Ecommerce marketers must stay updated and aware of the latest technologies in order to boost their business online. They can achieve this by analyzing the market, the hit trends of the previous year and willingness to try something new. Stay with us as we are going to tell you the top marketing technologies that you should use to reinvigorate your ecommerce in 2017:
1. Engagement with Content
Content is the key in order to get high rankings and therefore, it must be original, unique and most of all engaging. Ensure that your blogs, website content and product descriptions have all these qualities. However, a customer doesn’t always have time to go through the content and that is why you must incorporate the latest technology for engagement. A customer shouldn’t get bored upon visiting your website as it can be fatal for your business, thus ensure that you maintain engagement with content.
2. Programmatic Advertising is More Effective
This year, ecommerce businesses are allocating more budgets on Programmatic Advertising. As compared to traditional methods that need human buyers, salespeople, and immense guesswork, Programmatic Advertising presents you with enhanced cost efficiency as well as speed. Using the new technologies, Programmatic uses the data analytics in order to determine the right audience and the appropriate ad format that will be projected to that audience. This automation will also save a lot of your time that you can use on other crucial aspects of your businesses.
Zenith is a marketing and advertising agency that published a report stating, “Programmatic will become the principal method of trading digital display this year, accounting for 51% of expenditure, and will rise to 58% of expenditure in 2017.”
3. Engagement with Bots
The majority of the ecommerce marketers depend on CTRs and website visits to understand the potency of their online marketing campaigns, however, these methods fail to present a clear picture. Instead of spending your whole budget to enhance CTRs and website visits, you must allocate some budget in using the Chatbots technology as it is a new yet effective method to enhance customer engagement. As compared to traditional advertisements and videos, conversing with Chatbots is more natural and engaging. A number of ecommerce giants are using latest technologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI) based on chatbots to establish brand engagement.
4. Customization for Better Customer Experience & Brand Engagement
This isn’t exactly a new strategy, but it will align with your efforts towards improving customer experience and brand engagement. Online product customization has tremendous revenue potential and has its unique space in the online world.
With customization, you can charge more for the same products as customers are willing to pay more for self-designed products, compared to non-customized ones. It is also likely that customers would be willing to talk about these products; these are their own creations! You should promote such interactions by allowing customers to easily share their designs in the social space.
5. Engagement with AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality)
As everyone knows, Pokemon Go became the most popular game of all times which shows how successful and important AR and VR are going to be in e-commerce marketing as well. It is crucial for ecommerce companies worldwide to remodel around artificial intelligence. AR and VR are also becoming important to enhance customer engagement and ecommerce owners are developing strategies and immersive experiences. It will help in increasing customer engagement and also in transforming the shopping experience of customers.
6. Think Beyond Apps
It is vital for ecommerce owners to understand the fact that in order to engage customers, apps are no longer going to be the only channel. There have been many “mobile first” and “mobile only” marketing strategies in the past years but the future is going to be different. Mobile app development companies are adapting to the new technologies and transforming their processes and offerings according to the demands of the market. It is important to develop apps for larger screens. show that people tend to use mobile for casual browsing, while they make most of their online purchases via desktop. Instead of trying to change this behavior, you should gauge customer journey across all screen sizes and make it seamless for them to switch devices.
7. Voice First Browsing is Becoming a New Trend
With the advancing technology, voice first browsing ought to be your primary focus this year as voice search trend is constantly rising. It is said in a report that “mobile voice searches have tripled in the past two years (2014-15).” It is also becoming very famous because of a number of unique innovation and new hardware around this technology. People now are excited to use voice search which has resulted in the introduction of technologies such as Amazon Echo, Apple AirPods, and Google Home. Doing away with the screens, the vocal communication and interaction will have a remarkable effect on the internet and web experience of people as they can now use it without getting distracted while doing other works such as exercising, driving, walking, etc.
8. Fastest Means for Delivery and Returns
The marketing department must always pay attention to delivery as well as returns because it has an important role in providing customer satisfaction. When a customer receives the product at quick speed or gets it exchanged or returned without any hassles, their loyalty towards the brand increases as well. So ensure to allocate some amount from your budget to delivery as well.