The equation seems simple: more traffic to your online store means more purchases, right?
Unfortunately, not all clicks are created equal. You can drive millions of people to your site, but if they're not visitors who would be interested in your product, they won't convert from viewers into customers.
Growing your store’s traffic is about finding the sweet spot of quality and quantity. Here’s how to get the highest ROI from your digital marketing efforts by bringing viewers with high purchase intent to visit your e-commerce store.
Utilize your owned media
When budgets are tight, it helps to utilize free traffic sources. Owned media refers to ways of reaching customers that belong to your store — for instance, your email list. Share a link to your e-commerce site far and wide. Don’t forget to add it to your social media profiles (in the “About” section), to your email signature, to your Google Maps listing, and even on your business card. Telling your existing followers is the first step to getting your brand out there at a minimal cost. See it as a launchpad for your content marketing strategy.
[Read more: 5 Ways to Optimize Your E-Commerce Site for Mobile Shopping]
Understand how each channel differs
For most budding e-commerce sites, social media is a critical cog in the sales funnel. However, each social media channel serves a different purpose. The way customers behave, interact and ultimately decide to visit your e-commerce site is different on each platform. For instance, followers on Instagram are likely looking for a visual on your product: How does it fit? What colors are available? On Facebook, your followers are more likely to scan for reviews from other commenters. Cater appropriately on each channel to ensure you're talking to high-potential users in the right way.
[Read more: The Complete Guide to Selling Online]
Growing your store’s traffic is about finding the sweet spot of quality and quantity.
Consider influencer marketing
Find an organic way to tap into influencer marketing to build your community. Engage with genuine influencers who will promote your product authentically. Studies show that posts shared by trusted influencers convert five times higher than posts from the original brand. Offer them an affiliate code or a trade exchange for promoting your e-commerce site to their followers. These posts are great for long-term clicks, generating new visitors over time.
Drive excitement with contests and giveaways
Contests and giveaways will increase your traffic in the short term. A big prize or relevant reward is a powerful incentive for getting current and new customers to visit your site. Tools like Gleam or Woobox allow you to embed giveaways on a landing page or blog post. Then you can use your social media pages to share the contest with your followers and urge them to share your page with others.
Engage your customers with content marketing
New and original content will help you position your business as an industry leader. Plus, content helps build your SEO ranking. Build a lifestyle around your brand and create worth beyond a transaction. Give people a reason beyond shopping to visit your site consistently; once you have their attention, you can use your page to convert casual browsers into paid customers. If you want to take it a step further, you can use free tools like Google Keyword Planner to conquer search results beyond your product name.
Implement a customer referral program
Let your customers advertise on your behalf and reward them for doing so. Word-of-mouth is one of the most effective forms of marketing out there: Referrals are estimated to result in 20%-50% of purchasing decisions. Formalize this powerful marketing tool by incentivizing customers to recommend you to their friends and family. Offer a 10% discount when someone uses a customer’s unique code (for both the new customer and the person who referred them). Or, create loyalty tiers to reward customers who continuously send you leads. Over time, customers can level up by consistently supporting your business.
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