Guest Article
Since its inception, online shopping has been steadily gaining market share. Analysts credit a better overall online shopping experience and savvy promotions for the steady increase in sales for ecommerce sites. While the upswing in online shopping is good news for ecommerce merchants, it’s also true that competition levels are increasing, both from pure ecommerce operations and brick-and-mortar retailers who are devoting more resources to online commerce. That means ecommerce website owners need to find new ways to engage customers and compete in a heavily saturated online market.
Is your site equipped to handle increasing levels of competition? Here are three ways to improve customer engagement and gain a competitive edge:
- Look for engagement opportunities all along the marketing funnel. It’s important to remember that customer engagement is a year-round job. While online retailers may generate the highest profits during the holiday rush, those who are the most successful understand that managing the marketing funnel is a daily effort, so they continuously build their brands and qualify customers. It starts with creating a long-term strategy that includes multiple customer touch-points. A full funnel marketing approach also includes analysis to find out what works and continuously optimize to improve ROI.
- Engage customers on social media. Consumers are more likely to follow your company’s social media pages if you offer them something of value in return. Consider providing an incentive for liking your Facebook page or following your company on Twitter or Instagram, and then make sure that you continue to offer valuable content beyond the initial offer. Your social media content doesn’t always have to be about driving sales: Potential customers are also more likely to want to associate with brands they perceive as good corporate citizens. If your company gives back to the community in some way, that’s great news to share on social media – and an excellent method for engaging customers.
- Use financial incentives to engage customers. Everyone loves getting a deal. Use email to nurture the relationship with existing customers. Sprinkle financial incentives in the copy of your e-newsletters or text campaigns. Here’s an example of a few ways to drive sales: Offer promotions such as “buy one, get one,” free shipping, free returns and multiple purchase discounts. These are a great way to engage customers who are already aware of the brand and products.
As ecommerce continues to gain a larger share of customer purchases, online merchants enjoy unprecedented opportunities. But the competition also grows fiercer every day, with more ecommerce sites and increased online sales volume from traditional big-box retailers.
The best way to compete successfully in this evolving environment is to realize that effective customer engagement involves a long-term strategy and short-term tactical initiatives. Your promotions will have a better chance of success if you’ve built a context of engagement that makes customers more receptive to your promotional outreach. By following these tips, you’ll be able to increase customer engagement – and generate higher ecommerce profits.
About the author: David Varnai is the marketing manager at Zenni Optical, a leading e-commerce eyewear provider. He is a seasoned e-commerce professional who is passionate about technology and marketing.
“On Line Shopper” courtesy of marin / www.freedigitalphotos.net
Great article! Looking for engagement opportunities along the funnel is an ideal tip! A great tool is to create a live chat or multi-channel communication platform for customers to engage and reach out with the e-commerce brand, like ours or many others like us.