Introduction

The practice of online buying and selling continues to gain ground. Customers swear by the convenience and variety offered by e-commerce sites. These companies are admired by customers for making the purchasing process simpler and for saving their time and efforts.

Over the past couple of years, not only have the e-commerce customers and companies increased, but also the range of devices that are being used for searching and shopping. From startups to multinational giants, customers have a lot of companies to choose from. Not just B2C but C2C and B2B online selling and purchasing are on a rise.

Thus, the demand is high but the competition is fierce too. E-commerce marketing is not limited to merely pulling visitors to your site, you also need to make sure that the visitors don’t leave without making a purchase.

Invigorate Your Website

Needless to say, as an e-commerce player, your website has to be exceptionally attractive and welcoming! It should be optimized for mobile viewing. It should be easy for visitors to find what they are looking for and to filter out the preferred colors/sizes/ price-range etc. It is essential to have separate sections on your site, based on the type of products, for instance, separate tabs for kids, pets, home-needs etc. Images and videos matter a lot, so place them wisely to add a zing to your site. Keep updating the website according to the upcoming occasions and seasons. You also need to provide the right suggestions of related products based on the visitors’ search patterns. You can easily upsell through such suggestions.

Mobile Apps 一 Agile & Apprising

All the e-commerce companies are luring the customers in different ways to download their apps. This is because once a customer has quick access to your app, there are more chances of him/her purchasing through it, plus the purchase process becomes quicker. Apps reduce the need to log-in again and again and also make it easier to track orders, access wishlist and see recently viewed items quickly. They also make it easy for you to personalize the experience for your customers. You can send new collection updates, discount alerts and “your shopping-cart is waiting for check-out” reminders directly on the mobile/tablet of the user. So basically, your app can strengthen relationships and get more loyal customers for you.

Bestow Offers!

It’s important to encourage your customers to download your app in the first place. You may even want to offer discounts or points on referrals. Tell the benefits one can get by downloading your app. Amazon’s mobile app offers additional features like ask Alexa to tell a joke or play music while you are shopping. You can also incorporate gamification by rewarding the customers for each purchase or review.

It’s Incomplete without a Video!

Since there is no provision for physical presence in an online store, you need to take videos seriously. Videos demonstrate the look and usage of products in such a way that the customers get more clarity and take better decisions. Shoppable videos are also trending these days, they are a great way to showcase your products in a stylish way. An instant buying option serves as the cherry on the cake.

Google search favours videos because the viewers like them. This is because videos have a visual appeal and it takes lesser time and effort to watch a video as compared to reading lengthy text. Videos are engaging and make things easier to understand for your customers. They are also known to have a lasting impact.

You can easily add an emotional touch to your message through videos. They are easy to trust and share with friends and family. Videos are widely viewed on Youtube, Facebook, Whatsapp etc. The availability of mobile devices and the internet have further increased their reach and popularity.

The number of shares, views and other analytics can provide insights into the effectiveness of your content and strategy. You can also attach videos in your emails to increase the click rate.

Sell on the Videos!

Almost every major brand uses How to video to guide and engage the audience. Check out Amazon Home Improvement Shorts. Testimonial videos look genuine and convince the viewers to try out your website. Do not miss the “Buy Here” annotation in the video below:

Friends!

Humanize your brand to increase the number of people who associate with you. Stay in touch with your prospects and customers like an old friend. Post candid, live videos of your offices or customers, share your opinion on the issues of the society and stand up for a social cause you genuinely care about. You can also be a part of or organize events relevant to your business.

#Campaign

Plan a campaign for an upcoming occasion or a new product/service launch. Make sure you perform extensive research about the customer preferences and behaviour before finalizing the campaign. For instance, eBay launched #eBayElves for offering gifting advice on twitter. Ebay also uses Facebook messenger to assist the customers through eBay ShopBot.

The Social Showcase

So, what should you do to stay connected with your valued customers? The golden rule is “Everything nice your brand does has to be on social media.” Social media is where all your customers can be found….informed…and impressed!

Integrate the content of your Youtube channel, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc. The content has to be similar on all the platforms, it just has to be customized to suit the particular audience and layout. As you know, every platform has a different style of communication and is used by people for different purposes. Still, you have to talk about the same offers, products and videos on all the channels. Flipkart mentions the same hashtags like #TrendingOnFlipkart, #CEOForADay #FlipkartSportsDay on its Twitter as well as Facebook page.

Give ‘em a Reason to Follow You

Greet your fans and followers on social media, share helpful tips or advice, update them about the latest offers and trends. You can also share pictures of the new products or the ones that are more likely to be sold in the current season. Ask your customers to share pictures of the product they just bought from you, appreciate their participation by recognizing, responding or rewarding it. Social media engagement can be further increased through votes, discussions, and contests. You can also use Facebook for displaying and selling your collection. Facebook Store by Shopify may be of great help to you.

Your customers will soon understand that all they need to do is, follow you on Twitter (or Facebook) and they will never ever miss a great offer again. Create urgency to encourage quick action. 

Is Christmas near? Or is it the right time to remind your customers to buy a Valentine present for their spouse? Maybe you need to tell your fans and followers to buy a nice dress for the New Year’s Eve! Yes, always encash on the occasion. Display the latest products available and give the prospects a reason to buy.

Share the Shared Content

If you find some content on the web, that you feel can be of interest to your audience, you can always share or retweet it. The content may be posted by your customers, employees, news channels or your own subsidiaries! See how ASOS tries to keeps its followers up-to-date with the latest fashion news:

LinkedIn is a preferred medium for sharing business news, industry insights, employment updates, employee testimonials etc. It is more suitable for professional communication.

If you are targeting the young generation, do not miss out on Instagram. This is where they hang out the most. ASOS has its Instagram account full of cool fashion trends while eBay’s
Instagram has unique and funky content. You can also ask influencers to share pictures of the products or experience with your site to further impress your prospects.

Be a Trend Setter!

When you want to do something not many brands are doing, Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) gets you what you want. You don’t have to be an experienced player in the market to get the customers’ attention. Ogilvy & Mather helped Yihaodian by launching 1,000 Virtual Stores overnight! Yes, and all this was made possible through Augmented reality. This resulted in 17% revenue increase in just 3 months!

Now you can also offer virtual dressing rooms to your customers. Don’t believe us? Check out what FitYour.com has to offer. It’s not just dressing rooms, you can offer a complete virtual reality shopping experience to your customers.

eBay’s Sight Search function can allow items to be chosen and added to the cart just by holding a gaze on them for a few sec….and all this happens in a virtual world!

These new technologies not only provide a distraction-free and comfortable purchasing experience but also look fascinating to the customers. So, grab your chance to win their hearts! Moreover, such applications portray your brand’s image as a technology front-runner. Plus, you also get to generate detailed analytics about the consumer behavior.

This was an overview of the ways in which you can utilize videos, gamification, AR, and VR to get into the spotlight. If you wish to discuss branding solutions in further detail, reach out to us at hello@pixelsutra.com, we at PixelSutra will be glad to get in touch with you.