eCommerce Marketing Strategy: 31 Immediately-Actionable Ideas

Suppose, you are an electronics brand. Your potential customer is evaluating laptops – if you suggest the next upgraded model – it is an upsell. On the other hand, if you recommend a laptop bag, it is a cross-sell.

And these strategies are instrumental in boosting your AOV.

Let’s understand a few ways to improve your upsells.

Promote your most reviewed or most sold products
Give prominent space for the upsell and display testimonials for them
If you have customer personas in place, use those to make relevant suggestions
Make suggestions relevant by giving context: Why should I buy that instead of this?

And always make sure you suggest products from the same category. Don’t ask your website visitors to buy a 17-inch monitor when they’re shopping for a MacBook Air. The two products don’t satisfy the same needs.

Samsung recommends upgraded models right in the buy section for upselling.

Use cross-selling on the checkout page to induce impulse buying.

Cross-sell products should be at least 60% cheaper than the product added to the cart
Go for products that are easily missed out: filters for lenses, earphones for mobile phones, lighters for a gas stove, etc
Try not to bombard shoppers with too many choices that distract them

Allbirds recommends socks when the shoppers add shoes to their cart.

2. Let shoppers talk to you

Whether you deploy a human or a bot in your live chat – you must answer questions before they become hesitations – in real time.

Another important point to note is to keep your live chat as human as possible. At no point should your shoppers feel like they are talking to a robot.

Your live chat is a really powerful tool for enhancing the shopping experience:

Offer tailored recommendations – send links to products instead of just product titles

Greet your shoppers based on behaviors. For example, if your shoppers are browsing through shoes – your chatbot can initiate a dialogue – “Welcome to [your site]. I’m [name of representative]. Can I help you select a pair?”

You can continue your live chat on your checkout page – gives the opportunity to ask any questions shoppers might have that could prevent them from completing their purchase like – shipping, pricing, returns, and more

Make sure the popup doesn't pop up on its own on the checkout page. Shoppers who know what they want to buy, where to find it, and how to check out, should never be interrupted.

Be available – not just during office hours but also during the night and weekends – this is the time when shopping peaks

3. Add reviews – build trust

Customers like to see a lot of reviews. A single review with a few positive words sways, but a few dozen that say the same thing – make a concrete opinion.

The best places to display your reviews?

Homepage – create a section for reviews and testimonials
Product pages – write reviews for the product under the buy section
Pop-ups and overlays – tell visitors what your happy shoppers feel about you

4. Make your wishlist drive sales

You have a wishlist feature – one that is easy to add products to, intuitively placed, and gives all the vital information to shoppers and your shoppers are using it.

But your wishlist can serve a higher purpose than providing a smooth shopping experience – it can bring in direct sales.

How? Sending notifications.

Send alerts to shoppers when the products they have added to the wishlist are running low on stock
Send notifications when products in the wishlist are back in stock (if they had run out)
Inform shoppers if the prices of the products in the wishlist have dropped

5. Use pop-ups that capture attention

Popups are the second chance to convert your website visitors.

When your prospects are not swayed by your offer, aren’t a right fit, are distracted or are rushed – it takes just one timely, relevant and valuable offer to take the chances of converting them through the roof.

Different kinds of popups that you can choose from are:

Gamified entry popups: Show welcome offers to first-time visitors in exchange for their email in a gamified way (spin-the-wheel, pick a card etc.)
Cart abandonment: Pop a reminder to complete the purchase before the items in the cart run out of stock
Quizzes: Promote a quiz that makes personalized recommendations based on each person's answers
Product recommendations: Push new lines and recommend products to subscribers and customers returning to your store
Exit intent: Give an incentive to prospects leaving your website to stay back and make a purchase

ORGANIC CHANNELS

6. Work on strengthening your SEO

Consistent organic traffic = key to long-term growth.

The three pillars of getting your SEO right are:

On-page SEO: It is a way of telling Google what exactly are you offering on your website - so that it can show your website to those who are looking for the products you sell

A few simple ways to fix your on-page SEO are researching relevant keywords, adding these to the meta titles, meta description and URL, adding alt texts to images, and using long tail keyword variations on product pages.

Off-page SEO: This basically tells Google how valuable your website is

For this mention brands on your website, add your store to Google My Business, and link your store back from Q&A sites like Quora.

Technical SEO: This involves improving the backend of your website. Working on mobile optimization, site speed, and internal linking are some useful tactics

7. Create some good content

When someone finds good content on your website – they trust you. This trust leads them to buy from you.

But there’s more to content marketing – the strategy side of it.

Your content should be visually appealing – has catchy titles, reads human, has a clear value proposition, social proofs, links to your website and gives details of the products offered
You can’t go after every channel – it is neither economical nor sustainable. Test out different channels on a small scale and scale the ones that show promise
Create videos – don’t worry, we aren’t talking about the fancy ones that cost a ton. Just pick up your iPhone – shoot some BTS or testimonials of happy customers and post them on your website and social media. This will give your brand a personality

8. List your shop on Google shopping campaigns

When Google gives you an opportunity – you must utilize it. List your store on Google Shopping and see those footfalls on your website.

Your listings will appear in the Google shopping tab, Google Search, Google Images and YouTube.

EMAIL MARKETING

9. Build your email list

Let us introduce you to the concept of micro-conversions.

You create an offer → Exchange it for visitors’ email IDs → Nurture these leads with routine newsletters → Build a relationship with them through content → Convert them.

This approach works.

Let's look at the first step.

You can build your email list in 2 ways:

Collect the email IDs of the shoppers by offering a discount or coupon on your popups
Get your users to subscribe to your content through your content efforts (blogs etc.) or through the footer of your website

10. Craft compelling welcome emails

After you have added someone to your email list, the next most intuitive step is to welcome them.

Make sure to send the welcome email immediately after they subscribe – establish the connection fast.

Pro tip: Make your emails more visual than text-heavy.

11. Share exclusive offers and discounts

Let your subscribers know about the offers you are launching. Ask your shoppers to visit your website and take a look.

Clearly mention the coupons, freebies, offer period and other enticing deals in your email, add pictures and a CTA button.

12. Announce new product launches

New additions to your catalog – announce it to all.

Get your subscribers excited about your new products.

Write to your subscribers – talk about the new products, prices and other details.

Offer free samples (if possible), and give early exclusive access only to your subscribers or an exclusive discount.

13. Tell them what’s back in stock

Something running out of stock indicates high demand for that product.

And when it's back – there's always a fear of missing it again.

Emails talking about what’s back in stock drive audiences to the website to get the product that might run out again.

Capitalize on this FOMO and send back in stock emails every once in a while.

14. Seasons and holidays – stay ahead on promotions

Holidays scream shopping. This is the time when shoppers start hunting for the best deals.

Instead of waiting for them to stumble upon your website, grab their attention days ahead – just when they start planning their shopping.

Shoot an email that reminds them of the holidays or event, including your discount offer or any service that you’re offering, show your products and ask them to start shopping right away.

15. Recover abandoned carts

The challenge of cart abandonment is not new to us – and nor are the efforts to recover them.

What can you do differently to have a slightly better chance of recovering them?

Offer something extra.

Throw in a free sample or bundle it with a related product and offer it at a discount.

Basically, boost the perceived value of the cart – shoot an email telling the ones who abandoned the cart.

16. Post-purchase follow-up – recommend related products

Once you have got your subscribers to buy from you – do not forget to take feedback from them. Make them feel heard and valued.

This also opens the opportunity to recommend related products for their next purchase.

This way you stay in their minds and in their lives 🙂

Pro tip: This is where you can also ask for UGC.

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PAID STRATEGIES

17. Pay-per-click method

As opposed to ads that charge for every impression, pay-per-click only charges when someone clicks on your ad.

You can use several platforms to serve your ads, and the two largest and most well-known are Google and Facebook.

If you are well versed in running PPC campaigns, you can go ahead and set them up, else you can hire a freelancer to help you with them.

Sponsored google ads for ecommerce website

You might also like to check out: How to Increase Email Marketing ROI (Updated 2024)

18. Run retargeting campaigns

The rule of 7 says that if you look at an ad 7 times, you take action.

This is what we capitalize on through retargeting campaigns.

Let’s say that someone engaged with your website. The retargeting campaign will ensure that your ads follow him around until he comes back and makes a purchase.

Sponsored ads on Instagram for ecommerce websites

19. Partner with influencers

Influencers are aspirational for their followers. And when they recommend something – their followers listen.

Hence, influencer marketing is becoming increasingly effective.

Based on your budget, you can either do a paid collaboration or a barter partnership.

The simplest way to do this – search for your category – fashion, electronics, beauty, apparel etc. – shortlist influencers that have a follower count that corresponds to your budget. Cold reach out to them proposing your offer and take it forward from there.

Note: The metric that you should check to finalize the influencer is their engagement.

(Average views on their last 5 posts or videos/ 5) *100 = The number of eyeballs you might reach with your influencer campaign.

Calculate your ROI and invest accordingly.

20. Reach out to shoppers via SMS

Our advice: Begin with a one-off campaign. If you’re sending an email about a promotion, differentiate the message on SMS. Once you start gaining traction, integrate it with other channels.

Some of the campaigns that you can consider for SMS as a channel are:

Welcome messages
Purchase confirmations
Limited time promos
Cart abandonment updates
Post-purchase feedbacks

RELATIONSHIP MARKETING

21. Incentivize your shoppers to become your advocates

People talk about where they got a certain product from all the time. But what a referral program does is – it adds a ‘You should get it from there too’ to the conversation.

The referral code or referral link can be given to customers as soon as they:

Sign up for the company’s newsletter
Make a purchase with the company
Complete a certain number of purchases
Create an account with the company’s website

In terms of the rewards, you can consider:

Cash rewards
Credit
Discounts
Free products
Gift cards

Referral marketing strategy for eCommerce stores

22. Expand your reach through affiliates

While affiliate marketing does seem like an effortless idea, there are a few steps that you should take to ensure that the program becomes a success.

Goes without saying that you must have a clear dashboard in place for your affiliates to keep track of their sales and commissions.

Provide your affiliates with marketing materials and ideas to market your products. We would suggest that you have an affiliate starter kit in place – comprising the product catalog, USP, target audience, photos of products and videos (if any) and examples of how other affiliates have marketed your products.

Affiliate marketing for eCommerce websites

23. Give your shoppers a reason to keep coming back (Loyalty programs)

To encourage repeat purchases, you will have to understand the buying behavior of your customers – what they have been buying and what piques their interest.

This will help you create the most effective offerings for your loyalty program like:

Reduced price on repeatedly bought products
Free samples
Complementary products or services
Point-based reward system

Loyalty can be difficult to buy sometimes, hence careful planning of rewards is necessary – which brings me to my next point.

24. Surprise and delight – always works wonders

Why is the element of surprise so important? Because it is addictive.

Surprise changes behaviors – it establishes a passionate relationship between your customers and your brand – the ideal goal for any eCommerce business.

A few implementable ideas:

Personalized offers: Create something just for your shoppers – it helps in building a 1:1 relationship with your customers – like Birchbox does:

Surprise and delight for eCommerce stores

Customer support: This is your chance to turn angry and dissatisfied customers to happy and loyal ones. The resolution and speed of providing solutions is key here

Random acts of kindness: This can really U-turn the emotions of your shoppers – deepening the bond with your customers. Activities can range from handwritten notes to gifts on birthdays and anniversaries

25. Make your customers a part of your brand’s community

When you offer your shoppers to be a part of something bigger and exclusive; they get promoted from your customer to a member of your brand.

While what you can do with the community will be very unique for each brand, a few points to build the skeleton for your strategy are:

Formulate clear boundaries that distinguish your community from outsiders. The more defined the community is, the more engaged the members are
Assign a clear goal to your community that will guide interactions and engagements
Use qualifiers to specify your community’s focus. For instance, “This is a community for health-conscious individuals who focus on organic nutrition.”

OFFERS

26. Flash sales – big FOMO – max conversions

When is the best time to run a flash sale? Ask any ecommerce expert and they’ll say there is no ‘best practice’ time for scheduling a flash sale.

Your historical data and past experience can help you schedule one but if it is going to be your first time, here are some ideas – before holiday season, after holiday season and once every few months.

The very natural next question – how long the flash sale should be?

Well, 50% of the sales occur in the first hour of the flash sale – so, ideally the sale can last from a few hours to 36 hours.

Pro tip: Add a countdown timer to indicate the days/hours left for the sale to end.

Pro tip 2: Extensively promote the flash – at least 10 days in advance.

27. Exclusive coupons for special occasions

An extension to surprise and delight – exclusive coupons for birthdays and anniversaries make your shoppers choose you time and again.

Share these coupons in emails and SMS at least 2-3 weeks prior to the occasion.

Do not forget to add the link to your store.

You might also like: How To Increase eCommerce Sales: 23 Immediately Actionable Ideas

28. Tempt them with freebies

An extra something – always delightful.

Offer a free gift above a threshold or free samples with every purchase.

The gift should be exclusive, limited-edition or high-value – which the shoppers don’t want to miss out on.

SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS

29. Include Tiktok in your marketing

Entertainment spaces are becoming shopping inspirations – and Tiktok is emerging fast.

Use memes, short videos, trending audio and UGC to drive sales for your eCommerce store.

A few Tiktok hacks are:

Use the ‘Yellow Basket’ feature: Companies can redirect viewers directly to the checkout page instead of having numerous steps before purchasing

Tiktok ads and challenges: This shift from product-centric campaigns to customer-centric ones makes customers feel appreciated and involved, increasing loyalty and conversions

30. Set up your shop on Instagram

Instagram is increasingly becoming business-friendly.

There are a plethora of features that will help you not just increase brand awareness but drive sales.

Utilize reels, posts, stories and story highlights to build a brand online. Get yourself a blue tick to look authentic.

To drive sales, list your products on the platform. Include links to product pages and redirect them to your website.

31. Get personal – connect with shoppers on WhatsApp

Social media platforms work on the masses but on chances. We don’t know for sure if the algorithm will favor us and show our posts to the right audience.

Hence, we are recommending a sure-shot strategy – WhatsApp campaigns.

These are highly personalized and drop right into the inboxes of your prospects.

Segment your audience based on their purchase history and send messages accordingly.

For example: If you have an online book store, and you have added a couple of fiction books, run a campaign to announce the new additions to those who purchase fiction books from you.

Pro tip: Use WhatsApp campaigns to recover abandoned carts.

Final Word

98% of visitors who visit an eCommerce site—drop off without buying anything.

Reason: User experience issues that cause friction for visitors.

And Convertcart solves for exactly that.

We help eCommerce brands optimize their websites to boost their conversions.

We've helped 500+ eCommerce stores (in the US) improve user experience—and 2X their conversion rate.

How do we do this?

Our conversion experts can audit your site—identify UX issues, and suggest changes to turn more of your visitors into customers.

ConvertCart

500+ brands across 35 countries, including Everlast, USA Hockey, American Heart Association use ConvertCart to boost traffic-to-sales conversion rate—without having to break the bank.

eCommerce Marketing Strategy: 31 Immediately-Actionable Ideas

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