An Expert’s Guide to Lead Generation for Online Retailers
You understood the benefits of online transition and finally set up your online store. Great! But, what’s the next step? How can you utilize your online presence and unlock new sales opportunities and sell more goods?
If you have just started with your online store, your first objective must be to attract leads. To be more specific – leads that’ll actually convert. Unlike other service-based websites, huge volume of traffic will not matter if people don’t buy products from your online store. Your ultimate goal is to drive qualified leads who’ll most likely make the purchase at the end.
Well, we are here to make your job a bit easier. As an ecommerce website development company, we understand that ecommerce is among the most competitive business verticals. Without the right strategic approach, you’ll end up behind the curve. That’s why it’s crucial to implement strategies that align with your business objectives and can help you drive better leads.
In this guide, we’ll share the most effective lead generation strategies you can use to drive qualified leads for your online store and attract better sales.
1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Do you know that 49% of ecommerce business owners believe that organic leads are better for their business growth. When your website attracts organic traffic, you can get qualified leads for free.
In saying that, however, attracting organic traffic is not easy and most marketers believe that it’s a gradual process. To attract organic traffic to your website, SEO will be the most reliable marketing strategy. For readers who don’t know, Search Engine Optimization is the practice of optimizing a website’s online presence so that it becomes search engine-friendly.
When you implement different search engine practices for your website, it automatically starts climbing the search engine ladder, allowing you to drive more qualified leads organically.
Here are a few SEO strategies you can implement to witness the desired growth.
- Conduct thorough keyword research to identify relevant and high-converting keywords related to your products.
- Create high-quality, informative, and engaging content that addresses the needs and pain points of your target audience.
- Ensure that your website is mobile-friendly, as an increasing number of users search and browse on their mobile devices.
- Improve your website’s loading speed as it is a crucial factor in both SEO and user experience.
2. Use Social Media Marketing
Social media is the most useful marketing tool online retailers can use to drive better sales and establish a loyal audience base at the same time.
There’s a reason why industry giants such as Amazon and eBay still heavily invest in their social media growth. It works! As a startup or a small-scale online retailer, you can use social media to reach out to your target customers and convert them into long-term clients. By staying active on social media, you can also establish yourself as an industry leader, resulting in better brand reputation.
However, it’s important to understand that social media marketing will only work when your posts directly talk to the customers. Instead of posting random pictures & videos on your social media handles, focus on posting content that aligns with customers’ interests.
For better engagement, you can also use advanced social media features such as polls and stories. Keep in mind that staying consistent and publishing personalized content is the key to engaging more customers via social media.
3. Connect With Relevant Influencers
Influencer marketing has become a common marketing strategy among business owners in the last few years, thanks to the sudden growth of micro-influencers across different social media influencers. You’d be surprised to know that Influencer marketing has now become a $20.1 billion industry and it’s growing ten folds every year. If you want to reach your potential customers with minimal efforts, influencer marketing is the right answer.
The reason why influencer marketing works like a charm is the integrated trust factor. These social media influencers have a highly engaged and loyal audience. In fact, the majority of their followers are likely to make a purchase decision based on the influencer’s opinion.
It means if you want to grow your sales exponentially, it’ll be wise to invest in influencer marketing. Here are a few strategies that’ll help you leverage influencer marketing for your benefit.
- The first step is to identify influencers who align with your ecommerce brand and target audience. Look for influencers who have a significant following in your niche and whose values and content resonate with your brand.
- Define your influencer marketing goals. Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, driving sales, or expanding your reach to a new audience, having clear objectives will help you measure the success of your influencer marketing campaign.
- Have influencers showcase your products through reviews, unboxing videos, or demonstrations. Authentic and engaging content that showcases your products’ value and benefits can influence potential customers’ purchase decisions.
- Encourage influencers to create user-generated content featuring your products. Repurpose this content on your own channels to showcase real-life experiences and testimonials from their followers.
4. Showcase Customer Reviews and Client Testimonials
If you’ve been in the business for a while, chances are you already have a small customer base. As a retailer, you can encourage these customers to leave reviews and share their thoughts on their shopping experience. You can create a dedicated “Reviews” section across all product pages and use it to highlight these client testimonials.
This tactic will always work because a wide range of new shoppers base their shopping decisions on the feedback shared by others. Highlighting these reviews right on the product page will help new shoppers gain insights from other’s experience and make a better decision accordingly.
Some merchants even highlight reviews shared across other platforms such as Google My Business and third-party local directories on their website. This can be a great opportunity to share an overall shopping experience so that you can easily convert qualified leads into conversions.
5. Use Interactive Content to Engage Shoppers
Online merchants can leverage interactive content to engage shoppers and create a more dynamic and immersive shopping experience. Interactive content encourages active participation from shoppers, making them more likely to stay on the website, explore products, and ultimately make a purchase.
Create interactive product showcases that allow shoppers to explore products from different angles, zoom in on details, and visualize how products look in various settings. This helps shoppers get a better understanding of the product’s features and benefits.
Design interactive quizzes or surveys that help shoppers find products that best suit their needs and preferences. These quizzes can be related to style, size, usage, or any other relevant factors, guiding shoppers to the most suitable products.
Conclusion
Mastering the art of lead generation is paramount for online retailers seeking to thrive in today’s fiercely competitive digital landscape. Through an effective marketing plan, you’ll not only attract leads, but also get ahead of the competition and establish yourself as an industry leader. In this quest, you may also partner with a reputed marketing agency like NetSpark Solutions. Our marketing team and content marketing experts specialize in creating personalized campaigns for different online stores. Let us devise a fully custom marketing plan so that you can easily unlock new lead generation opportunities from different channels.
