Inbound Marketing for Ecommerce
A Complete Guide
A Complete Guide
This is an especially important step for ecommerce marketers. It’s important to determine the types of queries your targeted personas are typing into search engines. By doing keyword research for the types of products or services you offer, you’ll be able to see which keywords are the best and most feasible to rank for. Focusing on long tail keywords is advisable due to the saturation of industry buzz-words.
A buyer persona is a semi-fictional character created to help target marketing, sales, and service efforts. This character is made up of traits that are apparent in your ideal customer. A company should try to have 3-5 targeted buyer personas. What kind of characteristics do you like to see in an ecommerce customer?
A landing page is simply a website page that your ideal customers land on. Users can be led to a landing page through an ad, a blog post, an email, or any other digital collateral you publish (it all depends on the persona). Once they’re on the landing page, users are given information about the offer and guided to take an action (buy, order, read, find, etc.). In ecommerce, this could be a page that asks visitors to sign up for a coupon code, order a free trial, find the best deals, or anything else of value that you can trade for their contact information.
Your company’s blog posts should be answering your targeted personas’ questions. Each blog post should be targeting one of your personas and a long tail keyword that they’re likely to type into Google. Through your blog, you can organically reach your audience with solutions to their problems. A blog post can be the spark that starts a relationship between your brand and an ideal customer. Just make sure you’re using a natural voice and not keyword-stuffing.
Even if leads take a desired action on your website, they will still likely need more nurturing before they make a purchase, especially if it’s a big one. Once a user has opted in, your brand can stay top-of-mind through personalized email marketing. Create an email campaign showing off your daily deals, sales, new items, or upcoming events to foster multiple touch points with your leads. Use smart content to include the recipient’s name in the subject line or body text for a personalized touch. Email campaigns can be very effective, however, avoid sending so many emails that your contacts lose trust in you.
Inbound marketing for ecommerce is about more than attracting organic traffic to your site. It would be foolish not to mix in paid platforms with all of the options that are available to marketers. Using the right images, copy, and methods can be just as helpful in sponsored material as it is in organic content.
What goal are you striving for when it comes to your social media accounts? Try segmenting each social channel into conversion, engagement, and website traffic. This will help to home in on the objective of each platform you’re using. (Example: Use Instagram for conversions, Facebook for engagement, and Twitter for website traffic.)
Map out a game plan for your social media efforts. Decide how many times a week you’re going to be posting on each channel, if you’re going to schedule posts in bulk or let current events drive your posting, and if you’ll be sponsoring any posts.
Since you’ve already developed targeted buyer personas (hopefully), you can segment your social media followings accordingly. Keep an eye on trends in activity to determine what the best times to post are.
The voice you use in your social posting should be consistent with your brand and website. Your brand’s voice should be decided as a part of your overall business objectives. Is your brand conversational? Straightforward? Comical? Serious? Friendly? Use the same tone over all of your social platforms.
Being diligent about responding to followers’ requests and questions will build stronger relationships with your customer base. Moreover, replying to poor reviews with helpful answers is advised to maintain trust with customers. Giving a quick “thank you” to positive reviews can go a long way too.
Nearly every social media platform offers a “stories” function. Take advantage of this tool to show followers what an average day at the office looks like for your ecommerce brand. Stories are also a great place to offer in-the-moment specials.
For each product post or ad you create for social media, there should be a CTA that accompanies it. Use direct, urgent language.
Firstly, upload a professional image of your product or a service you provide. Include a description for your post, ideally using hashtags related to what you’re selling.
Once you reach the Share screen, you’ll have the option to tag products. Select the Tag Products button. Just like tagging people in posts, you can select the spot in the image that you’d like the product tag to show up. Type in the title of your product or service. You can add multiple product tags to one post.
Now, simply share the image and it will appear in the Instagram feed of your followers. After a few seconds, your post will show up in the feed of the product tags you featured as well. If you included hashtags in the descriptions, users who follow the hashtag will also see your post.
When you’re setting up a Shop, Facebook presents a few terms and conditions you are required to follow. For instance, you must sell tangible items in your Facebook Shop.
Once you’ve logged into your Facebook account, head to the Shop page and follow the on-screen prompts. The platform will ask for some personal information, including region, address, type of products, etc. It will then configure your payments and tax details. You will receive an email confirmation once this step is finished.
Once your Shop is set up, it’s time to create your first product page. On this page you will need to include the name of the product, shipping information, item specifications, and price.
Use quality, professional-looking images for all of your product pages. Also, make sure to follow Facebook’s image specifications.
There is a ton of advice out there for creating the best landing page. A few factors remain tried and true, such as featuring customer reviews, product videos, a detailed product description, social sharing buttons, high quality images, a clear call to action, and the reassurance that payments are secure. Also, make sure your ecommerce pages are loading at the highest speed possible.
Even if you have the best product on the market, offering your customers more value will build stronger and more loyal relationships between them and your brand. Engaging your customers with special offers, discounts, demos, free trials, loyalty programs, and coupon codes will encourage first-time conversions and keep them coming back.
The scarcity principle worked in 1975 and still rings true today. Scarcity can be used for sales and special offers. Language such as Limited Time Only, One-Time Offer, Limited Amount, and First 100 Customers Only will prove to be effective in using the scarcity tactic.
One landing page can’t always hold all of the elements you wish to feature. That’s OK! A/B testing is a fantastic way to see what works for your ecommerce customers and what can be left behind. Test two landing pages against each other to see which receives the most conversions.
