E-commerce advertising is an effective approach to developing a scalable, targeted, self-sufficient, and highly successful online shopping store. It allows store owners to measure, analyse, and tweak their campaigns to optimise the advertising strategy and yield more conversions. But how can we build a successful eCommerce ad strategy in the first place? Here are six proven eCommerce advertising strategies that will help you build brand awareness, generate leads, and drive more sales in 2023!
1. Determine your goals and audience
Lay a proper foundation for the advertising strategy. Store owners should clearly know what they want to achieve through eCommerce advertising. Are you developing an eCommerce strategy to generate awareness, promote a product, run a sale, or boost revenue? Once we have a goal to achieve, we can craft the rest of the ad strategy around it. More importantly, conduct in-depth research to identify the key audience group you’d want to target through the strategy.
2. Double down on Google and Facebook Ads
Google Ads is a must for eCommerce store owners as it allows one to run a wide variety of campaigns while ensuring excellent online reach. However, you need to use the right ad type (Google Display Network, Google Shopping Ads, Remarketing Ads, Dynamic Search Ads, YouTube Ads, just to name a few). Moreover, Google Ads allows exceptional eCommerce targeting including placement targeting, contextual targeting, interest targeting, demographic targeting, shopping behavior retargeting, and more.
Facebook Ads, in conjunction with Google Ads, makes a winning eCommerce advertising strategy. It allows store owners to diversify their advertising campaigns with dynamic ads, collection ads, video ads, domain ads, messenger ads, instant experience ads, lead ads, and carousel ads which can also be run on Instagram! Facebook advertising allows for engagement-behavior targeting, geographic targeting, demographic targeting, interest targeting, custom audiences, lookalike audiences, and retargeting.
3. Create ads for key shopper touchpoints
A multi-channel eCommerce marketing strategy that targets every shopping journey touchpoint is key to online success. Store owners should design their ads strategy to target buying stages like Awareness, Consideration, Purchase, and Repurchase. While each of the stages will have its own objectives and campaigns, the strategy should effectively feed the buyers into the next stage.
4. Go all-in on real-time automation
Eventually, you’d need to scale your eCommerce ads portfolio to scale your online store. Managing a large portfolio of ads is quite overwhelming, even for seasoned advertisers like us. Therefore, we suggest you invest in real-time optimisation, an ads specialist, and management tools that leverage machine learning and AI technology to create, manage, and optimise ads.
5. Prioritise personalisation
Did you know almost 71 percent of consumers find it frustrating to shop on an impersonal eCommerce website? Relevance and personalised recommendations make 91 percent of consumers make repeated purchases! In other words, your eCommerce ads strategy should ensure that the right ads are sent to the right customers at the right time. This is achievable through pixel-based dynamic eCommerce ads.
6. Retarget to convert abandoned carts
JungleScout’s Q2 2023 Consumer Trends Report shows that 42 percent of consumers like to be retargeted if the ads are helpful. Retargeting across formats and platforms is an excellent way to convert abandoned carts as the ads follow the prospects until they return to complete the purchase. Such ads also give store owners opportunities to resell while using the customers’ browsing history to make immaculate product recommendations.
Final thoughts on eCommerce ad strategy!
While you put the strategies mentioned above into action, never miss out on the opportunity to develop a multi-channel or omnichannel eCommerce ad strategy. Modern-day customers find it easier to shop if they can seamlessly move between online channels. Moreover, we highly recommend staying on top of the best eCommerce advertising practices that we post here every month. Stay tuned to learn how to improve your eCommerce advertising effectiveness!