Every year, brick-and-mortar stores continue to die a slow death as ecommerce soars. But that doesn’t mean that setting up an online retail site is a surefire way to financial success — there are between 12 and 24 million ecommerce stores on the web. You need to stand out, and one of the best ways to do that is by working on your branding.
That’s no easy task, but here are 10 ecommerce tips to grow your brand.
Consider market product fit
Yes, you read that right. Traditional business logic might rave about product market fit, but when it comes to ecommerce, it helps to think about things in reverse. Not is your product right for the market, but are you choosing the right market for your product? In other words, don’t try to target absolutely everyone — choose a niche based on specific demographics and test whether they’d really be interested in what you offer.
Optimize for mobile
When you think of ecommerce, you might imagine people making purchases from their computers. While that’s still a huge phenomenon, it’s estimated that around half of ecommerce purchases now come from mobile devices. So, don’t forget to make your website responsive and user-friendly for phones.
Consider videos
Once upon a time, the internet and social media were all about words — Facebook statuses and tweets were all the range. Then Instagram came along, and images superseded text. These days, the rise of YouTube and TikTok has replaced images, and it’s all about videos. Why not jump on the bandwagon and start creating videos on these platforms to promote your brand?
Don’t forget about SEO
How do you expect people to buy from you if they can’t even find your ecommerce site in the first place? To aid discoverability, be sure to work on your site’s SEO. There are a few aspects to this, including how quickly your page loads and ensuring your pages feature keywords your customer searches for. If you need some guidance, consider using this SEO tool.
Consider a relaunch
If your store has been going for a while and you had an iconic product you launched a few years ago and since discontinued, why not give it a second rodeo? This is a great way to keep your audience engaged, and maybe test how popular it is with your audience too. You could even combine it with a giveaway — speaking of which…
Try a giveaway
Feel like you need to start being more active on social media but feel daunted about the prospect of starting from zero? Instead of buying followers, consider a giveaway where entrants must follow you and retweet your post to participate. It’s easy to promote these types of events with the right hashtags, and you might be surprised by how much interest you get. You can even use a tool like Gleam.io to track entries and pick a winner, so this couldn’t be easier.
Use email marketing
Social media is great, but becoming too reliant on a platform is risky — at any moment, your account could get blocked or the site itself could disappear. If you collect the details of your customers on your own mailing list, you’ll retain the control and be able to contact everyone directly. Why not place a pop-up on your site and a perk for subscribing, such as a discount?
Start using live chat
How many people go to your site but leave without making a purchase? That number is probably rather high, and there’s a chance that some of them might stick around if you gave them a live chat to answer their queries. Even an AI bot is better than nothing — you’d be surprised how many queries are run-of-the-mill questions such as “how much do you charge for shipping?”
Reward loyal customers
Many brands make the mistake of focusing all their attention on attracting new customers, and they forget to be grateful for the ones they have already. To make sure these people stick around and continue to buy from you, why not give them perks? These could include:
- A birthday gift
- A discount code to celebrate a special event (e.g., your brand’s anniversary)
- A loyalty scheme
- Perks for referring friends
Take advantage of social proof
If a prospect can see that your brand is tried-and-tested by other people, they’re far more likely to make a purchase from your brand compared to if they believe they’re going out on a limb to buy from a random site. Make sure you encourage and collect reviews from across the web, including user-generated content on social media and testimonials from dedicated sites like Trustpilot using Kudobuzz.
Go get that growth
If growing an ecommerce brand was easy then everybody would have one, but if you choose the right strategy and stick to it consistently you should start to see results after a few months.
If you’re interested in making the most of social proof, consider using Kudobuzz. We add verified reviews and ratings from across social media to make it as easy as possible to build credibility.
