{"id":4985,"date":"2018-11-12T17:34:59","date_gmt":"2018-11-12T13:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.awebtoknow.com\/?p=4985"},"modified":"2022-07-19T19:47:15","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T15:47:15","slug":"7-foolproof-tips-for-e-commerce-customer-engagement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.awebtoknow.com\/how\/7-foolproof-tips-for-e-commerce-customer-engagement\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Foolproof Tips For e-Commerce Customer Engagement And Boosting Sales"},"content":{"rendered":"
You\u2019d think the convenience and speed of online shopping would speed up the buying process. But it\u2019s even more complex and tentative on many different factors than ever. Gone is the inconvenience of having to find another physical store to price compare or seek alternatives. Shoppers have access to thousands of other online stores and information to compare offers in seconds from their smartphones. You have to go far beyond just presenting your product and hoping they make it check out. <\/span><\/p>\n Not only one should take steps to insure e-Commerce business from unpreventable losses<\/a>, but also boost it in every possible way.\u00a0<\/span>Boosting e-Commerce customer engagement<\/strong> is the key to boosting not only sales but long-term revenue for e-Commerce sites. Customer engagement is your most important metric but also the most difficult to diagnose and improve. There are so many different factors that can improve or inhibit customer engagement with an e-Commerce site.\u00a0<\/span>Here are 7 really easy steps you can take to increase e-Commerce customer engagement and boost sales:<\/p>\n There are so many alternative products available at the fingertips of your customers, you have to compete elsewhere. It\u2019s unlikely a small or medium-sized e-Commerce site can compete on price and shipping with giants like Amazon. What makes customers buy from small e-Commerce stores is a brand. Your e-Commerce site should work to build your brand as well as present products. <\/span><\/p>\n Do this through consistent branding, a consistent voice in copy, and an effective content strategy. Research your target audience\u2019s interests outside just your product and use tools like <\/span>Google Keyword Planner<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Coschedule Headline Analyzer <\/span><\/a>to create compelling content. Engage customers beyond products to create an emotional connection with your brand. <\/span><\/p>\n The draw of following and becoming loyal customers to brands is the excitement of something new. Make sure that you make your brand and products seem dynamic by making announcements for new products, sales, content, etc. Showing customers that there are changes constantly help add a time-sensitivity to your online store as well. Make announcements in a place where both new and returning customers can find them and engage. One tool you can use is <\/span>Beamer<\/span><\/a> – an interactive news feed that sits right within the interface of your site. Customers just have to click an icon or \u201cWhat\u2019s New\u201d link in your navigation to open up a feed as a sidebar on any page. <\/span><\/p>\n You can make engaging announcements for anything in your feed: new products, launch dates, discount codes, sales, new content, new photos, videos, GIFS, and actionable CTAs to capture attention and increase engagement. You can also send out push notifications every time you post an update to users who have opted in. It\u2019s a great way to get customers back to your site and engaging with your new offers and products.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n An extremely \u201cfoolproof\u201d way to get customers to engage is to incentivize engagement. I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve seen this before on successful e-Commerce sites. Offer customers discounts on their first purchase for providing you with their email. This is really important because the chances of someone making a purchase the first time they visit your website is not likely. 94% of people visiting an e-Commerce site the first time are not there to make a purchase, but to check out the brand and products. <\/span><\/p>\n You want a way to connect, engage, and convert these people in the future. If you don\u2019t get their email, there is little chance they will be coming back. Incentivize giving their email to you by offering a discount on their first purchase in exchange. You should have the opportunity in multiple places on your site. The most successful are on a top bar or on an exit popup like this one.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n For better customer engagement, replace some graphics or photos with video. Video on a landing page can increase conversions by up to <\/span>80%<\/span><\/a> or more. Video in your marketing strategy can increase revenue by up to <\/span>49%<\/span><\/a> faster than non-video users. It\u2019s not that your videos have to be extremely well shot, short graphic videos created with <\/span>Wave<\/span><\/a> can be more effective at explaining or visualizing things to your customers. You can use video as a different and more engaging way to communicate your brand to customers. Even using a video as a background is extremely effective for e-Commerce sites.<\/span><\/p>\n A responsive and functional mobile site is a must for a successful e-Commerce business at this point. <\/span>80%<\/span><\/a> of e-Commerce shoppers use their phone to look up products and brands, price compare, etc and <\/span>60%<\/span> of all smartphone users have actually made a purchase from an e-Commerce store from their phone in the last 6 months.<\/span><\/p>\n If your site is not engaging and functional on mobile, you could be losing a lot of customers. You don\u2019t want users to be fumbling around with small buttons on mobile or trying to zoom in to see products or your navigation. Make sure the theme and elements you use are responsive and if not, use a plugin like <\/span>WPtouch<\/span><\/a> to create a fully functional mobile version of your site that is engaging and gets to the point of what users want.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n One of the most powerful conversion tools you can include to capture attention and increase engagement is social proof and user-generated content. These days, <\/span>95%<\/span><\/a> of buyers read online reviews before purchasing and displaying product reviews can increase conversion rates by <\/span>380%<\/span>. Simply including testimonials and enabling reviews on products can help boost sales<\/a> dramatically for you.<\/span><\/p>\n But you can take it a step further and include user-generated content like photos and social posts. Amazon allows users to upload photos as part of reviews and plenty of e-Commerce sites report and include customer photos from social media. Some use photos and content from influencers or more high profile customers to boost engagement and use social proof to drive sales<\/a>. Spanish shoe brand <\/span>Au Revoir Cinderella <\/span><\/a>uses customer Instagram photos to create trust and boost sales:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n You\u2019ve likely seen big brands ask their customers to help them create a new product. \u00a0Now, it\u2019s becoming increasingly popular for smaller brands to include customer opinion in their creative process as it\u2019s very easy to have a two-way conversation with your customers. You can easily survey customer opinion by using tools like SurveyMonkey with MailChimp. You can send out surveys about what your customers would most like your team to create for the next. <\/span><\/p>\nGo beyond just presenting products, build a brand<\/b><\/h2>\n
Make frequent announcements in a clear and engaging way<\/b><\/h2>\n
Reward customers for engaging<\/b><\/h2>\n
Get more visually interactive with video on all platforms<\/b><\/h2>\n
Be mobile optimized and engaging on mobile<\/b><\/h2>\n
Take advantage of peer-generated content and social proof<\/b><\/h2>\n
Include customers as part of your creative decision making<\/b><\/h2>\n