8 Strategies for Effective E-Commerce Promotions

E-commerce shops tend to overspend on discounts. The temporary increase in sales volume gives them the confidence to run promos for extended periods. They overlook the fact that discount customers don’t always turn into repeat buyers.

Remember: you’ll only get a return on your investment if your promos bring in frequent shoppers with potentially high customer lifetime values (CLV).

To maximize your future promotions, reassess your approach when offering discounts. Of course, you can’t spike the CLV of every shopper, but there are several ways to attract qualified prospects while reducing your total overhead.

1. Define Your Ideal Buyer Persona

Reassess your ideal buyer persona before running promotions and marketing campaigns. Targeting a broad audience rarely yields positive results. You’ll increase your ad spend, stunt your conversion rates, and make it harder to hit a healthy ROAS.

To generate more sales, zero in on your target buyers. Only offer your discounts and promo codes to qualified prospects who’ll likely become loyal patrons. Otherwise, you’ll lose money on discount customers.

Let’s say you sell mattresses. Although you’ll get massive ad impressions by publishing your discount codes en masse, only a few will actually use them. You’ll just drive up your ad spend. On the contrary, if you place your discount codes in a blog about the best mattresses, you’ll effectively target interested shoppers. Get your ads in front of the right people.

2. Look For Upcoming Trends Instead of Current Ones

Analyze upcoming trends instead of hopping on current ones. It might feel tempting to sell viral products making rounds on the internet, but you must also consider the competition. You’ll have trouble selling items that millions of other shops also carry.

Eric Mills, the owner of Lightning Card Collection, encourages using machine learning systems to stay on top of trends. He says, “Sifting through upcoming trends is exhausting. It’s a full-time job that requires viewing random content for hours on end—manually doing these tasks is inefficient.

Instead, use machine learning systems for gathering insights. Program them to organize and compile their findings so that you can focus on data analysis, not data gathering.”

3. Work With Nano- And Micro-Influencers

Start working with nano- and micro-influencers. Although they have a small reach, anywhere from 1,000 to 100,000 followers, their loyal fans wholly trust their reviews. You just have to find the right partners. Ideally, their target audience overlaps with yours, and they should be a trusted personality within your niche.

Tom Golubovich, the head of marketing and media relations at Ninja Transfers, advises shops to create affiliate programs for their influencers.

He says,

“Most nano- and micro-influencers work well on commission. Instead of paying them a fixed rate, give them a percentage of every sale they make for your brand. You can reward your top performers with bonuses. And as for your most reputable, lucrative partners, you could make them into brand ambassadors with a full-time salary.”

4. Track Your KPI Routinely

Carefully track your performance metrics when offering promotions. Solely judging campaigns based on the revenue they generate will create misleading, inaccurate analyses. Again, you’re losing money on discounts. You can’t call your campaign a success until you at least earn back the supposed earnings you lost.

During the campaign, keep track of your spending. It’s okay to keep funding lucrative efforts but know when to pull the plug on potential money pits. Also, track your top-spending discount customers. Adjust your marketing strategies so that you’re targeting these types of consumers—they’re your ideal buyer personas.

5. Reach Out to Visitors Who Abandon Their Shopping Carts

Try to cut your cart abandonment rate. These customers are already near the end of your sales funnel—they just need a little push to finalize their purchase. You can stimulate their buying triggers fast with discount codes.

By offering better deals, you’ll eliminate the most common causes of cart abandonment, which include high shipping fees, steep product costs, and unexpected charges.

6. Embed AI Chatbots Into Your Site

Customers are more likely to support shops with a high response rate. Whether they left a product query, complaint, or positive comment, you’d do well to reply fast.

Avoid leaving messages unanswered for hours on end. Otherwise, even interested buyers might abandon their carts while waiting for your response.

That said, it’s also impossible to answer every message in real time manually. Brooke Webber, Head of Marketing at Ninja Patches, advises shop owners to use AI chatbots instead.

He says,

“Program an AI-driven chatbot to answer common questions, organize complaints, and guide site visitors throughout your shop. That way, you’ll only have to address complex, unique matters.”

7. Use Original Media Assets

Avoid recycling photos and videos from your supplier’s website. Your listings won’t stand out if several other shops are using the same assets. You might even come across as a generic dropshipper.

The best approach is to use original creatives. Order samples from your supplier, then take images and videos of them yourself. Try to use unique templates for brand recognition.

8. Generate Your Own Leads

Cold emailing strangers is an inefficient, outdated marketing approach. Instead of buying leads lists in bulk, collect the contact details of qualified, interested prospects yourself. Place several contact information collection forms across all your platforms.

You can use discounts and promo codes to entice site visitors into giving their email addresses.

Jerry Han, the CMO at PrizeRebel, advises shops to customize their sales newsletters instead of sending generic pitches en masse. He says,

The email you send customers should depend on where they are in the sales funnel. Only use aggressive tactics on warm leads. For instance, potential shoppers who recently abandoned their carts might respond well to discount offers. However, buyers who just discovered your brand might not even use your codes.

Boost Your Conversion Rates Through Effective Marketing

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to e-commerce marketing. Strategies that worked well for another shop might not necessarily yield the same results for you. Instead of copying others, focus on creating a unique campaign.

Your strategy should suit your business model, address your target market’s needs, and align with your long-term vision. It’s better to spend time A/B testing custom plans than copy-pasting templates en masse.

If you’re looking to tap into the South African market, consider signing up for geo-specific marketplaces like nichemarket. They’ll help you zero in on your target buyer. By reducing your audience size, you can potentially boost your profits by reducing your target ROAS and overall ad spend.

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Tags: eCommerce, Online Marketing, Digital Marketing, Guest Post