ThE RISE OF E-commerce
Whether we like it or not, e-commerce is the future of retail. In 2020, retail e-commerce sales worldwide amounted to 4.28 trillion USD. Online retail revenues are projected to grow to over 6.38 trillion USD by the year 2024. COVID-19 has caused an explosion in online retail. Digital marketers are under increasing pressure to optimise SEO, increase clicks and achieve better conversion rates. In today’s post, we share with you some simple ways you can optimise your e-commerce strategy and boost online sales in the increasingly saturated world of online retail.
The global e-commerce market has grown substantially since 2014. It is set to grow at an even faster rate in the coming years.
Interested to see how you can take advantage of this rapid growth? Let’s dive into how you too can optimise your e-commerce strategy & boost online sales in 2021!
1. CREATE CONTENT to Boost Domain Auth0rIty
It is often a struggle for younger, smaller e-commerce businesses to attract organic traffic to their sites. Why? Because new sites will seldom appear on the top page of results of any given search engine. This means that they are likely to be hidden to most online shoppers.
Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing want to deliver the best possible user experience. Their goal is to direct the user to the most relevant content in the most direct way possible. They do this by filtering site listings by perceived relevance, listing the most relevant options higher up the page. In order to achieve this, an algorithm will rank sites by their level of interaction, i.e the number of clicks and page visits. This relevance index is otherwise known domain authority.
A site that achieves high domain authority is one that receives a high amount of page visits, for sites with low domain authority, the opposite is true! The crucial thing to understand here is that these visits do not have to come from direct user searches. They can come from a variety of different organic streams such as click-through links on mailings, blogs and social media posts.
In short, in order to achieve better domain authority, you need to be creating content that people are likely to share. The more content you produce, the more clicks you are likely to achieve and the more recorded interaction your site is likely to experience.
The ‘Magic Circle’ of Domain Authority
The end goal is to achieve enough interaction through creating content that the site will gain from the positive feedback system that I like to call the ‘magic circle’ of domain authority. Once a site achieves a certain level of relevance, search engines will rank the page higher up on results pages. This, in turn, generates more exposure for the site, resulting in more clicks and a higher ranking. It’s magic!
So what are you waiting for? Start creating engaging social media, mailing and blog content today so that you too can benefit from this key cycle.
When doing so, always be sure to include high quality visual content to optimise e-commerce strategy and boost online sales. We’ll come back to this later!
2. PAY attention to product page titles
As we have already established, the key to the success of any e-commerce business is attracting attention to the site, and more specifically to the product pages.
Another great way of doing this is by including specific words or phrases in the titles of these pages. These are words that are known to draw the attention of the online consumer, and in an increasingly competitive environment, it is crucial to get this right!
There is no magic list of words that are sure to increase engagement across all product areas and industries. Digital trends are always changing and every e-commerce site will require its own tone based on identity. However, there are a few words that should be considered when choosing product page titles: these include:
‘Cheap’, ‘value’, ‘free-shipping’,’high-quality’ and ‘reliable’
In order to fully optimise attention to product pages, It is recommended to tailor bespoke titles to appeal more specifically to your target consumer. Here it is important to carry out market research to better understand your consumer and construct a tone and brand image accordingly. Furthermore, use tools such as Google Analytics and Hotjar to find out which keywords are already attracting engagement to your site so you can include these words in future product page titles.
3. Address AND PUBLICISE Pain Points
Once you have already attracted attention to your site through SEO and domain authority optimisation, the next step is to focus on differentiating your product or service from the competition. A great way of doing this is by addressing pain points and offering solutions to common problems that can make your product or service stand out.
Start out by reading reviews and carrying out market research on competitors. Ask yourself questions like; What is the competition doing wrong? How can my business stand out?
A good example of this is by offering a good returns policy or money-back guarantee. Consumers want to know that they can trust your business to deliver a better service than the competition. More than this, it will encourage repeat custom, boost clicks and help to grow organically through through word-of-mouth marketing.
Addressing pain points can also be a great subject for social media content. Spread the word that your business is doing things differently! Use social media to encourage reviews or client testimonials.
4. Create aN ORGANISED Homepage
A homepage is the digital equivalent of a shop window. You have just one shot at a good first impression! Products or services should be displayed in an ordered, attractive way with clear calls to action. It is important that the home page is not overly crowded or cluttered, a recent study by VWO found that CTA’s located in non-cluttered spaces experienced 232% more clicks than on more cluttered equivalents.
The consumer will be pulled in by a smart attractive design, with high-quality visual content and a clear layout. It is important for any site to have basic elements in the correct places. A clear layout is fundamental. For example, make sure that the search bar element is located either centrally or in the top right-hand corner as the user would expect, and that the drop-down menus allow for easy navigation.
5. Use High quality visual content
High-quality visual content is key to the success of any online store. It is fundamental to every aspect of the marketing processes. From creating engaging social media campaigns to boosting the all-important click-rate and domain authority, high-quality visual content is the secret ingredient that will help to expedite the painful process of business growth in this crowded industry.
For example, research shows that Facebook posts with images get 2.3x more clicks than those without. When thinking about boosting domain authority, the incorporation of visual content in social media campaigns could double the interaction rate experienced with your site compared to using no or low-quality images in posts
Visual content can also help to improve conversion rates. In an age when roughly 1 in 5 products are sold online, the savvy digital consumer wants to be able to explore products with 360-degree previews and videos. This helps to construct a deeper, more consistent relationship with the consumer as they will feel more confident that they will receive exactly what they want. A recent survey has found that 360-degree product photography can increase conversion rates by up to 50%. In the same way, research has found that consumers are 73% more likely to purchase products with videos.
We can help you
Do you need high quality product photography and videography for your e-commerce site?
At Klaud9 we are your experts in e-commerce product photography. We are home to a global network of photographers and videographers that provide the best visual content for online retailers.
We work with global brands such as Nivea and Unilever to scale their visual content needs and respond to the demands of consumers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our photoshoot services for the e-commerce market include:
- Professional product photoshoots
- 360 degree product photography
- Professional e-commerce photoshoots
Discover here more about our professional visual content services for e-commerce.
Or set up a meeting with us to discuss how we can help you upgrade your visual content.
Learn more about product photography here.