Oh yes, there are only a few months left until 2023. Don’t slow down so close to the finish line: put all the chances on your side to make good sales and finish the year in beauty. Here are our three eCommerce priorities to put in place now to close out 2022.
1- Prioritize retention over acquisition
For many small business owners, budgets are tight, and so is time. Prioritizing the source of growth that is least expensive and requires the least execution time therefore becomes essential. Generally speaking, bringing back regular customers and winning back lost customers is less expensive than acquiring new customers. Why? Marketing often involves targeting a certain set of customers with a message or offer, then trying to get them to act. Customers who already know and appreciate your business are inevitably easier to convert than new customers who don’t know who you are.
Although overall advertising spending decreased by about 20% in 2020, digital advertising spending nevertheless increased by approximately 13% 1. The decline in customer acquisition costs caused by the pandemic has been short-lived. Costs have rebounded on Facebook and are now almost as high as they were before the pandemic.
Our tips for the post-pandemic period:
- Identify and target your best customers as well as the conversion paths they took. This will allow you to focus your marketing efforts on the paths that lead to quality customers.
- Earn loyalty to grow your business. Consider launching a loyalty program to encourage CLV (customer lifetime value) growth, since the second purchase is often the one that guides the rest of a relationship. In addition, 75% of businesses see a return on investment with their loyalty program 2.
- Adopt a recurring revenue business model by evaluating whether your product or brand is suited to a subscription model.
2- Re-create the in-store experience at home
Over the past year, offering an excellent customer experience has become a priority for pure play and multi-channel online brands. Retailers quickly adapted their marketing strategies in order to create brand affinity in the face of changing consumer needs.
Despite the lockdowns, online sales have remained strong (particularly in the food and beverage, gifts, and health and beauty care sectors). It is increasingly clear that the pandemic has permanently changed consumer buying habits. Even those who previously bought almost exclusively in stores (particularly baby boomers) are now driven to shop online.
Many businesses have responded to this change in consumer behaviour by hastily pivoting their marketing strategies to focus on digital channels, but an online presence alone is not enough. The quality of the experience that you offer your customers is a key factor that directly influences their loyalty. To attract the attention of consumers (and get them to spend), multi-channel retailers need to reinvent their customer experience to match digital standards.
Our tips for the post-pandemic period:
- Offer augmented reality for your product if it is difficult to picture, has multiple variations, or needs to be placed in a specific location. This solution imitates the in-store experience while minimizing the risk of shipping costs for potential returns. Some eCommerce platforms, such as Shopify, even tend to facilitate the combination of this type of experience with a transactional site 3.
- Help your customers discover new products by using cross-selling. Since they don’t have the opportunity to use their peripheral vision to see your entire collection, your web customers are often only focused on a single product at a time. Cross-selling could become your greatest ally, since it adds additional items that might be relevant to the consumer right on your product pages. That way, a user who is interested in a new coffee table could also view a carpet and a lamp.
- Always be ready to assist your customers through a chatbot, videoconferencing service, or online appointment booking. Every problem solved has the potential to turn into a sale!
- Offer the convenience of stores. One of the biggest sources of friction for a consumer who buys online is the time between ordering and receiving the item. Free delivery, easy returns, enhanced follow-up experience… don’t hesitate to pamper your customers and make their transaction simpler.
3- The growth of social commerce
The launch of Instagram Shops by Facebook was aimed directly at Amazon by combining eCommerce with one of the largest social media platforms in the world. In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, the global social commerce market has grown by about 31.4%, and it will continue to grow over the coming years, since buyers are sticking to their digital habits.
Why should your brand care about social commerce? Because integrating eCommerce into social media is powerful! It allows consumers to search for brands via their social content and explore products that they don’t usually seek out on an eCommerce platform. Social commerce can be applied to various shopping scenarios, ranging from the search for products to influencers, including mobile payment.
Our tips for the post-pandemic period:
- Reach your customers on the right channels. Social media now represents so much more than simply socializing with family and friends. Many channels, including Instagram, act as engines of discovery for brands. Users engage in seeking out inspiration from people and brands, use direct messaging to receive and express opinions, and make purchases in just a few clicks.
- Create frictionless shopping experiences by minimizing the number of steps in your online shopping process. Each additional step is an opportunity for your customer to change their mind and abandon their shopping cart. Give them the option to buy in a single click and strengthen their trust in you while generating more sales.
- Think smaller. Yes, consumers are now more concerned with authenticity, which is why more and more buyers are turning away from flagrant advertising and instead trusting the opinions of smaller influencers with whom they feel a stronger and closer connection. There’s a reason why influencers with fewer than 35,000 followers receive a higher engagement rate. Think small, but think repetition 4!
/ by the Novatize eCommerce strategy team
For more event-focused recommendations, we invite you to check out our articles on the Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaigns as well as those for the holiday season.
1 – https://shanebarker.com/blog/benefits-working-with-micro-influencers/
2 – https://loyaltylion.com/blog/36-ecommerce-loyalty-facts-and-figures-part-1-loyalty-retention-and-customer-lifetime-value?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=magento&utm_content=BFCM
3 – https://www.shopify.com/ar
4 – https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5140143/social-commerce-global-market-trajectory-and?utm_source=GNOM&utm_medium=PressRelease&utm_code=rm7g2f&utm_campaign=1434938+-+Global+Social+Commerce+Market+Worth+%24604.5+Billion+by+2027+-+COVID-19+Updated&utm_exec=joca220prd
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