The Ultimate Guide to Customer Acquisition Strategies for eCommerce

Starting an online business is a great idea, but you need to make sure that you know what you’re doing from the very beginning. Otherwise, you may face some setbacks. It is probably not going to be easy, but one of the main points to focus on right away is customer acquisition and basically growing your business.

How and where can you find customers? What can you do to make your business recognizable? These are questions that everyone asks themselves. So we took some time to create an ultimate guide to customer acquisition strategies for eCommerce.

So, let’s get started! One of the first things you should do is optimize your eCommerce site with your customer’s needs in mind.

eCommerce Conversion

You’re probably asking yourself: “How can I increase my eCommerce conversion rate?” It’s obvious that you will want to boost your business quickly, but it’s not obvious as to where you should start. You have things to sell, so help your customers find the products they need as easily as possible. Optimize your product pages and grow your business!

Increasing conversion ideas

• How To Increase Your eCommerce Conversion Rates Using These 3 Analytics Reports
• A Quick (but Useful) Guide on Using Google Shopping Ads to Generate Sales and Revenue
• A Simple Yet Effective Guide to Generating Sales From Remarketing
• 25 Amazing Ways to Boost eCommerce Conversion Rates
• 48 Bulletproof Ideas To Increase eCommerce Conversion

Search Engine Optimization

When you want to reach more customers (of course you do!), ranking higher than your competitors on Google is a must. So, you need to know what SEO is, and how to use it to rank your business well in the search engine.

Where to start?

• The Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization
• Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide
• A Simple Step by Step Guide to SEO

SEO blogs & insights

• Moz Blog
• Matt Cutts’ Blog
• The Ultimate Guide to SEO for E-commerce Websites
• SEO for E-Commerce Websites
• How to Optimize Your eCommerce Site Using On-Page SEO
• Improve eCommerce Conversion Rates with These 6 SEO Tips

SEO tools

• Google Keyword Planner
• Google Webmaster Tools
• Soolve
• Ubersuggest
• Keyword Tool

Content Marketing

Content marketing is one of the most popular and powerful ways to promote your business. It is also one of the best options for acquiring new customers, whether you just started up, or have been running an eCommerce business for a few years now.

What is Content Marketing?

• What is Content Marketing?
• What Is Content Marketing? Definitions from 25 Thought Leaders
• How Content Marketing Builds Your Business
• Is Content Marketing Right for My Business?

Content Marketing blogs & insights

• Copyblogger
• Content Marketing Institute Blog
• HubSpot’s Blog
• The Content Strategist
• 12 useful content marketing examples from eCommerce brands
• 19 Explosive Content Marketing Tips for eCommerce Stores
• A Not-So-Brief Guide to Better Content Marketing
• How to Create 10x Content

Content Marketing Tools

• HubSpot
• BuzzSumo
• Contently
• Canva
• Portent’s Content Idea Generator
• SlideShare
• TrendSpottr
• Famebit
• NinjaOutreach
• Listly
• SalesPanda

Growth Hacking

Growth hacking has become one of the most popular marketing methods, especially in startups. It’s all about growth and getting spectacular results. There are many tools that empower growth hacking efforts, so even non-technical marketers can do awesome work in a more efficient way.

What is Growth Hacking?

• The Definitive Guide To Growth Hacking
• Growth Hacking 101: What is it and What Can it Do for My Business?
• What is growth hacking?

How Growth Hacking can increase your sales?

• Employ Growth Hacking To Increase Your Sales
• 5+1 eCommerce Growth Hacks To Skyrocket Your Sales
• How to Increase Your eCommerce Revenue?

Growth Hacking: blogs & resources

• GrowthHackers
• GrowthHack
• Colibri IO’s Growth Hacking Blog
• Neil Patel’s Blog
• Why You Need a Growth Model For Your Blog (And How to Create One)

Growth Hacking Tools

• Yesware
• Social Crawlytics
• SurveyMonkey
• WhatRunsWhere
• Qualaroo
• LiveChat
• ToutApp
• SalesHandy
• HelloBar
• Kissmetric
• Exit Bee
• SellHack

Copywriting

It is important to know that copywriting is not the same as content marketing. Before you distribute and promote your epic content, you need to write a compelling copy first.

Copywriting blogs & insights

• Copyblogger
• 5 Lessons on Being a More Productive Writer (Plus Tips You Can Steal)
• How to Write Viral Headlines
• Five evocative examples of eCommerce copywriting
• 3 Simple Copywriting Techniques to Get Your Customer ‘Beyond’ the Buy Button
• Product copywriting for online retail – What can we learn from the eCommerce giants?

Copywriting Tools

• Copyscape
• Hemingway Editor
• Language Tool
• Unsuck It
• Readability Test Tool

Social Media Marketing

When running an eCommerce business, you need to be present in social media. People usually google your brand name before they decide to buy anything. So be visible, and connect with your audience by using social media like a pro!

Social Media Marketing Blogs

• Social Media Examiner
• Socialmouths Blog
• Mari Smith’s Blog
• Social Media Today
• Razor Social
• Socially Sorted

Social Media Resources

• 12 Social Media Tactics to Drive Traffic to Your eCommerce Site
• 3 Ways eCommerce Companies Should Use Social Media for Marketing
• 10 Inspiring Ecommerce Examples of Social Media Done Right (and How You Can Implement Them)
• The State of Social Media eCommerce
• Oh Snap! How To Use Snapchat To Growth Hack Your Store
• How to motivate customers to share your products

Social Media Tools

• Hootsuite
• Statusbrew
• Fangrow
• Buffer

Email Marketing

Sending emails based on user actions can help you effectively increase sales. Users have less and less time to read all of the emails they receive, so it is crucial to find a way to reach them effectively. Using the right tools, and giving customers what they really want, can help you to grow your sales effectively.

Email Marketing Blogs & Resources

• Ecommerce Email Marketing: 10 Tips to Boost Product Sales
• The Ultimate Guide To eCommerce Email Marketing
• 5 email campaigns all eCommerce companies should be sending
• Ecommerce email marketing benchmarks for 2016

Email Marketing Tools

• SendGrid
• GetResponse
• SalesManago
• MailChimp
• Campaign Monitor
• Constant Contact

Analytics

Analytics give you so much information that you really do need to know about in order to test your site, and get better results. Use the power of analytics tools and start to improve your online business with:

Analytics Resources

• E-Commerce Tracking in Google Analytics – Complete Guide
• Google Analytics For Ecommerce: A Beginners Guide
• Google Analytics Reports for Conversion Optimization

Analytics Tools

• Google Analytics
• Crazy Egg
• KISSmetrics
• RetentionGrid
• Vantage Analytics
• Custora
• Optimizely

And last but not least: What to focus on to streamline customer acquisition process?

Now it is time to use all the of knowledge above and run an A/B test to find out whether something worked out or not. It may seem like a really hard thing to do at first, but – when done properly – it gives you a lot of satisfaction. Prepare the most relevant strategy for you to start customer acquisition, and enjoy your business growth!