8 Lead Generation Strategies That Do Wonders for Ecommerce Vendors
It is no secret that all ecommerce businesses want to increase the number of their customers.
If you have researched this topic, you have probably found a lot of resources online. Some of them provide useful tips on how to get more customers, while some give you the same old, recycled trifles that you discard even before you delve deep into the article.
This post definitely belongs to the former group. It will give you tips covering all lead generation aspects that you need: from emails to word-of-mouth marketing, from paid advertising to using pop-ups, from content and SEO to social media and personalization.
Let’s get started and find out the best lead generation tips for your ecommerce business.
Content marketing
Consumers want to know what they are buying. With countless pieces of information on the web, they can easily research all their options before they actually buy.
They are interested in product quality, its price, popularity among other customers and many other aspects. This enables you to create great content that will provide your potential customers with all the information they need.
In your blog, you can publish posts, articles and guides that will make them trust you, which is probably the most important factor in digital marketing. Include useful tips, videos, infographics and tutorials in your posts.
This way, you will get your content shared across social media and see the number of your customers steadily rising.
Search engine optimization (SEO)
Now that you have great content, you expect your website traffic to surge. But somehow, it fails to meet your expectations. The truth is that content, however informative, is simply not enough.
As we have already mentioned, people search for the products and services they want to buy. And in most cases, they do it through search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo.
This is why you want to optimize your content and make it easily discoverable to all searchers. With a sound SEO strategy, your website will rank better and people will find it much faster.
When people think of SEO, it is usually keyword targeting that crosses their minds.
But there is so much more to high-quality SEO like mobile friendliness, building backlinks, improving page speed and using WordPress plugins to improve user experience and grow your website. Make sure to include all these steps if you want to fully optimize your website.
Social media
Social media channels can be extremely valuable digital marketing tools, particularly if you are a B2C ecommerce business. They are a perfect way to interact with your existing and potential customers and thus build your brand’s personality.
You can do this by gathering followers for free. Alternatively, you can run ads, which will grow your community much faster. Facebook allows you to drive traffic to a specific page on your website and reach your target audience. Similarly, using Instagram for marketing purposes is an increasingly popular way to promote your business and it will do wonders for your company.
Email marketing
Most people who visit your website will not be ready to buy on their first visit. This is why you want them to provide their email addresses so that you can keep in touch with them.
Email marketing, like social media, is a great way to remain visible to your customers. Use your email messages wisely to stay in contact with those leads and encourage them to regularly return to your website. To do this, you can tell them about your new products, share useful tips, let them know about the latest sales or offer them a discount or other incentive.
The key to successful email marketing lies in paying attention to the most relevant email marketing metrics and shaping your strategy around them.
In addition, if you want to send specific messages to your subscribers based on the actions they usually take on your website, automated campaigns are the way to go.
This takes us to our next point ‒ personalization.
Personalize
How many times have you received an email that starts with: Dear customer, we have a new product…
Now, compare this to the email that made you buy something recently. There is a huge difference between these two, right?
Not all your customers want the same thing, which is why you want to personalize your approach when it comes to the marketing messages you send them. This is called behavioral targeting.
And this is not just about emails. It also applies to social media advertising, offers, and so on. When you stick to personalized marketing, your messages will be as relevant as possible to different customers. You can categorize them by age, gender, location, actions they take, buyer readiness and many other aspects.
In a nutshell, the more personalized your ecommerce lead generation is, the more success you will have in building your customer base and growing your business.
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
Yes, SEO is definitely the best long-term strategy for ranking high on search engines. However, it is also a process that takes a lot of time and effort. In fact, websites usually take years to achieve high domain authority.
That is why, at least in the beginning, you should use pay-per-click ads to become and remain visible to your target audience. You can do this through platforms such as Google AdWords, which will help you reach customers and establish SEO rankings at the same time.
PPC is a great way to rank for competitive keywords. For example, if you sell men’s leather jackets, you can choose to show your ad whenever someone types ‘men’s leather jackets’ in their search engine. Also, your ad will appear on relevant websites based on the keywords you choose.
Finally, with PPC, you choose how much you are willing to pay for every click to your website and you will pay that amount only when someone clicks on your ad.
Use pop-ups
Another great way for ecommerce websites to gather new leads is by using pop-ups. Some websites, like Woman Within, have got over 20% conversion rate only from pop-ups.
You can use simple pop-ups to collect specific information and then use this information to segment visitors in order to provide better customer service. In addition, pop-ups are useful when it comes to introducing customers to your social media platforms.
Finally, showing smart pop-ups to existing email subscribers is another effective method to improve customer engagement.
Get people talking about your product
Even though the impact and importance of digital marketing cannot be denied, word-of-mouth marketing still remains one of the most effective methods of lead generation.
The reason for this is because people tend to trust real-world examples and experience of their friends and acquaintances. When you hear someone is satisfied with a product, you are much more likely to buy it.
You can use this to your advantage by creating referral programs. For example, you can offer a discount on a purchase to everyone who introduces their friend to your website. To balance things out, you can give a discount on your new customer’s first purchase as well.
It is a win-win situation ‒ both your existing and your new customer get a discount, while you get a new lead.
Conclusion
With these eight lead generation strategies, your ecommerce business will grow rapidly and sustainable, which is even more important.
If you use these tips wisely, you will create an almighty lead generation system that hardly anyone will be able to defeat.
- Making the Jump to the Cloud: Four Things You Should Know - September 3, 2018
- 8 Lead Generation Strategies That Do Wonders for Ecommerce Vendors - August 11, 2018
Related Posts
About The Author
Dave Schneider
Dave Schneider is the founder of LessChurn, churn reduction app. In 2012 he quit his job to travel the world, and has visited over 65 countries. In his spare time, he writes about SaaS and business at DaveSchneider.me.