The game repeats itself every year. Marketing executives are getting nervous about the upcoming main shopping season. Last year I provided some tips on how you can prepare your web-shop for holiday shoppers. Let me do this, again.

Since I do not know details about your business, I can only share some general strategic advice with you. But it's really kind of scary. Far too many e-commerce stores provide a poor user experience and lack of functionality. There is a lot of money being left on the table. But you can avoid this altogether in your own business.

Make sure your e-commerce site passes the most basic requirements

In a nutshell.

1. Cut Down On Abandoned Carts
   • Immediately send a follow up email sequence.
     
     
   • Retarget them with ads.
   
   
2. Build Your Email List
   • Offer discounts and coupons in exchange for email signups.
     
     
   • Provide valuable insights in your emails that they couldn’t get elsewhere. For example, if you sell coffee products, provide people with tips for making the best cup of coffee.
     
     
   • Offer a rewards program for those who sign up.
   
   
3. Use The Power Of The Upsell
   • First, many times customers aren’t aware that you offer better options.
     
     
   • Second, customers may not understand why they need the upgrade.
   
   
4. Crush It On Instagram
   • Ask those who have purchased to post pictures of themselves using your product on Instagram.
     
     
   • Develop a unique hashtag around your product that users can share.
     
     
   • Run contests where you give away products.
     
     
   • Consider giving away products to influencers in exchange for them posting photos.
     
     
   • Engage with your customers in the comments section of photos.
   
   
5. Let Customers Create Wishlists
   • This ties in closely to abandoned carts. There will be many times when a customer simply wants to mark an item for the future, rather than purchase it in the moment.
     
     
   • Once people begin adding items to their wishlists, you can periodically remind them of these items through email or Facebook retargeting ads.
     
     
   • Wishlists also let you cross sell more effectively. When you know what your customers want, you can promote other closely related items.
   
   
6. Have A Store That Really Works
   • Write clear, compelling product descriptions. Include the design specifications, but don’t go on endlessly about them. Rather, focus on the benefits of the product.
     
     
   • Include easy to see, zoomable, professional photos. If your pictures are grainy or look like they were taken in a garage, people won’t want to purchase.
     
     
   • Make your site simple to navigate. Clearly divide products into the proper categories and subcategories and make your menus simple to use.
     
     
   • If possible, include product demonstration videos.
   
   
7. Secure Product Reviews
   • A simple way to generate product reviews is to send a follow up email several weeks after a purchase asking the customer to review the product. If they have a complaint about the product, you can address it then as well.
   
   
8. Hyper Focus Your Ad Spending
   • The beauty of online advertising is you can make it incredibly focused

Conclusion

• eCommerce shouldn’t be complicated. Yes, it’s hard work. Yes, you need to put in the time. But if you know what to do, you can find success.
  
  
• The most successful eCommerce companies have won because they’ve persisted. They’ve determined what works and what doesn’t.
  
  
• The formula goes something like this:

  Time + Experience + Experiments = Success

• Don’t give up. Stick to the formula.

This info should not be new for you, if you are in the e-commerce business for some time. But I bet, you have not implemented all of these 8 ideas.

Get to work.


Yours

John

__________
Source: 8 Powerful Ecommerce Marketing Strategies To Boost Your Sales (↑) written by John Hawthorne, Jun 30, 2017. Original site deleted. Lookup via Wayback Machine in April 2019.

Quite honestly, “Are you using a marketing calendar to map out your offers and advertising campaigns on various communication channels?”

It's an important topic that I like to address, because I know from experience the majority of businesses are not prepared as good as they should be for the upcoming holiday shopping season.

Start out by making a list of events that are relevant for your particular business. Here are some suggestions:

• Back to School Sales range from school kids to college students
• Halloween
• Black Friday
• Cyber Monday
• Christmas
• various trade fairs, …

Here are two resources to get you started:

• To Maximize Holiday Sales Start Planning Your Marketing Early (↑) on entrepreneur.com.
   
• 20 Expert Holiday Marketing Campaigns To Drive Sales & Revenue (↑) on bigcommerce.com.
   

Now, get to work!


Yours

John W. Furst