Navigating the online market and driving eCommerce growth can be a daunting challenge. The landscape is competitive and fast-paced, requiring out-of-the-box strategies to stand out and capture customer attention.

WhiteOwl, one of Canada’s leading digital marketing powerhouses, is here to help you unlock your eCommerce potential. In this article, we delve into some lesser-known, yet incredibly potent eCommerce marketing hacks that can help you enhance eCommerce store visibility, boost conversion rates, and ultimately drive unprecedented online business growth.

11 eCommerce marketing hacks

If you seek smarter, more efficient, and effective ways to achieve your eCommerce business goals and ensure sustainable growth in the digital marketplace, these hacks are for you:

1. Leverage the Power of FOMO

Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is a compelling psychological trigger that drives customer behaviour and decision-making processes. By infusing this sense of urgency in your marketing messages, you can encourage customers to secure offerings instantaneously. You can consider creating exclusive, time-sensitive offers, flash sales, or displaying diminishing stock levels to provoke quicker purchase decisions.

Remember, the objective is for customers to feel like they might miss out on an excellent opportunity. This strategy not only drives immediate sales but also promotes impulsive buying behaviour, leading to increased order values.

2. Experiment with gamified shopping experiences

In the era of digital consumerism and an abundance of online stores, providing a plain shopping experience is no longer enough. Gamification injects elements of entertainment and engagement into the shopping process. For example, concepts like quizzes or reward systems incentivize customer interaction with a brand, fostering longer-lasting relationships.

When customers earn points or rewards for specific actions like making a purchase, writing a review, or referring a friend, they feel valued, enhancing brand loyalty and repeat purchases.

3. Harness micro-influencers

When it comes to influencer marketing, bigger isn’t always better. Mega-influencers can command a vast audience, but their services often come with a high price tag and may lack authenticity. Micro-influencers, on the other hand, typically have smaller, yet highly engaged audiences that truly value their opinions. These influencers are often seen as trusted experts in their niche, offering a genuine connection with their followers.

Collaborating with micro-influencers can boost a brand’s credibility, enhance visibility, and reach potential customers who are likely to be genuinely interested in the products.

4. Create packages, bundles or kits

Product bundling is an effective eCommerce marketing hack that can increase an online store’s average order value and help clear out inventory. To do this, you can group complementary products together and offer them as a package deal at a slightly lower price than if purchased individually. Not only does this provide customers with a perceived higher-value deal, but it also simplifies decision-making and encourages customers to spend more.

This strategy can also be used to promote new or less-popular products by bundling them with best-sellers.

5. Use AI chatbots

In a time when customers seek (and semi-expect) immediate responses, AI chatbots can revolutionize customer service. Chatbots can provide round-the-clock general assistance, instantly addressing customer queries, assisting with product selection, and even upselling or cross-selling relevant products. By providing immediate, personalized responses, chatbots enhance the customer experience as well as free up the customer service team’s time for more complex tasks.

In addition to this, the data gathered by chatbots can offer valuable insights into customer behaviour and preferences, helping you tailor the brand’s marketing strategy.

6. Augmented reality (AR) experiences

AR has been increasingly embraced in eCommerce as it mitigates one of the main drawbacks of online shopping, which is the inability to try before you buy. AR allows customers to visualize products in their environment, whether it’s trying on a pair of sunglasses, applying makeup, or seeing how a new couch would look in their living room.

This interactive experience reduces purchase hesitations, increases customer confidence, and ultimately, decreases return rates.

7. Use social proof to build trust

Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people conform to the actions of others under the assumption that those actions reflect correct behaviour. In eCommerce, this can you can leverage this by displaying customer reviews, testimonials, and recent sales notifications on the eCommerce site. These elements enhance credibility and reassure visitors about the quality of the products, boosting their confidence to make a purchase.

The more trust customers have, the more likely they are to buy.

8. Try exit-intent offers

Exit-intent technology offers a powerful tool for combating cart abandonment, a common challenge in eCommerce. This technology detects when a visitor is about to leave an online store without completing a purchase and triggers a pop-up, usually displaying an enticing offer. This offer could be, for example, a discount, free shipping, or a bonus item – something that captures their interest and persuades them to reconsider leaving.

By capturing prospective customers’ attention at the crucial moment, you can convert potential exits into successful sales. Remember, a well-crafted exit-intent offer not only reduces the cart abandonment rate but also improves overall customer retention.

9. Optimize for mobile commerce

With billions of smartphone users worldwide, optimizing an eCommerce business platform for mobile is essential. By doing this, you can ensure the website is responsive and provides an excellent user experience on smaller screens. Mobile shoppers want a seamless, easy-to-navigate shopping experience with fast-loading pages and easy checkouts. Consider incorporating mobile payment solutions for swift transactions and ensure the eCommerce site design is visually appealing and easy to navigate on mobile devices.

By optimizing for mobile commerce, you can reach a broader customer base and increase sales, as more and more consumers are turning to their phones for online shopping.

10. Employ content marketing

Content marketing is a powerful tool in an eCommerce business strategy. By creating valuable, relevant content that resonates with the audience, you can attract, engage, and retain customers. This can be through blog posts, videos, infographics, tutorials, or buyer guides related to the products. Well-crafted content can educate customers about products, provide solutions to their problems, and establish a brand as an authority in its niche.

Additionally, consistently publishing SEO-optimized content can also improve a website’s search engine rankings, driving organic traffic to the site. With content marketing, you’re not just selling products; you’re building relationships and cultivating customer loyalty.

11. Implement a referral program

Referral programs, one of the most time-honoured eCommerce growth hacks, empower satisfied customers to become brand advocates. They leverage trust and personal relationships, turning word-of-mouth recommendations into a powerful growth tool for an eCommerce site. By offering an incentive to both the referrer and the referee, such as a discount, freebie, or reward points, you can effectively stimulate participation in the program. It’s important to ensure customers can easily share their referral links via email, social media, or personal referral codes.

A referral program that’s well-executed not only enhances customer acquisition and retention but also helps boost sales and overall customer lifetime value.

Achieve eCommerce excellence with WhiteOwl

In the ever-evolving world of eCommerce and a sea of eCommerce brands, keeping a pulse on emerging trends and employing creative marketing hacks can help you stay ahead of the curve. The innovative strategies we discussed in this article can enhance the user experience, boost customer engagement, and drive sales, ultimately contributing to eCommerce success.

At WhiteOwl, we’re committed to providing agencies with personalized, forward-thinking marketing solutions. Get in touch with us today so we can help you implement these creative hacks and propel your clients’ eCommerce ventures to unprecedented heights.