Footwear-OCT20-P19 Digital Technology_Footwear_Jan10_p30 19/11/2020 19:41 Page 19
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
How to improve customer
loyalty and boost online sales Jonathan Birch, from digital marketing agency Glass Digital, explains how businesses can boost e-commerce sales and build customer loyalty using online marketing techniques.
I
f there's one thing that 2020 has shown us, it's that the future of retail is digital. When the lockdown was in full force, the
mass closure of brick and mortar stores led to a surge of online shopping, with many customers going digital in an attempt to make their transactions as 'contactless' as possible. And, even though high street shops across the country have opened their doors to the public again, it looks as though online shopping is only going to get more popular as time goes on. According to research from e- Marketer, UK retail e-commerce sales will account for 27.5% of total retail sales this year, and that proportion will rise to almost a third by 2024. Clearly, e-commerce is here to stay. So, you'll
want to make sure that you're doing everything you can to give yourself a competitive advantage online. In this article, I'll share some tips that will help you to attract organic traffic, along with some general marketing tips that will help you to sustain customer loyalty.
Continue to invest in SEO The past few months have been a very challenging trading period for many, so you might be considering cutting your marketing budget to keep costs as low as possible. However, if you're increasingly relying on online sales to keep your business afloat, I'd strongly recommend doubling down on your SEO campaigns. With ecommerce becoming the new normal for many people, the search engine results page is only going to get more
competitive, so you really can't afford to lose your edge now. However, that doesn't just mean increasing
your budget across the board. Instead, you'll want to target your resources to make sure you're capitalising on the latest trends. Consumer lifestyles have been changed dramatically by the pandemic, and this change has been reflected in the sorts of products people are buying. For example, loungewear sales surged during the lockdown, with one retailer even reporting a 200% increase in sales. Many are predicting that home working will become the norm for many people in future, so you might want to start channelling more of your budget into your marketing for indoor footwear, like slippers or house shoes. It's all about staying ahead of the latest developments and responding to them strategically.
Offer loyalty and discount schemes Times are hard for everyone right now and, as a result, customers might need that added incentive to go ahead with a purchase. Temporary product discounting and flash sales can help drive a short-term sales increase, but keeping those customers coming back for more can be much harder to achieve. Loyalty schemes can encourage customers to keep shopping with you beyond their initial purchase. There are lots of ways you can implement this.
You could create a points scheme, where customers accrue points with each purchase, which can be used to build up in-store credit.
One advantage of this is that it allows you to create 'points events', where extra points are awarded with the purchase of specific items, which can be a good way to clear old stock without actually slashing prices. Or, you could offer discounts around customer birthdays. This is also a great technique for encouraging people to sign up to your mailing list.
Review your site's UX All of the suggestions I've given in this article are unlikely to have an effect if your site doesn't offer a good user experience (UX). If shoppers enjoy browsing your ecommerce site and can easily find exactly what they need, they're much more likely to make a purchase and return to you in future. Offering a great UX is vital for your site's overall SEO, too. Search engines place great value on this, with Google even going as far as saying "focus on the user and all else will follow". So, if you want to improve your Google
rankings and attract organic traffic, focusing your efforts on improving your UX is a great place to start. By that, I mean your site should be quick to load, with logically structured categories and a clear navigation menu. Crucial customer service details — like delivery and returns info — should also be easy to access from anywhere on the site. Don't neglect the mobile version of your site, either: this should be just as fast-loading and easy to use as your desktop site.
Jonathan Birch is Creative Director at the digital marketing agency Glass Digital.
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