The World Is Changing – Your Business Needs To, Too.
In a digital age where most purchasing decisions and marketing processes are done online, the importance of social media and e-commerce for businesses has never been more apparent.
Did You Know?
60% of consumers want easier access to online customer service support
More than 50% of the world’s web traffic now comes from mobile phones
33% of consumers would prefer to contact a company through social media rather than by telephone
1 in 5 of the world’s population shopped online in the past 30 days
The old ways are changing. In today’s digital world, we do almost everything online, which is why E-commerce – a term almost unheard of four decades ago – is now essential for most businesses.
How To Grow Your E-Commerce Business
1. Don’t just be mobile-ready – optimise for mCommerce and omnichannel marketing
Most transactions are now done online, through mobile phones. A responsive website is a must, as is optimising for mobile commerce (mCommerce) – not just to improve your site’s mobile user experience, but also to ultimately sell or market your product or service.[1]
Prospects today use different devices and channels such as social media, email, and phone during interactions with businesses. This is why omnichannel marketing is the way to go, as it allows the integration of all these interactions together, ensuring companies can deliver their brand message effectively[2]. It also helps to reduce friction during the buying process and increase conversions. According to website conversion optimisation experts Invesp, companies with omnichannel customer engagement strategies retain 89% of their customers, while companies without only retain 33%.[3]
2. Content personalisation
As consumers, we are more likely to buy from a store that displays products or services relevant to our needs and interests. Big players like Amazon and Netflix have long incorporated this into their offerings, and for good reason – research by Epsilon reveals that 80% of consumers are more likely to buy from businesses that offer personalised experiences.[4]
For effective content personalisation, consider the following:
Previous interactions of the visitor on your website
Demographic data such as location, gender, language, etc.
Time of visit such as time of day, month, or year
Visitor's declared interests
Upsells and cross-sells
3. Automate post-purchase and special events like birthdays and anniversaries
Have you ever received a thank you note from a company after making a purchase? Or a personalised offer close to your birthday? Companies who do this are engaging in marketing automation – something that will give businesses an edge.
Convincing people to buy for the first time is always more difficult, but once you’ve done business with them, customers are more likely to come back. Marketing automation tools are extremely useful for this purpose, as companies can set up ‘sequences’ that can nurture, educate and upsell to customers based on their past actions and behaviour.[5]
Advisory firm Bain & Company revealed that increasing customer retention by just 5% can boost profits by 25% to 95%, as it takes less resources to find new prospects as it is to retain old ones.
One of the simplest ways to boost customer loyalty and lifetime value in a personalised and automated way is to set up anniversary, birthday, and seasonal discount coupons. In a white paper study, Experian reported that personalised birthday emails had almost five-times the transaction rate, compared to standard bulk birthday mailings.[6]
4. Provide Excellent Customer Service
The sales process often continues beyond just making a sale, especially for customers that can’t touch or experience your product before buying. Good customer service is crucial to ensure the experience is as hassle-free as possible, to instill confidence in your brand, and also raise the likelihood of prospects returning for another purchase.
Product reviews are another important feature of e-commerce, as consumers today are much more aware of their rights[7], and demand for higher transparency from companies.
A report by Oberlo states that nine out of ten consumers read reviews before making a purchase, and half of all internet users say they post online reviews at least once a month.[8]
5. User-generated content (UGC)
The power of UGC is evident all across the digital space: just look at video streaming giant YouTube, or social media powerhouse TikTok. This sphere extends to buyers, who usually look to fellow users to make their purchase decisions. This is especially true for millennials (those born in the 1981 to 1996) according to a report by Bazaarvoice[9]. Nearly 95% of shoppers read online reviews before making a purchase — and displaying reviews can increase conversions by 270%.[10]
Here’s how companies can harness social influence to help build their brand:
Generate product reviews
Never underestimate the power of word-of-mouth marketing. Happy customers are more likely to leave recommendations, which in turn bring value and impact on sales. Brand personality can also play a major role. A study from the Asian Academy of Management Journal indicates that emphasizing a brand’s personality characteristics can provide brand differentiation and increase trust[11]. Another method is to foster communities and conversations through your online social network presence. Companies like Starbucks and Gymshark, for example, have cultivated a strong community-centric image[12] which has benefited their brands – not just in terms of trust, but also fostering interactive environments where consumers are able to exchange information and drive social impact.
Highlight testimonials throughout your online store, and elsewhere
Testimonials are important to help shoppers get to the point of conversion. Highlighting them on your website can boost consumer confidence and move them through the funnel[13]. Past recommendations are particularly useful, especially when you place them on the product page so it is easily visible – but also be sure to put them throughout the website (and beyond) to create consistency and reinforce trust.
Focus on best-sellers
Best-sellers can be a great focal point for campaigns. You can build a landing page specifically for these types of products and market them directly through advertising. Experiment with long-form landing pages that tell the story of the product to further entice viewers.
6. Market to all stages of the buying process
Many e-commerce beginners think that by simply advertising, products will fly off the shelves. In reality, customers go through different stages in the buying process, so marketing has to be tailored to each of these stages. A typical purchase funnel[14] would look like this:
Need recognition – a potential customer realises that he/she has a need
Information search – he/she begins to look for information to help solve the problem
Option evaluation – the potential customer reflects on what he/she has discovered
Purchase decision – the customer is ready to make a purchasing decision
Post-purchase evaluation – once the customer has made a purchase, he/she evaluates whether it was the right decision
E-commerce businesses might be tempted to go straight to step 4 with their marketing. However, purchasing processes are not linear, so you should ideally have marketing that covers all stages.
7. Use long-form content marketing
We tend to think of social media and the internet as a place of snappy decisions, so we often produce short, bite-sized content to hold the short attention span of customers. You might be surprised to hear that long-form content marketing is best to boost SEO traffic, social engagement, and drive sales[15]. According to research by Venture Harbour, highly visual 3,000- to 8,000-word guides were one of the most consistently high-performing content mediums for increasing social engagement, search traffic, email subscribers, and revenue.
E-Commerce is not limited to retail transactions; it covers everything from marketing and branding to customer service experience, and more. At Spafax, our airline partners have also innovated in order to ensure a seamless and value-added customer experience across all touchpoints.
KrisWorld’s eMagazine engages movie and TV-lovers with the latest entertainment offerings, whilst showcasing little known facts about show location shoots through the Singapore Airlines website and SingaporeAir mobile application.
Priority Digital engages distinguished PPS Club Members with digital-exclusive content, published three times a week through in-app advertising.
Scoot Digital engages the young and trendy audience through social channels, display ad retargeting, and dedicated EDMs.
