Did you know that e-commerce sales are expected to account for over 18% of retail sales around the world by 2021? If you are thinking about starting an e-commerce business, you are not alone. For this reason, it’s absolutely essential to rise above your competition when it comes to your marketing strategy. Starting an e-commerce business can be a lucrative endeavor, but you have to make sure that knowledge of your products is reaching the right people. Are you wondering what e-commerce marketing mistakes you should avoid? Let’s take a look.
1. Not Defining Your Target Market
It is always important to define a clear target audience when you are starting any type of business. This is particularly important in e-commerce, as you can’t expect the people who would be drawn to your products to naturally come across them as you might with a brick-and-mortar store.
Your target audience is the people that are most likely to want to purchase your product. When you understand who your target audience is, you can customize your marketing to appeal to the people specifically. Rather than advertising to everyone, why wouldn’t you want to just reach the people who are interested in what you have to offer?
2. Presenting Low-Quality Product Photos
The images on any website are crucially important when it comes to viewers’ opinions of the site. People are both consciously and subconsciously affected by images and it will color the perspective your audience has of your brand. When you have low-quality product photos, it makes your brand seem unprofessional and less trustworthy.
Additionally, people want to be able to clearly see what they are purchasing. They cannot pick the object up in their hands like they could in a physical store. For this reason, you want to help them understand what they are buying so that they can be sure to be happy with their purchase.
3. Failing to Have a Cohesive Brand Image
When you are designing your website, marketing material, and product packaging, you want to apply a cohesive brand image. This does not just go for the imagery, the color scheme, the font, etc., but also for the copy on your site, marketing materials, and packaging.
It’s important to think of the design and the copy as parts of the same whole. This helps to legitimize your brand among many other benefits.
4. Not Providing Social Proof
What do you do when you are buying a product online? If you are like most people, you will read the reviews online before you make your decision. Amazingly, 93% of consumers say that they are purchasing decisions are influenced by the reviews.
It’s important to have a section where consumers can share their experiences, whether positive or negative. This doesn’t only help to give people more information about the product, but it also offers social proof. When used correctly, social proof can be one of the most effective tools in your e-commerce marketing strategy.
5. Having Poor Customer Service
Another important thing to know if you are starting an e-commerce business is that customer support is an essential part of having a successful online business. If a consumer has a negative interaction with customer service even one time it might leave them to go to your competitor next time. On the flip side, companies that provide reliable, fast, inattentive customer support are more likely to retain loyal customers.
6. Not Staying in Touch With Customers
When someone purchases something from you, it’s important for you to keep in touch with them. Doing so can afford some huge opportunities. These people have already proven to be among your target audience, so why wouldn’t you let them know when you have new products or a big sale coming up?
This is also an inexpensive strategy when you’re marketing brands online. Many other types of advertising can be quite pricey. However, when you maintain an email list of existing customers the only cost to you is in the form of labor.
If you want to learn more about email marketing, check out the definitive guide to building an email list.
7. Having Bad Product Descriptions
You also want to be sure to have high-quality product descriptions for each product you are selling. You want it to be written in a way that draws customers in. This description can both include information on what the product is but also why the product would improve the customer’s life.
If you simply copy the description from the manufacturer’s website, you will lose people’s interest. On top of that, it can also lead to poor SEO, which means less traffic will find you organically.
8. Not Analyzing Your Data
One of the great things about social media marketing and digital marketing in general is that it presents you with a ton of data. This data can help you understand what marketing tactics are working for you and which ones aren’t.
It’s important to understand how powerful the tools you are using really are. By analyzing your data and strategizing based upon it, you could potentially increase your traffic and sales radically.
Avoiding These E-Commerce Marketing Mistakes Can Help Your Business Grow
As you can see, starting an e-commerce business involves a lot of marketing. If you want to focus on what you do best which is running your business, you might consider hiring e-commerce consulting and digital marketing services. Whether you are looking to scale or you are just starting out, these services can help your business grow.
Interested in a free consultation? Schedule a call with us today.
