When we say marketing strategy – we think high-effort, high-cost and complex activities.
But in reality, they are just some simple steps that require you to think and act like a salesperson – in the digital world.
Let's look at the most effective tips for eCommerce marketing.
Here we go!
1. Offer no-brainer deals: Upsell and cross-sell
2. Make your eCommerce strategy conversational
3. Add reviews – build trust
4. Make your wishlist drive sales
5. Pop-ups that capture attention
6. Work on strengthening your SEO
7. Create some good content
8. List your shop on Google shopping campaigns
9. Build your email list
10. Craft compelling welcome emails
11. Share exclusive offers and discounts
12. Announce new product launches
13. Tell them what’s back in stock
14. Seasons and holidays – stay ahead on promotions
15. Recover abandoned carts
16. Post-purchase follow-up – recommend related products
17. Pay-per-click method
18. Run retargeting campaigns
19. Partner with influencers
20. Reach out to shoppers via SMS
21. Incentivize your shoppers to become your advocates
22. Expand your reach through affiliates
23. Give your shoppers a reason to keep coming back (Loyalty programs)
24. Surprise and delight – always works wonders
25. Make your customers a part of your brand’s community
26. Flash sales – big FOMO – max conversions
27. Exclusive coupons for special occasions
28. Tempt them with freebies
29. Include Tiktok in your marketing
30. Set up your shop on Instagram
31. Get personal – connect with shoppers on WhatsApp
Marketing strategies for eCommerce stores
ONSITE OPTIMIZATION
1. Offer no-brainer deals: Upsell and cross-sell
Let’s take 5 seconds and quickly establish the difference between upsell and cross-sell.
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 eCommerce marketing 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 in eCommerce.
- 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. Make your eCommerce strategy conversational
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
Recommended reading: Conversational Commerce: 21 Amazing Real-World Examples (eCommerce Brands)
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 for your eCommerce marketing strategy 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
Recommended read: 3 eCommerce SEO mistakes to avoid and get more conversions
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 eCommerce 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
You might also like: eCommerce Video Marketing Ideas That Actually Improve Sales
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
Recommended reading: 28 No-BS Ways To Get More Email Subscribers in eCommerce
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.
You must read: How to Scale Your eCommerce Business: 13 Proven Strategies (+ A Case Study)
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.
You might also like: 20 Experts Share Proven eCommerce Growth Strategies (2024)
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.
Check how Aritzia has added this to their eCommerce marketing strategy.
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.
Recommended read: 15 Product Bundling Examples That Convert (& 9 Proven Ideas)
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 which you can include in various other elements of your eCommerce marketing strategy.
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.
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. This eCommerce strategy will ensure that your ads follow him around until he comes back and makes a purchase.
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.
Read further: Influencer Marketing 101: Step-by-Step Strategy For eCommerce Store Owners
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 for this eCommerce strategy, you can consider:
- Cash rewards
- Credit
- Discounts
- Free products
- Gift cards
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.
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 for your eCommerce strategy:
- Personalized offers: Create something just for your shoppers – it helps in building a 1:1 relationship with your customers – like Birchbox does:
- 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.
Recommended reading: 10 eCommerce brands winning at Social Commerce (+ Lessons we can learn from them)
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 eCommerce 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.