Online Marketing Strategies and Tactics for E-commerce Sites

5 Proven Online Marketing Strategies and Tactics for E-commerce Sites

Everyone knows that developing effective online marketing strategies and tactics to drive traffic to your WordPress e-commerce store is the hard part. However, once the traffic is flowing to your site, the work doesn’t stop there – you’ll still need to persuade them to buy from you.

We all think we’re in full control of our minds, especially when it comes to deciding where and how to spend our money. However, most people don’t realize that buying behavior can be influenced by taking advantage of the way our brains work.

In this article, we will share five proven online marketing strategies and tactics you can use to subtly influence your website visitors – converting them from online window shoppers to customers – and increase your conversion rates.

 

Online Marketing Strategies and Tactics to Convert Visitors Into Customers

 

1. Create a Sense of Urgency

 

Online Marketing Strategies and Tactics for E-commerce Sites
Amazon, with their countdown deals, is the master of urgency.

It’s human nature to want what we can’t have, so limited availability of a product increases its perceived value. Creating a furore over a rapidly dwindling product also tells us that others have purchased the item – and if we want to be one of them too, we have to hurry.

Many WordPress e-commerce stores have learned that showing the quantity of product left in inventory will encourage visitors to buy, especially when only a few units are left. Countdown timers can also be effective to show a finite period of availability.

2. Use a Customer’s Fear of Missing Out

Online Marketing Strategies and Tactics for E-commerce Sites
Civilist makes sure to show you the original cost next to the sale price.

People hate to think they missed out on something valuable by doing nothing. Wasted opportunity can haunt us, even for relatively minor life choices, such as buying a pair of shoes.

Showing your customers what they’d be missing out on is a good trigger for purchasing. By displaying the original price of a product along with a discounted price and the saving made, you show your visitors the cost of procrastinating.

3. Reduce the Risk of Buying

Online Marketing Strategies and Tactics for E-commerce Sites
Twillory’s free shipping and returns makes ordering a no-brainer.

Though it feels like online shopping has been around forever, many people still have anxiety over purchasing online. They may be especially cautious on a first-time visit to your store.

To entice visitors to actually make a purchase, reduce their risk as much as possible by eliminating any concerns they have. Lifetime warranties, money back guarantees, and no questions asked returns make the decision process smooth and simple by removing the barriers between the customer and their wallet.

4. Reduce Cart Abandonment

Online Marketing Strategies and Tactics for E-commerce Sites
A one-page checkout reduces the risk you’ll abandon Roberto Coin’s expensive jewelry in your cart.

E-commerce store owners who closely follow their statistics will realize that too many customers abandon their shopping carts. There are several reasons this could happen, but the essential point is the cost to you when people leave without buying.

One way of reducing cart abandonment is to make purchasing as easy as possible once at the checkout page. A one-click or express checkout means information can be entered quickly and easily before clicking Buy.

5. Offer Reassurance to Your Customers

Online Marketing Strategies and Tactics for E-commerce Sites
Kawaii Box knows you’ll trust independent bloggers more about their products, compared to the usual sales copy.

Independent opinions are important to customers when making a purchase. In fact, they are often (unsurprisingly) judged as more unbiased and trustworthy, with most customers preferring to buy from a site that has user reviews.

Using customer reviews in your WordPress e-commerce store can help reassure others about their potential purchase. They will see that not only have other people purchased your products, they’ve received, used, and liked them.

Conclusion

It may not seem obvious, but simply getting visitors to visit your WordPress e-commerce website is not enough to get them to buy. Making an online purchase involves a very detailed (often unconscious) thought process that you, the merchant, has to contend with.

In this article, we outlined five subtle online marketing strategies and tactics you can use to influence the decision-making process of your website’s visitors:

  1. Create a sense of urgency.
  2. Use their fear of missing out.
  3. Reduce the risk of purchase.
  4. Reduce cart abandonment.
  5. Offer them reassurance.

If you’re looking for a little help with your WordPress e-commerce website, we are always on-hand to assist. Fire away in the comments section below, or feel free to drop us a line!

Image credit: PublicDomainPictures.

2 responses to “5 Proven Online Marketing Strategies and Tactics for E-commerce Sites”

  1. Tobias Armstrong Avatar

    I find it really interesting how businesses market things to people. E-commerce is obviously a huge market right now, and strategies for marketing are constantly changing, but the basics seem to be pretty much the same as traditional retail. Thanks for taking the time to really flesh out these strategies though – I found it to be very intriguing.

    1. Tom Ewer Avatar

      Thanks for your comment, Tobias. :-)