There’s no question that eCommerce is a challenging space. With the industry continuing to evolve and new technologies emerging all the time, developing effective eCommerce marketing strategies requires three things: knowledge, the ability to adapt, and the partners to help your business grow.
We all know that site traffic is important, but to really stay competitive online, retailers need to also be eCommerce businesses, with a strategy that goes beyond traffic to generate both short-term sales and long-term loyalty.
Tools like artificial intelligence (AI), social commerce, augmented reality, and personalization can give brands an edge, but only if they’re leveraged to reach the right customers, at the right time, with the right offer. An approach that utilizes the best techniques for business growth can ensure you get your share of the dynamic multi-trillion dollar eCommerce market.
Here are some of the best e-commerce promotion ideas that will take your business to the next level.
Best Promotion Ideas for eCommerce Websites
Once you have your eCommerce marketing strategies sorted, it’s time to augment them with eCommerce promotion ideas that can drive new sales and help you retain customers. Special offers sweeten the deal for your potential customers, making it easier for them to justify a purchase and building affinity with your brand.
With the help of paid advertising to programmatic advertising, you can guide customers down the purchase funnel, which can lead to both first-time buys and long-term loyalty.
See how Deberoo uses Taboola to promote their eCommerce products.
1. Free Shipping Promotion
Most eCommerce brands offer discounts on shipping, and there’s a good reason for that: shipping is an aspect of your business that you can control and leverage to benefit your brand and increase sales. For example, implementing free shipping for the minimum order value can increase the profit from your orders, while prominently displaying free shipping offers can attract customers who might otherwise have passed you by.
Pay special attention to shipping promotion opportunities around the holidays. This is a time when shipping discounts can mean the difference between a sale and a loss to a competing eCommerce site.
2. Percentage-Based Discounts
Percentage-based discounts serve a purpose that’s similar to shipping discounts on minimum orders; for example, promoting multiple items together can encourage higher sales.
You’ll likely find that while small discounts, for example in the 10-15% range, encourage purchases, larger ones perform even better. Consider an offer like “Buy 3 shirts, get 20% off a pair of jeans” to motivate customers to select multiple items in order to earn the deal.
3. Multi-Purchase Deals
Even if a customer came to your site to purchase a single item, you have an opportunity to grow that sales by offering a multi-purchase deal.
Most shoppers are familiar with the term BOGO (buy one, get one). Well, the same concept works beyond a one-to-one ratio. Experiment with offers like “Buy 2, get 1 free,” especially for lower-priced items.
4. Quantity Discounts
Bargain hunters tend to find quantity discounts, which offer more significant savings for larger purchases, very attractive. Consumers respond to the concept of quantity savings (e.g. “the more you buy, the more you save”), which can lead to higher average order values (AOV).
Some eCommerce brands offer quantity discounts like “Buy 2 items, save 10%” or buy 5 items, save 20%.” Trying multiple combinations on your site will offer insight into what type of promotion your particular customer base responds to best.
5. Flash Sale Campaign
It’s common knowledge that, from a psychological standpoint, people often want what they can’t have. This is why a flash sale is so effective. A flash sale campaign can create a senses of urgency among your customers, inciting them to make a purchase while items last.
A flash discount can generate buzz about new products in your eCommerce store, and also lead to pre-orders. They’re useful for moving leftover inventory quickly, too, so find ways to work flash sale campaigns in your marketing plan.
6. Limited Time Coupons or Discounts
Like flash sales, a limited time discount saddles shoppers with time constraints to capitalize on FOMO, or the “fear of missing out.” The time limit you tie to your coupon will depend on factors like product price, the nature of your product, and your customers’ shopping behavior.
For lower-priced items, for example, offer a short time limit, like a few days. With higher-ticket items, you can give people a few weeks to consider the purchase. Either way, be sure to follow up with a “last chance” email reminder to give your campaign one last boost.
7. Run Contests
Contests both attract attention and generate a sense of anticipation by inviting shoppers to imagine a possible win. In eCommerce promotion, contests tend to live on social media channels and incorporate hashtags like #giveaway or #contest to expand the brand’s reach.
eCommerce contests can also be used to raise awareness of different products, or expose new potential customers to your product when entrants tag each other in the comments of a post. Requiring that consumers tag a friend, or offering additional entires for contest shares or other forms of engagement, can lead to more entries and potential purchases.
Asking entrants to follow your brand can produce the added perk of an uptick in followers, too.
8. Offer Free Samples
Free samples are an ideal way to expose customers to new products, or convince consumers of your products’ value. How do you do it online? Tie your free samples to a minimum purchase, or offer free samples if the customer pays for shipping. This can lead to an increase in eCommerce profit, and also expose more potential long-term customers to your products. Feel free to mix and match strategies to find the best fit for your brand.
9. Promote a Giveaway
Giveaways go hand in hand with social media, so consider incorporating one into your social strategy to gain some added exposure and boost traffic to your e-commerce site. By requiring social media users to visit your site in order to enter (which can also help decrease the likelihood of fake email addresses), you can attract some of the follower base you’ve been building on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Encourage consumers to earn extra entries by sharing the contest with their friends, and let users know whether or not the contest is limited to a specific region. While giving away one of your products can be a great approach, you can also get creative and incorporate a product you know your customers would be interested in. In the case of Coconut Bowls, that was a Vitamix blender. Coconut Bowls also let entrants know it would be alerting the winners by email—which, if you invite them to opt-in when they enter the contest, can also provide an added opportunity to grow your email list.
Adding Promotions to Your eComm Markering Mix
Using a combination of strategies – like content marketing, email marketing, native advertising, and referral marketing in tandem with attractive promotions and reliable paid advertising—especially for niche brands like beauty and fashion—can increase your exposure, relevance, and reach. From a lead generation standpoint, your efforts will help your brand and business come out on top.
