Out of every 100 Americans, 51 of them prefer to shop online. E-commerce has grown consistently over the past few years, and it’s projected to keep growing. Even with this growth, it’s never a good idea to take your own success with e-commerce for granted. There’s always a way to fuel growth by paying more attention to the digital marketing trends that reflect what’s really important to your customers.

As e-commerce expands this year, here are four top trends that will make a difference for your business.

Optimizing for Voice Search

Voice search has reached into every aspect of the digital experience, and that includes e-commerce, so it’s more important than ever to be optimized for the voice search customer.

This means looking at your SEO strategy with a fresh perspective. Mobile customers using voice are searching for your business differently, and even the slightest change in keywords can make a huge difference in search results.

Start by taking your top performing keywords and adapting them. For example, if a typical high-ranking search for your e-commerce business is “best running shoes”, a voice search version that contains modifiers might be “where can I find the best running shoes at the lowest price”.

Optimizing your e-commerce business for the voice search customer includes long tail and modifying keyword additions, as well as paying attention to the other priorities of the mobile customer, like load times and mobile optimization.

Changing Social Media Demographics

Smart e-commerce companies know that their digital marketing strategy needs to stretch out and reach customers where they are, instead of waiting for them to come to you.

You already know that a strong digital presence on social media is key, but when was the last time you reevaluated where your market can be found? We’re seeing a shift in social media usage. For example, 34% of adults over the age of 65 report using social networks like Facebook and Twitter, a noticeable increase over previous years. As millennials are sailing through their 30’s and heading towards 40, the previously established demographics of social media are changing.

For you, this means rethinking your social media presence. This is the time to experiment and create profiles on networks you previously left untapped. Start looking more closely at analytics and see where your soft spots are. Paying attention to these clues will help expand your digital reach.

Personalization

Once upon a time, businesses that wanted to thrive made a point of providing certain things that were known to be synonymous with a great customer experience. We’re talking about top notch customer service, competitive pricing and a site designed with a great UX in mind.

But today, this isn’t enough. While purchasing online is more convenient, it’s missing the personalization that comes from shopping in your local community. It’s up to e-commerce businesses to build a similar level of personalization through their digital marketing strategies.

Here are a few areas where e-commerce businesses can adapt.

• Building a site that’s responsive to the customer by recommending products based on search, purchase and shopping cart history.
• An email campaign that includes customized discounts and incentive offers.
• Content creation that enhances the customer experience.
• Email or website surveys that give customers the option to voice their opinions and help you build a stronger personalization strategy.

Tapping into Transactional Emails

Transactional emails are automated messages sent to a customer once a trigger action has taken place. For example, a receipt and confirmation after a purchase.

Transactional emails are important because they let the customer know you’re paying attention and anticipating their needs. For instance, a purchase confirmation email provides the customer with a receipt and tracking number without them needing to ask for it. If they do need it, you’ve saved them valuable time.

There’s plenty of ways to tap into transactional emails to build the customer experience. Here are a few.

• Email confirmation
• Welcome email
• Purchase email
• Education email on a topic they clicked on
• Upsell Email
• Post Purchase Email

When you’re ready to take your e-commerce marketing strategy up a notch, we’re here to help with the best digital marketing services. Contact us at Inquisitek today and let’s get started.