Ep. 133 9 Tips for Marketing Your eCommerce Store
Growing the online part of your business takes time and effort. Just like our brick-and-mortar spaces, it’s essential to dedicate some energy to this part of our business. Online marketing is crucial to growing and building a solid omnichannel retail business.
In Master Shopkeepers, a group member with a fantastic brand—and some experience in marketing before opening her retail business!—recently asked for tips on growing the new eCommerce part of her business.
I took some time to think about how to reply so my response would be helpful to her. And I found that even my brain got overwhelmed with how to best answer this question!
9 Quick Ideas for Marketing a Shopify eCommerce Store
There are so many things we can do to market our businesses. I’ve been talking a lot about how we can get tunnel vision, though, where we give excessive time to social media and ONLY social media. While social media is a fantastic marketing tool, it’s not the only way to market your business.
While thinking of how to respond to her, I quickly grabbed my marketing ebook—the one on sale for $19. I have the printed version I gave all attendees at the 2021 Savvy Shopkeeper Retreat as a thank you for attending.
After jotting down a handful of ideas from the book, I was ready to respond to the group member’s question. Here’s what they had asked:
“I need to spend time making our online shop have more return on the investment of time and resources to put all of our inventory online (we’re a consignment shop), and am wondering if anyone with a Shopify store has advice on how to increase online sales.”
And this was my response:
“I would create a bit of a game plan for an all-out eCommerce campaign. It’s all about education, repetition, and getting your customers comfortable shopping online with you… including sharing your policies to educate them about their return or exchange options.
Here are some thoughts (all ideas from skimming my marketing ebook):
1. Are you using email marketing consistently and creatively while linking products in your online shop?
2. Can you run a fun online promotion/giveaway? Similar to what we do in our stores, but this would promote online shopping.
3. Can you give online shoppers access to exclusive online-only deals or clearance sections?
4. Can you run a free shipping promo? Just a one-time event, again to promote online shopping with you.
5. If you run a fun online-only promo, can you get a local news media outlet to share/announce your eCommerce store?
6. Can you run a fun promo with your ambassadors? Or create an Ambassador program?
7. Have you linked all of your sales channels, such as Google, Pinterest, and Facebook, to Shopify? Adding these sales channels DOES result in sales. This is specific to Shopify stores, but check with your platform to see what integrations they offer. Many other online platforms do integrate with Facebook. Setting up your Facebook integration makes your posts “Shoppable”—when you see a tag on the i
mage, someone can click on it, see your product listing, and shop with you online.
8. Have you put any effort into SEO or your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business)?
9. Do you offer a web chat function on your website? This works well for converting browsers who have questions into buyers!”
Get The eBook for Just $19
The nine ideas I shared above were quickly pulled (in minutes) from my marketing ebook! There are WAY more ideas in the 72-page resource, but I figured this would give the Master Shopkeepers member a good start.
The ebook isn’t an in-depth course on marketing, but goodness, it is a pretty comprehensive list of ideas that will get your creative marketing juices flowing—no matter what stage of retail business you’re in.
And this is coming from someone who’s been open eight years and gets stuck in ruts, too! When we started selling online, our online sales were 2% of all revenue. So far this year, we’ve grown that to 17% of our sales.
Many of our customers tell us, “I went to your website first…” (how they finish this sentence varies). Browsing our online product listings is enough to get them to come in.
I can’t quantify the conversion rate of how browsing online leads to in-store sales. But based on conversations with my customers, I know that every bit of effort we put into our Shopify site and product listings is well worth our effort. Not only am I getting valuable inventory reports and data from Shopify, but I’m also getting marketing out of it!
I hope this inspires and motivates you to market your eCommerce store. It’s worth your time, effort, and energy.
Resources
- Ep. 78: What is Omnichannel Retail and How to Achieve It
- Ep. 128: Marketing Your Retail Business: Can We Flip The 80/20 Social Media Rule On Its Head?!
- Ep. 53: Is Shopify Right for Your Retail Business?
- Get Your Retail Business Noticed ebook—on sale for just $19!
- Learn what stage of retail business you’re in with the Savvy Shopkeeper Quiz
- Learn more about our group memberships, the Shopkeeper’s Lab & Master Shopkeepers
Timestamps
- [02:22] 9 Quick Ideas for Marketing a Shopify eCommerce Store
- [10:34] Get The eBook for Just $19
