15 Ecommerce Marketing Trends

To Plan Your 2017 Budget

It’s already that time of year:

Time for holidays, food, family, and new year planning.

Being so close to the new year, I think it’s appropriate to take a look at the eCommerce marketing trends that have popped up in 2016 and will be even more prevalent in 2017.

ECommerce Marketing Trends That Haven’t Changed

Let’s face it; some things simply won’t change. You could call them “fundamentals”. Whatever your name for them, they are

just as important in 2017 as they were in 2016.

User-Generated Content

1

“UGC will be a huge marketing trend in 2017 for eCommerce

owners to increase their conversions.

“

Key Takeaway◎ 82% of shoppers say that UGC is extremely valuable to

them when making a purchasing decision.

◎ 70% of consumers trust reviews written by other customers above professionally written marketing content.

◎ 70% of consumers consider product and brand recommendations from their social circles trustworthy and 46% trust online reviews posted by other customers.

The best part about UGC is that you don’t have to create it! It takes some effort up front to encourage your customers to post it, but once you have a system in place it becomes quick and simple.

Key Thing

Encourage your customers to take pictures of your products and share them using tactics like Instagram

contests. Increase your conversions from your Instagram UGC using a tool like Photoslurp.

Influencer Marketing

2

“Influencer marketing is so

effective because it’s basically free and works really well if you

find the right people to work with. Why?

“

Key Takeaway◎ 92% of people trust recommendations from individuals

(even if they don’t know them) over brands.

◎ 74% of consumers use social media to make purchase decisions.

The real challenge with influencer marketing is simply finding the right influencers. You can use tools like BuzzSumo or NinjaOutreach to help you find the best influencers for your brand.

Key Thing

Influencer marketing can help you increase your reach and bottom line if you do it right. Create an influencer

marketing strategy to get started.

Mobile-Friendly Website

3

“When you market your products on Facebook or Google, as much as 50% or more of the traffic you

receive will be on a mobile device.

“

Key Takeaway◎ According to PewInternet.org, nearly two-thirds of the U.S.

population has a mobile phone with Internet access and they use these devices to conduct the majority of their online searches.

◎ It has to be fast – 40% of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load. That’s nearly half your traffic!

◎ 74% of visitors were more likely to return to mobile friendly websites and 67% were more likely to buy from a mobile friendly website

Making your website mobile-friendly isn’t just a good to-do. It’s a necessity to maximize your sales.

Key Thing

If your website isn’t mobile-friendly or is slow to load, look into using a better website template or hiring a

developer to work with you.

Videos (Especially Live Ones)

4

“Media has always been an

important part of online marketing. Live videos, in

particular, are especially effective at capturing attention.

“

Key Takeaway◎ People spend 3x longer watching Live video compared to

video which is no longer Live.

◎ Video posts have 135% greater organic reach than photo posts.

◎ Unbounce (@Unbounce) reports that including video on a landing page can increase conversions by 80%.

Periscope and Meerkat started the live video trend in marketing and Facebook has stolen their thunder with Facebook live, which now generates 8 billion live video views per day.

Key Thing

Getting your face out there for people to associate with your brand is going to increase your bottom line. Get some basic video equipment and start recording

live Facebook videos.

Omni-Channel Selling

5

“Omni-channel means selling your

products on multiple marketplaces, or “channels”. This

could mean your website, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Jet, etc.

“

Key Takeaway◎ Again, simply putting your products in new places may not

seem like marketing – but it will certainly affect your sales.

◎ multichannel shoppers shop more often and spend over 3 times more than single-channel shoppers.

Key Thing

Take your products and put them on as many marketplaces as you can. Use a resource like

ChannelApe to manage your inventory across these channels.

User Experience

6

“The user experience (UX) of your website is more important now than ever. If a user has a bad

experience on your website, they probably won’t come back.

“

Key Takeaway◎ Use a strong hosting provider to ensure speed and stability.

◎ Tell a story with your design to captivate your visitors.

◎ Make your products easy to sort through with proper tags and better search bar functionality.

◎ You can also post your website on various forums for others to review and provide feedback(Shopify has a section dedicated for this).

Key Thing

Go through your website as if you were a customer, and shop like you would any other website. Notice

what’s easy and what’s aggravating, and find ways to make the aggravating stuff easier.

Content Marketing

7

“Content marketing experienced its first “year of fame” in 2016, and it’s going to be even bigger in 2017. Because people hate being interrupted by ads, but

love to consume content.

“

Key Takeaway◎ Over 200 million people have installed an ad blocker. It’s

obvious people no longer want to be spammed by ads. Content gets around this.

◎ Content marketing leaders experience 7.8 times more site traffic than non-leaders. Isn’t the point of marketing to get more traffic to your website? Content does it.

◎ While content marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing, it generates more than three times as many leads. It’s affordable and effective; what more can you ask for?

Key Thing

Creating content is an important part of increasing traffic to your eCommerce site. Start a blog, podcast, or video series to begin establishing yourself as an

authority in your niche.

Feedback/Social Proof

8

“Social proof has always been

huge for marketers, and 2017 will be no different.

“

Key Takeaway◎ Over 70% of Americans say they look at product reviews

before making a purchase.

◎ Nearly 63% of consumers indicate they are more likely to purchase from a site if it has product ratings and reviews.

Psychology has proven that people like to go with the pack. If other people are doing it, chances are you’ll want to do it too.

Key Thing

Social proof is going to be an important marketing trend in 2017. Start asking your customers for reviews, and give them more reasons to write one (like loyalty

or rewards points, discounts, or free shipping).

Remarketing

9

“Remarketing is going to be

another big eCommerce marketing trend in 2017.

“

Key Takeaway◎ it allows you to show your product to your customers

multiple times (aka “touch points”) as they move across the internet.

◎ Every time you see the ad pop up again is another touch point. That’s remarketing.

The science says it takes, on average, 7 touch points before a consumer buys a product. Remarketing makes it easy to acquire those extra touch points.

Key Thing

Get your products in front of your customers multiple times through remarketing.

Customer Research

10

“Knowing your audience has been

a “marketing trend” since the dawn of marketing.

“

Key Takeaway◎ Businesses still aren’t doing enough customer research.

They still don’t know who their target market is!

◎ Doing this kind of research is time-consuming and can be difficult.

Customer research is what separates the pros from the amateurs.

Key Thing

Know who your ideal customer is so you can craft everything you do around them.

New Ecommerce Marketing Trends

Here are a few of the new trends popping up in 2017:

On-Site Personalization

11

“On-site personalization is going to be huge in 2017. What that

means is using people’s information to personalize your

website experience to each individual user.

“

Key Takeaway◎ 73% of consumers prefer to do business with brands that

use personal information to make their shopping experiences more relevant.

◎ 45% of online shoppers are more likely to shop on a site that offers personalized recommendations.

◎ 80% of consumers like when retailers emails contain recommended products based on previous purchases.

Key Thing

Implement on-site personalization in your website and emails.

Social Media And Google Search Buy

Buttons

12

“Social media buy buttons are relatively new to the online

marketing game and still aren’t quite widely available.

“

Key Takeaway◎ Twitter and Pinterest have been rolling them out to select

companies and Facebook is allowing anyone to create a Facebook store where their followers can buy directly from their Facebook page.

◎ Google revealed in 2015 that it’s beginning to implement buy buttons as well to select companies, and will be rolling them out to the population at large shortly.

◎ Photoslurp clients have seen an average of 18% increase in conversions by adding a buy button to their Instagram content!

Key Thing

Google and Social Media buy buttons could creep up in 2017 marketing trends. Consider testing them to get

the most from your store.

Augmented Reality/VR

13

“OK, so this one is more of a hope than anything, but virtual reality

is really starting to take off.

“

Key Takeaway◎ Imagine being able to hold a virtual version of a product in

your hands and turn it over as you inspect it from different angles.

◎ This is the cutting-edge of technology. If you can afford it, it may be worth getting on the train before others to take advantage of the first wave of testers.

◎ Jeff Booth (@JeffBooth) said it best when he announced that “interaction leads to immersion, and immersion leads to conversion.” What better way to immerse your customers than a virtual reality experience?

Key Thing

While VR may not be ready yet in 2017, it’s worth keeping your finger on the pulse and trying it out early

to get in on the initial rush. At the very least, get yourself some cheap VR goggles for your smart phone

and try it out.

Better & Free Return Shipping

14

“Shipping made it to my list of 2017 eCommerce marketing

trends, despite not being a direct marketing tactic.

“

Key Takeaway◎ Of course, test before you commit 100%. You may find you

simple can’t afford it, which is understandable.

◎ However, on the other end, you may find that your customer satisfaction and even bottom line go up drastically from this change.

◎ Amazon has trained people to expect free two-day shipping. In fact, they expect fast, free, and done well.

Key Thing

Shipping costs can be expensive, and it won’t always be possible to offer free shipping. However, it is something you should test for your business. 

Customer Engagement

15

“Customer engagement is not a

new marketing trend, but there’s a (sort of) new way to do it that will benefit eCommerce owners:

“

Key Takeaway◎ Response videos are videos you send as a response to your

customers whenever they reach out to you on social media.

◎ Word of mouth marketing is one of the best converting and cheapest forms of marketing!

◎ In a world where Snapchat exists, you shouldn’t have a problem sending a quick 10-second thank-you video to a customer.

Key Thing

Take 10-30 seconds to send your customers personal thank-you videos. If you’re camera shy, record audio instead. Send it in a Facebook or Twitter message, or

even text or email if you have that info.

Thanks!

Any questions?Find Us at: https://maansoftwares.com/services/ecommerce-solution

Email us at: info@maansoftwares.com