E-commerce Archives

Facebook Online Advertising Targeting Techniques For Online Retailers

Posted on 31.Jan.202202.Mar.2022 by Amir Levi

With the algorithm forever evolving and making it more difficult to connect an organic search with fans and potential customers, Facebook ads offer incredible micro-targeting capabilities that will help you get your signal in front of the people most likely to respond to your online advertising endeavors. One of the features that makes it such a terrific digital advertising platform is the ability to pick and specify certain goals for your ads. By targeting online advertising, you’ll be able to gauge the performance of your ad campaign if you plan for it before it goes live.

While many of the advantages of Facebook advertising are self-evident, targeted ads do come with a slew of difficulties. Facebook can help you to achieve fans, but you must first grasp what it provides companies and how its paid ad network is structured to provide a variety of advertising possibilities.

One of the most beneficial factors of online targeted advertising is that you can limit who sees your ads, saving money by not showing them to anyone who wouldn’t be interested in them.

It’s All About Interests Analysis Technique

Interests are the online activities that people engage in. Things a person has looked at or engaged with in the past are displayed in connected Facebook advertising for goods, individuals, events, and a multitude of other things. You can distribute your adverts to your target individuals using Facebook’s interest targeting function. By targeting online advertising, you can reach the correct individuals with your adverts. You may not have enough data to feed Facebook’s machine and help it locate your target interests in advertising. The Facebook pixel is a code fragment placed on your website that allows you to track the efficacy of your adverts. It is a piece of code that you install on your website to track conversions from Facebook advertisements, improve campaigns, create focused audiences for future campaigns, and retarget users who have previously been in contact with your site. Keep a close eye on the size of your audience.

Lookalike Audiences Technique

Lookalike audiences on Facebook can help you find people close to your present clients. They’re built around target audiences. For online targeted advertising, you may generate a source audience from:

Leveraging data from a newsletter subscription list or a consumer record database.
People who came into contact with your company over the telephone or through another offline channel.

Facebook targets people who have the same interests as your customers and can be your potential clients. When establishing lookalike audiences, Facebook suggests employing a source audience of 1,000 to 50,000 individuals. However, for a small company, this might be difficult. Up to 500 lookalike groups can be created from a single source audience.

Remarketing Technique

Remarketing is when you employ the Facebook pixel to monitor people on your page and then follow up with them by giving them adverts on Facebook. These commercials are intended to entice customers to keep searching and buying the product, whether it’s a unique market or their first transaction. Cart abandoners, visitors who dropped out at the information processing stage, and those who browsed certain websites may all be added to retargeting lists using remarketing. By targeting online advertising, you may establish a list to target people who have visited your store using retargeting, or you can utilize a CRM to collect client information and reach out to them with adverts. It will be properly saved in encrypted form in your browser, and other firms will be able to obtain it only if you give it to them. In Facebook Ads, you can select between two forms of remarketing:

When you use manual remarketing, you create an ad based on a self-inserted picture or video each time you promote a specific product.
Dynamic remarketing puts the decision of which product to show in a carousel, collection, or single picture in the hands of the Facebook algorithm.

Facebook tries to choose items from the catalog using data obtained by a pixel so that the receivers are willing to do the conversion you designate. In remarketing, the way you show the things you offer is critical. The fact that the recipient is familiar with you does not guarantee that they will purchase from you again, regardless of the advertisement content.

Analyzing The Demographics Technique

Demographics are defined as groups or segments of the population that have a similar attribute or characteristic. Facebook has grown from a network of people eager to communicate with friends and family to a venue that can propel enterprises to success. It enables you to make your advertisement campaign more accurate and relevant by using a variety of statistics. You may use the following demographics in your Facebook ad strategy:

Age, Gender.
Location, Employment.
Relationship, Education.
House, Income.
Dependents, Political interests.
Generation, Life events, Language.

Online targeted advertising makes the point of defining the interests of your target consumer and is the greatest approach to narrow down your market. Facebook provides free training on how to utilize its targeting choices for companies.

FAQ

Why should I include Facebook in my ad portfolio?

Whatever business you’re in, there’s an audience for you. From brand exposure to lead creation, Facebook offers advertising services.

Is it true that the consumers are on Facebook?

According to research, Facebook usage is steadily increasing among older generations, with users 65+ being the fastest-growing demographic on the network. For successful usage of online advertising targeting techniques, it is used by many more of your clients than you may know, making it an important part of any digital marketing campaign.

What is Facebook retargeting, and how does it work?

You may construct personalized marketing lists of people who have already interacted with your company using Facebook retargeting. It allows you to design a targeted remarketing campaign to retarget them and get them closer to completing the transaction.

How can you see the Facebook marketing effort of a competitor?

You can now see precisely what advertisements your rival is running and how much they’re paying to run them as part of Facebook’s commitment to openness. This is a really handy tool that may help you get a head start on some of your advertising campaigns.

What Is E-commerce Development?

Posted on 28.Jan.202202.Mar.2022 by Amir Levi

Any type of entity, whether offline or online, needs constant modifications and improvements, which lead to its growth and market scaling. If companies want to become profitable and large-in-size covering a particular industry, for example, e-commerce retail or wholesale merchants, they should adhere to economic theories and regulations.

The global business analytic research shows the incredible growth of online businesses specializing in retail merchandise up to 4.28 trillion USD in 2020, proving the large scale of the development trend due to pandemic restrictions. However, the pandemic uncovered the primary advantages of digital commerce: we all save time and money by having unlimited access to global online marketing services.

At the same time, you might wonder why ordinary websites launched to sell some farming products or flower deliveries from Florida or LA are not as successful as expected, but Amazon is boosted immensely. The answer regarding these development features focuses on key e-commerce elements. The correct balancing of all components of the strategic progress of the particular business entity should be based on the well-known business planning concepts and visions:

analysis of the current business activities;
review of the quality, price, and shipping policies;
improve marketing tools, including customer-oriented methods;
adjust personalization and customization options;
integrate the scaling platform for the net profit optimization;
develop your mentality, attitudes, and ambitions to move your e-commerce company forward.

E-commerce Business Development Elements And Their Value

The development process is pretty complicated and dynamic, especially if this is an e-commerce progress action. However, this process is easier to manage, supervise, and redirect if you use the earlier-prepared strategic approach for online business development.

To make your online company sustainably profitable, innovation-based, and client-oriented, you need to anticipate the following elements for specific digital commercial activities:

Ensure all the product-related information on the website is correct and up-to-date. In order not to lose the customer’s trust and loyalty, you need to monitor and keep the information such as product description, availability, and price actual. Losing the customer’s trust may negatively impact your e-commerce business development and consequently lead to huge income losses.
Use a segmentation approach to clients, supplies, orders, etc. To investigate your business activities in detail, you need to split their different components into smaller groups and better manage the outcomes.
Follow the rule “Customer first”. It would be best to remember that purchasers are sources of valuable market information, profits, and primary advisers to improve business activities. According to the e-commerce specifications, personalization and customization options are must-have tools for your website and other omnichannel resources.
Do not be afraid of innovative technologies. Any online store requires innovation integration as otherwise your company will be unsuccessful. The online business owner should observe the software market products and enhance B2B contacts to reach stable development for an extended period. For instance, from the start-up stage, you should integrate the supportive platforms that enable you to redirect the current goals and effectiveness indicators towards the minimization of the adverse factors or bad management solutions.
Inspire yourself and your staff. Online businesses are constantly moving toward something new and flexible which should meet the market changes. In this case, you need to find a source of self-inspired motivation and pass this on to your staff members and colleagues.

Development interactions for successful e-commerce merchants are mandatory. So, if your online company is small or medium-sized and does not have enough investment for self-improved measures, it should integrate technologies developed for constant growth.

FAQ

What is e-commerce development?

E-commerce development is a well-organized process to structure your business activities. Such optimization modifications are made to increase profits, scale business horizons, and improve the quality of the supplementary services which make your business stand out from the competitors.

What does an e-commerce business development manager do?

An e-commerce business development manager is a multi-specialized project manager who supervises many planning and control processes and negotiation measures. Such managers are also committed to orienting e-commerce business innovations and trends to predict the potential methods for future improvements and re-directions.

What are the stages of e-commerce development?

E-commerce development includes several stages appropriate for any kind of relevant business. They are start-up and business initiation, stable growth or market adaptation, reception, and renovation leading to repetitive growth.

How do you develop an e-commerce business plan?

The e-commerce business plan is a typical strategic instrument comprising key fact-findings, potentially positive, negative, and optimal progress scenarios for the particular business entity, and leading indicators determining the net profits and proper business growth in short- and long-term periods.

How do you develop an e-commerce product?

E-commerce product development consists of similar components applied to the relevant business; however, its planning process is more concretized. To elaborate on innovative and practical e-products, you need a specific team, S.C.A.M.P.E.R. technique, the required investments, comprehensive marketing strategies, performance testing, and feedback analysis.

What is the difference between e-business and traditional business?

The nature of both e-business and traditional business is similar and aimed at making profit. However, the profit-making tools for e-business concentrate its online activities and sales via digital means over the global network.

Social Media E-commerce Trends

Posted on 25.Jan.202202.Mar.2022 by Amir Levi

For a clear analysis of today’s success in online trade, it is necessary to study the new e-commerce social media marketing trends in sales carefully.

There are clear guidelines for it, here are a few examples:

Social networks increase sales;
B2Bs spend more on technologies;
Chatbots are useful for managers;
Internet shopping is carried out on a number of devices;
One-click buying is a great strategy for online sales;
Use AI to approximate your goals;
By including augmented and virtual reality, you can attract more attention to your brand;
Voice commerce.

E-commerce as a social media strategy is gaining momentum. Everyone can take advantage of a wide range of technologies and thus match today’s capabilities. It will be difficult to reach a goal innovatively. Brands that do not bring modern solutions to their strategy cannot count on high profits.

Our advice to companies is to tie their online shop with their social networks. Companies are posting products that they want to sell on their pages. Because of this, they can increase their client base.

Despite the existence of modern solution methods, many brands still use catalogs as their main commercial strategy. However, we still emphasize the fact that setting up a good web page attracts more people and brings, accordingly, more profit.

In this article, we’ll take a look at social media e-commerce trends and their impact on a company’s bottom line.

Official E-commerce Statistics And Forecasts

Use e-commerce as social media marketing to create similar sales paths

According to statistics, 49% of the population claim that e-commerce as social media marketing inspires them to pre-empt goods. Also, 71% of people say that recommendations significantly increase interest in the product and encourage shopping.

If we take social media sales analysis into consideration, then Facebook can be used as the best platform. According to statistics, 85% of sales in social networks occur through Facebook.

In 2021, total online sales are expected to rise to $4.5 trillion. Thus, it becomes apparent that e-commerce is the optimal way to generate good sales profits.

According to forecasts, big sales are expected to take up 19.5% of sales in 2021. As a result, most of the money spent on sales will be associated with online shopping.

It is expected that online selling will continue to grow, bringing brands higher profits.

If we look at preliminary forecasts, sales will be $6.388 trillion by 2024, with an all e-commerce stake of 21.8%.

This commercial strategy is good at attracting clients. Studying statistics, we can see that over the past six months, 79% of the population purchased goods using modern devices.

Online sales via e-commerce social media marketing is a nice option for promotions. According to official statistics, 71% of the population purchases products due to social networks.

Modern E-commerce Trends

There are a lot of options for rising sales, below is a list of some of them, we advise you to use them in your strategy:

B2B sector spends more on e-commerce technologies

B2B will probably take advantage of online sales. Customers who prefer wholesale will rely on advanced B2C functionality from e-commerce sources that wholesalers produce.

Platforms with wholesale sales using B2C should be quite comfortable for people. It should have a product catalog, shopping cart, and check-out variations.

There are also platforms like Amazon and Alibaba.

Alibaba accounts for about 80% of sales. Alibaba is the intermediary between the Kyai and Western markets.

Today’s e-commerce social media strategy makes it possible to transfer from B2C to B2B format. To join B2B expand your strategies using modern methods.

Chatbots allow you to place orders automatically.

Recently, this method of online sales has become a really good chance to simplify work with people and even increase income.

According to official statistics, 45% of shoppers agree that a chatbot is the best option for contacting customer support.

A social network such as Facebook also creates chatbots, which helps to save time on using managers.

We also advise you to pay attention to these tips:

Mobile devices are becoming the main channel for online shopping

62% of mobile device users have purchased something in the past six months using their mobile phones. This makes responsive design an essential attribute of a successful online store.

If the design of your online store doesn’t meet the requirements, you are losing potential buyers. In addition, more and more companies are launching branded applications.

Let’s take a look at the Starbucks app. The company developed the Ordering and Pay app in 2015. In 2017, the app processed about 30% of payments from all orders. Bear in mind that the online business app is one of the hottest mobile e-commerce trends in 2021.

One-click purchase is a must for e-commerce

The convenience of working with clients is a necessity for a modern online store. The integration of one-click shopping and one-step checkout extensions is a global e-commerce trend followed by many retailers.

28% of online shoppers abandon their shopping carts because the checkout process is too long and complicated. The multi-step checkout process is the third reason the shopping cart is abandoned. Additional key reasons for shopping cart abandonment are additional shipping costs (60% of online shoppers) and lack of pickup (37% of online shoppers).

One-page checkout makes the buying process much more convenient. This leads to more conversions and fewer shopping carts being abandoned.

Many extensions streamline the checkout process. However, you will need a developer to integrate these extensions into your online store. Moreover, an e-commerce social media marketing developer will help you find the perfect solution for your platform.

Helpful Options For E-commerce Social Media Strategy

These tips will also be indispensable strategies:

Artificial intelligence and machine learning for more personalized interactions

AI is one of the main parts of e-commerce social media marketing. It becomes a powerful tool for increasing conversions. Online retailers use this technology to communicate more personally with shoppers. As a result, it increases the customer’s lifetime value and the average order value. For example, you can use AI to analyze customer behavior or offer customers more personalized discounts based on their previous purchases.

Machine learning technology is even more powerful because it combines several types of artificial intelligence. Machine learning chatbots collect information from buyers and give them the appropriate answers. Thus, machine learning can help automate customer support. This e-commerce social media strategy is also suitable for providing customers with more relevant search results. The technology generates search rankings based on relevance for that particular user.

Augmented reality and virtual reality are reviving physical stores

These facilities are very popular with retailers. All customers love these technologies. The report showed that 40% of people would buy the product at a higher price if they could test it in VR/AR first. What’s more, 61% of people are loyal to brands that provide them with augmented reality features. Many retailers have already implemented augmented reality technologies in their stores.

Let’s take a look at Houzz, a home design and interior design company. After launching its augmented reality app, the company found it influenced purchasing decisions. In particular, shoppers are 11 times more likely to purchase an item after using an app.

Use voice commerce as an e-commerce social media strategy

It contains products created by programs such as Apple Siri, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant. It is expected to keep growing, so this trend will be one of the main ones in the coming years.

Most mobile devices will be designed to use voice assistants by 2023. There were about 2.5 billion of them in 2018, and there will be about 8 billion such devices.

Official figures predict the profit from sales through voice commerce will be about $40 billion in 2022. Visit AdScale blog for even more useful tips on e-commerce and online business. There are many interesting points that may help you in your work.

FAQ

What is Social Commerce?

Types of commerce include customer reviews, customer recommendations, forums, website optimization, and ad setup.

What are the latest trends in e-commerce?

Good publicity;
Marketing that has become automated;
The use of AI in advertising;
Expanding commerce by adding them to mobile devices;
Virtual reality for products on sites;
Adding voice search.

What is the main innovation in e-commerce?

Chatbots will be at the forefront of e-commerce trends. 45% of people find this supplement to be very helpful and convenient.

What other trends are there in e-commerce marketing?

Aside from the mainstream trends, there are also things like local stock advertising, niche markets, vertical markets, and retargeting.

10 Shipping Update SMS Examples

Posted on 21.Jan.202202.Mar.2022 by Amir Levi

SMS messages are a great way to get in touch with customers and give them updated information about their packages.

So the question arises, what is the best way to write messages? There are many things to consider regarding this issue.

After a buyer places an order, they will wait for the delivery, which they want to receive as soon as possible, of course. To avoid irritating customers with calls, the best way to inform them about shipping updates is by sending messages about the place and delivery time. This way, your customers will receive SMS notifications with the delivery status.

However, there are several important points when writing notifications to clients:

Provide clear information about the date and time of delivery.
Attach a link to the detailed information about the order so that the client can make sure that everything is done correctly.
Use funny pictures or creative texts when writing the SMS update.

What Do Popular Platforms Write In Their SMS Shipping Updates?

Companies like Alpha Lev, Amazon, and much more use SMS to notify their customers about their shipment. Let’s look at some examples.

Amazon. This company sends shipping and delivery information via SMS containing the main details: the item, the date of expected delivery to the recipient’s address, and the status of the order.

Amazon proved that the SMS does not have to be too long; only the required information and nothing more. Let’s have a look at an example:

Your deodorant ordered from our store will be shipped on Wednesday, April 2nd. You can track your parcel by following this link: [link];

Frey. As opposed to using email, SMS notifications appear to be more personal than formal; it helps to build trust – like a buddy just texted you. The text in Frey’s shipping updates is friendly and direct. Therefore, a company establishes trustworthy relations with its clients.

Frey creatively approaches delivery notifications; it uses GIF images, funny pictures to express their positive emotions in case of timely delivery of goods, or sad emojis to express they are sorry. An example of an SMS regarding shipping might look like this:

Frey: Your item ordered on our website has been delivered!!! We hope you are as happy as we are!!! Let us know if you have any questions; we are always ready to help =) You can contact us by following this link: [link];

AmazinglyCat. Most people will love it when their SMS about the order delivery has an unusual design. In the beginning, they send their customers high-quality photographs with the image of the product ordered. Then, they write an informative text with detailed information. Quick, lean and mean.

AmazinglyCat: Your soft pillow for your furry pet is still waiting for you in the store. Don’t miss the opportunity to let your cat play with their new pillow.

In order to finish placing your order, follow the link – It will take no time at all!

Anthropology. Their SMS about an order is an excellent example of how you can add a call-to-action to your updated delivery SMS. An example of their SMS about a shipping update:

Anthropology: Your item has been delivered. Rate this link: [link]

Instead of asking for feedback on your service, you can ask for a photo of the new pants they ordered from your shop, for example, or offer a “tell a friend” feature if the customer liked the item and your service.

Alpha Lev. This company treats its customers in an interesting way. They notify their visitors they can take advantage of a special offer as a discount on any product by clicking on the link, but it is available only for a limited amount of time. This pushes them to place their order quickly:

Alpha Lev: Great job! Thank you for your order, Jay! Most people who want to achieve quick results also buy sports supplements from us – this product falls under the category of best sellers. Improve your athletic performance by starting with our sports supplements. We will give you an 8% discount if you order our product, which we can put in the same parcel for you. The discount is valid for 20 minutes.

Your code: [activation code], follow this link: [link].

SMS Ideas For A Client’s Order

Let us remind you that when sending order status notifications, try to ensure that the main part of the text includes the most relevant information: order number, the link for tracking the parcel, and the delivery window. Also, make sure that your SMS clearly shows your store name, to ensure the recipient does not mistake the SMS for spam.

Here are some SMS examples you can use to notify customers about order delivery or shipment.

[Store name]: Thank you for choosing us. Your order will be sent to you soon – we will keep you posted when this happens. To find out more information, follow this link: [link].
[Store name]: Woo-hoo! Today is delivery day! Your wardrobe will be delivered to you between 12 pm and 4 pm. Detailed information is available at the link [link].
[Store name]: You have placed an order with us for a soft home chair – congratulations, an excellent choice! Tomorrow, your order will be sent to the address you indicated on the site. Follow the link below and check the data. Hit the “Confirm” button and we will send your parcel directly to this address. Track your order on our site ___. Feel free to ask us any questions – we are happy to help. Good luck!
[Store name]: We remind you that your sweater will arrive today, the courier is expected between 2pm and 6pm. Thank you for choosing our store, and upon receiving the goods, we would appreciate it if you would rate us on our site! Check the data and track the current location of the parcel by clicking on the link below. Have a great day! [link]
[Store name]: Congratulations! Your item has arrived at your nearest post office. Pick it up soon and enjoy your new eyeshadow palette. You can save up to 20% during the discounts next week on any goods from our store. For detailed information, you can read on our website or ask the sellers in our store!

Why Should You Send Notifications Via SMS Messenger?

At the moment, people are increasingly using SMS messages to reach out to customers.

SMS marketing is proven to be a great way to interact with customers due to the possibility of quick interaction (about 90% of messages are read within 3 minutes). Also, when it comes to time, SMS creates a sense of importance surrounding what is happening and pushes people to make quick decisions – this is a good marketing move.

For most people, their cellphone is always at hand and everyone understands that SMS has a higher priority than email.

We also advise you to switch to using SMS. Let’s see why this might be relevant:

Revenue analysis shows that this is a fairly cost-effective way to promote a company. For example, sending SMS to customers via the SMS system application accounted for 21% of their total revenues for companies such as Peace Out Skincare.
SMS is not as busy a channel as email, and it is much more convenient. You can check on your phone how many unread emails you have in your inbox and how many SMS were sent to you. This indicates a high chance of a client seeing the messages.
SMS will be delivered to customers quickly.
By sending your SMS via messenger, you can easily see who it was opened and answered by.
Usually, clients leave their email, as they prefer to correspond via SMS with a closer circle of people. Therefore, by receiving SMS, a person feels more comfortable. This is a good option for interacting with customers.
Using SMS to interact with clients, you do not need to spend a lot. For example, if you inform clients about discounts, promotions and use SMS for other advertising purposes, you will definitely pay less than recruiting for help from television and radio studios.
SMS can be tracked. Many Internet companies provide reports regarding delivery. This is a good opportunity to see how communicating with your customers via SMS has impacted your business, and whether this way of communicating with customers is right for you. This can be done by examining the statistics of their reactions to receiving notifications.

Use SMS to:

send notifications and links to confirm your order;
ask your customers to leave feedback on a purchase or rate the service;
send any suggestions for using this product;
remind customers about promotions, discounts, and sales;
remind customers of their shopping cart on the site.
surprise visitors with VIP offers.

We have given you some tips for using the standard SMS capability built into any phone. This will really help you to boost your store’s customer service, thereby replenishing your customer base and increasing the company’s income, not to mention the fact that people will quickly read the notifications received from you since SMS is quite easy to use.
If your online store needs good advertising, AdScale’s Advertising Cloud is here to help you create effective advertising that will significantly expand your customer base and increase revenue.

FAQ

Should I write long SMS about ordering or updates relating to the delivery of goods?

Frankly, we would not recommend you write long SMS messages regarding the delivery of goods to your customers. Sometimes people are in a hurry and expect important information from text messages. Therefore, if you still want to inform them about discounts in your store or about a product that is ordered alongside the current one, it is better to mention this in one sentence and attach a link to your website. The client will get all the information they really need.

What information is required in an SMS about the client’s order?

Messages that relate to shipping updates must contain important points such as the name of your store, the date and time of arrival of the parcel, the parcel number, and tracking link.

What platforms are the best to send SMS messages to customers regarding their order?

It is best to use the usual built-in SMS messenger.

What other tricks can I use when writing about an order or shipping update to my clients?

When you send an SMS regarding an order to your clients, you can be creative with a variety of images, GIFs, and stickers of your choice. The main rule is to keep it laconic in your text to clients so that it doesn’t look overwhelming.

Here’s Everything You Should Know About Marketing Funnel Metrics

Posted on 18.Jan.202202.Mar.2022 by Amir Levi

Enterprises, big or small, rely on sales to keep operations afloat. With recent changes in buying behavior and trends, it’s critical to ensure that businesses understand how they reach out to their target audience and what they can do to improve their sales and marketing efforts further.

One study found that organizations that provide quick and easy sales processes have a 62% higher chance of winning their buyers. Interestingly, though, only a few businesses exert effort in monitoring and improving their sales funnel KPIs.

In fact, Pardot claims that as many as 68% of companies fail to use sales funnel key performance indicators (KPIs). Ultimately, this leads to poor conversion and dismal sales.

The solution? Understanding marketing funnel KPIs, the role they play, and how to determine which KPI to use at which stage of your customer’s journey.

But, what are marketing funnel metrics, exactly?

What Are Funnel Metrics?

Funnel metrics is a marketing concept that helps salespeople map a customer’s buying journey. This journey is likened to a “funnel” because it follows the influx of potential customers at the top of the funnel (more on this later) until they trickle down at the bottom as they actually become buyers.

Think of it this way: As prospects become customers, they pass through different stages in the sales funnel. The deeper they go, the higher is their level of commitment to buy products and avail of services.

To better understand the concept and use of marketing funnel metrics, it’s important to take note of the four different stages of a basic sales funnel:

Awareness

The first stage of the sales funnel is the awareness stage. It’s the part of the journey where the audience becomes aware of a brand’s products and services. They’ve likely heard about the offering from ads, social media channels, or recommendations.

At this stage, they aren’t customers yet. They are considered prospects, potential leads that you can nurture to help them move to the next stage of the sales funnel.

Interest

At this point, the prospects are more familiar with the company and what products or services it offers. They will then assess the products and services depending on their interest level. If they believe the offering is of value to them, they will do more research, ask around, read reviews, and inquire. This is a critical point for the sales team because it will have an impact on whether the prospect will decide to buy or not.

Decision

With enough knowledge about the company, prospects will dive deeper into what you have to offer. Is it better than what the other vendor is selling? Does it provide more value for money? Is the price justified for the packaging options? The sales team should focus on follow-ups, constant contact, and other promotional campaigns to help convince prospects to buy.

Action

At the last stage of the customer journey is where you can gauge whether your sales and marketing efforts will bear fruit. Will they buy or not? It all depends on how effective the previous campaigns are.

Using sales and marketing funnel metrics helps marketers understand what their prospects are thinking and doing at each stage of their buying journey. Having these useful insights can help craft the appropriate messaging to convert these prospects into paying clients.

If the prospect didn’t buy, it’s important to look back and assess where efforts fell short.

Sales and marketing funnel metrics can help teams align their efforts with objective insights in mind. Studies show that synchronized teams can contribute to revenue growth.

How Do You Calculate Sales And Marketing Funnel Metrics?

Here’s how you can calculate different sales and marketing funnel metrics:

Entrances

Entrances refer to the volume of prospects that “enter” the sales funnel within a given timeframe. To accurately measure them, it’s critical to determine the starting point of the sales funnel. Once this is identified, it would be easier to assign the entry point and measure the number of entrances.

While many won’t pay attention to this specific sales metric, it’s actually a vital one since it’s the beginning of the sales funnel.

Here’s How To Calculate It:

Add the number of leads reached during a specific period. It can also be done based on a channel or campaign level. For most e-commerce sites, the calculation can be done based on the cumulative traffic that goes into a website during a given time.

Conversion Rate

Perhaps the most popular sales funnel metric that most marketers are aware of is the conversion rate. It’s the percentage of leads that become paying customers. Defining the conversion rate goal and tracking it over time can help increase process efficiency and improve revenue.

For most businesses, particularly, those in e-commerce, conversion equates to sales. But conversion can also mean the number of downloads, email subscriptions, or actions based on the desired action. It’s among the most direct sales funnel metrics you can measure.

Here’s How To Calculate It:

Get the total number of conversions and divide them by the total leads entering the funnel. Multiply the number by 100 to get the percentage.

Total Conversions / Total Leads in Funnel x 100 = Conversion Rate

If measuring various conversion rates within a funnel, get the conversion rate by dividing the total customer number who reached the conversion stage by the number of customers from the previous stage in the funnel. Then, multiply it by 100.

Total Sales

After conversion, the next goal is to turn these numbers into actual revenue. Measuring total sales can evaluate and identify the sales that come from the funnel.

Here’s How To Calculate It:

Simply add the sales revenue from a given timeframe. Multiplying the number of sales by the unit price of items sold will also give the total sales.

Number of Sales x Unit Price = Total Sales

Total sales are considered the most important of all marketing funnel KPIs for business owners. It helps them analyze the overall success of the sales funnel and company growth over a given period.

A good way to measure success is to compare conversion and total sales. Once they are aligned, it indicates effective sales and marketing campaigns. High conversions but low total sales can signify loopholes in marketing efforts.

Average Order Value

Average order value is the revenue gained from an order. It tracks the average dollar amount spent when a buyer places an order. It’s one of the important sales metric KPIs because it gives an overview of the pricing strategy and online marketing efforts by measuring the long-term value of each customer.

Here’s How To Calculate It:

Divide the total revenue earned by the total orders in a given period. The timeframe should be similar.

Total Revenue / Total Orders = Average Order Value

Expanding the target audience or targeting high spenders for small average order values can help increase their number.

What Are Upper Funnel Metrics?

Upper-funnel metrics or top-of-the-funnel metrics are marketing funnel KPIs that help marketers expose the target audience to the offering by enforcing various brand awareness tactics. Upper funnel metrics help prospects get to know the company and its offerings and see if they can address their problems and challenges based on their standards.

During this stage of setting marketing funnel metrics, marketers should gather as much information about their target audience, including what topics interest them and which ones they are willing to engage in. Through these interactions, it would be easier to build a buyer persona that will eventually become the basis of the campaigns.

Aside from brand awareness, using marketing funnel metrics, such as upper-funnel, also drives demand generation. The goal is to bring excitement about the offerings. In the end, it can help build long-term customer relationships by discovering multiple touchpoints to help highlight unique value propositions and attract more customers.

What Are The Different Top-of-the-Funnel Metrics?

When it comes to marketing funnel KPIs, here are some of the funnel metrics that you can use to help assess the efficiency of your upper-funnel strategies:

Impressions

One of the most basic marketing funnel KPIs that marketers use is impressions. Impressions are the funnel metrics that refer to the accumulated times each post is served to users. For example, a post was viewed 500 times on different social media channels, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, or TikTok. It means that post received 500 impressions. This marketing funnel metric can become the foundation for brand awareness. In such instances, it would be best to use the cost-per-thousand impressions as part of the marketing funnel metrics.

Reach

Don’t confuse impressions with reach. Reach is the marketing funnel KPI that measures the number of unique people a post has served across different platforms. If impressions track how many times the post has been viewed, reach excludes those that have already viewed the post more than once.

But, like impressions, the reach can also give an overview of the effectiveness of a marketing campaign.

Website Traffic

Website traffic is another critical marketing funnel metric you can use to assess the success of your top-of-the-funnel marketing campaigns. However, it’s important to note that it’s also directly related to the other funnel metrics that you may be using, such as lower-funnel metrics and direct response measurements.

Average Session Time

Average session time or average time on the page refers to the length of time visitors spend on the page. It’s a great sales funnel KPI that shows if the prospects interact or engage with the content posted or shared. So, the more time they spend on the page, the greater their interest in the products and services offered.

Bounce Rate

The bounce rate helps you understand the number of users who visited the page but left the page without performing any action. It can be derived by dividing the number of single-page sessions by the total number of sessions.

A higher bounce rate can indicate poor interaction or engagement. It may mean that the posts did not rouse the visitors’ interest or are irrelevant to them. This perhaps led them to exit the page without doing anything. In general, a healthy bounce rate is between 30% and 70%.

What Are Lower-Funnel Metrics?

Also known as bottom-of-the-funnel metrics, lower-funnel metrics refer to the peak of all sales and marketing efforts. It includes all the assets that persuade prospects to buy products and avail of the services offered. As such, sales funnel metrics should focus on effectively showcasing offerings.

In short, it measures the overall impact of the campaign. For many, it’s the metrics that bear the most weight in a sales and marketing funnel. It’s like the best time to seize the opportunity to convert prospects to buyers.

It’s the time when aggressive campaigns must happen since it can mean prospects are ready to buy, and it’s crucial for the sales team’s to know when to tip the bucket so these prospects will favor them over a competitor.

Prospects want to buy, but they also want to make sure they’re making the best decision. This is where marketing tactics should focus on addressing their needs and solidifying your edge over others. In short, their buying journey should be as frictionless as possible.

Some efforts to focus on include:

Build buyer confidence
Promote brand trust
Eliminate product doubt

What Are The Metrics During Acquisition Funnel

The customer acquisition funnel refers to the blueprint that tracks and monitors the effectiveness of sales and marketing efforts in attracting and retaining clients or customers. When effectively applied, it can provide an insight into how campaigns are doing and provide a helpful guideline when it comes to improving the results.

Many prefer building a customer acquisition funnel because it’s critical in attracting, engaging, retaining, and converting customers without making huge investments.

Creating a customer acquisition funnel is relatively easy and simple. However, it can also be tricky, particularly when it comes to choosing the appropriate acquisition channel to use that serves the best interest of the business.

Wondering what funnel metrics are used during the acquisition stage? Here are the most commonly used ones:

Impressions

Impressions, as mentioned, can measure the number of times a page with an ad was visited or content was shared on someone’s feed. It’s often sold and measured based on cost-per-mille (CPM), which refers to the cost to achieve 1,000 impressions.

While it wouldn’t give a holistic picture of how effective the strategies are, it can be a valuable first step to increase brand awareness and assess lead generation strategies.

Click-Through Rate

The Click-Through Rate or CTR is the ratio of the number of people who click on the call-to-action (CTA), such as an email link, landing page, or ads, divided by the impressions. For instance, a post with 15 clicks and 500 impressions will have a CTR of 23%. A high CTR can indicate higher interest in the message or content. A low CTR should signal that changes in the messaging are necessary.

Conversion Rate

Another critical funnel metric at the acquisition funnel stage is the conversion rate. This KPI, when tracked accordingly, can tell the number of people who acted on the messaging and went further into the sales funnel.

Again, further action will depend on the conversion goals set for the given stage within the funnel. Conversion rate can refer to:

Request for a callback
Purchase of a product
Sign-up for a webinar
Download of an e-book
Subscription to channel

Since the actions can vary, it might be best to break down the conversion into different stages like prospecting, lead conversion, and sales conversion. This way, it’s easier to get an overview of each marketing strategy.

On top of the marketing KPIs mentioned, it’s equally important to have a solid marketing strategy that captures a wide range of funnel metrics, such as getting the cost per lead or cost per customer acquisition is advisable. These funnel metrics will help identify potential return on investment for all the marketing initiatives.

A robust acquisition funnel keeps processes on the right track. It helps businesses avoid losing their prospects as they wade through the different stages of their buying journey.

Similarly, these metrics can also help ensure customers find what they need while enjoying a positive experience.

Conclusion

Finetuning sales and marketing funnel metrics offers several benefits. For starters, it can help determine specific areas that need attention by helping you identify loopholes in the campaign. Second, the insights gathered can help determine which marketing efforts worked. And with this data on hand, there is an objective reason to direct more resources to that particular sales funnel.

How To Get More Exposure For Your E-commerce Business

Posted on 10.Jan.202202.Mar.2022 by Amir Levi

All we focus on are sales and profits. For this, we should understand that the e-commerce business feels a paramount necessity to grow and expand its market share. So, online commerce is impossible without time, finance, and human investment into business development, scaling, and upgrading. To promote merchandise-specialized e-business, all budding businesspeople should use planning, marketing, and technological tools to make their brand profitable, identifiable, and attractive to clients.

In this case, the marketing and software solutions become the pillars for any e-commerce startup if they want to be named among the top global companies one day. The combination of e-commerce product advertising and data analytical tools helps us develop a stable and client-oriented online business. Forecasting the potential customer’s marketing behavior, we need to focus on the scaling perspectives. Such a goal could become achievable if you appeal to e-commerce business exposure ideas dividing into several categories:

Budget-friendly and creative ideas. These are affordable ways to make our e-commerce business popular via such well-known communication channels as:
- business social media profiles;
- personalization-oriented web resources like Netflix or Amazon marketing ideas;
- automatic emailing-supported software etc. These channels are available for any online merchant if they are capable of investing enough time and financial resources to progress their internal communication policy,
Accessible and straightforward ideas. Free advertising-supported apps can have an incredible influence on your e-commerce sales. The global network can show the e-commerce business or startup many beneficial software solutions. They are absolutely free or provide a trial period with the following purchase for an accessible price. For instance, Google Shopping is a budget solution to promote your products and company brand beyond competitors.
Long-term ideas requiring investment. These solutions refer to easy-to-perform business exposure solutions with significant efforts to boost e-commerce sales. The last category covers the strategic business decisions to introduce a comprehensive marketing approach and the specialized platforms for online store exposure. The most popular software examples are Shopify, AdScale, etc.

To manage all possible marketing variants available for e-commerce, we should spend many resources – financial, technological, or human. Also, this investment requires regular updates. So, we should follow the marketing trends to make sure our business is up-to-date.

At the same time, it would be helpful to find some platforms that specialize in advertising management. Thanks to these software solutions, you can effectively manage all marketing campaigns, including synchronization ads with product updates or price changes. In this case, you can feel complete freedom from double-checking activities or tedious multitasking.

What Is Business Exposure For E-commerce?

Talking about online business, we sometimes forget to say how important it is for companies with online merchandise to promote their brand and products.

Exposure refers to the specific direction of the product marketing strategy. It includes all possible actions to make our product or brand popular among clients. In other words, the final result of the business exposure is an increase in e-commerce sales:

Business exposure = Ad variety

The formula above makes sense, especially if we want to improve the e-commerce merchandise indicators. The main rule is that profit-making products are supported by advertisement. As e-commerce requires constant movements and changes, we need our products to meet customer expectations and advertisement opportunities.

In this case, we may emphasize the other parallel between e-commerce business exposure and customers.

Business exposure = Customer target groups

It is difficult to predict sales without previously detailed analytical research of our potential customers and their reaction to our product lines and advertising campaigns. The respective client attitudes and tastes determine how we may introduce and promote ourselves (emailing, social media ads, blogging, Google searching, and mapping, etc).

Business exposure = Digital advertising platforms

This reflects the opportunities of the separately integrated software solutions to:

advertise with dedicated audiences & products based on your store data,
publish ads for your e-Commerce business on Google & Facebook in a few clicks,
get 24/7 optimization with top-notch AI technology,
analyze your results from all advertising channels in one place.

E-commerce Business Exposure Ideas

Exposure is an action you cannot avoid if you plan to be a successful e-commerce retailer. Its value is great to launch creative advertising campaigns that attract customers. To visualize your e-commerce scaling and marketing benefits, we can look at all possible exposure alternatives for any business and its investment needs.

In this case, the Internet offers different options, a broad range of innovative products that help us improve our commercial activities. Such options are in line with your budget plans.

Feature	Low-budget e-commerce business exposure solutions	Investment-accompanied e-commerce business exposure solutions
Meaning	These solutions refer to the simple introduction activities that increase your brand visibility without enormous investment resources.	Such solutions require more effort, including financial and human resources and cutting-edge technological deliverables; however, the final result will be worthwhile.
Value	Pretty high. Due to the nature of the exposure, low-budget ideas are crucial to enhancing e-commerce SME brand and product identification.	Very high. Successful businesses confirm that exposure actions foresee future profit-oriented outputs. Therefore, we need to integrate the most effective solutions or platforms to simplify our marketing activities.
Benefits	The vast majority of exposure activities are free and available for all e-commerce participants. Such budget-friendly features are fairly marked as the main advantage of these online business marketing developments.	The benefits are obvious when you invest many resources into profit-increasing business exposure ideas.
Risks	Although the free exposure tools are attractive, they could produce many risky situations for business exposure. The hazardous effects could be higher because any free options may be paid or rendered ineffective one day.	The risks are minimal and almost acceptable when you have an independent advertising platform to keep your brand-promoting campaigns flexible according to market demands and quickly changing client tastes.

To understand the main pros and cons of the low- and high-budget e-commerce business exposure solutions, we should find the best ones suitable for any online merchant.

Low-Budget E-commerce Business Solutions

Use Google products for effective advertising purposes

Your business receives extra benefits if you try to apply the opportunities Google provides for e-commerce entities. The free solution available from Google is Google Shopping via Google Merchant Center, which provides simplified but productive online commerce support. The registration and synchronization with your product directories are free. Prices are updated automatically and enabled for all possible Google searchers. Also, the merchant-ranging positions affect your brand positively, establishing an online store image among future customers.

Also, you may create your Google My Business profile, which opens a lot of opportunities like mapping and searching options to identify your online store following the keywords.

Business social media pages are a must-have identifier of modern e-commerce activities

E-commerce business is a continuous ad and social media life. 3.6 billion people globally are users of various social media, and all these people can help you to earn a significant income. Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter business pages should promote your products or services, post curious facts and data analysis related to your business, and provide information about some sales promotions, promo code sharing, and other advertising tricks. All those actions will be your helpers to attract new followers and clients.

Tag your possible partners and celebrities

A brilliant business idea is to mark the companies or people you collaborate with. It plays into your hands if your partners are famous manufacturers with a long-term operation and positive reputation. Your clients and business environment will assess your distribution activities and support your business.

Referencing celebrities through hashtags when you post some of your products or services are the certification sign and confirmation of the company merchandising experience.

The other business-oriented social media is LinkedIn. This business-promoting medium provides detailed CV-like information about individuals or companies. Here, you may share your company history, achievements, and product references. Also, you may show some samples of service-based results and positive feedback from your famous clients and partners. A pretty expensive way to prove your e-commerce experience is a portfolio-type website or within the particular sections on your current web resource. For instance, if you are in the photography field or provide web design services, that is a great way to show your expertise and practical skills.

Being present in online and offline thematic forums and events

E-commerce business is an open and innovation-centric entity oriented towards constant progress. It isn’t surprising that the title of online merchant requires you to compete and cooperate with other professionals and business giants. These actions are possible due to different online and offline events. Also, B2B public forums or conferences share more knowledge about possible business exposure ideas verified by the speakers. These events are the locations to establish fruitful business contacts.

High-Budget E-commerce Business Exposure Solutions

Blogging as a way to get your e-commerce business closer to your clients

If you are worried about how to get exposure for your business and are ready to put more effort into achieving it, blogging is something you need. Depending on your investment capacities, you may have a separate marketing department responsible for blogging and copywriting activities or order these services from specialized service providers.

Blogs or vlogs ensure your company or directories are advertised indirectly via the particular links and keywords generated by the global searching systems. Blogging could qualify as a useful communication tool with clients because you provide regular and new customers with food for thought, interesting facts, and client-oriented solutions connected with your business specifications.

Email marketing as a way to convert new customers into regular ones

Another helpful business exposure idea is to design the emailing marketing plan, which is called upon the preparatory measures related to data collection and processing. Only when you know your product-targeted audience, break them up into subcategories (specific tastes and requirements), you may inform them by personal emails about special offers, seasonal or temporary sales, product updates, and so on.

Also, this is an excellent way to understand whether your clients are satisfied with services to make them trust your brand for an extended period. Such a fact-finding process could improve your marketing policy and product quality.

Making creative and informative infographics

Visiting sites with highly-visual information is attention-grabbing and easily understandable. People do not want to spend their time on monotone texts with boring statistics. However, creative infographics designed in line with the brand color scheme and company style could change their opinion.

Perhaps we are all like children as such comic-similar techniques still pique great interest and demand among adults. In any case, the design process requires particular investments into UX/UI specialists to carry out these business exposure ideas.

Using specialized advertising platforms as a way to promote and optimize marketing

The most beneficial decision to optimize your marketing strategy and promotional tools is the integration of specialized advertising platforms. Such platforms have many advantages, including detailed analytical activities to build effective marketing campaigns and social media ads. The data resulting from such activities should become a basis for your future planning and flexibility of the business solutions.

Advertising platforms are a great software development that boost different marketing tools and specific applications appropriate for e-commerce projects. In this way, we can positively assess the benefits of the different software solutions, demonstrating business growth and popularity among the potential customers.

Business exposure is a strategic step for every e-commerce company. An appropriate e-commerce development approach is a guarantee of your company’s progress and its compliance with market changes and demands.

FAQ

Why is exposure important for businesses?

Business exposure is essential for an e-commerce merchant to attract new customers, remind old clients about your brand and products, and boost sales. Exposure contains many options and solutions that could be expensive, budgetary, and even free to choose the best ideas for our business strategies.

How do I get exposure for my company?

Getting exposure for any company is a straightforward set of actions that often does not require stratospheric expenditure. You can manage many marketing exposure tools like Google Shopping, customer journey mapping, emailing, blogging social media ads, or integrate the specialized platforms to conduct the marketing campaigns indirectly and successfully.

What does exposure mean in e-commerce marketing?

Exposure is a practical part of the e-commerce marketing strategy, combining the interests of the business and its clients. It helps to establish long-term and reliable B2C relations and gain many benefits, including profit growth and expanding the business’ target groups.

What is e-commerce business risk exposure?

E-commerce business risk exposure is a specific term related to assessing the failure probability when integrating some cutting-edge technological solutions, marketing tools, or products and their effects on client purchasing behavior.

How do you grow exposure?

The nature of exposure is easily-managed and straightforward. It focuses on brand promotions and is popular among competitors, partners, regular and random customers. In this case, we may combine different communication, advertisement, awareness, and collaboration tools to reach the desired results and improve sales.

How can I promote my business locally?

To promote your e-commerce business locally, you need to analyze your local community and integrate your ads into such communities’ particular groups and public pages on social media platforms. Personal emailing would also be an excellent option to demonstrate your friendly and careful attitude to your well-known clients.

The SMS Marketing Strategies For E-commerce

Posted on 04.Jan.202210.Apr.2023 by Amir Levi

Texting is an essential part of our life. We always tap something or read a new message on the move or outside, at home or the office. This communication method keeps its popularity regardless of gender, age, or field of occupation. SMS notifications are everywhere.

However, chatting is not just a digital conversation. Indeed, SMS exchange is a tool for B2C relations. This simple principle is a crucial digital marketing pillar for successful e-commerce business development.

SMS, Push messages, or notifications via WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook, WeChat, Telegram, etc., are valuable sources that help e-commerce merchants to know their clients better and more comprehensively. All these communication media push the IT developers and business strategy designers to elaborate e-commerce personalization solutions using SMS marketing strategies:

To raise the client’s interest;
To keep in touch with your clients 24/7;
To receive the appropriate feedback for the product or service improvement.

So, the productive SMS promotion campaigns and marketing instruments are budgetary and staff-specialized tasks you need to do for your e-commerce retail or wholesale stores. Luckily, the IT corporations have taken care of your problems and offer pretty high-performing and easily-maintained platforms to optimize and manage your SMS service for increasing e-commerce sales. The only thing you should do is to find the best platform which meets your expectations and requirements.

What Is SMS Marketing In The E-commerce World?

We used to associate SMS with a convenient method for communication purposes. However, it does not mean that businesses should neglect this instrument to remind their clients about the appropriate products or services. The e-commerce world names such communication approaches as A2P or application-to-person. Technical clarification refers to the kind of digital messages the software or API sends to a particular group of people.

According to the researchers, 80 to 90% of ordinary customers open their notifications during the first 15 minutes. However, an opened message does not mean the customer reacts to it. To impact the customer purchase behavior, an e-commerce business should elaborate a comprehensive long-term advertising strategy, which comprises various instruments to boost sales.

One of such instruments is the SMS marketing strategy dedicated to:

Increase the interest for future cooperation with random clients;
Establish reliable commercial ties with permanent clients, including available product notification, special discount offers, and possible supplementary or accompanying goods;
Receive independent feedback for your clients for improvement of your commercial activities.

During the pandemic, online sales have become more popular than ever before. The US market forecast predicts the A2P growth of up to 75.8 billion USD by 2025. That means a stunning SMS effect on e-commerce development. Furthermore, the indicated figure could be higher due to several triggers:

World population keeps growing;
The mobile industry will always follow human needs and tastes;
Online shopping saves time and physical resources;
The SMS service option is an excellent sample of effective personalization for e-commerce businesses, mainly when you use various post-shopping or post-servicing rating questionnaires.

In any case, the e-commerce merchant should know the helpful messaging solutions, the secrets to influence the purchaser’s cognitive motivation to buy a new product, and the agents capable of maintaining the SMS marketing strategy.

Effective SMS Marketing Solutions For Profitable E-commerce Business

Each SMS marketing strategy should foresee the primary concepts for the purchase stimulation and information collection about the customer preferences and their opinions.

Landing page optimization. We all use smartphones and other mobile devices for shopping purposes. In this case, a mobile-oriented website is a must-have in any e-commerce business. The explanation is pretty simple. On average, people make their purchases via phones or tablets. So, they justify their choices based on usability, front-end features, and well-prepared content focused on their personalities. Due to that, the landing page could be classified as messaging to the virtual customer to offer them a new product or service, recommend the monthly or annual subscription, or open the other page with a complete inventory of available supplies.

Synchronization with messengers, social media, and searching tools. Synchronization has many benefits for both sides of commercial Internet relations. An SMS or notification sent via the most-used messengers is a source of information and business-to-clients interactions for a stable e-commerce store development. A business could collect valuable analytical data and notify its clients about any change. At the same time, clients could evaluate the personalization advantages provided by the particular software platform.
Business introduction. This classical marketing practice is frequently associated with email distribution. However, an SMS marketing policy using the business introduction tools is an effective mechanism for the mobilization of e-commerce sales. The introduction process consists of a range of short and alluring notifications sent once you have subscribed. If you sell make-up items, crafted goods, or specialized IT services and plan to use SMS for advertising purposes, special offers, or events, you need to notify your potential clients about probable purchase-stimulating ads beforehand. Transparency and openness will build reliable and long-standing relations between a business and its customers.
Notifications about product availability. The typical situation is when we are looking for a new T-shirt, plate, or shampoo, but in the end, it is not available for delivery. Luckily, the SMS service can be an alarm call notifying clients to keep calm and wait for their goods, and for e-commerce merchants to keep their customers interested in their unique business supplies. For business, this marketing option is a test of trust and openness for the clients.
Post-purchase communication. This is the wisest strategic marketing solution because it helps to investigate the satisfaction rate and predict the analogical reactions from the entire target group. The findings resulting from the low-pressure and general questions will emphasize the gaps and weaknesses of your e-commerce business activities so you’ll be able to remove them in the future.

SMS Marketing Secrets For Successful E-commerce

The global e-commerce universe depends on the effective SMS marketing policy, which stands on three pillars for successful merchandise intervention. So, if you want your messages or notifications to catch the attention of your potential or current client, you need to balance these clues for fruitful marketing pillars:

Content. The correct, well-compiled, and engaging text should contain minimum but valuable information. This fundamental element determines the curiosity rate of the potential customers ready to purchase in the future. The well-chosen phrases and words will provide the necessary information which improves the current state of business activities and indicate the existing problems missed by the staff. The perfect SMS content could facilitate your marketing policy and investigation for sophisticated and correct e-commerce store sales.
Personal address. When you use a name or special reference to your client when communicating virtually and offer them the products they desire, it is a kind of well-organized personalization method elaborated by a separate marketing unit or included into a package of the particular scaling platform services. SMS with individual offers compiled in easy-to-understand language enhances the e-commerce store value among their clients and competitors.
Suitable time. To reduce the adverse reactions caused by your advertising campaigns, you need to select the most convenient time for your target audience. As such, you need to learn all habits, spheres of occupation, and preferable channels. The received knowledge and detailed analytics will forecast the best moment when your products are acceptable to the clients.

Popular SMS Service Supported Platforms For E-commerce Scaling

The SMS service plays a vital role in the e-commerce business operation. The promotion-content messages, advertising campaigns, or feedback assessment are well processed. All these help to track customer reaction whether they are satisfied by the products or services or not. Due to that, the owners of the Internet merchandise websites should hire specialized developers and engineers or integrate the ready-made solutions within the comprehensive platforms.

These platforms are products of the following famous software producers with the proven marketing-supported reputation:

Shopify. One of the leading e-commerce-supported platforms with various apps for sales-boosting is Shopify. This service has many products for constant updating and improving your e-commerce business. It also offers specialized SMS Marketing Automation, which opens many advantages for successful e-commerce A2P activities.
Netsuite SuiteCommerce. This progressive clouding software platform opens many opportunities for B2B and B2C options. Its MessageMedia supports omnichannel management and saves time and money when using SMS technologies instead of calling.

Magento. The other MessageMedia user is Magento, which is used to be called Shopify’s alternative for the large-in-size corporations with millions of orders per month. So, they absolutely need to adhere to the SMS-embedded marketing approach for stable e-commerce growth.

FAQ

Is SMS marketing digital marketing?

SMS marketing is a method to distribute short messages via various mobile tools to increase the customer’s interest and positive attitudes to the particular online store or service provider. It is also an excellent example of the win-win personalization strategy.

What is SMS marketing?

SMS marketing is a part of the strategic policy for stable e-commerce business development based on A2P principles and oriented to boost sales. Notifications compiled understandably provide the entire picture of the potential client and improve the particular store’s shipping and order processing tools used by the specific store.

Is SMS marketing illegal?

To do large-scale distribution via mobile gadgets is a legal action. However, the business owner needs to include personal data security options to avoid any legal problems in the future. So, the database storage keeping phone numbers or email details should be secured.

What are the types of SMS marketing?

SMS marketing policy diversifies several types which have their particular purpose. For instance, various promotional advertisements, discount coupons, feedback questionnaires, personal offers, etc.

When should I use SMS marketing?

SMS marketing campaigns are activities launched at the initial stage of the B2C relations and after the landing page subscription. They should follow the clients at each purchase step and remind them about the business’s unique offers only for the particular purchasers.

Should I Upgrade To Shopify Plus?

Posted on 29.Dec.202102.Mar.2022 by Amir Levi

Changes mean constant updates and innovations. The history of commercial relations knows many modifications and improvements. Today, we live in a new age of worldwide e-commerce business scaling.

According to the market research, retail e-commerce operations have become more popular due to various beneficial factors:

easy and flexible approach to order and receive products;
effective time management for customers;
higher purchase and delivery indicators for business entities;
no delays and minimum risks for business restrictions.

E-commerce is a high-level and software-supported business running form that allows us to discover new perspectives for purchase optimization and permanent innovations. However, a pioneer business entity eager to scale their supplies for new markets within the national or international borders should realize the advantages of the e-commerce scaling platforms available from the IT service providers.

The first item on the to-do list should be a clear decision about integrating the ready-made e-commerce optimization products or creating the individual analog. The generation of the specialized platform is an excellent solution.

So, the business only needs to choose which platform is truly reliable. The popular Google search result which presents the highly processed scaling platform is Shopify or Shopify Plus; however, the global information-managing company does not explain the aspects about the Shopify Plus migration for the small or middle business entities specialized in retail e-commerce sales.

Shopify vs Shopify Plus: What To Integrate?

The US statistics highlight the constant growth of online sales due to the pandemic isolation factors. The indicative rate of sales could reach the indicator of approximately 24% of the total retail sales by 2025. E-commerce is our present and probable future, which occupies many commercial relations and transforms them from offline into an online environment.

You might be wondering what Shopify is. The logical solution is to take care of your online store beforehand and find a platform capable of developing a large e-commerce business. Many e-commerce giants frequently recommend Shopify. This flexible and market-centric platform is developed to build the multi-functional e-commerce approach, which combines all the steps for a profitable online retail business operation.

The Canadian IT product aimed at boosting internet sales and optimizing the data processing is a well-developed software that is a core element to launch a website store and make it permanently profitable. The Shopify interface and UX design pattern are simple and do not include complicated items or functions. Its main benefit is a clear offer of various ready-made solutions for starting users who want to have a high-performing Internet store.

The Shopify benefits include:

Quick setup without difficulties. You do not spend extra time on the website development, and the logical structure allows you to exploit the required options for marketing optimization.
User-oriented technical component. The particular software bonuses, SSL certificates, and high-speed hosting are available for the client after the Shopify setup.
Safety and reliability. This criterion is essential for your customers due to the extensive datastore system committed to keeping personal information, including credit card or contact details. Shopify guarantees a safe storage option to minimize cyber-attacks, virus impact, or unstable traffic indicators.
24/7 qualitative support. Any client complaint, question, or proposition has quick feedback from the Shopify team. The virtual consultant is ready to address any technical issue asked in chat at any time.
Many additional options. The e-commerce business operators can use different UX patterns and adapt them according to their tastes and preferences. All themes are free and accessible to any mobile application.
SEO and marketing instruments. The searching horizons are unlimited when you use Shopify and its branch – Shopify Plus. The business user has constant access to comprehensive analytical outcomes to analyze the target audience.

To find an answer to the question “what should entrepreneurs choose, either a standard version of Shopify or a more professional Shopify Plus platform?” we may refer to the platform’s specifications on the official website. The standard version of Shopify offers several plans:

Basic Shopify. This product will help the starting online sellers to get acquainted with e-commerce fundamentals. It provides your online store with all the necessary functions. You can easily operate your orders, deliveries, and other actions; however, your reporting solutions will be limited. As such, you are restricted from seeing your business analytical metrics.
Shopify. The plan “Shopify” is designed for medium-sized enterprises which have some experience in online commercial deals. This software solution is universal because it could satisfy the needs of both e-commerce startups and experienced entrepreneurs.
Advanced Shopify. Shopify Advanced is less advantageous for large-in-size online enterprises. Its shipping, payment, order, and marketing features will apparently satisfy the needs of small or medium businesses because their functional parameters are not enough to handle several data processing channels. At the same time, the appropriate monthly fee rate will be almost equal to Shopify Plus.

Even though Shopify offers the advanced version of its software platform, for the biggest e-commerce players it may not be enough. Shopify Plus is offered as an alternative for Advanced Shopify, which is designed exclusively for big merchants with additional features that may come useful while planning the business scaling. More precisely, Shopify Plus is a platform designed to make large e-commerce merchants more productive and optimize their critical sales-related processes (data processing, marketing tools, management measures, post-purchase service, etc). Also, you would receive the opportunities to operate several e-commerce entities, including wholesale and retail stores. All available options are open and cost a certain interest of the monthly sales volume.

To understand all the pros and cons of Shopify Plus and clarify any doubt about the need to upgrade Shopify products for your online store, it is highly recommended to read all the information available on the official website and plan features. Nevertheless, if you have some questions, no matter whether you have chosen Shopify Advanced or Shopify Plus, conceptual software related to Shopify produces options guaranteeing the reliable and safe use of Shopify Plus and Shopify Advanced, 24/7 user support could solve any issue that arises.

Shopify Plus Migration Process

As you might have guessed, Shopify Plus is the level-up solution developed by the Shopify team to diversify the qualities of the previous one. To be more detailed, Shopify Plus qualifies the following aspects:

Valuable online marketing product for large corporations. A brilliant example is Kylie Cosmetics – one of the most famous clients of the Shopify platform. It helps to scale the significant market share and focus on the various target groups.
E-commerce business individual developments. Shopify Plus tries to meet each client’s requirements. To this end, their team designs and implements the particular online retail solution.
Different cases – multi-functional options. Shopify Plus is a tool for online merchants that offers software-based and merchandise-optimized solutions, including applications, hosting, and SEO technologies. Migrating to Shopify Plus, you may improve any part of the business running process, in particular, management, payment, data analysis, and some visual information processing outputs.

If you have installed Shopify and integrated its Shopify Plus options, you may quickly migrate your database items into the advanced SQL opportunities. To do this, you need to follow a few sophisticated steps:

Step 1. Look up the guide instructions and configure all required administrative settings. Also, decide what information has the highest priority and is vital for your Internet retail operations.
Step 2. Import your store’s data to Shopify. Information about customers, products, orders history, gift cards, discounts, tax payments, etc., could be quickly imported into Shopify Plus or other Shopify solutions via specialized apps like Transporter and command-line tools.
Step 3. Organize your products after migration. After migrating, always check your product details, including a brief description, images, price, and its availability at the warehouses to avoid compliant-provoked situations and dissatisfied customers.
Step 4. Make your website look great. The post-migration interface has a default theme that could be replaced with your favorite one. To this end, you can install the specialized option with a broad range of different illustrations.
Step 5. Set up your domain. In this case, you have two ways: buy the separated domain address for the future Internet store or integrate the existing one into the new Shopify account. Anyway, the connection with email will guarantee additional support for safe domain maintenance.
Step 6. Set up your shipping. Before you launch your online store with Shopify Plus, you need to adjust all shipping options like rates, strategy, zones, and addresses to minimize the missing information or problems with your customer in the future.
Step 7. Configure your taxes. Setting the tax rates valid in a particular state or location is an essential thing you should do before starting work with Shopify Plus-supported online stores. To ensure the tax information is processed correctly, take some time to familiarize yourself with the Shopify tax configuration process.
Step 8. Set up a payment provider. One of Shopify Plus’ benefits is an option to manage the payments and provide complete confidentiality for such actions. In this case, you need to set up a payment provider to make your clients’ payments via credit cards safe and sophisticated.
Step 9. Place some test orders. Finally, to upgrade to Shopify Plus, you should run simple test orders which help find any bugs or mistakes. The detected mismatches are eliminated to start the regular work.

The correctly performed Shopify Plus migration opens many benefits and opportunities for the merchants; however, you should be ready for some restrictions.

Shopify Plus Benefits And Restrictions

Shopify Plus is an excellent solution for large e-commerce businesses, enabling them to create designed and developed plans for scalable retail sales individually. Its key advantages could be grouped into several directions:

Individual approach to each client. The large online retail corporations approve these ready-made solutions, which have a separate set of tools and opportunities to scale their business limits;
100% customization options. Every merchant who installs Shopify Plus is free to adjust all settings required for your staff and specialized business activities (shipping, product order processing, tax payment history, etc.). Also, the clients could become UX designers and modify some frontend elements to their own tastes.
Reliable and safe platform. Due to the effective hosting, Shopify Plus allows processing the orders from nearly 8000 customers simultaneously. Also, its apps and options, developed by Shopify, form a safe environment for personal payment transfers and zero-cyber influences.
Improved wholesale management. Shopify Plus offers different benefits generated by the available and updated apps and tools supported by computers and mobile devices. In particular, the merchants could manage the large batches and deliveries via the well-organized platform.

Even though using Shopify Plus is quite expensive, every merchant should weigh the pros and cons of the advanced solution of the Shopify platform and decide if it makes sense for their e-commerce business.

So, you do not need to upgrade to Shopify Plus if:

your annual sale turnover is below 800k USD,
you are specialized in specific supplies (farm products, flowers, candies, toys, jewelry) or services (IT, natural beauty industry, food delivery, etc.) oriented to the specific category of the target groups,
your e-commerce business is small or medium in size,
your business is young, and you do not have the high profits which could be invested into expensive scaling online retail software,
you want to receive a well-produced platform with minimum options, but effective enough to fill all gaps restricting your business development.

Artificial Intelligence In Advertising

Posted on 16.Dec.202128.Mar.2022 by Amir Levi

The advent of artificial intelligence advertising has made it easier for marketers to grab the attention of potential customers.

Thanks to AI in e-commerce, product recommendations created with AI in targeted advertising have undergone a considerable transformation and now play a significant role in online shopping.

It works with huge, updated data sets and predicts products the user, perhaps, wants to see next. Ideally, there will be far fewer ads on the Internet that will haunt the user by showing them a product they don’t want to buy.

But what if the scopes in artificial intelligence advertising are at the start of the development, but soon online advertising machine learning will create new ads: hyper-relevant, fully relevant to the context, and, accordingly, affecting significantly on users’ decisions?

But before we look ahead, let’s take a look at how AI technologies change targeted advertising and how far we’ve come towards our goals.

Advertising customization will be able to solve any of your business problems. In our blog, you will find many answers to your questions and will be able to solve any of your business problems.

AI Targeted Advertising In E-commerce

Having carefully analyzed the statistics of various data, we highlight the main advantages of using AI in eСommerce.

AI targeted advertising boasts the following benefits:

Thorough data analysis. By collecting a large amount of information about a user, AI begins to show the most relevant and useful targeted advertising at the moment to that person.
Pop-up notifications. Using AI for push notifications can be helpful to many potential customers by sending notifications at the right time.

AI used in e-commerce also plays a significant role in recognizing a sudden increase or stop in site traffic. This makes it possible to ensure the operation of the network without any breakdowns or to debug the network if an unpleasant situation has already arisen.

AI-powered content creation

Every message created by AI is meant to be read as if it were written by a human. Understanding the data and writing style depends on the rules and formats set by your company to best suit the needs of your audience.

In addition to content creation, AI-powered marketing tools can offer fresh social media content that your brand followers are more likely to interact with.

While books or reports written entirely with artificial intelligence are still uncommon, you can use AI tools to automatically generate e-mail content, personalized reports or messages, and track content on social media posts.

Chatbots and content creation

Thanks to AI, smart chatbots are helping to create personalized content better than regular employees.

These bots have access to a huge amount of users’ information.

They can also come up with location-specific queries and thus detect behavioral patterns, identify recurring problems, and predict where a site is complex for a particular user. This often makes them more knowledgeable than any customer service representative.

Intelligent management of e-mail content

Frequently, marketing teams spend hours writing and scheduling weekly e-mails for multiple customer segments. Even with smart subscriber segmentation, you won’t be able to deliver personalized e-mail newsletters to every person. However, research has shown that 80% of marketers find personalized content to be more effective than “non-personalized” content.

This is where AI comes into play. Algorithms can display information about the user experience on a site and data about e-mail viewing, giving insight into all interactions with your content. Such knowledge allows the algorithm to define content to create personalized e-mails.

Dynamic e-mail marketing can be based on:

Previous interaction on the site;
Previously read blog articles and viewed content
Time spent on the page;
The bucket list;
The most popular content on today;
Interests of similar clients;
Previous interactions with your company’s mailing list.

Artificial intelligence allows you to send e-mails with deep personal content to every customer. By analyzing reading patterns and topics of interest to the user and then recommending content relevant to the user, AI in e-mail marketing strategies can be the driving force behind engagement.

Not all AI systems can learn from user feedback. When evaluating tools, look for this feature.

The Benefits Of AI In Targeted Advertising

In fact, AI plays a critical function, so let’s take a look at a few more advantages of AI in e-commerce.

Churn Predictions and Visitor Engagement

Tools in this area collect data, create analytic models, and explore those models with real visitors. This data determines which churn path the customer is on.

It is harder to attract the attention of people who stopped interacting with the brand after purchasing a product than those who remain among the customers for a long time.

Because churn forecasts are unique for every company and every product, machine learning algorithms must be tailored for you so you can get the knowledge you need from scratch. With this data, you will be able to create valuable content sent to those who have begun to lose interest in the brand.

AI insights into shoppers

It takes humans a long time to convert numbers into inferences about customer behavior patterns, but AI can do this in minutes.

AI technologies project an image of the perfect customer with a lot of information, such:

geolocation related events;
interaction on the site;
referral sources;
psychographic factors;
purchasing behavior;
past experience with the company.

The advent of artificial intelligence advertising makes this task much easier.

Through AI in e-commerce, AI-powered product recommendations in targeted advertising have undergone a significant transformation and are now playing an important role in online shopping.

FAQ

Why is artificial intelligence the future of advertising?

The AI is used in advertising, selecting a target audience, analyzing customer needs, processing a huge amount of data, creating chatbots, and improving algorithms. So in the future, we should expect more innovative solutions that will further simplify the task for marketers and have a more significant impact on customers.

How does AI affect advertising?

AI performs a number of complex but very useful functions, such as sending personalized suggestions to people, taking into account their needs at the moment. Using AI, you can target the created customer base for repeated interaction with the company.

How many e-commerce marketers are using AI in their work?

Research has shown that around 60% of companies use AI to create ads.

How will AI be applied in advertising next year?

AI will undertake the following tasks: analysis of business statistics, including marketing, consideration of analytical forecasts for the near future, and will concentrate on the field of data transmission.

Benefits Of SEO For E-commerce Websites

Posted on 01.Dec.202102.Mar.2022 by Amir Levi

It does not matter if you have an e-commerce site or a webpage; you, of course, want to appear among the first search results and thus have more visitors and purchases. But for that, you have to do good positioning, something that many don’t know. SEO for e-commerce is a term used to describe the search optimization process for e-commerce stores. Simply put, it is a set of rules that need to be applied to an e-commerce site to make it search-friendly.
What is the difference between SEO for e-commerce and SEO? E-commerce encompasses all the concepts of general search optimization with some store site-specific recommendations that do not apply to other types of websites. For example, for a non-commercial site, category pages are not that essential from the standpoint. However, for an e-commerce site, they are crucial and require special attention. Another thing is blogging. An active blog plays an important role in e-commerce website optimization and SEO for non-e-commerce sites.
But what is SEO positioning? When you enter the Internet world and want to start a business, a term should accompany you and be very attentive to changes. This word includes techniques that a website can apply to its website to improve position and visibility. And all these will be reflected in the browser search pages. The widespread is Google, used on over 90% of computers, mobile phones, and tablets.

Benefits Of Search Engine Marketing

Why should shopkeepers do SEO?

Impact on search engines. This is not a hobby or an entertainment site; it is a business that should sell, gain profit, and grow over time. Search responds to millions of queries per day, and many of them are related to e-commerce. Thousands of people a day use search to find a product to buy. With the help of SEO, an online store can be upgraded in Google ranking and increase web traffic.
Getting high rankings for keywords. You need targeted traffic. Targeted organic traffic comes from users who know just what they want. These users have clear intentions, and they enter a query in the search box. For example, when a user types “buy a waterproof HD camcorder” into the search box, they have a goal, and if you have an e-commerce site that sells camcorders, such users are most likely to find your site using keywords. With SEO, you can identify and optimize those long-tail keywords to boost your online shop rankings and impact your business.
Online store SEO is the way to build a lasting online business. If you already have an online store, you should know several ways to get instant traffic to your website. Advertising on Google Ads is one of the most popular and effective ways to get traffic quickly, followed by social media (depending on your niche). The problem with these methods is that traffic and sales will drop once you stop paying for ads. Advertising traffic is not SEO; it’s SEM. A well-designed SEO campaign will drive traffic to your website 24 hours a day, seven days a week for months or even years. SEO does take time to work, but the results remain long-term, delivering a higher ROI over the long term than any other marketing method. So, if you want to build a business that will generate traffic on its own without relying solely on paid advertising, SEO is the way to go.
Making a user-friendly website. Many SEO concepts have to do with usability and how to make websites more user-friendly for both search and users. When you decide to embrace the guidelines or hire an SEO consultant to help you optimize your site, the final result is a more accessible site to use and ranked higher in search results.
SEO helps you to increase your conversion. Besides helping you get the type of traffic you want, search engine optimization can increase your conversion rate. Conversion optimization is a time-consuming process and requires a lot of A/B testing, but it is based on SEO principles, and therefore it is successful.

Best SEO Strategies For E-commerce

Achieving all of your goals, i.e., increasing traffic and conversions with SEO, is not easy. However, some strategies cannot be ignored if you want to improve the positioning of your e-commerce site in search.

Competitor analysis. To gain an edge over the competition, before you even start implementing your SEO strategy, you need to know how and what your competitors are doing (and then do it better);
Finding the right keywords. Those looking to optimize an e-commerce site should be able to identify the specific market niche in which they might appear and (in the case of local businesses) focus on keyword geolocation;
Optimization of the structure. The general rule of e-commerce is that product descriptions on a site should be no more than three clicks from the home page;
Optimizing internal links. To improve the positioning of your e-commerce in the search, it is important to create various links between products and the internal content of the site;
Optimization of metadata. Good SEO work for e-commerce cannot be separated from an SEO-friendly URL (it should describe the web page, contain the product name and category) and page metadata such as title and description of the tag and images such as alt text, filled in correctly (product name cannot be omitted);
Canonicalization in e-commerce a single product. So that it can be accessed from different pages depending on the user’s path (for example, based on the order in which the product is displayed). Therefore, it is essential to correctly and accurately use relative canonical tags (attributes that tell search the most representative URL among those that point to the same content to prevent the search from reading the pages as duplicate content and punishing them).
The uniqueness of the content of the product specification should not duplicate other specifications on the Internet; they should be written from an SEO perspective and should be accompanied by other original content such as how-to guides, reviews, press releases, and guest versions.

What Does E-commerce Website Optimization Include?

When it comes to e-commerce website optimization, there are obviously key goals that you need to focus on:

Optimizing keywords
Site structure
Internal links
Usability
Compatible with mobile devices
Users Opinions
Integration with social networks
Enriched shards

For e-commerce website optimization and keyword optimization, you need to ensure your page has the most relevant keyword in strategic locations. This includes the page title, headers, product descriptions, image file names, alternate image tag, URL, etc.

Remember that this element can drastically affect usability, ranking, and conversions regarding site structure. Ideally, focus on a flat site architecture whose design requires the user to use as few clicks as possible to navigate from the home page to the product page.

Considering internal links, this aspect allows you to set your anchor text, which can help rank your main keywords. But the page should have a reasonable number of occurrences of the most frequent words, as Google spam filters may recognize excessive use of keywords on the page and impose sanctions on your website.

Finally, when it comes to the usability of an e-commerce website, one should be easy to use, involving, and helpful. A good user experience also means that potential customers will spend more time on the site.

FAQ

How much do e-commerce ads cost?

The cost of e-commerce business promotion services and e-commerce ads depends on what kind of services you need and who provides them.

What does SEO for e-commerce include?

SEO for e-commerce is a must for all stores. A well-optimized store will rank higher in the search engines, leading to more traffic and sales.

What’s the difference between SEO and SEO for e-commerce?

The difference between regular SEO and e-commerce SEO is that the latter includes specific guidelines applicable to e-commerce sites.

Even if you are selling through AdWords or other PPC platforms, spending a particular amount of money for an online store is the best investment you can make for your business. The best way to optimize your store for the search engines is to use a structured approach.

Is SEO good for the e-commerce website promotion?

SEO has the highest ROI for all e-commerce marketing campaigns. However, Google Ads can bring you the same result in a shorter period of time, sometimes promoting your e-commerce website even better with the help of AdScale subsidiary advertising tools.