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<\/div>\nAs long term readers to this blog will know, most of my working day is spent talking with business owners or marketing managers.<\/p>\n
Subjects can range anywhere from whether I think they should redesign their website to generate more traffic, to why their Facebook ads are underperforming.<\/p>\n
But the single biggest inquiry we get as an agency is from owners of e-commerce sites. And, since it\u2019s the most ubiquitous e-commerce platform around, that usually means Shopify<\/a>.<\/p>\n Before we continue, a quick nod of appreciation to the other shopping platforms. Hi there BigCommerce, PrestaShop, Magento, plugins like WooCommerce, or site builders with e-commerce features such as SquareSpace. We love you guys too, and think you\u2019re awesome. But for many people, when they think of e-commerce platforms they think of Shopify. It\u2019s a bit like referring to a photocopy as a \u2018Xerox\u2019, a tissue as a \u2018Kleenex\u2019, or a vacuum cleaner as a \u2018Hoover\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n The growth in online selling isn\u2019t anything new. Jeff Bezos has been making billions from it for ages<\/a>. The fallout from COVID-19, however, has turbocharged a business model that was already racing along in the fast lane.<\/p>\n What we\u2019ve seen with e-commerce adoption over recent years is nothing compared to what\u2019s happening right now<\/strong>.<\/p>\n 2020 saw worldwide e-commerce growth explode. Numbers released by the US Commerce Department show consumer spending via \u2018non-store channels\u2019 grew by 31.3% in the six months to November 2020, compared to the previous year. As a percentage of all<\/em> retail, online accounted for 21% of it \u2013 up from 15.8% in 2019.<\/p>\n Take a look at this graph. What was taking years is now taking just weeks:<\/p>\n People who had previously never entered 16 credit card digits into a browser are now buying stuff faster than you can say \u201cpromo-code\u201d. As I\u2019ve mentioned before, the combination of lockdowns and social distancing due to COVID-19 accelerated the adoption of online commerce<\/a> by multiple years.<\/p>\n Along with from Amazon (which is still in a class of its own) Shopify is riding the e-commerce wave particularly well. Shopify\u2019s revenue for 2020 was over $2.9bn<\/a> \u2013 an increase of 86% over the previous year. <\/p>\n It\u2019s no wonder everyone and their dog wants a piece of that action.<\/p>\n It should therefore surprise nobody that we\u2019re contacted by so many budding e-commerce entrepreneurs. People who\u2019ve spent weeks setting up their online store, but just aren\u2019t seeing marketing results<\/a>.<\/p>\n Based on the numerous sites we\u2019ve seen, here are some reasons why e-commerce store sales don\u2019t live up to expectations.<\/p>\n Marketing 1-01: Your site need to be remembered<\/a> to stand a chance of having someone buy from you. But that\u2019s already an uphill struggle when so many other e-commerce sites are gunning for your customers\u2019 business. If your e-commerce site looks like a gazillion others they\u2019ve seen, you\u2019re making those chances of success even harder.<\/p>\n E-commerce platforms make it super-easy to set up a store. Pre-built theme templates, color schemes, and web-optimized typography streamline the site creation process. Even Shopify newbies can have something up and running within a few hours.<\/p>\n But so can everyone else. And that\u2019s the problem.<\/p>\n With so many sites and few decent-looking themes, it\u2019s inevitable your store looks and feels like some else\u2019s \u2013 maybe even like a competitor\u2019s. Cooker-cutters have their place, but not when you\u2019re trying to bake a different cookie.<\/p>\n Sure, your logo is different. The typeface is different. But the basic design \u2013 the layout, formatting, image sizes, etc. are all the same. D\u00e9j\u00e0 vu<\/a> isn\u2019t a good look when you\u2019re trying to stand out.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the solution? Make the effort to be different<\/a>.<\/p>\n Shopify offers around 100 themes on their platform. There are also third-party themes available from places such as Themeforest<\/a> or Templatemonster<\/a>. On top of that, there are designers (on Shopify itself<\/a>, as well other places<\/a>) ready to help make your online store unique, distinctive, and differentiated.<\/p>\n All the above is a not-so-subtle way to remind you that the \u2018if we build it, they will come<\/a>\u2018 approach isn\u2019t a marketing plan. It\u2019s a prayer, and one unlikely to get an answer. It\u2019s vital that your site stands out<\/a> if you\u2019re to have a chance of being remembered, regardless of how great your products are.<\/p>\n Before they\u2019ll buy from you, they need to trust you<\/a>. If your store doesn\u2019t feel credible, customers will go elsewhere and are unlikely to give you a second chance.<\/p>\n Feelings of credibility are often intangible. Customers \u2018know it when they see it\u2019, but often can\u2019t explain what \u2018it\u2019 actually is. Credibility factors include site design (see above), but also more subjective criteria such as messaging, or tone-of-voice. How are you describing your business, your mission, your purpose? Why are you doing what you\u2019re doing<\/a>? Once you\u2019ve got them on side, getting them to purchase is that much easier.<\/p>\n Time and again we see an e-commerce site with an \u201cAbout Us\u201d page that hasn\u2019t received much attention. What many people don\u2019t realize is, after the Homepage and Contact page, the About Us page is the most important page on your site. It\u2019s your chance to demonstrate to your audience what you stand for, what you\u2019re about, and why you think you\u2019re different<\/a>. <\/p>\n Your About Us page is a big part of what makes your business unique. It\u2019s the single biggest opportunity to introduce yourself and your business. It\u2019s where you describe your business journey. It\u2019s where you humanize your business with images or videos of you, your team, and even customers (more on that later). The About Us page is such a big part of whatever \u2018credibility\u2019 means, it shouldn\u2019t even be up for discussion.<\/p>\n Why so few stores have a decent About Us page will remain one of the unanswered mysteries of our age. A bit like how ancient Egyptians built the pyramids, or the deal with the Bermuda Triangle. Or maybe why it took someone 30 years to come up with the idea for Cobra Kai<\/a>.<\/p>\n We see this fundamental mistake made on perhaps 80% of the Shopify store sites we see: a \u2018Contact\u2019 page without an address. <\/p>\n I don\u2019t know about you, but there\u2019s no way I\u2019m ever going to purchase anything from a site doesn\u2019t list a real postal address. I\u2019m guessing I\u2019m not in the minority.<\/p>\n At the beginning of any customer relationship, especially with e-commerce, you\u2019re not selling products. Nor are you selling your brand. You\u2019re selling trust<\/a>. Customers may never have heard of you or your business before, so they need confirmation you\u2019re legit. Part of that assurance is being able to see where your business is located. <\/p>\n If you\u2019re running your business from home and don\u2019t feel comfortable listing those details on the internet, then get a PO box number. Sure, it\u2019s not as good as a real address. But it\u2019s better than having just a contact form and phone number.<\/p>\n Another credibility-killer we see far too often is a contact email address that doesn\u2019t use the site\u2019s domain. If customers are being asked to contact you via a Gmail, Yahoo, or (OMG) AOL email address, you\u2019re sending a bad credibility signal.<\/p>\n e-Commerce is where it\u2019s @<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If all you\u2019re doing is shouting on Instagram or Facebook about how great you are, don\u2019t be surprised by your lack of sales conversions.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve said it before: social media, on its own, won\u2019t bring you sales<\/a>.<\/p>\n For some reason, many owners of Shopify stores go into this thinking e-commerce stuff is a breeze. Then they receive a nasty shock of reality when sales fail to materialize. The truth is e-commerce marketing needs a ton of time to set up properly, and a not insubstantial amount of time to maintain.<\/p>\n At the beginning, designing a marketing plan for an e-commerce business<\/a> is no different to any other business. There\u2019s lots to do in terms of research, interviews, analysis, customer segmentation, value proposition, acquisition rates, channel selection, SEO, the list goes on. Once the strategic goal has been defined, the tactical execution can be designed. <\/p>\n Sure, that could well include the use of social media channels<\/a>. But it may also include things like advertising, sponsorships, partner collaborations, public relations, or even influencer outreach. There are also tools like lifecycle marketing<\/a> to consider.<\/p>\n Lifecycle marketing is about reducing friction by integrating your store data to send (for example) targeted emails to customers<\/a>. But we\u2019re not just talking about informing them of a particular promotion, or a new product. A lifecycle marketing solution could, for example, automatically email a customer who hasn\u2019t bought in a while. A visitor added products to their cart, but didn\u2019t get to the check out page? A carefully-worded, personalized nudge sent at just the right time may be all that\u2019s needed to close the sale<\/a>.<\/p>\n Social proof is showcasing customers that have already bought from you. Examples can be testimonials or reviews, either featured on your site or linking to external articles, blogs, or review sites.<\/p>\n Social proof provides much need credibility and trustworthiness. Most new customers won\u2019t have heard of you. Featuring a list of people who\u2019ve bought whatever you\u2019re selling helps ease that initial sales resistance.<\/p>\n Customer opinion is a powerful sales tool. It\u2019s often trusted more than whatever you, the seller, has to say.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t think social proof works? How many times have you considered buying something on Amazon, only to have your decision influenced by the customer review section? I rest my case\u2026<\/p>\n I get it: many Shopify owners are bootstrapping (i.e. self-funding) their e-commerce stores. To keep costs down, they rely on the technology to keep them safe from technical issues such as mobile device support, or maybe SEO.<\/p>\n In practice, while Shopify and its peers can do some wonderful stuff, they\u2019re not miracle workers. <\/p>\n For example, obviously it\u2019s vital for any e-commerce store to have nice images on the site. But those images need to be optimized.<\/p>\n That means keeping an eye on image sizes, resolution, and the choice of image file type. I\u2019ve lost count of the number of times I see a store homepage with a 5-page image carousel loading HUGE header .png images.<\/p>\n Unoptimized images take longer to download and need more resources to load on the page, slowing the site down. That negatively affects a user\u2019s experience with the site, as well as having a detrimental effect on SEO.<\/p>\n While on that subject, we often see huge SEO mistakes being made on sites, usually because site settings or a plug-in has been configured incorrectly. Other easily-fixed errors are image filenames that don\u2019t reflect the product, description text repeated across multiple product pages, or missing \u2018alt\u2019 attribute data for images.<\/p>\n E-commerce businesses offer tremendous opportunity, especially as the business world works out how to adapt practices in light of COVID.<\/p>\n Hopefully NOT your idea of great marketing<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Just as with any marketing plan, everything starts with a business plan<\/a>. The business plan outlines costs, liabilities, overheads, sales targets, profit margins, and so on.<\/p>\n Only from that position can you begin to outline the marketing plan designed to realize those business goals. The marketing plan should include an in-depth understanding of who you\u2019re targeting<\/a>. Depending on your product that might include factors such as gender, age range, location, education level, average income, and even political affiliation.<\/p>\n Based on this information you can define pricing and positioning. It\u2019s not necessarily about offering your product cheaper. Remember, price isn\u2019t the same as value<\/a>. <\/p>\n From here, and assuming you\u2019ve completed the basics properly, the channels for your lead-generation efforts should be pretty much self-evident. Ideally, your tactical plan should be a mixture of conversion-based initiatives (such as advertising or email) and longer-term brand building efforts<\/a> such as programmatic\/retargeting, social media, content marketing, and SEO.<\/p>\n Since most e-commerce marketing efforts are digital in nature, deploying measurement tools is fairly easy. It\u2019s vital to track effectiveness and be able to measure success to determine a return on your marketing investment.<\/p>\n Once all the above is in place, it\u2019s time to push out some test campaigns. By rolling out small engagements you can see what\u2019s working, what needs more work, and what\u2019s a waste of time. Then it\u2019s a case of dialing up the volume level according to the budget allocated in your business plan. Rinse and repeat.<\/p>\nThe Explosion Of E-commerce<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"e-commerce](\"https:\/\/kexino.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/USA-ecommerce-market-penetration-to-2020.png\")
<\/p>\nGenerating Better E-commerce Sales<\/span><\/h2>\n
Reason #1: Your site looks the same as everyone else\u2019s<\/span><\/h2>\n
Reason #2: You don\u2019t appear trustworthy<\/span><\/h2>\n
Reason #3: No location details<\/span><\/h2>\n
Reason #4: You think posting on social media is \u2018marketing\u2019<\/span><\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nReason #5: No social proof<\/span><\/h2>\n
Reason #6: Technical issues<\/span><\/h2>\n
E-Commerce Marketing Is Like Any Business Marketing<\/span><\/h2>\n
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