Hoping to grow your eCommerce store this year? To reach a wider audience, make more sales, build a loyal customer base, and grow your store, you’ll need to know how to use eCommerce digital marketing.
You have awesome products, but that’s not enough in today’s competitive marketplace. You need to figure out how to reach the right people at the right time, convince them to buy, and then re-engage them to keep them coming back. That’s where a carefully thought-out eCommerce digital marketing strategy comes in!
Successful eCommerce marketing isn’t just about throwing money at paid ads or posting on social media. It’s about understanding your customers, reaching them in the right place at the right time, tracking their behavior, and making data-driven decisions.
In this article, I’ll cover all of the aspects of an eCommerce digital marketing strategy, from the key strategies to how to measure success.
Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
What is eCommerce Digital Marketing?
eCommerce digital marketing involves strategies and tools to promote online stores and drive sales. It includes tactics like search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click advertising (PPC), email marketing, social media campaigns, and content creation tailored to target audiences. The primary goal is increasing traffic, conversions, and revenue for eCommerce platforms.
A well-rounded eCommerce digital marketing strategy includes all the strategies and tactics you use to attract potential customers to your online store, convince them to make a purchase, and keep them coming back for more. It’s about creating a seamless, engaging shopping experience from the moment a customer first hears about your brand to long after they’ve made their purchase.
Here are a few of eCommerce digital marketing’s unique characteristics:
- Focus on the entire customer journey: From awareness to consideration to purchase to post-purchase support, eCommerce marketing considers every touchpoint and funnel.
- Emphasis on conversion optimization: Every element of your marketing strategy is geared towards turning visitors into buyers.
- Integration with your online store: Your marketing efforts are closely tied to your eCommerce platform, product pages, and checkout process.
- Use of eCommerce-specific metrics: You’ll be tracking things like average order value, cart abandonment rate, and customer lifetime value.
In a nutshell, eCommerce digital marketing is your way of creating a virtual storefront that’s always open, always welcoming, and always ready to make a sale.
5 Key Strategies of eCommerce Digital Marketing
The five key strategies and tactics of eCommerce digital marketing are:
- SEO
- Content Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Paid Advertising
The goal is to create a unified strategy that guides potential customers through their buying journey, from discovery through post-purchase.
1. eCommerce SEO: Optimizing for Search Success
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is crucial for any online business, but it’s especially important in eCommerce. Why? Because when people are looking to buy something, they often start with a Google search. If your products don’t show up, you’re missing out on potential sales.
Here are some of the most important aspects of eCommerce SEO:
- Optimize product pages: Use descriptive, keyword-rich titles and meta descriptions. Include detailed product information, high-quality images, and customer reviews.
- Improve category pages: Create unique content for each category page, explaining the types of products and their benefits. Make sure titles and meta descriptions are optimized.
- Use structured data: Use schema markup to help search engines understand your product information better. Display your products in search engines in the best way possible!
- Focus on site speed: A fast-loading site is crucial for both technical SEO and user experience. Your website’s speed can even influence your search engine rankings!
2. Content Marketing: Educate and Engage Your Audience
Content marketing isn’t just for blogs—it’s a powerful tool for eCommerce stores, too. By creating valuable, relevant content, you can attract potential customers, build trust, and establish your brand as an authority in your niche.
Don’t just post anything, though! Let keyword research and customer input drive your content strategy. Perform keyword research on topics your audience might be interested in and strategically use keywords to drive the right traffic to your content.
Here are a few content ideas for eCommerce websites:
- Product guides, comparisons, and lists: Help customers make informed decisions about which product is right for them. Also, consider listicles of the best products for specific audiences or needs.
- How-to articles and videos: Show customers how to use your products effectively.
- Behind-the-scenes content: Give customers a peek into your brand story and values.
- User-generated content: Encourage customers to share photos or reviews of your products.
The key to successful content marketing is consistency and quality. Establish a unique brand voice, post often, and use keyword research to drive your content strategy. Review your analytics often to see which content is driving traffic and conversions.
3. Email Marketing: Personalized Campaigns for Customer Engagement
Email marketing remains one of the most effective strategies for eCommerce digital marketing. It allows you to reach your customers directly with personalized messages that can drive sales and build loyalty.
The key to really great eCommerce email marketing is segmenting. Create different email campaigns for each stage of your user journey: the “just browsing” crowd, the people who’ve just made a purchase, and the people on your list who haven’t made a purchase in a while. Each audience has unique needs and will convert at a higher rate if you target them with emails specifically for the stage they’re in!
Some email marketing ideas to consider:
- Welcome series: Introduce new subscribers to your brand and products.
- Abandoned cart emails: Remind customers about items they left in their cart.
- Post-purchase follow-ups: Thank customers for their purchase and ask for reviews.
- Personalized product recommendations: Use customer data to suggest products they might like.
A well-thought-out email marketing strategy can be your biggest asset when running an eCommerce shop.
4. Social Media Marketing: Leveraging Platforms for Promotion
Like email, social media also has the potential to be a goldmine for eCommerce businesses. It’s where you can get creative, showcase your products, engage with customers, and build a community around your brand.
Social media also has a great potential for paid ads. Putting your products on social media in front of interested users can be a lucrative way to sell, especially if you find the right audience on the right platform.
Here are some tips for social media marketing:
- Choose the right platforms: Focus on where your target audience spends their time.
- Create shoppable posts: Make it easy for customers to buy directly from your social media posts.
- Run contests and giveaways: Contests and giveaways encourage engagement and attract new followers.
- Use influencer partnerships: Collaborate with influencers to reach new audiences.
Another social media tip that helps grow your following is to add your feeds right onto your website. That makes it easy for website visitors to find your social media profiles and reminds them to give you a follow. If your website is on WordPress, check out all the different Smash Balloon plugins for integrating your feeds with your website.
5. Paid Advertising: Best Practices for PPC and Retargeting
While organic strategies are important, they take time to build and ramp up. Paid advertising, on the other hand, can give your eCommerce store an immediate boost in visibility and sales. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and retargeting campaigns can be particularly effective for eCommerce businesses.
Here are some best practices:
- Use specific, long-tail keywords: Target customers who are ready to buy using long-tail keywords for your products. For example, creating an ad targeting “women’s shoes” would likely lead to some conversions, but an ad for your red women’s high-heels that targets “women’s red high heels” would be super targeted and hopefully end up with a nice, higher conversion rate.
- Create compelling ad copy: Highlight unique selling points and include a clear call to action.
- Set up retargeting campaigns: Show ads to people who have visited your site but didn’t make a purchase. Retargeting campaigns can be super effective!
- Optimize for mobile: Ensure your ads and landing pages look great on all devices.
Paid advertising isn’t right for every online store, but for many, it can drive a significant number of sales.
9 Top Tools for Ecommerce Marketing
Now that we’ve covered the key strategies you’ll need when marketing your eCommerce shop, let’s talk about some tools that can help you implement them effectively. The right tools can definitely make your eCommerce digital marketing efforts more efficient and effective!
1. Google Analytics + MonsterInsights
MonsterInsights is at the top of the eCommerce marketing tools list. This powerful WordPress plugin makes it easy to set up Google Analytics eCommerce tracking without touching any code or using complicated tag management tools. With MonsterInsights, you get:
- Easy setup: Install the plugin and connect your Google Analytics account with just a few clicks.
- eCommerce reports: Get detailed insights about your store’s performance right in your WordPress dashboard.
- 1-click eCommerce tracking: Install the eCommerce addon and set up Google Analytics eCommerce tracking with a simple click. Track important eCommerce metrics in your WordPress dashboard, like conversion rate, average order value, and top-selling products.
- PPC Ad tracking: Easily track conversions from your PPC campaigns without having to install any code snippets.
MonsterInsights isn’t just about collecting data–it’s about turning that data into actionable insights that can drive your business forward. Here are a few of the ways it can help with eCommerce digital marketing:
1. Detailed Customer Behavior Tracking
MonsterInsights gives you a comprehensive view of how customers are interacting with your store without even needing to open your Google Analytics account. You can see:
- Which products and pages are viewed most often
- Your engagement rate for each channel and campaign that sends traffic to your site
- The path customers take through your site before making a purchase
- Which outbound links are getting clicked the most often
- How often users are abandoning their carts
- How many users are purchasing using mobile devices
- And more
This information is invaluable for optimizing your pages and products, improving your site navigation, and identifying potential roadblocks in the customer journey.
2. Easy Conversion Monitoring
With MonsterInsights, you can see exactly how your marketing efforts are translating into sales. Here are a few of the metrics inside the plugin’s reports you can use to attribute your sales:
- Which channels are driving the most sales
- Which campaigns are driving the most sales
- Which products are selling best
- Which landing pages are performing the best
- Your average order value and total revenue
These metrics allow you to quickly identify what’s working and what’s not, so you can adjust your strategies on the fly.
3. Email Campaign Metrics
Your email marketing tool tells you whether your audience is opening and clicking on your emails, but how do you really know what those users are doing on your site? With MonsterInsights, you can see how those users are interacting with your website right inside your WordPress dashboard. As long as you use UTM tags on your email links, your campaigns will be included in the Campaigns report:
With your email campaign data so easily accessible, you can make changes to your emails that will grow your sales.
Want a full tour of the MonsterInsights dashboard? Check out Your Ultimate Guide to MonsterInsights Dashboard Reports.
Get started with MonsterInsights now!
2. All in One SEO
All in One SEO is the most powerful SEO plugin for WordPress.
No matter what type of WordPress website you have or which eCommerce plugin you choose, you need to use an SEO plugin to optimize your site.
All in One SEO is a fantastic WordPress SEO plugin with tons of features to help you get your site indexed in search engines, optimize your content, create amazing meta titles and descriptions, and much more.
Plus, AIOSEO integrates with WooCommerce to help you optimize all product pages if that’s the eCommerce plugin you’ve chosen. It can also:
- Create a product sitemap
- Optimize product pages
- Optimize product category pages
Use AIOSEO now to dial in your eCommerce SEO.
3. Constant Contact
Constant Contact is a powerful email marketing platform that’s perfect for growing your eCommerce business.
Whether you’re just starting your online store or managing an established eCommerce website, you need a reliable email marketing solution to connect with customers and drive sales.
Constant Contact offers many eCommerce features designed to help you generate more revenue, automate your marketing, and create personalized shopping experiences. Their drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to create professional-looking emails that convert browsers into buyers.
Plus, Constant Contact integrates seamlessly with major eCommerce platforms like WooCommerce to help you:
- Send automated abandoned cart reminders
- Create personalized product recommendations
- Design shoppable product emails
- Track sales and revenue from email campaigns
- Segment customers based on purchase history
- Build an automated welcome series for new customers
Use Constant Contact now to boost your eCommerce sales through effective email marketing.
4. Semrush
Semrush is a comprehensive digital marketing and SEO platform that can definitely help you grow your eCommerce business online.
Whether you’re running a small online store or managing a large eCommerce operation, you need powerful analytics and competitor insights to stay ahead of the game.
Semrush provides an all-in-one toolkit for SEO and competitor analysis. It helps you monitor your competitors, find profitable keywords, and track your site’s performance. Its intuitive dashboard makes it easy to identify opportunities and optimize your online presence.
Plus, Semrush offers specialized eCommerce features to help you:
- Research and track profitable keywords
- Monitor competitor rankings and strategies
- Analyze competitor backlink profiles
- Analyze traffic patterns and user behavior
- Improve your product page rankings
Try Semrush now to supercharge your eCommerce marketing strategy and outperform your competitors.
Alternative: Ahrefs
5. OptinMonster
Did you know that you can intervene right when one of your potential customers is about to leave your website?
OptinMonster, the most powerful popup builder on the market, can help you win back some of that lost revenue.
OptinMonster tracks shoppers’ behavior to show popups at exactly the right time. If a shopper starts to close their browser, close the tab, or even simply change to a different tab, you can trigger a popup window.
This popup could offer a discount on the products they already placed in their cart, or offer to send them a coupon via email.
OptinMonster calls this ability to detect cart abandoning behavior Exit-Intent®, and it’s one of the features that make this popup builder ideal for rescuing abandoned carts.
Get started with OptinMonster now!
6. ChatGPT (AI)
ChatGPT is a powerful AI language model that can transform how you operate and market your eCommerce business.
Whether you’re running a small online store or managing a large eCommerce operation, AI can help streamline a whole bunch of different aspects of running your business.
ChatGPT serves as your virtual assistant, helping you create content, brainstorm ideas, and improve customer service. Its natural language processing capabilities make it easy to generate professional, engaging content for your online store (as long as you’re reviewing it and adding your own spin).
Plus, ChatGPT can help you:
- Write compelling product descriptions
- Perform keyword research
- Create engaging email marketing copy
- Generate SEO-friendly content
- Draft customer service responses
- Develop social media posts
- Write meta descriptions and titles
- Create FAQ sections
- Brainstorm promotional ideas
Use ChatGPT now to enhance your eCommerce operations and save valuable time on content creation and customer communications.
Note: While ChatGPT is a powerful tool, it’s important to remember that all AI-generated content should be reviewed, fact-checked, and edited by humans before use.
7. RafflePress
RafflePress is the ultimate WordPress giveaway plugin that helps you grow your online store’s audience and boost engagement through viral contests.
Whether you’re launching a new product or looking to expand your existing customer base, you need an effective way to reach new audiences and build excitement around your brand.
RafflePress makes it simple to create and manage viral giveaways that turn participants into customers. Their drag-and-drop giveaway builder helps you create professional-looking contests that drive real results for your eCommerce business.
Plus, RafflePress offers powerful features to help you:
- Create viral sharing contests
- Grow your email list with contest entries
- Boost social media following
- Increase website traffic
- Generate pre-launch buzz
- Track entries and engagement
- Automatically select winners
- Integrate with major email marketing platforms
- Ensure contest compliance and fraud protection
- Create mobile-responsive giveaway pages
Use RafflePress now to supercharge your audience growth and turn contest participants into loyal customers.
8. PushEngage
PushEngage is a powerful web push notification platform that helps you recover lost sales and re-engage customers, even after they’ve left your online store.
Whether you’re struggling with abandoned carts or looking to boost repeat purchases, you need a way to reach customers directly on their desktop or mobile devices, even when they’re not on your website.
PushEngage makes it simple to send timely, personalized push notifications that bring customers back to complete their purchases. Their smart automation features help you create targeted campaigns that drive revenue for your eCommerce business.
Plus, PushEngage offers specialized features to help you:
- Send automated abandoned cart reminders
- Deliver personalized discount codes
- Reach customers even when they’re offline
- Target based on browsing behavior
- Schedule price drop alerts
- Create time-sensitive offers
- Segment customers for targeted messaging
- Track notification performance
- A/B test your messages
Use PushEngage now to recover abandoned carts and turn browsers into buyers with targeted push notifications.
9. Microsoft Clarity
Microsoft Clarity is a free website heatmapping and analytics tool that helps you understand exactly how customers interact with your online store through powerful heatmaps and session recordings.
Whether you’re optimizing your product pages or trying to reduce cart abandonment, you need to see exactly how real visitors navigate your site and where they might be getting stuck.
Clarity provides invaluable insights through visual tools that show you customer behavior in action. Their user-friendly dashboard makes it easy to identify usability issues, spot conversion roadblocks, and optimize your shopping experience.
Microsoft Clarity offers features to help you:
- Watch real customer shopping sessions
- View click and scroll heatmaps
- Identify rage clicks and frustrated users
- Track shopping cart abandonment paths
- Analyze mobile vs desktop behavior
- Monitor form abandonment
- See how far users scroll on product pages
- Track dead clicks that may indicate broken elements
- Measure engagement time on key pages
- Understand navigation patterns
Clarity is completely free and doesn’t impact your site’s performance, making it a must-have addition to your eCommerce toolkit.
Use Microsoft Clarity now to optimize your store’s user experience and boost conversions with real customer behavior insights.
That’s it!
Remember, growing your eCommerce store is much easier when you can make data-driven decisions. Get started with MonsterInsights now to track eCommerce metrics easily.
eCommerce Digital Marketing FAQ
How is eCommerce digital marketing different from traditional digital marketing?
While there’s overlap, eCommerce digital marketing focuses specifically on driving online sales. It emphasizes conversion optimization, integrates closely with eCommerce platforms, and uses specific metrics like average order value and cart abandonment rate.
How can MonsterInsights help with eCommerce digital marketing?
MonsterInsights simplifies Google Analytics tracking for eCommerce sites, providing easy-to-understand reports on your store’s performance, customer behavior, and marketing campaign effectiveness right in your WordPress dashboard.
What are some important metrics to track in eCommerce digital marketing?
Important metrics include conversion rate, average order value, customer lifetime value, cart abandonment rate, and return on ad spend (ROAS). MonsterInsights makes it easy to track these metrics and more. For more on important eCommerce metrics, check out 9 Top eCommerce Metrics & KPIs to Track in Google Analytics 4.
How often should I update my eCommerce digital marketing strategy?
You should continuously monitor your performance and be ready to make adjustments. Review your strategy thoroughly at least quarterly, but be prepared to make smaller tweaks more frequently based on the data you’re seeing.
Is it necessary to use paid advertising for eCommerce digital marketing?
While it’s not absolutely necessary, paid advertising can be a very effective way to drive traffic and sales, especially for new stores or during promotional periods.
How can I improve my eCommerce SEO?
To improve your eCommerce SEO, focus on optimizing product and category pages, use relevant keywords, create unique product descriptions, implement schema markup, and ensure your site is mobile-friendly and loads quickly.
How can I reduce shopping cart abandonment?
To reduce cart abandonment, simplify your checkout process, offer multiple payment options, provide clear shipping information, and use retargeting ads or abandoned cart emails. For more on shopping cart abandonment, check out How to Track Shopping Cart Abandonment with Google Analytics.
How can I measure the ROI of my eCommerce digital marketing efforts?
Measuring ROI involves tracking your marketing spend against the revenue it generates. MonsterInsights makes this easier by providing clear reports on your site’s performance, including eCommerce metrics like conversion rate and average order value.