Everything is set: Your business is rolling out a new product,
capped at the best price. But without people to market and sell it to,
your eCommerce business is heading for the rocks.
With approximately 90% of eCommerce businesses failing within the first 120 days,
many things could make a business fail. And having zero to little leads is one of them.
The premise here is simple;
customers are the lifeline of every business. If you can generate more
qualified
leads,
you win even with an average product.
We’ve put together eight proven ways to generate leads for your eCommerce business. And though you can bring a seasoned marketer onboard through a
strategic hiring plan
to help you with these,
some lead generation marketing techniques are pretty straightforward,
so you can get the ball rolling by yourself. Let’s jump in.
1. Create Custom Landing Pages
Lead generation landing pages are crucial for every conversion optimization strategy.
When you send online visitors to your website’s homepage,
you’re leaving money on the table and missing precious chances of converting visitors interested in your products.
While you can incorporate landing pages in different marketing strategies like social media and email marketing, the “context for use” is the same. Custom landing pages help your visitors focus exclusively on a product and encourage the next point of action. Including a webpage URL QR code on physical or digital materials can also drive targeted traffic directly to these landing pages, making it easier for users to engage with your offer instantly.
To create an optimized landing page the right way,
use unique content to bring in top-of-the-funnel leads. For example,
unique content such as infographics or industry reports targets executive search queries in your industry and shows your expertise.
Here , you apply a trick if you do not have much time to create fresh content outsourcing lead generator virtual assistant who will do everything to generate leads for you.
You may make this unique content partially available or gated. Then,
design custom landing pages for it to act as a lead capture. And voila!
You have your own lead generator.
Human psychology aside,
45 percent of consumers will switch brands if they don’t actively satisfy them. It sounds cumbersome,
but it means people value exclusive content with instant gratification.
Therefore, create optimized landing pages encouraging visitors to complete the desired action. If the goal is to close a sale, ensure the landing page has all the necessary elements, i.e., a great headline, benefits-oriented copy, social proof, and stunning visuals. Also, you can lead generation forms to your landing pages to capture customer emails and other data.
If you’re trying to build your email list,
provide an incentive like a free product sample,
guide,
ebook,
etc. You can also use quizzes,
a fun way to collect email addresses while helping your customers to learn something about themselves.
When used alongside a great marketing strategy,
custom landing pages improve website traffic and capture top-of-the-funnel leads.
2. Email Outreach
Despite the hype around social media and other “modern” content marketing techniques,
email outreach is still an effective marketing tactic. It has a great ROI of up to $45 for every $1 spent in the eCommerce industry.
When done right,
email outreach offers an excellent opportunity to get potential clients and qualified leads. In essence,
email outreach involves creating an email list of prospects,
email verification,
and structuring a solid campaign that prompts action.
For the most part, putting together a quality prospects list is the first critical step for successful email outreach. As stated earlier, you can use incentives or lead magnets like free samples and guides to build your email list. To ensure your email campaigns are as effective as possible, it’s essential to implement strategies tailored to your eCommerce platform. For Magento store owners, adopting proven email marketing tactics can significantly enhance your lead-generation efforts.
You can also create an email list from existing customers or use tools like Zoominfo to enrich email information.
After creating your email list, consider segmenting it based on different parameters. For example, you may start by grouping the subscribers based on what they seem to be interested in. You can also use demographic data taken from your customer data platform or email service provider for email list segmentation.
Next,
start targeting those prospects with personalized email campaigns. Send each segment an email related to their interests.
For example,
you can send a browse abandonment email reminding the potential customer of the product they looked at and other similar items. That’s what Haoma does in this email.
You can also experiment with cold email outreach. For this,
you can use LinkedIn or email finder tools to get the contact details of potential customers. Then send personalized cold emails introducing your brand and products to the prospect.
3. Paid Ads
Paid search advertising enables you to reach out to a large number of potential customers almost instantly.
However,
the competition in the paid ads market is stiff. As several offline businesses are going online in droves,
your ability to generate leads successfully depends on how you compete with new and established businesses in the market.
If you decide to invest in paid ads to generate leads for your business,
consistently tweak the three main variables of a pay-per-click campaign.
They are;
ad copy and visuals,
audience targeting,
and landing page experience.
Source:
Crowdfire
Analyzing these variables,
along with your
PPC channel
and overall campaign objectives,
determines if your campaign’s Customer Per Acquisition cost (CPA) is optimized for success.
How? Since your goal is to generate potential leads and convert them into customers,
the value of every generated lead (acquisition cost) counts.
For lead marketing,
if every acquired (generated) lead costs more than you’re currently making off your profit margin,
then it’s time to tweak the levers of your PPC campaign and optimize it for success.
Make sure to pick your target keywords correctly,
optimize your landing page and align it with the ad creative,
include negative keywords,
and A/B test your ads.
Paid advertising channels,
such as Facebook and Google Ads' pay-per-click advertising, are an effective way of targeting specific audiences and enticing them to buy your products or services. You can also run retargeting campaigns on these platforms.
4. Free Products and Samples
Yes, having a solid content marketing plan for your website is necessary, but generating leads takes a little more than churning out videos and blog content; utilizing tools like the QR code generator can enhance engagement and conversions.
Offering free products is one way to do this. Answer these questions:
● What does your new product solve?
● Will offering a free sample entice users enough to purchase from you in the future?
● Or will free products facilitate a use-and-dump routine from potential leads?
You see, the beauty of attracting potential customers with free products is they get to experience your items first-hand. And if your products are good enough, they’ll sell themselves. Your sales and marketing teams will have an easier time converting these leads.
Multiple eCommerce brands use this technique. Check this out:
Sephora, too, offers free samples.
However, they provide samples when users make a purchase. How does that help with your lead generation marketing efforts? Well, it helps them generate leads for their new product offerings. It’s also a great way to gather customer feedback on the samples.
5. SEO
Inbound leads are generally better quality than outbound leads. According to Hubspot, marketers who generate leads through SEO have a close rate of 14.6 percent.
Make sure your target audience can find you when they search for your product online.
Use SEO software to identify viable keywords in your industry. Once you’ve determined the right keywords for your target audience, optimize your product descriptions, product categories, and URLs. For example, a company like Trees for a Change might target a keyword such as memorial trees to reach its specific audience.
You can also create a blog to create a complete content marketing funnel. Use the blog to target keywords for all search intents. For example, you can create informative articles for top-of-the-funnel keywords and buying guides for the middle and bottom of the funnel.
Something similar to what Lowe’s does.
Keep in mind that ranking for SEO takes some time. But, with a well-optimized content marketing strategy, you’ll see better SEO results long-term, resulting in increased site traffic and more qualified leads.
6. Guest Blogging
Guest posting is an effective way to generate quality backlinks to boost site traffic and SERP rankings. You're probably aware of this. If you didn’t know, here’s a report confirming that backlinks are one of Google's most critical ranking factors.
Therefore, look for reputable websites with a high domain authority to write guest posts for. It’s also best to guest post on relevant sites. For example, if your store offers men's products, you may want to guest post on a site like Menshealth, which is within that industry.
That allows you to tap into audiences that are relevant to your product offerings. As a result, you’ll be boosting your SEO while driving qualified referral traffic to your site at the same time.
You can use tools such as Semrush and Ahrefs to identify ideal sites for guest posting. After finding those sites, send a personalized guest posting pitch, as shown below.
Another option is to use social channels to connect with editors. For example, instead of email, try contacting the editors via LinkedIn.
7. Encourage Customer Referrals
A pipeline of customers is necessary to scale a business. As a business owner, this pipeline includes both old and new customers.
Customer referrals are one of the oldest lead-generation tactics in the game. Fortunately, like every other traditional marketing tactic that evolved, you can seek referrals from customers through direct engagement with old customers on social platforms or emails.
But, you’re not to ask outrightly. Instead, get them to share their thoughts and experiences after using your products via a survey or poll.
On a good day, customers might tell a friend or two if they’re thrilled with your products and services. On other days, you have to set up an incentive system like discounts or a double-reward referral system.
A good referral program will help you cultivate customer loyalty while generating new leads for your business.
8. Leverage Social Media
Social media is a lead goldmine.
Lead marketing campaigns take your social media strategy one step beyond brand awareness and engagement. The best social platforms to run social campaigns are those your customers already use, so start with identifying them first.
Then, launch a compelling lead magnet that will attract your audience. As we discussed, make your lead magnet of substantial value to entice your audience. This could include free product samples, discount codes, ebooks, etc. Your content roadmap should include the creation of valuable content pieces like this.
You’re also free to repurpose your best-performing content for this purpose. Using these lead magnets, direct them to your landing page to capture their information.
Pro tip: Utilizing social media training can boost social media marketing and overall content performance in your business. Across Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat, stories are a big focus for StoryBox due to the level of engagement they drive (compared to regular posts & videos). Customers frequently shop through product features and testimonials shown in stories which is the reason many eCommerce companies are putting more effort into them now. Make the most of social media sponsorships too. So, instead of paid ads, you can sponsor social media content that your audience already consumes. This is different from influencer marketing.
For this strategy, you may sponsor shows that are quite popular with your target audience on TikTok or YouTube. That way, you’re leveraging the reputation of a content creator in your niche to talk about your brand, product, or service, without necessarily being affiliated with it.
Here’s a popular example:
Social media sponsorships generate quality leads who’ll engage with your brand because of a recommendation (social proof) from a content creator they already trust. Thus, increasing your chances of a close rate. You can now explore how you can use MS Excel Invoice Template to generate your invoices and send them to your customers.
Wrapping Up
Having learned the various ways to start bringing in more leads for your eCommerce business, you can get creative. Adding your own twist will help customize some of these strategies for your particular situation and business.
But remember, this isn't something you should set and forget because lead generation marketing techniques are constantly evolving. Therefore, put in your A-game if you want to remain competitive. It's a non-stop hustle.
Measure your results against your efforts, analyze user behavior, and optimize your strategies until your conversion rates steadily increase.
Building an audience for your eCommerce business requires adopting both paid and organic methods. These methodologies help in establishing credibility among customers. One of the best ways to build credibility is through social proof; and one of the best places to do it is on Instagram. Customers use Instagram to determine whether or not the business they are trying to engage with is reputable. Getting an audience takes time, so companies are start to buy instagram followers to accelerate growth. Popularity matters and an increased follower count gives new visitors an assurance that they are relying on a well-established brand.
This builds up brand engagement, estimates on organic followers increase, and traffic for your eCommerce business escalates. While investment in content, influencer marketing, and paid advertisement increases, building an audience on Instagram helps businesses to get leads fast and turn social media users into customers.
David Pagotto is the Founder and Managing Director of SIXGUN, a digital marketing agency based in Melbourne. He has been involved in digital marketing for over 10 years, helping organizations get more customers, more reach, and more impact.
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