The landscape of ecommerce advertising is rapidly changing as more and more consumers rely on ecommerce platforms not just to make purchases, but to discover new products and brands.
While in the past, ecommerce advertising tips have focused on how to use the tools provided by major publishers to ensure your ads win bids and get seen, changing consumer behavior means most ecommerce advertisers would do well to think about the messages that are reaching customers, as well as where they’re encountering that messaging.
Here are the five ecommerce advertising tips to reach new audiences and ultimately boost online sales.
Make sure your advertising speaks to your brand message
Over the course of the pandemic, many brands faced a reckoning when it came to connecting with customers rather than simply pushing products. While in the early days of 2020, many consumers pushed back about the idea of getting similar messaging from myriad companies offering blanket statements that simply said “We care.”
As the pandemic wore on, a growing number of consumers became concerned with how brands were handling the global state of affairs instead of taking all those early-pandemic emails at their word. In fact, according to a consumer report from the end of 2020, 83 percent of millennial shoppers said that a brand’s values had an effect on their purchase decision.
For advertisers, this trend towards focusing on a company’s values means that advertising strategies are increasingly less about pushing a product and more about connecting with customers on a level that makes them feel comfortable supporting a brand.
As Noa Wertheimer, Insights Team Lead & Project Manager, Market Intelligence for Skai, recently wrote:
“Shifting your perspective is key to identifying cascading trends. Focus on your end consumer rather than a brand, product, or category. What’s trending with your customers in other parts of their lives? The attributes that resonate with them in one category may become so important to them that they look for other ways to access those attributes in their daily lives.”
Look for opportunities to connect with consumers in advertising campaigns in order to prove not just value, but compatibility.
Focus on your fans
In the past two years, the ways in which shoppers are finding products has undergone an important shift: Instead of browsing aisles, most consumers are flocking to the digital shelf–that almost endless array of options provided by online shopping opportunities.
And in the face of seemingly never-ending options, consumers are relying on reviews to make their purchase decisions. According to recent reports, 99.9 percent of consumers view product reviews at least “sometimes,” and 57 percent look at product reviews even in brick and mortar stores. Incorporating positive feedback into advertising campaigns is an excellent way to connect with potential customers who perhaps feel overwhelmed by the paradox of choice in a new, more online shopping environment.
Diversify your publishers
As the adage goes: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” However, advertisers who are only focusing on the tried and true publishers–like Google and Facebook–are not only competing in an incredibly saturated market, they are also likely missing out on discovering new audiences.
One of the most valuable ecommerce advertising tips for 2022 is to think beyond the “traditional” options. Just as the pandemic boosted the adoption of online shopping for most consumers, it also presented advertisers with a host of new options. All those services that took off during the pandemic, such as grocery and convenience store delivery as well as third-party platforms like Amazon and Walmart, are excellent platforms on which to help new audiences discover your brand.
Think full-funnel for social
Most businesses understand that they need a social media presence to succeed, but for advertisers, thinking about social as an opportunity to segment audiences using the advertising features provided by social channels like Instagram is an important means of moving different audiences down the purchase funnel.
For example, advertisers know that Facebook and Instagram’s targeting features are great for reaching out to customers still in the discovery stage of their journey, especially on the local level. However, what many advertisers are missing is the opportunity to reach mid-funnel audiences who have already connected with a brand on their website via retargeted ads. Social media is also a great way to use promoted posts to offer specialized deals and related products to customers who have recently made a purchase.
Get the right data
As data becomes one of the most important assets of any advertising strategy, sometimes “data-driven” has come to mean that any insights will do. But when it comes to taking a data-driven approach to advertising, answering actual questions through data collection is one of the best ways to collect the data that matters most.
Using prediction-based data to understand who customers are, where they are in their journey, and what messaging might elicit the action your brand is looking for is critical for reaching customers at just the right stage in their buyer’s journey.
Look for sources of data that offer recommendations for how to create effective advertising, so that you can create purpose-driven advertising that inspires action.
Boost your ecommerce advertising with Skai
Skai empowers the world’s leading brands and agencies across industries to manage omnichannel digital marketing campaigns. Our intelligent marketing platform includes solutions for retail media, paid search, paid social, and app marketing. We’ll keep you at the forefront of the digital evolution with data and insights, marketing execution, and measurement tools that work together to drive powerful brand growth.
