The world of e-commerce appears to be more promising and seen as something incredibly lucrative by people all over the globe. As good as this may appear, this also means that the field itself is getting more and more competitive with each passing hour. This is why you need to keep up with all the latest trends and always find a way to adapt them to the situation and incorporate all of these tools and ideas into your own branding strategy. With that in mind, here are seven eCommerce digital marketing trends that you should look out for in 2019.
#1 Voice search
The rise in popularity of voice search is an obvious reason for you to invest in this technology. The data alone speaks about the fact that by the year 2020, about half of all searches should be voice searches. In fact, some of these estimates go as far as to say that about 30 percent of all these searches will be done without the use of a screen. Therefore, you need to do all that you can in order to prepare your e-store for the future. If your audience gets accustomed to this type of browsing and you’re the only one in the field not providing it… let’s just say that the end result definitely won’t go in your favor.
#2 Augmented reality marketing
The biggest downside of e-commerce is the fact that people can’t hold some of the items in their own hand or try them on. Well, augmented reality could fix this, at least partially. Imagine being in the fashion industry and being able to let your audience check out how the glasses that you have in inventory would suit them. How about a scenario where you sell furniture and have a chance to show your audience what a certain item would look like in their home? This could truly become a powerful tool for boosting sales and, as such, something you just can’t afford to miss out on.
#3 Live videos and stories
If there’s one thing that we can say with certainty about the present-day state of social media, it’s the fact that it’s much more story and live video oriented. When the story feature first appeared, it was a simple Snapchat thing that no one paid attention to until Instagram introduced it three years later. Since then (in 2017 alone) it was introduced by WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook, Skype and YouTube, under different feature names, of course. When it comes to live videos, it’s safe to assume that wide audiences prefer them because they’re unscripted, fun and convenient.
#4 A holistic approach
One of the biggest mistakes that a lot of e-commerce retailers tend to make is to take a narrow approach to promote their brand and products. What you need to do is create a certain continuity which will aid you in your efforts to create a stronger brand. This is why you need a social media marketing strategy instead of a short-term plan. This includes social media management, influencer outreach, chat-bots creation and many other objectives that you need to work on as soon as possible.
#5 Simpler check-out process
Even though registering tends to make the overall shopping experience more personalized, the truth is that a simpler check-out process takes precedence. What you need to do is figure out the right check-out process and the best first step in achieving this lies in the idea of allowing a purchase without the registration. Think about it, if the customer in question allows cookies, you’ll already get all the information you need and if they get a better customer experience from not registering then so be it.
#6 Email marketing with a focus on engagement
There are a lot of ways to make your emails bring more conversions. The key lies in putting a focus on engagement and there are several tips to help you out on this quest. First of all, you need to set expectations before people even subscribe to your email list. Second, you need to craft an extraordinary subject line. Additionally, you should provide social links in order to further validate your business and make a sturdier sales funnel. Lastly, you need to make your email visually appealing.
#7 Protect your intellectual property
The last thing you need to understand is the fact that, as a business that works exclusively in the online environment, you’ll have so much intellectual property going around. Knowing how to protect it is, therefore, the most important step in protecting your brand as a whole. To do this, you must first learn the difference between trademark, copyright and patent, yet, knowing these terms is not enough, on its own. What also matters is having all the necessary mechanisms to deal with these numerous problems.
In conclusion
By sticking to this simple seven-step plan, what you get is a major improvement in your entire e-commerce business model. First, you get to deliver a message through much more efficient channels. Second, you boost the efficiency of your already existent tools and techniques. Finally, you ensure that all of this is done according to a plan, which allows you to remain on the right track. Keep in mind, nonetheless that knowing what you should do and being able to effortlessly execute all of these plans are not one and the same. Therefore, take your time and properly prepare yourself before you proceed.
About the Author
Nick Brown is a blogger and a marketing expert currently engaged on projects for Media Gurus, an Australian business, and marketing resource. He is an aspiring street artist and does Audio/Video editing as a hobby.
