Ecommerce Trends To Follow This Year

So let’s say you’ve researched your market and your competition well, you have a unique approach and a good product to sell, and you have created an engaging, professional, and easy to navigate online shop through a provider like this. Now you need to implement a few tricks of the trade to take on the competition and keep your head above water in the sea of online shops out there.

The Social Side of Things

Although connecting with customers through social media is still an important tool for e-commerce, merely connecting is no longer enough. Maintaining the relationships with your customers is still important, as well as controlling your brand, but with the emergence of selling features now on social networks – like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest – social should be harnessed for selling power as well as CRM, marketing, and brand development.

The Meaning of Mobile

As the majority of organic searches originate from mobile, if your e-commerce store isn’t harnessing both mobile marketing and a mobile-friendly design, then you aren’t reaching the majority of your target audience. An increasingly helpful feature is a chat option on a mobile platform where customers can speak to a sales associate in real time.

This allows the e-commerce business owner more control over the customer journey and has shown to result in higher conversion – like in the example of American Eagle’s live mobile chat function. Not only are you able to proactively guide your customer towards conversion with this type of method, but you also humanize the digital process, allowing the customer to engage with a real person and be able to receive advice and answers to their questions in real time as they shop.

Make Use of Media and Rich Content

It doesn’t quite cut it anymore to just give your customers pictures of your products. Because they can’t physically try it on before purchase and feel the fabric or test out the item, you need to offer them as much detail as possible. This comes in the form of detailed descriptions which include specifics of the measurements, materials, etc. In order to offer an even richer and more engaged experience, using several photos from multiple angles that are also interactive, or using other visual data like the video is a good way to offer a more visually stimulating experience.

The Devil is in the Delivery Details

With other large competitors now offering free and same-day delivery, this is becoming a large ground for competition. Aside from exceptional delivery, you need to also be able to offer them easy, efficient, and free return options as well. Like was stated above, these shoppers are buying something based on viewing; they haven’t yet tried it on or tested it out.

If for any reason they aren’t satisfied with their purchase, they need to be able to send it back without cost or complications to them. A hassle free return policy could be a major game changer for pushing an e-commerce company ahead in sales. If shoppers know that they aren’t stuck with an item after purchase, they may be more likely to buy it in the first place.

Engage the Email List

Email marketing is as important as ever and still underused for the return on investment potential that it holds. By implementing a simple Lightbox pop-up on your site to encourage people to sign up to your emailing list, you ensure that even if they haven’t yet made a purchase, that you can still target them with email marketing campaigns and increase the success of converting them in the future. You should also target your email marketing campaigns: reward returning customers with discounts and coupons after purchase to encourage their repeat business.

For the undecideds that have browsed but haven’t purchased, offer them a deal on their first purchase or a discount just for signing up for the email list. Be creative and tactful to ensure that you get the most out of your email marketing efforts and proactively engage your shoppers instead of passively waiting for them to come to you.