Everyone worries about development—because they know it's hard work. Most people don't realize how hard marketing is.
So you want marketing strategies for e-commerce websites…
The other day I mentioned to some developers that if they had 90 days to launch a new product, assuming they weren't letting any of these reasons hold them back, I might recommend three days on additional engineering and 87 on marketing.
It's not that engineering isn't difficult or challenging or time-consuming. It is all of that. But I think most people just forget or don't know how much work marketing is.
So if you've gotten to a point where you've launched a new online store, an e-commerce project you've been working on for a while, and you're now wondering how to get people to visit your site, this post is for you.
Here are five marketing strategies for e-commerce websites. I would have called it five marketing strategies for your WooCommerce store, but if you've decided to use Cart66, EDD, or even Shopify, these should still apply (though you may have to make some tweaks).
Let's start with programs that leverage your existing customers—either for content or for additional revenue. And for the purposes of this list, I am going to assume that you're already read and implemented up-sells and cross-sells.
Strategy One: Strengthen your SEO game
The reality is that while we want our customers to share the good news about how awesome our products are, most of that will fall apart if their links, when pasted into Pintrest or Facebook, all show the wrong images and treat product pages as normal posts. That's why I recommend not only using Yoast's SEO plugin, but his WooCommerce add-on, as well.
The Pintrest sharing might be just the thing you need if you're selling one of these. (Seriously, that's on my wishlist—or should be. If I saw that posted somewhere, I'd buy it. But I won't because I think you might just ship me it, right?)
The rich pin support enables you to stop worrying about all the technical details (because Yoast already has), and simply let the world know about your cool store and awesome products.
Strategy Two: Step your Content Marketing game up
I'll be honest. I didn't want to make this step two. I wanted to put it last. Because I know you'll look at this and think, “ugh, that's hard work.” But the truth is simply this – the more you write high-quality articles (whether they're about your products, your customers, or your internal team), the more both Google and prospects will love you.
I can't tell you how many times I've seen a post on Facebook about the team that's behind a product—a blog post, not an advertisement—and stepped into the site to read it. The natural engagement of a compelling story can lead me to browse several products, and then, guess what? I buy things.
If you're smart, and we both know you are, you'll use something like ConvertKit to capture people's emails so that when you write those cool posts, you can automatically email them.
Strategy Three: Have you tried video yet? What about this way?
I know. I say video and you say, “Check. Been there, done that.” But wait a second. I'm guessing you've never even heard of Video Force.
They have created a solution that lets you do e-commerce directly inside the video. And that's not a funky video that can only be placed on your WooCommerce store. It's a video that can be placed anywhere.
Do me a favor—head to their site and watch all the sample videos and then tell me that it won't help you market your store. Seriously… I'll wait….
Is you're mind blown yet? Here's everything you need to know.
You can totally thank me later.
Strategy Four: Share your reviews on Social Media
Wouldn't it be nice if your customers, who love the product they just purchased, could write a review that you could share all over Facebook and Twitter? Well, it turns out that if you want to do that, WP Social created a social review plugin that integrates with WooCommerce to do that very thing.
I'll be honest, there are about 100 different setup screens on this plugin—which I pulled down and went thru. Thankfully, the good news is that their documentation covers every detail of the setup. The other good news is that you only have to set it up once.
Check it out – it might bring the traffic to your site from social that you're looking for.
Strategy Five: Bring your existing customers back for more
Here's what I know about customers of e-commerce sites. The more they buy from you, the more connected they feel. And the more connected they feel, the more willing they are to share their good news and purchase stories with their friends.
So with that in mind, the last strategy involves inviting customers to come back to the site regularly to make more purchases and to earn discounts with each of those purchases so that they can get other items for less.
You might call it a rewards or loyalty program if you want. But WooCommerce calls it WooCommerce Points and Rewards.
This extension will help you determine how much a customer can spend before getting discounts (which is the rewards for the points earned— based on their spend). It's a pretty nifty system and one you may want to look at.
Hopefully ,these five approaches will help you drive more business to your store. If they do, come back and tell me about it!
Want to talk more specifically about your online store? Sign up for a Clarity call.