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The 6 Cs of e-commerce marketing

International giants drive Philippine e-commerce activity, but local brands also stand to benefit

Without marketing, you’ll be like an ice cream seller on a desert island

Marketing is the backbone of any business. Without it, you’ll be like an ice cream seller on a desert island.

Developing and designing an e-commerce store is an easy job but to introduce your unique product in the market is not an easy job. You need to follow the proper protocol in order to gain and retain your valuable customers.

Some of the trending marketing platforms like Google, Facebook, and Email Marketing will definitely help in growing your store, but if you implement the following list of these C’s of marketing which I have mentioned below, you will be able to get the cherry to top the cake:

1. Content

Have you ever heard the phrase “Content is King”? I bet you do! That’s what every person learns when he/she enters into the world of digital marketing.

Marketing and content are not integrated directly, but they stick together everywhere simultaneously. Let it be image, video, article, info graphic, banners, descriptions, titles or any other marketing material — without unique content, all these mediums are useless.

Marketing states the requirement, and content fills that specific requirement.

To grow your e-commerce store, you need to keep your “unique” content up-to-date and keep providing new information to your store visitors about your products and services, to turn them into your customers.

Investing in good content is never a bad idea, but make sure your content is unique, readable and understandable as well. Content marketing builds up one’s trust, as in a study it shows that, 95% businesses with unique content and blogs report high search rankings compared to those who do not blog.

Also read: ReadWrite employed these 3 game-changing content marketing tactics and nailed its China strategy

2. Communication

Communication is a basic pillar to crack any deal between two parties. From the first click on your website until the payment, the communication with the visitor is key to success.

Communication must be precise and informative. Emails, live chat, after sale emails, newsletters and the way you communicate with your audience define how much you are concerned for them. As all e-commerce businesses operate 24/7, the customer demands a business representative to be available all the time to solve queries.

Stats show that 63% of customers are more likely to return to a website that offers live chat and so are the stats of other communication channels. So remember: Communication is the key to success.

3. Coupons

Coupons are certificates which are distributed to the audience through which they can avail discounts on their purchases from a particular store. Like every promotional method, coupons also have pros and cons, but it’s better to focus on the pros here, as cons are not that much of consideration to be focused on and do not cause any negative impact on your valuable customers and business.

Consumers perceive coupons as special offers, so redemption of coupons does not have any negative effect on regular sales. Rather, they increase the revenue and let you score some new customers. A survey conducted by Shopper Intelligence shows that around 30% of the consumers use coupon websites to shop online. Don’t let your customers abandon their shopping cart. Instead provide them with some coupons which will create a bond between your business and your customers.

Another study finds that online coupons and vouchers positively influence the purchase cycle, improves conversion rates, decrease abandoned carts, and also effect the brand loyalty in a positive way.

4. Convenience

Convenience is the main reason for which the customers tends to shift from physical shopping to online shopping. E-commerce allows a person to complete their shopping within few clicks but it’s not enough until your products/services are easily accessible to the consumers.

Also read: 7 strategies to attract millennials to your e-commerce platform

Study your audience through analytics to find out the landing and exit pages of your consumers and intend to make them better if you find any increase in bounce rates. Simplify the whole buying process, remove the barriers and seek different ways to convey consumers about your products and make the delivery and payment process more comprehensible.

Take the Example of Daraz.pk which makes their 90% sales through Cash on Delivery as the residents do not trust online banking. Optimise your website for every device like mobile, tablets and laptops. Check if the design and products of your website are displayed correctly on different-sized screens and other mediums of technology.

Avoid having too many popups and advertisements at the side bars. In simple words, the main goal of providing convenience in an online business is to transform a visitor into a recurring customer of your website.

5. Collaborations

Collaborations are becoming a new trend in online business for those marketers who are seeking to grab new audiences through social media networks and blogs. In a nutshell, collaboration or influencer marketing is done with the help of a person where he/she recommends your products/services to their audience and followers.

Collaborations with the influencers can involve a brand awareness campaign wherein new people are given the chance to learn about your business. A good influencer marketing campaign requires a lot of time and effort, but in the end will pay you back double the expense. While finding influencers, you must go with the quality, rather than quantity.

  • List all the influencers with respect to your niche, (e.g.: Instagram fitness models for a supplement/gym business).

  • Check their engagement with the audience, read comments, check likes, either they are real or are generated by any auto bot system.

  • Check their blogs, their value through Google whether they are mentioned by some other blogs or not.

  • Calculate ROI hypothetically before cracking any deal with that person.

  • Crack the deal and wait for the results.

Collaborations with influencers must never be avoided, as 75% of marketers allocate some of their budget for influencer marketing, and provide marketing through social media in today’s fast paced world where people avoid watching million dollars television advertisements.

6. Competition

From SWOT analysis to the maturity of business, competition must not be taken lightly by any means. As competition is a threat for your business, at the same time it provides a big opportunity for you, wherein you can simply copy and add a little spark in your competitor’s strategy to get ahead of them.

I believe it’s unethical to steal someone else’s work, but it’s a money game. Whenever you feel bad, recall saying of great Steve Jobs “Good Artists copy, great artists steal.”

You have to cross those extra miles in a short time to get into the race if you started late. E-commerce competition is intense, but it isn’t impossible to get ahead in this race.

Learn from your competitors and provide better quality products, services, price, quantity, after sales service, incentives, and everything to your customers. Spend your time in searching for those particular areas which your competitors haven’t discovered yet, and start the ball rolling.

In terms of search marketing, focus on getting more quality backlinks, quality content, better UI/UX, better after sales service, and again focus on those areas which your competitors haven’t discovered yet and eventually your determination will let you win the race one day.

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Featured image: 123RF Stock Photography

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