4 best e-commerce strategies

Discover 4 tips that retailers and advertisers can use to increase conversion, improve ROAS (Return on Ad Spend), optimize pricing, and create successful e-commerce strategies.

Consumer spending, which has been declining for the past 3 years, is most likely to decline further. Discounts, promotions, and more affordable prices are the only ways to attract customers to open their wallets.

Despite the bleak outlook, retailers utilizing marketing intelligence for their pricing, advertising, and promotions are most likely to survive and gain an edge. Here are some tips for retailers and advertisers to succeed.

1. Optimize E-commerce Trust Factors for Better Conversion

Trust plays a pivotal role in conversion. To ensure a high conversion rate, it is imperative to build a customer’s trust in your e-commerce ecosystem. It is true that online shoppers are often reluctant to make a purchase due to uncertainty about an unknown channel, brand, or product. For an e-commerce business to thrive, gaining trust is paramount as customers cannot physically see the product. Businesses must focus on optimizing trust as it will have a huge impact on conversion. That said, trust is a psychological state that can be easily influenced.

Here are the ways to optimize your e-commerce trust.

1. Display customer reviews and ratings, use trust badges and seals, offer secure payment options, prominently display contact information, maintain a strong social media presence–all these attributes earn your customers’ trust. Additionally, adopt good shipping and return policies and improve your website’s user experience. This will reassure your company’s transparency and ensure customer satisfaction. All of this should lead to increased customer loyalty and sales. For example, Google awards the “trusted store” badge to stores that offer fast shipping, good return policies, a high-quality website, and good ratings, all of which signal a good customer experience.
2. Shopping ads extensions are another great way to enhance the trustworthiness and effectiveness of your Shopping ads. Ad extensions allow you to provide additional information about your product/business in your ad, which will help to increase your ad’s credibility and the likelihood of users clicking on it. For instance, you can use the “product rating and reviews” extension to display the average rating your business has received from customers. This can help potential customers feel more confident throughout their purchasing journey.
3. Offer competitive shipping and return policies to add a layer of trust and credibility to your brand. Customers generally prefer to shop with brands that offer free shipping or fast shipping options. A hassle-free return policy will not only help build trust with customers but also create a good brand image as you have taken that extra step to ensure customer satisfaction. For example: If you offer a 10-day return policy while your competitor offers a 3-day return, customers are more likely to choose your product over the competition. Also, having a local presence in the market is also a plus point. Customers will know that you exist in their market. Offer 24/7 customer support and chat so that your customers feel that they can reach you easily.
4. If you are a brand, you should have a MAP policy in the US and Canada. Having a MAP and channel policy helps to ensure product price and channel consistency for your brand across digital shelves. You must clearly communicate your MAP policy to your retailers and partners, and provide them with necessary guidelines to sell your products. Setting up a MAP policy and ensuring its enforcement helps the brand maintain its value, and ultimately improves trust and credibility among retailers, and ultimately shoppers.

2. Optimize ROAS by Reducing Ad Spend

Here are 6 ways to achieve this:

1. Pursue a holistic search strategy to mobilize budget across SEO & SEM to dominate Google SERP. In 2022, our top auto dealer clientincreased revenue by 20% by redirecting ad spend from keywords they were doing well in organically.
2. Improve your keyword quality score to increase impressions and CTR with a lower CPC. We have noticed retailers not using special offers during this adverse period. We humbly disagree with this strategy as it is imperative to offer discounts through special offers rather than price reductions. This simple tactic can improve ad quality and reduce CPC.
3. Optimize your product experience by focusing on product title, price, quality, color, description, promotions, reviews, etc. This will not only increase your chances of conversion but also help to improve your keyword quality score.
4. Ensure affiliate compliance to reduce revenue leakage & collaborate better with your loyal affiliates.
5. Monitor for brand term violations that are inflating your CPC.
6. Enforce MAP Compliance to avoid price wars that reduce margins and brand value.

3. Dynamic Pricing Optimization to Maximize Margin

To be on top, retailers need to have visibility into current market pricing to ensure optimal prices to beat competitors. The approach adopted for dynamic pricing strategies to penetrate by maximizing margin from the market will be critical to growth.

4. Strategic Promotional Planning to Attract Consumers

Consumers will always be on the lookout for promotions. In this adverse economic situation, a strategic promotion plan will help optimize advertising and conversions.

Conclusion

As the full pandemic period comes to an end, innovation becomes a key factor for survival in today’s volatile market. Moreover, with a shift in the retail landscape, consumer expectations and demands will be a driving force.

Retailers and advertisers must remain flexible, adaptable, and affordable to gain an edge over competitors and maximize their market share. They should utilize a unified marketing intelligence solution that showcases them against the competition in the eyes of shoppers on digital shelves. We recommend that retailers use a data-driven approach to develop their marketing strategies to improve their chances of success.

Source Search Engine Watch

Pubblicato in Business, E-commerce