eCommerce lead generation is vital for the success of every online business. Without gaining and nurturing leads, your business will simply fail to grow!
Fortunately, there are many lead generation strategies that online merchants can use. Here’s a closer look at what lead generation is, what it’s purpose is, why it's important and 10 lead generation strategies that eCommerce businesses should keep in mind!
What is Lead Generation?
Lead generation is the process of attracting and converting visitors and prospects into customers, especially when they indicate interest in your products and services. A variety of strategies can be used for this, including publishing blog posts and offering discounts.
What is the Purpose of Lead Generation?
The purpose of lead generation for eCommerce is to reach out to potential buyers and create awareness about your products or services into order top convert them into buyers and, hopefully, repeat customers.
Why is Lead Generation Important?
eCommerce lead generation is crucial for any online business. It helps to create increased traffic for your website, which can lead to higher conversion rates and ultimately higher sales for your company.
By generating leads, your business can monetize your website’s visitors, ultimately building a loyal customer base and boosting your business’ revenue!
How to Generate Leads
In order to effectively generate leads for your business or products, there are many lead generation strategies to consider using. Here’s just 10 to keep in mind!
1. Set Up an Email List
This should be your starting point when it comes to eCommerce lead generation!
Sending out emails a few times a week regarding promotions, new products, special discounts or deals and the like can keep your site’s visitors interested, engaged and can possibly convert them into buyers. All you need to get started is a reliable email marketing services provider and to set some time aside to get it done!
2. Offer Valuable Content for Your Target Audience
Apart from product pages, you should also take time to offer interesting and engaging content for your target eCommerce leads. A great way to do this is to conduct thorough market research and then write and publish interesting and informative articles and blog posts on your website. These can be in the form of tutorials, tips, listicles and more!
3. Design an Opt-in for Your Email List
Being that you’re already armed with an email list, the next thing to do is to get subscribers! Always include an opt-in option on your emails to make it quick and simple for subscribers to sign up for alerts, news updates, promotions and the like.
4. Offer Discounts
This is another useful strategy for effective eCommerce lead generation. Some ideas include offers to discount $10 from orders worth $100 or more, $5-off coupons, free shipping for first-time buyers and the like. By conveying that your shoppers are valued, you can give them an incentive to become repeat buyers!
5. Create Lead Magnets
In order to drive as much traffic as possible and generate leads, try using lead magnets.
What exactly are lead magnets? They’re something valuable offered by a business in exchange for a customer’s email address, and can include eBooks, guides, whitepapers, video guides and the like.
Give your customers something that catches their attention!
6. Host Giveaways On Social Media
eCommerce website leads can also be found using free giveaways on social media channels. Giving away free products and other promotions is a great way to not only generate leads, but also positive media attention and PR for your company!
7. Use SEO Best Practices
Always keep SEO at the forefront of your digital marketing strategy.
Create great content, use social media frequently, build links and ensure your site runs smoothly and quickly in order to rank higher in Google and other search engines - increasing the likelihood that your website will be noticed by prospective eCommerce leads!
8. Engage In Remarketing Campaigns
Maybe you ran a marketing campaign several months ago. Why not remarket to your target audience?
Email remarketing by sending customer and action-specific follow-up emails is a great way to generate prospective eCommerce website leads quickly and efficiently by targeting people you’ve already marketed your online store towards!
9. Make the Checkout Process Simpler
Often, people abandon their carts because the checkout process is too complex and rigorous. Add guest checkout and simplify the checkout process overall to generate leads and cut the number of abandoned carts!
10. Optimize Your Calls To Action (CTAs)
Finally, a great eCommerce lead generation strategy is to create clear, direct and compelling CTAs to help transform casual visitors into potential leads and customers.
Always use bolded text and direct, straightforward action words in your CTAs for best results. For example, try using “Get Access Now”, “Get A Free eBook”, “Try Our Free Demo” and the like.
eCommerce Lead Generation: Use a Mix of Lead Generation Strategies
Understanding eCommerce lead generation for your online business has never been more important. The global eCommerce market has never been more crowded that it is right now, meaning that your eCommerce company really needs to make a strong effort to pursue any and all leads you find.
Fortunately, from offering them freebies and discounts to creating actionable CTAs, creating great content to simplifying your checkout process and implementing remarketing campaigns, there are plenty of lead generation strategies at your disposal.
Try out different ones to see which works best for your online business!