Ecommerce is a big business, with virtually everyone operating a business offering something or other in the way of ecommerce availability. Even though this is the case, however, ecommerce marketing strategies are not necessarily intuitive and easy to approach. I have put together 20 of the definitive ecommerce marketing strategies to implement in 2024, to help drive sales, encourage relationships between you and your customers, and build a consistent, streamlined strategy. These are all based on my own Fractional CMO experience working with various ecommerce cilents who all used Shopify as their CMS. 

Ecommerce SEO Strategies

Ecommerce SEO strategies are any strategies designed to bring customers into your sales funnel, and effectively convert site and social platform visitors into customers. Unlike many other forms of SEO, which often focus on targeting local language and how you can provide valuable content for your audience, ecommerce SEO will focus on bringing people from Google and other search engines to your ecommerce platform, in order to promote sales and increase your revenue. 

1. Invest in Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization is an essential part of developing a successful ecommerce marketing strategy. Ecommerce marketing typically focuses a lot of attention and energy on paid advertising, but SEO investment is a long-term approach that can yield a great deal of positive change in your business. SEO can help provide organic ROI by continually drawing visitors to your sites and platforms, rather than running a single, specific campaign. A shift in mindset may be necessary to recognize the value of SEO for your social media marketing and websites, but once you see the return, you are likely to be an SEO convert. 

Further Reading: The Ultimate Guide to SEO for eCommerce Websites

2. Optimize Product Pages for SEO

SEO is not only for landing pages and larger, more targeted pages on your sites. Product pages can also benefit from search engine optimization practices, as these function as marketing channels, as well. After all, if someone searches for a specific product, you do want your product to show up in the search results. Treat your product pages the same way you would treat a blog post in terms of SEO practices and keyword optimization. This can help improve conversion rates and, ultimately, result in greater exposure for your offerings. 

3. Collaborate with Guest Bloggers 

Guest bloggers are a great way to further your marketing efforts, by both expanding your target customers through a blogger’s existing audience and by bringing some fresh perspectives and writing styles into the fold. Guest bloggers can create excellent content and help you scale your content if you are struggling with content ideas or lack resources. Having guest bloggers can improve user experience, as well, as it lends an air of legitimacy to your products or brand; after all, are you more likely to trust a brand or product that has been recommended by the company selling it or an outside individual? 

Further Reading: How to Improve Your SEO through Guest Blogging [Free Ebook]

4. Use Internal Links Between Blog Posts and Product Pages

Internal links can be embedded in your product descriptions, on your landing pages, in your blog posts, and more. Product pages and blogs alike can bring in viewers on their own, but your marketing efforts will be far more effective if you are consistently linking across your products and pages. Blogs, for instance, bring in plenty of viewers, but if your blog posts do not link to your product pages, you are missing a significant SEO opportunity and sales conversions. Visitors from Google are more likely to become potential customers if their customer experience is a seamless one, and internal links help provide everything your readers might need in one fell swoop. 

Further Reading: My Recommended Tool for Internal Linking: Link Whisper

Ecommerce Email Marketing Strategies

Although much of today’s marketing focuses on paid ads and marketing techniques that are more distant in nature, email marketing is certainly not dead, and it can be leveraged to significantly and positively impact your business. Email marketing can be used to deliver cart abandonment emails, to inform potential customers or clients of upcoming sales, and even simply inform your audience of something like an upcoming class or live session. I have put together some simple email marketing strategies to make the most of this type of marketing campaign. 

5. Capture more email subscribers with strategic pop-ups

Although email campaigns are tried and true methods to encourage conversions and build customer loyalty, email subscribers are not always the primary individuals browsing your products and visiting your social media platforms. By using strategic pop-ups as part of your marketing campaign to help increase email subscribers, you offer an ongoing window of communication with potential customers who have landed on your pages. 

6. Reduce abandoned carts

Abandoned carts are often a part of the Google shopping experience. People might hop onto a site, impulsively place items in a cart, and then go about their day without actually completing any online purchases. Abandoned cart emails can help reduce abandoned carts, as they encourage potential customers to follow through on online sales. These emails can be rolled into your marketing budget, and can be worded in such a way as to increase customer satisfaction, rather than serving as an irritant. 

When crafting your abandoned cart emails, make sure you are using encouraging language: i.e. “It looks like you forgot something!” versus “You have items waiting in your cart!” One is friendly and encouraging, while the other serves more as a poke or prod. 

Further Reading: 15 Proven Abandoned Cart Email Templates To Win Back Lost Sales

7. Send text message campaigns

Content marketing is not only completed online, or through email campaigns. Click-through rates can also be encouraged through text message campaigns. Ecommerce marketing tactics often encourage companies and brands to take advantage of text message campaigns because most customers have their phones with them at all times. A reminder of a sale, a discount code, and more can all be a part of your text campaigns to reach your marketing goals. 

One of the most common ways to encourage participation in text message campaigns is to offer a discount of 5% to 20% for signing up for emails. Although some customers will take the coupon and subsequently unsubscribe from emails, many more maintain their texts in the hope of additional information or coupons, and make up the bulk of your text message recipients.  

Ecommerce Content Marketing Strategies

Ecommerce content marketing is largely the same as other content marketing strategies, with one important caveat: unlike local SEO, or marketing to encourage a visit to a brick and mortar store, ecommerce can be targeting people from all over the world, to deliver goods and services online. This is an important consideration to take into account, because it can significantly inform the language you use and the search terms you rely upon to gather keywords and key phrases.  

8. Leverage user-generated content

Social media posts are great, and the posts you generate in-house are certainly useful. User-generated content is also extremely useful, however, as it can increase trust in your brand, demonstrate how a product is intended to be used, and provide some variety within your ecommerce business. Different buyer personas respond to different marketing tactics, which means that you can leverage different approaches to user-generated content to bring in your ideal customers and audience. 

Further Reading: 17 UGC Marketing Strategies to Generate More Sales in 2024

9. Leverage social proof & testimonials

“Social proof” is the term used to describe the social phenomenon in which a group of people adopt a set of mores or a series of actions because it seems to have become the norm. What does this mean in the context of your business? Let’s say, for instance, that I post testimonials and reviews on my site. Site visitors are going to trust me not only because I have some evidence of having followed through on orders and delivered a worthy product or service, but also because they see that others have turned to me for those products or services. 

Knowing this, you can use affiliate marketing, user-generated content, and testimonials to help boost your ecommerce sales and encourage people to visit your ecommerce stores or corresponding social platforms. 

Further Reading: 4 Effective Ways to Use Customer Testimonials in Your Content to Increase Conversion

10. Host live and virtual events

Hosting live and virtual events can serve as excellent promotional tactics because they have an aura of urgency and authority about them. Think about it this way: if you were just robots behind a screen, you would not be offering to go on live, or host a virtual event, which would require your attendance. If you were illegitimate, you might not be so eager to have your face plastered on a screen. Hosting live and virtual events lends an air of legitimacy to your brand or company, brings in an audience with a sense of urgency, and cultivates a sense of exclusivity. 

Ecommerce social media is not unlike standard social media, but there are some important differences to take into account, not the least of which is the need to put products first. Although businesses and brands that are looking more to establish name recognition and branding, ecommerce platforms need to be careful to showcase the products or services they are offering, including making access to those items more convenient through links. I have compiled some tips to make the most of your ecommerce social media strategies below. 

Further Reading: 10 Ways to Leverage Social Media in eCommerce

11. Put product-related videos on YouTube.

Product-related videos serve many purposes. The relevant content found in these types of videos can offer simple how-tos, in which your audience is shown how to use the product, or what it is intended for. They can also show off the product’s features, and give a clearer window into what it looks like in use. These videos can help increase the confidence of potential buyers by making them feel as though they have actually seen the product, or are better prepared to use it once they have it in their possession. 

Further Reading: 7 Types of eCommerce Videos Your Website Needs to Increase Sales

12. Create a TikTok marketing strategy

TikTok is a wealth of marketing gems, including their addition of a streamlined checkout process for purchases made on the app. That being said, TikTok is not an app to open on a whim and post without first creating a significant, well-planned strategy. TikTok’s strategy is notoriously difficult to crack and fully understand, which means that diving in without prior preparation can result in not using TikTok in your digital marketing campaign as thoroughly and effectively as possible. 

Further Reading: TikTok Marketing: 5 Reasons Why, 5 Strategy Tips How, and 5 Examples to Help You Master the Channel

13. Integrate Instagram

Integrating Instagram into your e-commerce marketing strategy can be a great way to further expand your reach; Instagram is one of the most frequently used marketing tools today, and by integrating it with your website and other areas in which your presence is found online, you can bridge the gap between your site and your profile. Because websites themselves, and even pages like LinkedIn do not typically offer daily peeks into the goings-on of a brand or company, including Instagram can help potential customers see your day-to-day. 

Further Reading: Instagram for Ecommerce: An 8 Step Guide to Making Sales on the Gram

Paid Ecommerce Marketing Strategies

Not all companies have substantial marketing budgets, but those that can afford it would do well to consider using paid marketing strategies to increase their reach and improve the likelihood of seeing conversions. There are a few different types of paid ecommerce marketing strategies, the most significant of which I have laid out below. 

14. Run PPC campaigns

PPC or pay-per-click campaigns are marketing campaigns in which the advertiser pays for each click on the ad in question. This is a type of marketing funnel that is designed to attract your target audience via the search terms they type in, which indicate potential intent. PPC campaigns are useful, because they are highly targeted, and are often included in the e-commerce marketing strategy of people looking to bring in more serious buyers, versus those who are on the fence about their purchases. Note that the pricing of PPC campaigns varies, so it is important to determine where they fit in your ecommerce marketing plan; if you do not budget appropriately, this particular type of campaign can prove frustrating. 

15. Utilize Retargeting Ads

Retargeting ads are exactly what they sound like: ads that retarget customers who have already visited you. Whether you do this by sending emails directly to an email address you have collected from a visitor, or simply by displaying ads to someone who has previously visited one of your sites, retargeting essentially encourages previous customers to continue their customer journey by returning to your site and making a purchase. 

Further Reading: How to Retarget on Facebook in 2024: A Comprehensive Guide

Ecommerce Influencer Marketing Strategies

Influencer marketing began taking the world by storm many years ago, but has continued to grow and gain steam, and remains a viable means of improving your marketing reach and accomplishing your goals. That being said, all influencer marketing strategies are not created equal, and not all yield a high ROI. I have selected the most valuable forms of influencer marketing to help support reach and eventual conversion. 

16. Collaborate with influencers

Influencer marketing is often an untapped wealth of usefulness, and it is a business model that has continually shown its value. Unlike customer reviews, which are delivered by people who are largely nameless and faceless, influencers are respected, liked, and trusted, and their recommendations often result in happy customers. By collaborating with influencers, you are building trust and rapport, exposing your brand to an entire audience that may differ from yours, and potentially even aiding in customer retention by fostering relationships. 

Further Reading: Shopify Collabs: The Definitive App for Ecommerce Influencer Marketing

17. Create guest posts for external websites

While it can certainly be useful to bring people to your brand via influencers, it can also be useful to spread your wings beyond the walls of your site and platforms and create guest posts for other sites. This, too, can help improve your brand’s sense of credibility, can expand your audience, and can give you something to link out to in the future. 

Further Reading: How to Improve Your SEO through Guest Blogging [Free Ebook]

Other Ecommerce Marketing Strategies

 Ecommerce marketing does not have to be night-and-day different from other forms of marketing, but consider the differences: from a virtual shopping cart to a tangible one, and a series of face-to-face interactions versus a wall of words, ecommerce marketing has to work hard to remain personable, friendly, and encouraging. I have selected three valuable marketing strategies designed specifically for ecommerce, to help support ongoing revenue, build relationships, and ultimately encourage success. These strategies include: 

18. Implement upselling and cross-selling of products throughout your website

Whether you use internal links or you pair products together, there are many ways to use online stores to upsell and cross-sell, in order to arrive at the best possible outcome during your customers’ journeys. To upsell, you can link to products that would benefit the individual more than their current product, and for cross-selling, you can offer multi-purchase discounts, link to good pairings, and far more. It may seem a simple task, but pointing customers to other products is often a great way to increase exposure to your products and services. 

19. Reward loyal customers

Customer loyalty programs are typically the most effective ways to deliver customer rewards and provide a boon for being a loyal customer. The most common programs include special offers, discount codes, and even affiliate marketing plans. By rewarding loyal customers, you are essentially investing in the likelihood or possibility of existing customers to become recurring customers who return for each new iteration of a product, or to replenish their stores when they have fun out. 

Further Reading: How to Promote Your Ecommerce Store’s Promo Codes on Social Media

20. Launch a subscription service

A subscription service can be a great way for an online retailer and other ecommerce entity to innovate their sales processes, and look for new offers to provide to your customer base. A subscription service can offer a wide range of products and services, but it performs several important functions, the first of which is the ability to ensure an ongoing source of income. The second of which is to continue to build customer loyalty through rewards. Subscriptions services are often low-cost monthly fees, but can of course he larger fees, or less frequent deliveries or offers. 

Conclusion

Delving into the world of ecommerce is exciting; it is a wide-open world, with seemingly limitless possibilities. Of course, the ongoing nature of selling online comes with its own drawbacks and challenges, and stepping into the space equipped with strategies to market, sell, and follow up with products and services is essential to prevent its pitfalls. Using the ideas I have compiled here, you can feel confident as you navigate the world of ecommerce and marketing, to make sure you are achieving your ecommerce goals. 

Will you use any of the tips I have put together here? Let me know in the comments!

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