May 18, 2021

5 eCommerce Marketing Tips for 2021

What do consumers want in 2021? For starters, a seamless digital buying experience. Take these eCommerce marketing tips to heart.

ecommerce marketing tips

Ecommerce has become a fact of everyday life. More consumers are buying online than ever before, and the competition for their attention is fierce. You need a marketing plan that’s going to deliver maximum results, but it can be easy to spend valuable time and money going in the wrong direction. These eCommerce marketing tips will help you dial in on what matters most to your audience in 2021.

At yellowHEAD, we know eCommerce — from crafting the perfect marketing plan to launching compelling ad campaigns. We’re a team of creative strategists, UA mavens, and SEO masters. Want to know more? Get in touch!

Let’s dig in!

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ECommerce Marketing Tip #1: Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly

ECommerce Marketing Tip #2: Don’t Treat Cart Abandonment as an Afterthought

ECommerce Marketing Tip #3: Include a Clear Call to Action

ECommerce Marketing Tip #4: Keep Email in Your Toolbelt

ECommerce Marketing Tip #5: Question What You “Know”

ECommerce Marketing Tip #1: Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly

Your eCommerce site absolutely, positively, without question needs to be optimized for mobile. Business Insider estimates that mobile commerce (also known as m-commerce) will account for 44% of all eCommerce by 2024. If your business hasn’t already laid a foundation for customers to shop with their phones, you’re behind the curve.

There’s more to making your site mobile-friendly than resizing your graphics, however. People shop differently on their smartphones than they do on their laptops. They expect a more streamlined experience — one that can be navigated with just a few taps or swipes. Rethink the entire buyer’s journey for your mobile site, removing as much friction as possible. The browsing, searching, and purchasing actions should be intuitive and fast. If they’re not, your customer is likely to leave without checking out. Speaking of checkout…

ECommerce Marketing Tip #2: Don’t Treat Cart Abandonment as an Afterthought

The average online shopping cart abandonment rate is 69.8% according to the Baymard Institute. One common mistake marketers make is failing to properly re-engage those shoppers by having a one-size-fits-all approach to their follow-up. You should have several different plans in place to win those customers back, depending on why they decided not to check out. Consumers expect eCommerce marketing to feel specific to them, and when it doesn’t, they ignore it.

When planning your re-engagement strategy, get into the shoppers’ headspace. Where are they dropping off in the buyer’s journey? Maybe users are turned off because your site forces them to make an account, or maybe they can’t be bothered to get out their credit card (hint: offer Apple Pay). Another major reason consumers abandon carts is sticker shock from shipping costs or taxes. Try following up with users who leave before the sale with a free shipping or discount promotion. That approach may not persuade a digital “window shopper,” but it might tip the scales if paired with custom product recommendations based on the items left in the cart.

Once a user has officially left a full cart behind, it’s time to run a retargeting campaign. Use platforms like Google and Facebook to reach them on other sites. A good best practice is to use dynamic creative to personalize the content, featuring the products they left behind. Note that this same strategy works well for “browsing abandonment,” when a user looks at a product without adding it to the cart.

Consider retargeting messaging carefully — craft variations for every buyer persona, speaking directly to their pain points. For example, maybe one demographic you target is parents. Maybe your retargeting ad can acknowledge their busy schedules and encourage them to take a moment for themselves. Be sure to compose headlines and button copy with a bias towards action. Avoid vague copy like “click for more;” users want to know exactly why they’re clicking! When in doubt, you can’t go wrong with something like “buy now.”  Just be sure that your creative includes one, clear CTA.

ECommerce Marketing Tip #3: Include a Clear Call to Action

This is another one that seems obvious yet wouldn’t be on this list if it weren’t still tripping marketers up. In eCommerce, and especially m-commerce, it’s crucial to have simple calls to action that are impossible to miss. Shoppers should never have to go hunting for the button that lets them make a purchase. And while you can’t go wrong with a big, fat button that says “BUY NOW,” don’t be afraid to experiment with different wording to see what resonates best with your shoppers. They may prefer “Check Out” or “Shop Now” or some other prompt. Test different variations of short, clear CTAs with strong action verbs.

New call-to-action

ECommerce Marketing Tip #4: Keep Email in Your Toolbelt

The value of social media in marketing is undeniable, and influencers have become key elements of most marketing plans, but do not underestimate the value of email. More than 90% of people check their email every single day, and more than half of them do it before they do anything else in the morning. Email has a staggering 3800% (no, that’s not a typo) ROI, and is highly automatable, making it one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways to reach your audience. Most millennials (73%, to be precise) actually prefer that businesses contact them via email.

Make the most of eCommerce email marketing by putting your products front-and-center. Feature the latest launches and seasonal lines, and experiment with featuring personalized product recommendations. Target touchpoints at various points in the buyer’s journey — you might offer a welcome coupon, a newsletter, a full cart reminder, and a creative thank you at check out. For inspiration, check out reallygoodemails.com. The site aggregates the best emails in the biz and is a handy tool for tracking your competitors.

Consumers exercise a great deal of control over their inboxes, but that also works in your favor. Potential customers segment themselves based on how and when they respond to your emails, allowing you to target them more accurately. Email isn’t going anywhere, so use it!

ECommerce Marketing Tip #5: Question What You “Know”

The benefit of experience is that you’ve seen strategies succeed and fail. The drawback to experience is that it can lead you to believe there’s only one right way to do something. Marketing is fluid, and while your expertise should guide your choices, it’s not infallible. Start from a place of familiarity, of course, but experiment with everything, from your copy to your images to your format. You may discover that something as simple as changing the color of the CTA button in your ad creative boosts ROAS.

The testing process can be an unwieldy timesink, which is why many marketers are reluctant to do it at scale — particularly when it comes to ad creative. At yellowHEAD, we’re all about finding innovative solutions to common marketing challenges. Our proprietary Alison platform combines AI with insights from our marketing experts. It analyzes dozens of creative elements in your ad campaigns, determines what’s working (and what isn’t), and makes appropriate recommendations. If you’re ready to level up your eCommerce marketing, let’s talk!

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