The way you are marketing your eCommerce business may not work tomorrow. This is true for all marketing channel. Business companies should watch important eCommerce marketing trends, adopt and experiment to discover which form provide the best return.

As long as you know which changes to adopt, you have a good chance of fulfilling the changing needs of your customers. There are several eCommerce marketing trends that can help you to deliver better experiences and increase sales.

In this post, we’re going to discuss some of the top eCommerce marketing trends that you should know.

Why Are eCommerce Marketing Trends so Important?

The eCommerce world is becoming increasingly competitive. To stay ahead in the competition, eCommerce marketing trends need to be constantly monitored. No matter how mature your eCommerce online store is right now, if you don’t keep up with eCommerce marketing trends, you’ll risk falling drastically behind. You need to keep looking ahead to ensure your future success. As we move forward, you need to know these marketing trends in order to take advantage of them. That’s why it’s so important that eCommerce marketing trends are analyzed and adopted in a timely manner. By doing this you can drive your eCommerce brand forward, and stay ahead of your competition.

Ecommerce Marketing Trends

Here are the top eCommerce marketing trends.

eCommerce Marketing Trends 1: More Visual UGC

User-generated content (UGC) such as reviews, can be an excellent way to win the trust of customers. To drive more conversion you can include reviews on your product pages.

But you can move one step further and start implementing user-generated visuals in your eCommerce marketing strategy.

Visual user-generated content is trending in eCommerce marketing strategy mainly because it appeals to consumers and drives better results than written content. According to a study by Olapic, visitor’s trust in images from other customers on social media is seven times higher than their trust in advertising.

The same study found that 56% of respondents were more likely to purchase an item after they see positive user-generated photo. And 52% of the respondents also found photos to be the most appealing form of user-generated content. That beats both the videos and written content.

If you want to follow this marketing trend, you can showcase user-generated visuals on your product pages or on your social media for eCommerce marketing. 

But how you can collect UGC? You can encourage your customers to share the products they bought from your store on social media, and tag it with a branded hashtag. Then you can collect those photos, and share them on your social media. Additionally, you can also display some of the best user-submitted photos on the relevant product pages.

eCommerce Marketing Trends 2: Greater investment in AI and Machine Learning Usage

One of the most significant eCommerce marketing trends is the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning. You can use both of them to deliver more personalized customer experiences and enhance productivity for retailers. And with the rapid improvements in technology, it’s more likely that eCommerce retailers will be making more investments in tools and platforms that implement AI and machine learning.

Zebra 2017 Retail Vision Study found that 68% of respondents plan to invest in machine learning and cognitive computing by 2021. Retailers are giving priority to use the technology for personalizing customer experiences and enhancing the way they forecast and manage inventory demand.

You can use AI to understand the actions certain customers have taken so you can make more accurate recommendations for your eCommerce marketing. For instance, you could recommend a complementary product that the customer might need along with the product they have already bought.

And obviously, you’ll be providing them with recommendations and experiences relevant to their past behavior even when they visit your store. Maybe you could display a series of products from the categories they like to favor the most.

There are lots of uses for AI and machine learning beyond this. You can also use the technology to provide your shoppers with a personal shopping guide.

eCommerce Marketing Trends 3: Enhanced Mobile Experience

Another important marketing tend you need to follow for eCommerce marketing is the introduction of better mobile experiences for eCommerce customers. It has long been considered that people are more likely to use mobile devices to conduct research about products online. And then they make the actual purchase using their desktop computer.

This means there are high mobile eCommerce sessions but lower revenues coming from mobile devices.

This assumption remains true according to an analysis by Wolfgang Digital of 87 million website sessions . They discovered that 42% of all online store sessions come from mobile devices, while desktop sessions are at 41%. But as for revenues, only 21% of all last-click revenue can be attributed to mobile platform.

So it’s clear to see that either some mobile buyers don’t convert at all or they use a different channel to complete their purchases.

This can only mean one thing – retailers need to ensure better mobile experiences for their users. By doing this, you could see inflation in revenue coming from mobile shoppers. Even if there isn’t a significant improvement in revenues from mobile, it will still impact your overall revenue because the enhanced experience could entice buyers to buy from you even if they do it through desktop.

Either way, enhanced mobile user experience is vital for eCommerce marketing. Make sure that your store’s mobile version loads quickly and properly so visitors can view every element of the page perfectly.

You need to make sure that mobile visitors don’t face any issues with navigation and browsing. They should be able to easily find what they’re looking for and read the information they require. You can also use the Mobile-Friendly Test to see just how well your website caters to mobile visitors.

eCommerce Marketing Trends 4: Increased Use of Social Media Buy Buttons

As you know, social media continues playing a huge role in the lives of everyday consumers. And it also has a significant impact on eCommerce marketing by driving traffic to an eCommerce store. According to the research conducted by the Pew Research Center shows that 15% of online shoppers in America have made a purchase after following a link from social media.

But to increase these numbers, retailers will have to make shopping from social media much simpler and more seamless for their customers. So it’s expected that there will be more retailers implementing “Buy” buttons on social media whenever it’s possible.

These buttons will enable all shoppers to purchase products they like without having to search for the product on the brand’s website. They can either complete their transaction right on the platform or get directed right to the product page which will help in boosting eCommerce marketing.

eCommerce Marketing Trends 5: Widely Use of Chat Support

The key to success for an eCommerce marketing strategy is to provide exceptional shopping experience and customer service. You need to put your customers first and always ensure that they don’t go through any trouble while trying to buy from you.

This means if they have any issues or questions while shopping and can’t find the right answer or solution immediately, you’ll need to give a solution of it as quickly as possible.

And the best way to manage these things is by providing live chat support or implementing chatbots.

So you can enhance customers’ experience if you provide answers and solutions in real-time using chatbots, social media messaging apps, or live chat support.

Chatbots

Chatbots are a rising trend in the eCommerce marketing industry mainly just because of the efficiency. Although they fall under Artificial Intelligence, it’s vital to explain their benefits in customer support more clearly.

A joint study conducted by Bentley University and NeuraFlash found that 100% of people believe that chatbot conversations are more preferable if they’re actually able to save time and make it easier to solve any problems.

And with the improvements made to AI technology, retailers will now be able to use chatbots to automate conversations and deliver personalized support experiences to the customers. Customers will be able to use chatbots as a self-service feature especially in case they need any assistance with routine transactions. But in case of any more complicated queries, chatbots can bring a live agent to the chat to assist the customers.

Live Chat Support

Live chat support is also vital and is gaining more popularity among the eCommerce retailers. Shoppers may not be able to find some of the information they need through the FAQ page or the product description page. And if they send you an email, it might take you long time to respond. If they want to call back you, there might be a long wait time.

That leaves live chat support, which enables customers to interact with real people and get their issues resolved instantly.

eCommerce Marketing Trends 6: Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is a popular choice for eCommerce marketing. According to the study conducted by Twitter has revealed that customers trust influencers almost as much as their friends. Some more interesting findings from this same study are:

• Around 40% users reported having purchased a product based on an influencer’s tweet.
• Almost 49% of the respondents reported having relied on influencers for product recommendations.
• This was surpassed only by recommendations from friends, which was reported by around 56% of the respondents.

The right influencers and an effective campaign can work wonders for your eCommerce store. Selecting the right influencer is crucial to the success of your marketing campaign.

For example, if you have an ecommerce business that specializes in sports gear, an influencer who promotes sports items will be an apt choice.

Various influencer marketing tools such as BuzzSumo or Ninja Outreach can help you to identify the right influencers and connect with them.

eCommerce Marketing Trends 7: Videos

Videos are great way to capture the attention of viewers for eCommerce marketing. Audiences likes videos a lot more than image or text advertising. This is just because videos usually involve a story-line. This helps audiences relate to videos better and increases customers engagement for eCommerce marketing.

Videos, especially live videos, are one of the emerging eCommerce marketing trends in eCommerce business. According to a report, over 500 million Facebook users watch videos everyday. Facebook also reported that people are more likely to spend 3x more time on watching live videos than previously recorded ones. This means that both previously recorded and live videos can be a game changer when used in eCommerce marketing.

eCommerce Marketing Trends 8: Content Marketing

Quality-full content can help you rise above your competition in eCommerce marketing where customers are flooded with information everyday. Your target audiences do not have the patience or interest at all in the old banner or pop-up ads anymore.

According to a report published by Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) ad blockers are used by 26% of desktop and 15% smartphone users. Hence the only way to effectively overcome this barrier and engage your target audience is through effective content marketing.

Blogs, podcasts or series of video are great ways of keeping your audience engaged while promoting your brand.

eCommerce Marketing Trends 9: Personalization

While quality content helps you rise above your competition, personalizing your content will help boost retention for eCommerce marketing. Any eCommerce online store will always have a combination of first-time visitors and repeat customers. Hence a one-size-fits-all strategy will definitely not provide a great customer experience and personalization.

Personalization can provide your customers an amazing user experience. Imagine a situation where you are able to provide product recommendations based on the past purchases or preferences of a customer! Your customer is guaranteed to return and shop, since they believe you know and understand them well.

eCommerce Marketing Trends 10: Easy Shipping Cost & Return Policy

For eCommerce store, a key consideration for customers is the shipping costs and return policy before making a purchase. Hence your shipping costs or return policy may not be a direct marketing strategy, but can still serve to attract customers.

Free shipping is quite lucrative for customers and hence can help you to attract more customer.

Similarly, for eCommerce marketing a flexible return and refund policy with easy pickup is something that is greatly desired by customers. If leveraged effectively, free shipping and easy returns can attract more customers to your website and also boost loyalty.

eCommerce Marketing Trends 11: Re-marketing

Re-marketing is simply a eCommerce marketing strategy where an ad follows you through your online journey.

For example, consider a situation where you have searched for hotels on a travel website, for an upcoming holidays. However, you did not make a booking immediately. You decided to come back again later, review and search some more hotels and then make a booking.

Later that day, while browsing through your Facebook or LinkedIn newsfeed or any other social media, you might come across an advertisement for the same hotel. You might also see them on the Google search page or other websites.

This strategy showcases your product multiple times to a customer, thus increasing the chances of a purchase.

eCommerce Marketing Trends 12: Greater focus on what already works

Most eCommerce marketing trends guides would include a reference to shiny new technology at this point.

VR. AR. Voice. Blockchain.

You’ve been sold the marketing idea that these will dramatically transform the customer experience for years now. But the fact is, these technologies are unnecessary distractions for nearly every shoppers.

Voice has been promise as the future of eCommerce. According to a report voice shopping is projected to grow to $40 billion by 2022.

According to the internal documents from Amazon revealed that just 2% of the people who own Alexa-powered devices have made purchases.

Investments like personalisation and automation will build on existing marketing strategies, save time, improve results and show instant value.

eCommerce Marketing Trends: Final Thoughts

So here you got the eCommerce marketing trends to shape your strategy.

When putting this list together it was important for us to cut through the noise and look beyond the publicity.

We wanted to focus on the key areas that can make a real difference. The good news is that these areas build what marketers are already doing well. They may ask marketers to make the better use of the technology they’ve already invested in.

Success relies on taking greater control of your own data and using your unique understanding of your customers to deliver relevant and impactful marketing strategy.

After all, nobody knows your customers quite as you know.

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