In the old days when the web was young dial-up modems screeeeeeeeeched with reckless abandonment, eCommerce was basically the virtual equivalent of buying something from a vending machine.
Indeed, much the same way that old time websites were little more than online brochures (and some of them still are!), most eCommerce operations back then were little more than secondary considerations that took a back seat to in-person and phone customer engagement.
These days, however, the landscape has shifted beyond what even many futurists back then predicted – because eCommerce isn’t just legit, but in many industries and marketplaces it’s now the dominant sales channel. And for businesses that rely on this approach to generate a significant portion – or possibly all – of their revenues, this is a good news bad news scenario.
The good news is that the eCommerce marketplace is booming, with Statista.com reporting that 40 percent of global internet users – which is more than a billion people -- have bought something online. And eMarketer.com estimates that by 2018, eCommerce will comprise 8.8 percent of all retail activity worldwide, which translates into a whopping $2.489 trillion (yes, trillion) in sales.
The bad news is that eCommerce businesses are facing an onslaught of competition from both established players and new entrants. And even though as noted above the pie is getting bigger each year, relying on traditional advertising or word-of-mouth (or more likely word-of-email-and-posts) isn’t viable. And that’s where inbound marketing enters the picture and changes the game.
For example, as highlighted by HubSpot inbound marketing enabled:
- Natural medicine company Brauer Natural Medicine to increase its customer database by 325 percent
- Conference room technology company Conference Room Systems to increase leads by 300%
- Bookseller Books Tell You Why to increase web traffic by 80%
- Enterprise RFID seller Atlas RFID Store to increase growth by 50 percent
- Printing company Plastic Printers to increase revenue by 24 percent
Naturally, these companies had unique needs and have their own success stories to tell. However, it’s unarguable that they all leveraged inbound marketing to achieve 4 key goals that are essential for success:
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Attracting Traffic
Inbound marketing helps eCommerce businesses attract traffic from multiple sources, including organic web searches – which still remains by far the most cost-effective way to generate leads.
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Building Relationships
Most visitors to eCommerce websites don’t buy something on the first visit – and when the context shifts to B2B sales, there can be dozens of touchpoints (and often by multiple people from the same company). Inbound marketing helps eCommerce businesses build and evolve relationships by sharing useful, relevant content -- which translates into more engagement and conversions.
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Remarketing/Retargeting
One of the biggest challenges that eCommerce businesses face is that they lose sight of leads once they exit a website. However, with inbound marketing they can automatically capture key information based on target behaviors (page views, actions, length of stay, location, etc.), and use the data to effectively remarket/retarget leads through online advertising such as Google AdWords and Facebook Ads.
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Tracking Marketing Investments
With an inbound marketing platform, eCommerce businesses can use closed loop reporting to track the path that leads take into becoming customers (i.e. where they come from, what pages and products they view ,etc.), and use this information to make smarter data-driven marketing investments.
Learn More
At Leap Clixx, we help our eCommerce clients reap the bottom-line rewards of inbound marketing. We map out the shortest path to sustainable ROI, and handle everything from content creation and distribution, to tracking, reporting, analytics and optimization. To learn more, contact us today and schedule your free consultation. For more information on inbound marketing best practices, download our FREE eBook:
Topics: Inbound Marketing
