New ecommerce trends you need to jump on

For those businesses, of all sizes, who are engaged in ecommerce, any advantage they can get they must jump on immediately. There have been a few trends that have been developing recently that ecommerce companies need to recognize so as to stay ahead of their rivals. Technologies and certain strategies are always evolving and adapting. Here are just a few recently evolving trends that ecommerce companies can adapt to their SEO and marketing efforts that just may boost their brand awareness and conversions.

• Direct mail, that tried and usually true dinosaur, tends to fail more often these days because consumers tend to be rather skeptical of new products and companies whose name recognition is low or non existent. So, one latest and fast spreading ecommerce trend is the influence of micro and niche bloggers and influencers. Recent research reveals that these experts who follow certain industries tend to be trusted by 30%-40% of those consumers who are thinking about purchasing a product they are not familiar with. Getting a few of your industry’s heavy hitters to team with you regarding promotions and brand awareness will do wonders for your long term growth.
• If you are not putting your email database to work for you then you are missing out on huge opportunities to boost your sales. Some latest research out of Search Engine Journal proclaimed that nearly 70% of the people they polled actually made a purchase based on an email campaign. Create specifically targeted campaigns with discounts and special offers that will take them right to the products you know they are looking for.
• Most of your potential customers are going to be highly mobile. Cell phones and tablets are fast becoming the preferred method of search and purchasing. Adapt your marketing approach. It can’t be the same approach you use with regard to driving traffic to your site. Include your social media in all of this especially if the 18-24 year old crowd is your sales sweet spot. According to Marketing Week, almost 35% of this demographic are buying products directly off Facebook.
• Finally, bots and voice search are two areas you need to plan for. Within two years, it is forecast that voice search will actually represent half of all searches being done. You need to get to work on your site and your SEO to adapt and to take advantage of voice search. Chatbots are quickly providing customer service alternatives for many companies. Much of the research points to chatbots actually being more effective than their human counterparts. While many people still prefer a human on the other end, it is becoming evident that more and more people don’t really care if it is a human or a chatbot. They just want their concerns answered so that they can make that purchase.

-Written by Kevin Sawyer