The e-commerce scene is booming, not just in Australia but across the world. With many local export firms drawing significant revenue through online channels, spicing up your e-commerce strategy in 2022 should be your next goal. Here are some top tips you can start with.
According to the latest DHL Export Barometer report, e-commerce was a significant driver of sales for export businesses in 2021. A whopping 82% of these businesses leveraged the online space to boost their revenue margins, up 8% from 2020. In addition, smaller businesses (86%) were more likely to depend on e-commerce. In fact, 40% of these export firms generated all their export sales online.
These numbers offer a significant insight — the best way to reach your target audiences is online. Among Australian firms who did well in 2021, 40% are ready to invest in online marketing while 34% want to improve their website design. With many e-commerce markets sprucing up around the world, this shift in strategy couldn't come at a better time.
If you’re already dipping your toes in the e-commerce scene, you’re on the right track. But, what more can you do to sharpen your e-commerce marketing strategy?
1. Gather social proof
Since social media remains the top sales channel among exporters, with six out of 10 using the platform to attract customers, the social space is a fantastic playground to engage with existing and potential customers. Work this into your social media marketing strategy.
Any positive interaction, by way of reviews or comments, serves as social proof. It acts as community assurance to convince online shoppers that your product or service will help them. The most popular social networking site among exporters is Facebook (48%), but you could also explore Instagram and Twitter. Consider working with influencers and content creators as well to help you drive your narrative forward online.
2. Invest in SEO strategies
What starts any shopper's e-commerce experience online is the search engine. Search engine visits between April and September 2020 increased by 16% in Australia alone, a remarkable increase from over a billion monthly visits that typically occurred before the pandemic. For SMEs looking to attract an online audience, whether in Australia or globally, mapping out a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategy is key.
While you may explore the online advertising space, spending your budget on ads may not give you the long-term results you need. Online ads require you to spend each time you want to place an advertisement. An SEO strategy, on the other hand, is a comprehensive digital marketing strategy to refine a website's search engine rankings, designed to capture more organic traffic to your e-commerce site over a long period of time. The effect of SEO remains prominent on the search engine — as long as you make the right implementation from the start, your target audience will always find you.
3. Sharpen user experience
A recent report revealed that 69.57% of online shopping carts are abandoned because, among other reasons, shoppers were required to create accounts and the checkout process was too long. This shows that a badly conceived website can make or break a shopper’s e-commerce experience, no matter how rigorous your marketing efforts may be. Your goal is to ensure that your audience can look for information they need and make purchases quickly. Otherwise, you’ll drive them away, resulting in losses.
Consider a clean site design and navigation with minimal layers. In addition, pay attention to your page loading speed. About 47% of shoppers prefer web pages to load in two seconds or less. A delay may leave them impatient, forcing them to source products elsewhere.
While you sharpen the user experience, think about how you can leverage the online space to improve customer service. Consider a live chat function or even an informative Frequently Asked Questions page to address common and important queries along the customer journey.
4. Streamline process from cart to delivery
Following a seamless e-commerce experience, you want to ensure your deliveries are fulfilled as fast as possible. In fact, 29% of exporters believe that refining their fulfilment strategy is key to driving more online export orders.
Waiting days or weeks for a parcel or package is now a thing of the past. Deliveries to your customers can be made overnight or on the same day. It all depends on your choice of logistics partner.
Recognising the demands of online shoppers today, DHL Express has streamlined the delivery process to facilitate and support export businesses in their e-commerce strategy. We fulfil international door-to-door deliveries by a specific time or a number of days with our Time and Day Definite services, respectively. Same Day deliveries are also available for critical international shipments. These options allow you to provide guaranteed delivery periods for your customers, assuring them that their products will be delivered as promised.
A good e-commerce strategy has multiple moving parts, from an SEO marketing plan to an efficient delivery service. Take some time to review your business goals and analyse how e-commerce can help you achieve them.
