Online marketing for Shopify: 13 tips for successful e-commerce marketing

The goal of every store owner is to increase sales and traffic. But there are countless online store marketing strategies to do online marketing for Shopify. Which marketing strategy is the right one for you? We have compiled an overview of the seven best measures for successful online marketing that will help you implement your online store marketing.

Online marketing definition

Every marketing measure that you use to market your online store and generate sales is referred to as online store marketing (or e-commerce marketing). This includes both new customer acquisition (acquisition) and customer retention or reactivation of existing customers.

When you do online marketing for Shopify, it brings some advantages:

• Increase traffic to your Shopify store

• Accurate addressing of your target group

• Increase the findability of your website

• Store visitors become customers

• Existing customers are reactivated

• Increased customer satisfaction through a better shopping experience

Areas of online marketing and the marketing mix

Online marketing comprises various areas, each of which uses specific goals and tools to successfully market products or services in the digital space:

• Search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO)

• Social media marketing

• Content marketing

• E-mail marketing

• Affiliate marketing

These areas are part of the marketing mix, the strategic combination of marketing instruments to achieve marketing goals. The traditional 4Ps of the marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion) are often expanded in online marketing and adapted to the digital landscape.

So, to avoid drowning in the flood of online stores, it's not enough to just create a website. Your target group must also be able to find you in order to buy from you.

In order for you to stand out as a vendor and stay in the minds of your clientele, you need to continuously remind your customers of your brand so that they return regularly and generate sales.

Now let's take a look at what 12 e-commerce marketing tips you can't afford to miss for this:

Tip 1: not without search engine optimization

What good is the best Shopify store if it can't be found in search engines? The answer is - quite little. Because your potential clientele must also be able to find the store in order to buy products.

Therefore, one of the most important tips for your online marketing for Shopify is search engine optimization (SEO for short). The goal should be to list your store among the first 10 search results. This will bring a lot more organic traffic to your website and will be reflected in the sales figures.

When it comes to SEO for online stores, many different factors play together. These include the technical implementation of your store, the conceptual structure of the site, content, backlinks on reputable websites and keyword optimization. At the core of this is the creation of website texts on keywords that potential customers use to search for products similar to yours. This way, the search engine recognizes that you offer a solution to the search and lists your content in the appropriate search results.

So SEO is a very effective measure that you should definitely include in your strategy. You will attract store visitors with a high purchase intention - for example, someone searching for "buy natural cosmetics". Most importantly, you'll also reach people who don't know your brand yet.

You can choose to do SEO yourself or get support as needed.

Tip 2: think mobile

Many customers shop primarily via smartphone or tablet, so mobile shopping has become an indispensable part of e-commerce. So online marketing for Shopify also means optimizing the store for mobile devices and designing your website from start to finish with mobile visitors in mind.

For example, this can be a larger button to make it easier for visitors to add something to the cart without having to zoom in.

Tip 3: optimize product pages

To increase your conversion rate, you need to optimize your website and product pages. To do this, you should identify where you are losing sales, why shopping carts are being abandoned, and finally examine how you can convert these unused opportunities into purchases in the future. This will help you identify and fix problem areas on the website.

Once you have completed your research, you can develop tests to determine which approaches generate the most sales.

To increase sales and thus increase the average order value (AOV), retailers can make use of cross-selling or upselling. Cross-selling refers to selling additional products or services that may be relevant to the customer, based on their current buying behavior. Upselling, on the other hand, means offering the customer an upgrade or a better version of the same product in order to increase the cart value and possibly increase customer value.

Tip 4: go for personalization

Another promising candidate among online marketing tips is personalization. Use behavioral data to offer your visitors personalized experiences based on their previous actions and preferences. Location can also be taken into account here to create a shopping experience tailored to where your customers are.

Tip 5: use content marketing

If you offer relevant and target group-specific content, you can always pick up customers at the right point in the customer journey. If you arouse interest by providing useful information, you move your product into the customer's field of attention. This content is also important for addressing target groups: you can use the personal level that has been created to build a relationship with potential customers. In addition, from an SEO perspective, good content also promises a better ranking, more reach and an improved conversion rate.

The possibilities here include:

• A corporate blog

• A podcast

• Guest posts on other websites

• Videos

• Guides and advisors

• User-generated content (e.g., photos, video, testimonials, or forum posts)

The goal of content marketing should be to answer questions, inform, tell your company's story, and help customers choose products. Good content is your chance to share your expertise and values, address potential concerns, and convince customers that you're a good place to store online.

Need help with your content marketing? As your content marketing agency, we're happy to help.

Tip 6: e-mail marketing

Because of its particularly high return on investment (ROI), email marketing is considered a very effective discipline in online marketing for Shopify. Your email campaign becomes more relevant the more you know about your subscribers. Combine your email marketing with your customer relationship management (CRM) to always reach the right recipients at the right time with the right offer.

So it's not enough to simply capture a set of email addresses. To use the channel as an effective measure for your e-commerce marketing, you also need to send e-mails on a regular basis.

These occasions lend themselves to making the emails meaningful to your customers:

• Welcome emails after the first purchase

• Exclusive promo codes or free gifts

• Regular newsletters with product tips or offers

• A thank you to loyal customers

• Feedback on a purchase

• Products that match previous purchases

• Reactivating customers who haven't ordered in a while

Tip 7: rely on PPC campaigns

Another important online marketing measure for Shopify is pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. It makes sense for both small and large businesses, is data-driven, easy to scale, and offers a good return on investment. These PPC ads often target ad spaces on search engines, social media platforms, or websites. They are very well suited for e-commerce brands as they target ready-to-buy customers and can also lead to higher conversions than organic marketing.

The most popular platforms here are Facebook and Google. Google shopping ads in particular are very popular with online stores.

The use of Shopify Audiences is suitable for this. The Shopify app uses the data collected from Shopify merchants to identify target groups with a high propensity to buy on Shopify. The target group lists created can then be used for platforms such as Google, Meta, TikTok or Pinterest. Using such target groups helps you to target your advertising campaigns correctly, use the budget effectively and thus achieve less wastage. With the Shopify Summer Editions 2024, Shopify has also announced new updates for Shopify Audiences.

Currently, Shopify Audiences is only available to Shopify Plus merchants who use Shopify Payments and are based in the US or Canada.

Tip 8: social media marketing

Social media marketing is a powerful marketing strategy that enables online retailers to promote their products or services via various social media platforms and interact with their target audience. A major advantage here is the reach.

For a successful social media strategy, you should analyze your target audience to understand who the potential customers are, what their needs are and which social media channels they prefer. The strategy should focus on creating relevant content and targeting the audience. In addition, interaction with the target audience is crucial to build a closer relationship. Retailers should respond to comments and messages, answer questions, and encourage engagement through surveys, contests, or discussions.

Tip 9: influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is a marketing strategy in which brands work with so-called "influencers" to promote their products or services and gain greater reach and visibility. Influencers are individuals who have a significant social media following and have expertise, credibility, or a strong online presence in a particular field.

Influencer marketing can be an extremely effective way to increase brand awareness, attract new customers and build customer loyalty. However, it is important to choose influencers carefully and execute campaigns with clear goals and a well-thought-out strategy to achieve maximum results.

Here, there are different types of influencers that can be classified according to the number of followers they have:

• Nano-influencers: from about 1,000 followers.

• Micro-influencers: from approx. 10,000 followers upwards

• Macro-influencer: from approx. 100,000 followers onwards

• Mega-influencers / celebrities: from approx. 1 million followers

Choosing the right influencer depends on the brand's goals, target audience and budget. Well-designed influencer marketing can help increase brand awareness, build credibility, and ultimately drive sales.

Tip 10: affiliate marketing

Another marketing measure is affiliate marketing. This is an online marketing strategy in which companies (also known as "advertisers" or "merchants") work with partners (also known as "affiliates" or "publishers") to promote products or services and generate sales or leads. This partnership is based on a commission basis, where Affiliates receive compensation when they convert a visitor to their website into a customer of the Advertiser.

Tip 11: user generated content (UCG)

UCG marketing, translated as "user-generated content," refers to a marketing strategy in which brands use content created by their customers to promote their products or services.

User-generated content can take many forms, including customer reviews, product ratings, photos, videos, testimonials, social media posts and more. This content is created by customers themselves, sharing their experiences, opinions, and interactions with the brand.

The importance of UCG marketing lies in its authenticity and credibility. Since it comes from real customers, it is perceived as trustworthy and unbiased by other potential customers. It creates a strong connection between the brand and the customer and promotes engagement and loyalty.

UCG marketing offers many benefits for brands, including:

• Building trust: customers trust other customers more than the brand itself. User-generated content builds trust and shows that the product or service actually offers the promised benefits.

• Cost savings: using user-generated content can be cost-effective because brands don't need expensive advertising materials or professional production teams.

• Reach and engagement: UCG marketing can increase brand reach and drive engagement on social media platforms, as users often share their content with their own networks.

• Customer engagement: customers whose content is shared by the brand often feel valued and more connected to the brand.

To successfully implement UCG marketing, brands should encourage their customers to create and share content. This can be achieved through social media prompts, customer reviews, sweepstakes or special hashtags. However, complying with privacy policies and obtaining customers' consent are essential to respect users' privacy and rights.

In the meantime, however, UGC has also become a business sector - just like influencer marketing. Many UGC creators now offer their services via platforms such as TikTok or Instagram, or can be found on Fiverr, Speekly, Creatorjobs, and many more. These creators can be booked by brands to have video or image content created. This deviates from the original UGC idea, because the users are paid here and appear as a clear advertising face - for brands, however, this strategy has proven itself in their performance marketing campaigns.

Tip 12: WhatsApp marketing

WhatsApp Marketing uses the messaging service WhatsApp to communicate with customers, send offers, provide support and improve customer service. WhatsApp is a popular platform with a high user base, which makes it an effective channel for direct customer communication. To implement WhatsApp marketing with Shopify, they can use Charles. There are several options here:

• Integration of WhatsApp into the checkout process: With Charles, WhatsApp can be integrated into Shopify's checkout process as an additional communication method. Customers can ask questions or solve problems directly via WhatsApp, which strengthens customer loyalty and increases the purchase completion rate.

• Automated WhatsApp messages: Charles enables the automation of WhatsApp messages to greet customers, send order confirmations, send shipping notifications, and more. This can make customer service more efficient and improve communication with customers.

• Sending promotional offers: With Charles, businesses can create WhatsApp marketing campaigns to send promotional offers, discounts or special promotions to their customers. It is important that customers have previously given their consent to be contacted via WhatsApp.

• Customer feedback and surveys: Companies can use WhatsApp to gather customer feedback or conduct surveys. Direct communication makes it possible to gain valuable insights into customer wants and needs.

• Customer support: Charles enables effective customer support via WhatsApp. Customers can send support requests and companies can respond quickly and directly, increasing customer satisfaction.

However, it is important that companies consider privacy policies and customer consent before using WhatsApp as a marketing channel.

Tip 13: artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is playing an ever greater role in online marketing as companies increasingly rely on data-driven decisions and personalized customer experiences. AI enables more precise personalization of marketing content based on user behavior and preferences. By analyzing large amounts of data, AI can make individual recommendations for products, content or offers that are relevant to each user. Artificial intelligence also helps companies to predict future trends and behavioral patterns.

AI-supported tools can automate keyword research, content optimization and ranking analyses. They help to continuously adapt SEO strategies in order to improve visibility in search engine results.

AI is also playing an increasingly important role in content generation and customer service. AI-powered chatbots can be used on websites and in messenger apps to answer customer queries, provide support and even complete transactions. AI tools can also automatically create content such as product descriptions, blog posts or social media posts. Although human creativity is often still irreplaceable, AI supports content production by generating ideas or automatic translations.

Shopify offers its own tools for this: Shopify Sidekick and Shopify Magic. Shopify Sidekick is an AI assistant that can answer your questions, provide helpful information or provide store analytics. Shopify Magic, on the other hand, is an integrated suite of free features based on artificial intelligence (AI) embedded in Shopify's products and workflows. Shopify Sidekick is part of this suite.

The integration of AI into online marketing therefore offers companies the opportunity to work more efficiently, create personalized experiences and make informed business decisions. As the technology continues to evolve, it is expected to play an even greater role in the marketing mix by helping companies adapt to dynamic market demands and gain competitive advantage.

Conclusion: Stand out from the competition with effective measures for your Shopify marketing

If you do without e-commerce marketing, your online store is virtually invisible. To make your store more popular and encourage customers to buy, you need to rely on targeted online marketing for Shopify. Invest your budget in the right preparation of SEO, content or PPC measures to achieve noteworthy results. After all, the right marketing strategy will help increase the average order value, attract customers and boost sales.

If you use our 7 tips, you can build a successful store that offers customers an optimal shopping experience and generates worthwhile sales for you.