The business world has become more competitive than ever in the digital world. Brands must keep up with the latest eCommerce trends and technologies to remain on top of the game. However, amid all these developments, one thing remains sure for businesses: they need to attract customers through trust. This situation is where influencer marketing comes into play.

Businesses have been adopting influencer marketing as early as the . They used royalty, fictional characters, and celebrities to make their products and services more attractive. By the 2010s, ordinary people with a massive following on social media have taken over as influencers. 

Today, approximately 86.3% of Filipinos follow at least one influencer on social media. The global influencer marketing market’s value is now $16.4 billion.

If you want your business to survive today, you should adopt influencer marketing into your overall digital marketing strategy. Here’s an extensive guide about the power of influencer marketing for your eCommerce business.

1. Benefits of Influencer Marketing

Builds trust in your products or services Celebrities aren’t the only ones capable of promoting your products and services. Influencers can also be ordinary people who know how fellow consumers think and behave. They share their personal lives and honest opinions on social media, making them approachable and reliable sources of product information.  

Not only do influencers connect with their followers, but they also link brands with potential consumers. Partnering with an influencer can add credibility to your brand and increase your product and service demand.

2. Attracts new audiences 

As of July 2022, there are 4.70 billion social media users worldwide. They spend an average of two hours and 29 minutes daily across all social platforms, which adds to roughly 70 hours per month. They consume thousands of content within that timeframe, including ads and product reviews. 

With influencers sharing their opinions and experiences with your brand online, you can cross borders and reach new, untapped markets. If you have a referral or affiliate program, you can give influencers product links they can share with their followers. Affiliate marketing is also a low-cost way of attracting customers and building solid relationships with influencers.  

3. Builds brand loyalty 

Social media is key to brand loyalty. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok help brands engage consumers in unique ways. Add influencers to the picture, and you get genuine connections with your customers. 

Influencers can also promote your existing rewards or loyalty programs. For instance, influencers can review exclusive products that are part of your loyalty program to encourage consumers to sign up. They can also share their experience with your premium services to build hype around your VIP privileges. 

4. Improves modern marketing strategies 

Consumers are now finding a way around online ads to improve their social media experience via ad-blocking tools. You can dodge these ad blockers with influencer marketing and even increase hype around your brand. 

Consumers typically seek authentic reviews from influencers they trust. As such, partnering with influencers that align with your image and values can bring customers to your brand and provide them with content they’re already looking for. 

5. Saves time 

Launching a marketing and ad campaign takes a lot of time and human resources. Influencers can help you streamline the entire process since they can provide the photos, videos, and credibility needed to attract customers. With some influencers on multiple social media platforms, you can expect to reach thousands, if not millions, of consumers in no time.

How to Launch a Successful Influencer Campaign

1. Identify your audience 

As with any marketing strategy, you should identify your target audience first. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Who is my target demographic?
• Where do they live?
• What online and digital platforms do they use?
• What are their interests?
• What problems do they have that my products and services can resolve?
• How do they communicate?
• What are their shopping habits?

Identifying your audience sets the tone for your entire influencer marketing strategy. With your target market in mind, you’ll know what type of influencers will catch their attention. 

2. Find the right influencers 

Partnering with influencers is not as easy as you think. One influencer may have millions of followers but have low engagement, while another may have only a few thousand followers but have high engagement. As such, choose influencers that have the credentials you want. 

Aside from engagement, it would be best if you also chose influencers based on niche, values, and style. For instance, working with a beauty and makeup influencer is ideal if you’re a beauty brand. Working with a fitness guru can also work in your favor if you sell athleisure wear. 

Lastly, you can tap your existing customers as your influencers because they already know and understand what you’re offering. Working with them in a marketing campaign may be easier and more time-efficient. 

3. Create an effective strategy 

Influencers offer several marketing services that can help boost your brand awareness. However, you should only choose those you can monitor and measure throughout your campaign. 

For instance, if you want to create hype around a new product, you can send PR kits to influencers and have them post a review on their social media platforms. You can also ask influencers to vlog your products and services to boost brand awareness. 

Give your influencers a final outline of your marketing strategy so they can effectively contribute to your brand’s success. Moreover, give them the creative freedom to promote your brand since their individuality is what made them famous in the first place. 

4. Offer fair compensation 

Whether you enter an x-deal or paid partnership with an influencer, you should adequately compensate them for their hard work. Influencers invest a lot of time, money, and effort in what they do. As such, you should properly pay them for driving customers to your brand and helping you close sales. 

If you plan to build long-term relationships with influencers, it’d be best to compensate them with money. The better you pay them, the more effective they’ll be in producing engaging content for your brand. 

5. Measure return on investment

It’s not enough to launch an influencer marketing campaign. You also need to measure the ROI to gauge the effectiveness of your and your influencers’ efforts.  

For instance, check your influencers’ authentic social media engagements to see if they helped boost your brand awareness. Track the conversion rates of your influencers’ affiliate links as well to see if they’ve successfully converted their followers into customers for your brand. 

Work with People Your Consumers 

Trust Running a business is never easy, especially today when nearly all brands have shifted online. It’s now more challenging than ever to capture and retain consumer attention. With influencer marketing, you can breathe new life into your marketing strategies and grow your customer base. In the long run, influencers can also give credibility to your brand. 

That's why we've put together an overview of effective marketing tactics and eCommerce tools, along with ideas to help you implement each approach. The ideas themselves range from direct purchases to more repeat purchases from the existing customer base you already have.

Try to implement one of these tactics every day for the next few weeks. On the last day of the sprint, check your inventory and find out which tactics work best for driving new sales.

What is eCommerce marketing?

eCommerce marketing is the practice of using marketing strategies to drive traffic to your online store, convert that traffic into paying customers, and keep those customers buying after purchase.

A complete eCommerce marketing strategy is made up of marketing strategies within and outside of your website. A good marketing strategy can help you build brand awareness, drive customer loyalty, and ultimately increase online sales.

You can use eCommerce marketing to promote your entire online store or drive more sales for specific products. 

You can choose hubspot development services for eCommerce marketing which is the best choice for it.

Below is a summary of a few practical ideas you can try.

10 Best Ways to Boost eCommerce Sales 

Now that you know the common reasons for declining online sales, there are several ways your store can increase online sales.

1. Build brand trust

• Improve product quality. Sell ​​as described in the product description. This shows that you are honest with your customers.
• Continue to attract customers to your social media pages. You can host webinars, record live video of your warehouse/office and launch sweepstakes. All of these activities help increase customer engagement.
• Share user-generated content on blogs, social media pages and websites. This could be a tweet from a user who had a great shopping experience at an online store or a testimonial about a product.
• Ask users to provide honest reviews of their services on rating and review websites. 
• Choose a reliable eCommerce hosting optimized for fast loading times.

It is always best to familiarize yourself with the trading laws of different countries before trading them. Being compliant will only help you increase your online sales.

2. Set the Price Correctly

People will come to your online store because you have built some trust. It's time to set the right bid so that these people can buy from your store.

• Find out how much other stores charge for the same item. You might want to consider cost as your only selling point. 
• Change wholesalers if they sell the product at a higher price. You might have to find a market for it, but it will be worth it in the long run.
• Consider lowering shipping costs or offering free shipping when people spend more than a certain amount in your store, say $100.

3. Create Your Sales Proposition (USP)

• What sets you apart from other online stores?
• How much does your product cost?
• How about product quality?
• What type of customer service do you provide? 

Take advantage of these points now.

Sometimes you don't even know what a USP is. If so, visit the review site to see what your customers are writing about you and the keywords they are using. These are the keywords that will explain your service to your targeted audience. Utilise them in your marketing materials because they are the Words of your Customers.

4. Optimize and Split Test Website

You have only 15 seconds to grab a user's attention. If you can't, you will lose them. This is called the 15 second website usability rule. 

The 3-click rule is the second most important rule of conversion rate optimization (CRO). It states that the website user only needs to click three times to access the checkout page. Make sure you optimize your website for your needs.

Infographic created by Clover, a retail POS system provider

5. Provide exceptional customer service

People are more likely to buy from companies that handle user complaints effectively. Because of this, your store must provide effective customer service. you have work:

• Add a live chat feature to your eCommerce store.
• Let chatbots answer most of the questions people ask. This reduces the number of chats you have to respond to manually and increases the number of commands you receive.
• Send personalized emails to customers and respond directly to complaints.
• 24/7 phone support can increase the trust factor for your store.

Suggestion:  hubspot development service(s) will be beneficial for your store’s growth. You should consider trying it.

6. Shorten Delivery Time

What do people do when orders are not received on time? You have a few options. They can cancel their order, recharge their credit card, or leave a negative review on the e-Commerce store.

In eCommerce, shipping time plays an important role in the rating of your store. You need to make sure your order is shipped quickly. You can reduce the number of late deliveries in the following ways:

• We offer free shipping. Your customers should be able to choose the type of transportation they want. If they want shipping faster, they have to pay more. If not, you can always choose the free shipping option. 
• To handle your store's logistics and delivery operations use third-party logistics (3PL).

7. Make a unique copy

Writing a unique copy is very important for increasing online sales and helping you differentiate your business from others in the same market. 

Companies like Apple can distinguish themselves through copywriters. Write catchy slogans and content to create a unique brand identity. 

Here are some tips for creating your own copy to increase your online sales:

• Integrate the right keywords. Pay attention to a consistent brand tone.
• Play with words. Don't limit the content too much.

8. Display testimonials

Along with building trust with your brand, it is also important to feature testimonials on your website. This is a great way to showcase your company and make people aware of the quality of the services you provide.

9. Multiple payment options available

In addition to building trust in your brand, it is also important to show your rating on your website. It's a great way to show your business performance and let people know about the quality of the service you provide.

10. First-class product photography

Capturing high quality product images is very important for increasing e-commerce sales. If you want to increase online sales, you should always take high quality eCommerce product photos because they inspire trust among users. It is important to capture high-quality images to ensure that your products present themselves correctly. This helps you put your products in the right light. This will help you drastically increase your e-commerce sales.

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Author Bio:

Rajan

SEO Executive

This blog is written by Rajan who is employed in a web and app development company, where you can also hire full stack web developer(s). He personally handles work related to seo, smo and email marketing works.