attitude. outdoor market .
In this article, I will walk you through practical tips that will help eCommerce entrepreneurs succeed beyond their wildest dreams. It will also include online marketing tools to help brands stay relevant and engage users.
Let's get started.
1. Create a referral marketing program
Think back to the netherlands phone number library last time you shopped at a new e-commerce site. We bet recommendations from friends or family influenced your purchase. Since they are the ones you trust the most, their words will easily persuade you.
In fact, one study found that shoppers are 50x more likely to buy a product if it’s recommended by loved ones. What’s more, customers gained through word of mouth are likely to spend 200% more than the average customer and make twice as many referrals.
While word-of-mouth marketing happens organically, online businesses can encourage customers to recommend their brand through a referral program. This works by incentivizing current customers or brand advocates through giveaways, prizes, and discounts.
Brand advocates already have experience using your product. Therefore, they are effective brand ambassadors for your business.
For example, Driftaway, a coffee subscription service, allows customers to earn 200 Driftaway points (worth $20) for every friend who signs up. Meanwhile, friends also receive a free kit as an incentive to sign up for their service.
e-commerce market
Source: coffee adrift
How to create your own referral program? Apps like ReferralCandy allow online entrepreneurs to start their own referral program in a matter of minutes. After creating an account and choosing incentives, the app can automate the referral process.
2. Offer customers useful content, not promotions.
In addition to promoting your new products, provide consumers with relevant content. Most customers will interact with your business through emails, blog posts, social media posts, and other promotions. However, they will only pay attention to marketing content that they find useful.
To start, you need to determine what information your target audience needs.
According to Clearvoice.com, here are some questions to consider:
What does my target audience do online and what content do they read?
What are the best and worst performing types of content on your website?
What types of content or topics are you missing?
How will the content be distributed and promoted?
Do you have the budget and resources to create content ?
Next, create blog posts, eBooks, white papers, and case studies for your website. While detailed content can engage your readers, adding visual content like images and videos will enhance their understanding of your content.
Not only that, but creating a YouTube channel for your brand can expand your reach far beyond Google and can also become a lucrative part of your business if you know how to make money from it.
Backlinko founder Brian Dean creates long, detailed blog posts about digital marketing. In addition to being packed with content, his posts are packed with visuals and images to get his point across.
For example, his blog post on “ 21 Practical SEO Techniques That Work GREAT ” got 13 social shares, 1,118 comments, and backlinks from 857 domains.
Source: https://backlinko.com/seo-techniques
Source: Backlinko
You can also offer email newsletters and promotions to regularly contact customers and stay top of mind. We recommend Omnisend for creating newsletters, segmenting users, and automating emails.
However, the content of these messages must be relevant, otherwise people will unsubscribe.
For example, Playstation newsletters include downloadable content, new games, and other interesting tips for gamers.
Source: https://www.sendinblue.com/blog/best-em ... -examples/
Source: Sendinblue
They also include statistics such as total hours played and trophies earned at the top of the newsletter. These numbers gamify the experience and encourage visitors to play more in order to improve their stats.
3. Show customers that your brand is more than just a product.
Most e-commerce stores showcase their great products with great features. But to stand out, show that your brand is more than just a product.
You need to show customers that you care through responsive customer service.
Customer service is an important factor in determining brand loyalty. In fact, 69% of American customers say they would spend more money with companies that provide better customer service .
To meet customer expectations, your contact details need to be easily accessible to consumers. Ideally, you want to give them the opportunity to contact your brand through their preferred channel. Divide your sales teams into customer service representatives for email, social media, and .
A live chat widget allows you to respond to customers in real-time. The messaging-style service provides a convenient way for customers to ask questions or request advice from your sales representatives.
With top-notch software like Tidio for live chat, sales reps can respond to customers in seconds from a single dashboard. They can also use AI solutions to identify and respond to customer queries and ease the burden on their customer service reps.
Source: https://www.bigcommerce.com/apps/tidio-chat/
Source: BigCommerce
Another tip is to use chatbots to respond to customers on social media.
For example, LEGO launched a Facebook Messenger bot called Ralph. This convenient bot helps shoppers discover gift ideas and suggestions for their loved ones during the giving season.
The best part? Once customers interact with Ralph, the chatbot can easily guide them through the sales process.
Source: https://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/11/23 ... and-mortar
Source: The drum of
By the end of the campaign, the company generated a 3.4x ROA because shoppers loved receiving personalized gift suggestions.
4. Build a community around your brand
To improve customer retention, e-commerce brands must create a community that their customers can relate to.
That said, you'll want to create social media accounts that resonate with your audience's interests and values. Go beyond picturesque product photography and feature behind-the-scenes looks and user-generated content.
Brands like Glossier have found success by building a loyal community on social media. The brand targeted millennial women and invested heavily in technology and data analytics to identify posts and products that their target users will love.
The result is an Instagram community with more than 2.3 million followers.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/glossier/?hl=en
Source: Glossier
Glossier’s community engagement is so strong that it was the backbone of its expansion into the UK and European markets. The US-based team flew to the UK and took their committed followers out to lunch to further foster engagement in the lead-up to the brand’s international launch.
The company also goes the extra mile by responding to every message and commenting on their Instagram posts. This simple gesture encourages engagement because shoppers are more likely to reach out if they know they are being heard.
However, more e-commerce businesses mean more competition. Therefore, businesses must be able to use effective marketing tactics to stay ahead of the competition despite a cutthroat attitude. outdoor market .
In this article, I will walk you through practical tips that will help eCommerce entrepreneurs succeed beyond their wildest dreams. It will also include online marketing tools to help brands stay relevant and engage users.
Let's get started.
1. Create a referral marketing program
Think back to the netherlands phone number library last time you shopped at a new e-commerce site. We bet recommendations from friends or family influenced your purchase. Since they are the ones you trust the most, their words will easily persuade you.
In fact, one study found that shoppers are 50x more likely to buy a product if it’s recommended by loved ones. What’s more, customers gained through word of mouth are likely to spend 200% more than the average customer and make twice as many referrals.
While word-of-mouth marketing happens organically, online businesses can encourage customers to recommend their brand through a referral program. This works by incentivizing current customers or brand advocates through giveaways, prizes, and discounts.
Brand advocates already have experience using your product. Therefore, they are effective brand ambassadors for your business.
For example, Driftaway, a coffee subscription service, allows customers to earn 200 Driftaway points (worth $20) for every friend who signs up. Meanwhile, friends also receive a free kit as an incentive to sign up for their service.
e-commerce market
Source: coffee adrift
How to create your own referral program? Apps like ReferralCandy allow online entrepreneurs to start their own referral program in a matter of minutes. After creating an account and choosing incentives, the app can automate the referral process.
2. Offer customers useful content, not promotions.
In addition to promoting your new products, provide consumers with relevant content. Most customers will interact with your business through emails, blog posts, social media posts, and other promotions. However, they will only pay attention to marketing content that they find useful.
To start, you need to determine what information your target audience needs.
According to Clearvoice.com, here are some questions to consider:
What does my target audience do online and what content do they read?
What are the best and worst performing types of content on your website?
What types of content or topics are you missing?
How will the content be distributed and promoted?
Do you have the budget and resources to create content ?
Next, create blog posts, eBooks, white papers, and case studies for your website. While detailed content can engage your readers, adding visual content like images and videos will enhance their understanding of your content.
Not only that, but creating a YouTube channel for your brand can expand your reach far beyond Google and can also become a lucrative part of your business if you know how to make money from it.
Backlinko founder Brian Dean creates long, detailed blog posts about digital marketing. In addition to being packed with content, his posts are packed with visuals and images to get his point across.
For example, his blog post on “ 21 Practical SEO Techniques That Work GREAT ” got 13 social shares, 1,118 comments, and backlinks from 857 domains.
Source: https://backlinko.com/seo-techniques
Source: Backlinko
You can also offer email newsletters and promotions to regularly contact customers and stay top of mind. We recommend Omnisend for creating newsletters, segmenting users, and automating emails.
However, the content of these messages must be relevant, otherwise people will unsubscribe.
For example, Playstation newsletters include downloadable content, new games, and other interesting tips for gamers.
Source: https://www.sendinblue.com/blog/best-em ... -examples/
Source: Sendinblue
They also include statistics such as total hours played and trophies earned at the top of the newsletter. These numbers gamify the experience and encourage visitors to play more in order to improve their stats.
3. Show customers that your brand is more than just a product.
Most e-commerce stores showcase their great products with great features. But to stand out, show that your brand is more than just a product.
You need to show customers that you care through responsive customer service.
Customer service is an important factor in determining brand loyalty. In fact, 69% of American customers say they would spend more money with companies that provide better customer service .
To meet customer expectations, your contact details need to be easily accessible to consumers. Ideally, you want to give them the opportunity to contact your brand through their preferred channel. Divide your sales teams into customer service representatives for email, social media, and .
A live chat widget allows you to respond to customers in real-time. The messaging-style service provides a convenient way for customers to ask questions or request advice from your sales representatives.
With top-notch software like Tidio for live chat, sales reps can respond to customers in seconds from a single dashboard. They can also use AI solutions to identify and respond to customer queries and ease the burden on their customer service reps.
Source: https://www.bigcommerce.com/apps/tidio-chat/
Source: BigCommerce
Another tip is to use chatbots to respond to customers on social media.
For example, LEGO launched a Facebook Messenger bot called Ralph. This convenient bot helps shoppers discover gift ideas and suggestions for their loved ones during the giving season.
The best part? Once customers interact with Ralph, the chatbot can easily guide them through the sales process.
Source: https://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/11/23 ... and-mortar
Source: The drum of
By the end of the campaign, the company generated a 3.4x ROA because shoppers loved receiving personalized gift suggestions.
4. Build a community around your brand
To improve customer retention, e-commerce brands must create a community that their customers can relate to.
That said, you'll want to create social media accounts that resonate with your audience's interests and values. Go beyond picturesque product photography and feature behind-the-scenes looks and user-generated content.
Brands like Glossier have found success by building a loyal community on social media. The brand targeted millennial women and invested heavily in technology and data analytics to identify posts and products that their target users will love.
The result is an Instagram community with more than 2.3 million followers.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/glossier/?hl=en
Source: Glossier
Glossier’s community engagement is so strong that it was the backbone of its expansion into the UK and European markets. The US-based team flew to the UK and took their committed followers out to lunch to further foster engagement in the lead-up to the brand’s international launch.
The company also goes the extra mile by responding to every message and commenting on their Instagram posts. This simple gesture encourages engagement because shoppers are more likely to reach out if they know they are being heard.