The sales gap between the end of summer and the start of the Christmas rush can almost seem like a slump in marketing terms. So which marketing ideas can be quickly and cheaply implemented to boost revenue and lay solid foundations for the seasonal rush? Here are four quick ideas you can put in place straight away to encourage your customers to engage more and buy more!
1) Monetise Your Instagram Account
More and more ecommerce businesses are getting wise to the value of user-generated content on Instagram. Instagram lets you use hashtags and content scheduling to draw attention to specific products and promotions. What is more, a handy app now lets customers purchase your products directly through their Instagram account.
Monetise Instagram by setting up a weekly contest for users who post pictures of themselves wearing or enjoying your products, combined with your promotional hashtag. For everyone who takes part, engage with them by sharing their post and thanking them publicly. This encourages further social media shares. You can create an incentive by linking your contest to a weekly giveaway or discount for one user. This will build customer loyalty and increase your direct sales through Instagram – and it takes hardly any time to set up. Learn more information about how you can use Instagram in your Marketing - Why Should Instagram Be Used In Your Marketing Strategy?
2) Upselling
Upselling is the fine art of encouraging a customer either to buy a more expensive version of the product they’re looking for, or to complement their sale with additional products. There are several ways you can do this. For instance, Amazon encourages upselling through their ‘frequently bought together’ box, showing three complementary products that can be purchased together.
Another way is by setting up a product comparison chart showing the different features and prices of similar products, for instance cameras or smart watches. If you have a number of progressively priced products in each category, it is likely that customers may opt for the price category above the one they were initially considering.
These two options will involve a little bit of tinkering with your website. However, if you don’t have the time or budget for this, a good old-fashioned ‘buy two, get one half price’ type offer is a great way to give yourself an instant sales boost.
3) Encourage Customers to Return to Abandoned Shopping Carts!
Imagine a large Asda or Tesco superstore, with aisles littered with abandoned full or half full shopping trolleys. It would be almost unthinkable. However, for ecommerce businesses, this is a daily occurrence. An estimated two-thirds of online shopping carts are abandoned before purchase; a frustrating source of missed revenue.
Is there a way you can entice some of these customers to return? Yes there is!
Many customers who abandon a shopping cart do actually intend to return and complete the purchase at some point, so they should still be considered warm prospects. Some may simply need a gentle reminder, while others can be encouraged by an offer of free shipping, a free gift or a small discount. Other ideas can be found here - 20 Special Offer Ideas For Marketing Your Business.
Some ecommerce businesses create an automated marketing email that is sent out to a customer whenever a shopping transaction is not completed. This helps reduce the number of abandoned carts and claw back some of the revenue that would otherwise have been lost. There are some apps that can help you do this, as well as some marketing automation platforms. Our marketing specialists will be able to discuss the best options for you and help you set up the right strategy.
4) Keep in Touch With Your Customers
We expect you already have an email marketing program set up for your customers, but there is always room for improvement when it comes to keeping in touch. Using a marketing automation platform allows you to profile your email list to reflect your customer’s purchase habits, letting you send highly personalised emails to encourage sales.
With the right infrastructure in place, these emails do not take long to create and are potentially highly effective. Another marketing quick fix is to make sure you capture as many email subscribers as possible. If you haven’t done so already, set up a prominent email signup bar on your homepage and each of your category pages. You can link this to regular promotions or flash sales so that customers will look forward to receiving your emails. This strategy is successfully used by ecommerce giants such as Asos.com and Amazon.
Get More Help With Your Ecommerce Marketing
With so many potential marketing strategies and so many opportunities to grasp, it can seem that there aren’t enough hours in the day to achieve everything you need to do. Our team of marketing experts are here to make your life easier by helping you fulfil the potential of your business. For an informal chat about how we can help, please send us an email or call us at our Derby office.
