While it pays off to concentrate on keeping your existing customers and boost brand loyalty, gaining new ones is the key to growing your eCommerce business.
But how do you find fresh customers for your e-store? What marketing strategies do you need to employ?
In this post, we’re discussing 6 different ways to gain new customers for your eCommerce store, so that you can keep increasing your sales and growing your business.
1. Increase Your Visibility in SERPs
If you want new customers, you have to make sure people are able to actually find you online. And in order to increase search visibility, you need to optimize your website’s SEO to match the keywords that new customers are typing into the search engines.
For instance, if you are a footwear company, you need to create content that matches queries by people who are interested in footwear. In other words, you need to tailor your content to specific audiences (women’s shoes, men’s shoes, etc.).
Of course, the process of increasing your visibility takes time and patience, as well as some knowledge in SEO tactics like improving your website’s speed and internal linking in order to make your website more reliable and give a good first impression to new customers. If your budget allows it, it’s best to hire a professional eCommerce SEO company that will do the heavy lifting for you and get you on Google’s first page as fast as possible!
2. Focus on Product Images and Descriptions
Product descriptions and images are the core of every eCommerce website. Detailed, high-quality images give customers an opportunity to understand what’s being sold. In fact, more than 68% of customers cite the ability to zoom as one of the most important factors when making a purchase decision.
Besides helping you to gain new customers, images also allow you to build trust. Research has shown that customers think that online shops that invest in high-quality images are more trustworthy.
3. Make Sure You Have a Clear Return Policy
Having a well-thought-out return policy clearly displayed on your eCommerce site is key to attracting, and retaining, customers. A survey by Harris Poll found that more than 90% of consumers consider a store’s return policy to an important factor when making a purchasing decision.
Unlike visitors to physical stores, online shoppers don’t get a chance to see and touch the product before they buy it. That’s why online stores need to make sure that their return policies are appealing to their customers and are, above all, fair. A clear and concise return policy gives customers a feeling of security, a guarantee that the product is indeed what you claim it to be. If potential customers landing on your site don’t see this guarantee, they’ll probably become suspicious and won’t buy from you.
4. Leverage Social Media
Social platforms have an enormous user base, providing online stores with an excellent way to make themselves known and reach out to new audiences. This can be done either through organic posting or through paid ads.
If you choose to go with organic posting, the best way to engage with your target audience is through images as studies have found that images are the key contributor to the success of social media content.
However, there’s one contributing factor more important than images made by your company and that’s images made by satisfied customers. So, if you want to make the most out of social media, you should consider leveraging user-generated content.
Considering the fact that more than 90% of people trust other people’s recommendations more than they trust ads created by companies, user-generated content is an excellent way to give you a competitive advantage. Research has shown that customers that engage with UGC are 96% more likely to convert.
5. Invest in Customer Service
There’s no better way to promote your eCommerce business than through satisfied customers. And in order to make sure your customers are satisfied, you need to ensure quick and effective support.
Research has shown that customers are willing to pay up to 25% more when they have a good experience with customer service. Moreover, according to live chat stats, nearly 45% of respondents claimed that the most important feature of a website was having their questions answered by a live person.
Bear in mind that the products you’re selling are probably already available in several other eCommerce stores. The competition is getting fiercer, so once you’ve invested time, money, and effort into attracting customers, it’s very costly to lose a customer to a competitor.
6. Engage in Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is an excellent way to increase brand awareness, boost sales, and attract new customers. In fact, nearly 95% of marketers use this technique because it drives eleven times more ROI than other online marketing channels!
If you decide to give influencer marketing a go, start by targeting influencers who are a good fit for your brand and who have a large enough following with good engagement. Try to develop relationships with influencers before you move to paid advertising. This will give you an opportunity to see how the influencer engages naturally with your brand. Comment on their social media posts and blog and share their content on your own social media accounts.
Final Thoughts
Just like with physical stores, online stores also need to attract new customers in order to make profits and keep growing. Fortunately, attracting new customers to your eCommerce website isn’t that difficult, especially if you have these 6 tips to help you get started. The only thing you need to do is choose the right strategies for reaching and satisfying your customers.
