{"id":45753,"date":"2019-09-17T08:20:15","date_gmt":"2019-09-17T02:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vwo.com\/blog\/?p=45753"},"modified":"2025-05-01T12:42:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T07:12:22","slug":"ecommerce-marketing-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vwo.com\/blog\/ecommerce-marketing-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Powerful (& Actionable) Ideas to Boost Your eCommerce Marketing Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So you\u2019ve recently set up a flashy eCommerce store. That\u2019s terrific! However, to build brand awareness, drive traffic and ultimately boost sales, you are going to need a solid, comprehensive and effective eCommerce marketing strategy built around providing your customers the most seamless shopping experience possible. 
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Your primary goals are simple- customer acquisition and generation of more repeat purchases. And to achieve them, all you need are practical and actionable marketing ideas that ensure that your eCommerce marketing strategy cuts through the clutter.
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Download Free: A\/B Testing Guide<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While there\u2019s no set formula, there are a few eCommerce marketing tactics that should definitely make it to your hygiene checklist. Here are 8 of those impactful ideas for your eCommerce marketing strategy that can help you retain your customers, build thriving brand loyalty, and increase sales: <\/p>\n\n\n

1. Optimize Your eCommerce Website and Mobile App for Better Conversions\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n

Even with major players hogging the limelight, the eCommerce domain is vast and diverse. Competition is huge, and the average conversion rate<\/a> is as low as 2-3%<\/strong>. Moreover, the cost of acquiring new visitors through pay-per-click, Facebook ads or search engines is also steadily rising. So, it is now all the more important for businesses like yours to make the most of incoming visitors and existing users through your eCommerce marketing strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)<\/a> steps in here, helping you convert more visits into purchases. It is the constant process of improving different aspects of your website and mobile app that impact your users\u2019 experience and decision-making. This will make sure that your visitors are more likely to checkout what\u2019s in their carts. Websites and apps are constantly monitored to see at what point the customers are falling through the cracks and leaving. With the help of CRO platforms<\/a>, you can continuously learn more about your users\u2019 behavior and optimize your site and app to boost conversions. <\/p>\n\n\n

2. Create Content That Offers a Personalized Shopping Experience<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n

For your business to survive and thrive in this era, simply offering quality products isn\u2019t enough. Your customers expect more. To ensure they come back to your online store, you need to offer them a personalized shopping experience<\/a> centered around individualized deals and product recommendations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get started, try and get to know your customers better by checking the product pages that they visit, the type of content they consume, the device they use to shop, and so on. Once you comprehend these details, you can start building audience segments and give your users personalized shopping experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can use tools such as VWO to understand user behavior on your website and target them accordingly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a glimpse of how Sephora provides personalized communication and product recommendations on both their website and emails; based on user behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"personalized
Image Source: Sephora<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n

3. Use Targeted Push Notifications For People Who Have Visited Your Website<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n

With web or browser push notifications<\/a>, your customers need not install your mobile app to be notified of your offers or discounts. Unlike app push notifications, web push notifications work on desktop and mobile browsers. This medium of communication is a compelling one, power-packed with sharp features like scheduling and audience segmentation. <\/p>\n\n\n

How do they work?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n

When a visitor comes to your website for the first time, an opt-in box appears, asking for permission to send them push notifications. When the visitor clicks \u2018Allow\u2019; they are added to your subscriber list.<\/p>\n\n\n

How can web push notifications help your business?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n

Sending push notifications in your marketing campaign<\/a> helps you engage with your customers (or potential customers) at different stages of their purchase journey and constantly keep in touch with them. The great part is, your users don\u2019t have to share their email id or any other personal information while subscribing to your web push notifications, which makes opt-in incredibly hassle-free. Moreover, once they opt-in, you can connect with them whenever they\u2019re online, they don\u2019t necessarily have to be on your website to receive your push notifications. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quick tip: <\/strong>Use tools such as VWO Engage<\/a> to further segment your subscribers and send out targeted push notifications<\/a> for better engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some interesting push notification ideas that you can steal<\/em> for your eCommerce marketing strategy:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 New product announcements: <\/strong>
Tell your customers about newly added products\/collections to your store.
For example, if you\u2019re a clothing store and you\u2019ve recently added a floral collection, you can send a notification to your customers that looks something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"flash<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u2022 Sale & discounts:<\/strong>
Prompt your customers whenever you run flash sales or discounts. This can also be personalized based on your customers\u2019 last interaction or browsing behavior on your website.
For instance, if a user usually visits the \u2018Home Decor\u2019 section of your website, you can send them a personalized push notification which looks something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"an<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u2022 Get more signups:<\/strong>
Not everybody who comes to your website would want to shop from you instantly. However, you can surely engage with them and nudge them ahead in the buyer\u2019s funnel by sharing targeted and useful content.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s say you\u2019re a travel eCommerce company; you can send out notifications about new blog posts that you publish to get customers back to your website.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"push<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The key is to keep your push notifications exciting and contextual. If they check these two boxes, they will work wonders for your eCommerce business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Download Free: A\/B Testing Guide<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n

4. Start Loyalty Programs & Provide Special Offers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n

If you haven\u2019t already, it\u2019s time to get to terms with the harsh reality that 80% of your business revenues come from 20% of your customers, which essentially are your repeat customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loyalty programs are a great retention tool for your eCommerce marketing strategy to keep your customers coming back to your store and thereby convert them into loyal customers. There are several types of customer loyalty programs that you can use for your store, so narrowing down on one can get difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make things simpler, we\u2019ve listed the top 3 loyalty programs that you can opt for along with examples of how you can use them to your brand\u2019s advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Reward points programs<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The math here is simple: spend more to earn more!<\/strong>

Every time a customer makes a purchase from your eCommerce store, they earn reward points based on the size of their purchase.

It\u2019s normally advised to keep the points system extremely easy for your customers to understand so that they can see what\u2019s in it for them (the real value) right away without having to spend too much time calculating.

Shein.com runs a very interesting \u2018SHEIN Bonus Point Program\u2019. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"SHEIN
Image Source: Shein<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The SheIn Bonus Points Program has multiple activities listed down for customers to perform, and each activity is associated with bonus points ranging from 1-100.

Every 100 points=$1. Customers get to earn these bonus points once they fulfill these activities. For instance, as soon as a customer completes their registration, they earn 100 bonus points. They can then use their accumulated bonus points to pay for their purchases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 VIP memberships<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the name suggests, in this program, your customers can buy a quarterly or annual subscription to join your VIP member club. You must give exclusive discounts and benefits to your VIP members to create brand stickiness and improve loyalty. Here\u2019s an example from Amazon Prime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Amazon
Image Source: Amazon<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Amazon\u2019s Prime membership has transformed customer loyalty and the way people look at eCommerce, forever.  For just $99 per year, customers get access to fast, free shipping on thousands of products along with unlimited video streaming and exclusive early access to flash sales and deals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Gamification <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By gamifying your loyalty program, you can boost sales and entertain your customers; keeping them hooked for more. 

MasterCard\u2019s Scan, Spin & Win program is a fairly straightforward example of how you can leverage gamification for your eCommerce marketing strategy to achieve your business goals.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"gamification
Image Source: Mastercard<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Every time a customer makes a purchase using their MasterCard, they can scan their receipt and spin the wheel to win exciting prizes. The giveaways range from discounts on movie tickets, free magazine subscriptions, travel gift vouchers, and lots more!<\/p>\n\n\n

5. Redefine Customer Support <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n

Providing exceptional customer support<\/a> is critical for your eCommerce marketing strategy for both acquiring and retaining customers. In fact, stats suggest that a customer is 4 times more likely to switch to a competitor<\/a> if customer support isn\u2019t up to the mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s how you can make an effort to keep your customers coming back to your store by providing efficient customer support: <\/p>\n\n\n\n