A new iStock 2025 Marketing Trends report finds declining consumer trust in social media and influencers, emphasizing the importance of relatability over perfection for marketers and businesses.
Trust For Marketing Success
The iStock report finds that 81% of consumers don’t trust content on social media. Nevertheless they still trust visual platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels for discovery and inspiration. In terms of influence, 64% of consumers trust businesses over celebrities and influencers, particularly brands that align with their values (58%).
Authenticity And Real-User Content (RUC)
iStock’s data shows that consumer perception of influencer “realness” has declined, with 67% of people trusting traditional advertising over sponsored influencer posts. iStock is recommending what it calls Real-User Content (RUC), images and videos that project realness. Video content was highlighted by iStock as a strong trend that consumers should consider as more consumers turn to video content for learning and inspiration.
iStock recommends that marketers focus on being “real, truthful, and original” as the key to building trust. While authenticity is important, iStock is emphasizing offering real stories and being relatable as opposed to content that reflects virtually unattainable perfection.
They write:
“This change is affecting how people interact with visual content, especially on social media. Despite people’s lack of trust, they still find these platforms valuable, 82% of users still go to places like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts for video content to learn something new or get inspiration. In other words, people want the benefits of social media, without the negative effects. This shift has also made video-driven social search more popular, where platforms focused on video are no longer just for scrolling —they’ve become places to search and discover. In 2025, to succeed, you need to speak directly to your audience, this approach will always be more effective than a flood of generic posts.”
The report recommends radical honesty by showing the company in ways that include imperfect moments. iStock’s 2025 Marketing Trends report shows an approach to connecting with consumers in a way that reflects qualities of realness that people are looking for in the content they consume.
Read iStock’s report:
Crack the Code on Trust: 2025 Marketing Insights for Small Businesses
In the world of ecommerce platforms, plugins, and shopping carts, there are a lot of technology options. WooCommerce for WordPress leads the way in terms of market share.
All of the various ecommerce platforms have their own pros and cons in terms of features, content management, and overall integration with your business.
Many of the benefits of WooCommerce come from the fact that it is a plugin for WordPress, which is also the most popular website platform technology in the world as well.
My website team utilizes WooCommerce with WordPress for the work we do for clients, and we continue to invest in our processes centered around that technology for digital marketing and driving sales for our clients’ businesses.
We’ve used it for over a decade, and while other popular platforms have emerged, we find that it has the flexibility and opportunities we need to implement the SEO tactics we need in alignment with our broader SEO strategies.
Why Does Any Of This Matter?
You may already be using WooCommerce or another ecommerce platform.
I’m all for whatever platform works best for you. There are definite SEO ceilings that you’ll hit in what you can do on different platforms.
WooCommerce will have ceilings, too, if you aren’t leveraging how you can set it up, how you handle your WordPress optimization as a whole, and how your overall SEO strategy is defined.
I hope that if you’re in WooCommerce or are deciding which platform to choose and have SEO in mind, this article will help you on that journey.
What Makes WooCommerce SEO Unique
WooCommerce SEO is unique because it is within WordPress. Much of what you’ll do to optimize a WooCommerce ecommerce site falls in line with what you’d do for a WordPress site overall.
Overall, SEO-friendly benefits of WooCommerce within WordPress out of the box or with light configuration include:
Analytics: WooCommerce has extensive analytics and connects easily to Google Analytics, so you can blend first and third-party visitor data.
That includes managing the technical, on-page, and off-page aspects of ecommerce SEO within an overall strategy and at a tactical level.
If you’re new to SEO or want to ensure you’re not missing anything, I recommend checking out SEJ’s SEO intro guide.
Getting Started
Before you optimize, you’ll want to ensure you’re ready.
I highly recommend working on developing your action plan and goals before you start.
Knowing your current performance and researching what keywords and topics you want to target are big parts of both.
WooCommerce Analytics
I recommend using Google Analytics (GA4) as your primary analytics data source and platform for WordPress.
Going deeper and specifically into ecommerce analytics that you can integrate into GA4 from WooCommerce, the GTM4WP plugin is a great way to get that data.
Don’t skip out on measuring the data you want and need from your site for your SEO and broader marketing goal tracking.
I recommend prioritizing data before you get deep into optimizing so you can capture baseline data to measure against if you don’t already have it in a good place.
Transactional Emails
Another foundational thing you’ll want to do is set up transactional emails. Several email platforms integrate with WordPress and WooCommerce.
A favorite of my team’s for ease of use and doing the job well is Mailchimp’s transactional email functionality.
It was formerly called Mandrill and can handle post-purchase email communications like order and shipping confirmations.
Mailchimp can also be used to create automated email campaigns based on customer journey or shopping behavior, such as cart abandonment emails, win back, etc.
Functionality like this is essential to get the most out of our SEO investment, and for traffic, you work hard to drive to the site and into the shopping cart.
Keyword Research
Knowing what words, phrases, topics, and terms are related to the subject matter you want to rank for is critical. Beyond that, validate that people searching for those topics are your potential desired audience.
They are paid tools with varying subscription levels but are leaders. They have their respective strengths in helping you research topics that align with your content, products, and categories and dive deep into the right targets for your SEO plan.
Build your lists, map them out to your content, and use them as context as you work through the optimization best practices to follow.
Technical SEO
Like with any site, and to follow broader UX best practices, you want your site to load quickly, be indexable, and not have anything holding it back.
Several specific technical factors you need to consider, configure, and monitor can hold back or unlock your opportunity for rankings compared to peer sites.
Indexing
It is essential to have your content found.
That starts by ensuring you have a clean XML sitemap and robots.txt file. Plus, go into Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, and third-party validation tools to ensure everything is as intended.
Use the Yoast plugin (or similar) to adjust settings for your XML sitemap and robots.txt files.
Yoast is great at giving you options to include or remove from those files, so you don’t have to touch the code or manually adjust those files at all. You can get the settings to your liking and then submit them for validation through the Console/Webmaster Tools.
Image from author, November 2024
Page Experience
There are a lot of data points and best practices on page load times, site speed, and other factors that Google looks at for “page experience.”
Overall, you want to pay attention to core web vitals and page load times to ensure that you have fast-loading pages that don’t harm image quality and content richness for users.
Imagify and WP Rocket are recommended plugins for image optimization and caching to improve page load times and overall site performance.
Screenshot from Imagify, November 2024
Accessibility
Making your content accessible to all, including those with visual impairments, is important.
That includes coding to common ADA standards and ensuring that alt attributes and other cues are included.
Not a plugin recommendation here – I recommend using a third-party tool like PowerMapper.com to audit pages to get the helpful information you need to adjust page elements to meet the standard that your legal counsel advises (I’m not a lawyer).
Structured Data
Using extra context cues and opportunities to categorize, catalog, and mark up your subject matter is important. Leverage it where possible to get specific information for your industry, especially using specific product attributes.
Again, you can tap into the power of the Yoast plugin to add basic schema markup to pages on your site.
I recommend reading more about Schema and how it works before diving into the implementation if it is a new concept.
Screenshot from WordPress, November 2024
Canonical URLs And Permalinks
Web stores inherently can have complexities and struggles with duplicate content.
Whether you have a product that appears in multiple categories or are just dealing with the “out of the box” way that WordPress and WooCommerce generate many separate URLs for a single page, you need to include a single “canonical” version for the search engines to index, show in the search results, and aggregate all link value to.
I recommend Yoast here again for handling canonicals.
I also recommend the Redirection plugin if you have pages that move, discontinued products, or need to permanently 301 redirect a specific page to another.
Be mindful of how you use canonicals and redirects, and always validate with tools like Screaming Frog or other lightweight redirect testing tools.
You want to avoid conflicts between multiple plugins that can send the wrong signal to the search engines or provide a bad experience for your users (sending to 404s, redirect loops, etc.).
Screenshot from WordPress, November 2024
Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs are links on interior pages that show a user (as well as a search engine) where they are on a site in terms of the navigational path or depth.
They allow users to see how far they are drilled down into a specific product category, blog category, or other interior section and a way to click to go back upstream.
They are typically coded into your WordPress site theme as a default element. The Yoast plugin is great for adding schema markup to them for WordPress/WooCommerce.
Screenshot from WordPress, November 2024
On-Page SEO
On-page ranking factors and SEO aspects for ecommerce SEO that you’ll want to have covered in your WooCommerce site include:
URLs
Beyond the technical aspects of implementing canonical tags and trying to manage duplicate content to get the search engines to index and rank a single version of your pages – including categories and products – you don’t want to miss the opportunity to include important contextual keywords in your URLs.
Use WordPress’ native page naming conventions and tools to put meaningful keywords (without going overboard or stuffing) into the URL string.
Like any large or enterprise site, if you have many products, find ways to scale tag creation with data-driven content where possible.
Use Yoast to create custom titles and meta descriptions on each page.
Much like copy and URLs, though, also look at how the defaults are set up to pull in dynamic elements and set any that you can use.
That way, you can build formulas for how the tags will be created that don’t require you to write custom tags for each page to reach your unique tags per page goals.
Screenshot from WordPress, November 2024
Copy
A unique, optimized copy can be a challenge for ecommerce sites.
Much like tags, you might have trouble doing it at scale. Or, you may have a lot of similar products.
Find ways to invest in the manual time to write to best practices, avoid duplicate content, and scale it programmatically where possible while maintaining high quality.
Images
Image file attributes are an area where you can include relevant, contextual keywords describing the image’s subject matter.
This is important for product images, product category-level images, and any content on your site.
They are important in terms of meeting accessibility standards – and also, to the search engines – to understand the context of an image.
Manage these in the media center in WordPress at upload or later by editing images through the media tab or going into the page and clicking on the image to review and edit properties.
Screenshot from WordPress, November 2024
Product Reviews
User-generated, unique content can help add contextual copy, supplementing the copy on a product page.
Added context and another type of potential schema element can be added to product reviews.
My team leverages and recommends the stamped.io plugin for easy management and implementation of reviews.
However, many great review management plugins are available, and they vary in cost, implementation ease, and complexity.
As a bonus, Stamped will also send out post-purchase requests for reviews.
Screenshot from WordPress, November 2024
Screenshot from WordPress, November 2024
Off-Page SEO
Ecommerce SEO, like most SEO, requires off-page factors to build upon your technical and on-page/content-focused tactics.
These factors are more general and least tied specifically to WooCommerce, but shouldn’t be left out of your SEO plan:
Links
Seek high-quality, industry/context-relevant inbound links to your products, categories, and content.
That includes natural associations like manufacturers, partners, affiliates, PR-related mentions, and other quality natural sources.
Regardless, link to your site from social media content to build context and connections and seek out areas of opportunity across the social media landscape to gain links and mentions.
Engagement
Seek out other opportunities for engagement and mentions online.
Whether part of a PR plan, influencer strategy, or other ways your brand gets mentioned, leverage them.
Seek them out, and look for high-quality content to reference yours.
Popular SEO Plugins For WooCommerce
You can boost WooCommerce with other WordPress plugins, many of which are free.
Here’s a recap of the plugins I noted that are related to individual items you’ll want to optimize.
My team’s recommended WordPress plugins to use with WooCommerce (and in many cases in general for WordPress) SEO include:
Yoast: SEO plugin that will create an editable sitemap and robots.txt files, help you change product metadata from product pages, add basic schema, handle canonicalization, breadcrumbs, etc.
Imagify: For image optimization for page load time and site speed optimization.
WP Rocket: For caching to improve site performance.
Redirection: For creating any 301 redirects you need as part of an SEO strategy.
Stamped.io (Or similar service): For managing customer product reviews.
GTM4WP: Allowing you to implement enhanced ecommerce tracking for Google Analytics.
The great thing, for the most part, about these plugins is that if you have some WordPress experience, you may not need a developer to set them up.
Like any plugin, your WordPress infrastructure might impact your access level and any custom aspects required to implement depending on how they interact with other plugins or functionality.
Wrapping Up
At this point, it is probably pretty clear that a lot of the great things about SEO that we can manage in WordPress also translate over to WooCommerce.
And more broadly, you can implement ecommerce SEO best practices in WooCommerce as a whole.
I made it clear that my team uses WordPress and WooCommerce pretty exclusively right now.
We have had plenty of experiences with Magento, Shopify, and other platforms that left us frustrated as there were things locked down that we couldn’t control or optimize.
Or, as an admin or user, we weren’t able to edit content and manage the site as efficiently as we could with the more user-friendly controls within WordPress.
I’m not saying the other platforms aren’t right for you and your business. I would put each of them through an honest test before you create a new store or consider re-platforming.
There are definitely pros and cons to any platform, and my goal is for you to find the right one. If it is WooCommerce, great – and happy optimizing with the information I shared in this guide!
Since its launch in 2021, Performance Max (PMax) has transformed how ecommerce businesses approach Google Ads.
Google’s machine learning and AI, when applied across its entire advertising ecosystem, promises to maximize conversions and value and simplify campaign management.
However, with automation playing such a crucial role, the question arises: Can advertisers find the right balance between letting the algorithm work and exercising their strategic control?
Understanding Performance Max For Ecommerce
Your ads might get placed anywhere in Google’s network, including Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Maps.
For ecommerce businesses, this broad reach represents both an opportunity and a challenge.
While the system promises to optimize your campaigns in real-time, this automation comes with significant transparency challenges.
Mike Rhodes explains a fundamental issue facing advertisers:
“Performance Max campaigns have introduced a significant challenge for advertisers: a lack of transparency in budget allocation. This opacity makes it difficult for managers to understand where their budgets are truly going, hindering their ability to optimize campaigns effectively and maximize ROI.
Without clear insights into which placements, audiences, or assets drive performance, advertisers are essentially flying blind.
My Performance Max scripts solve this critical issue by pulling data from various sources to provide the clearest possible picture of budget allocation.”
This lack of transparency means advertisers must be more strategic in their campaign management and measurement approach.
Understanding the key components and how they work together becomes crucial for success.
Key Features For Ecommerce Success
Feed-Based Optimization
Your product feed – a digital catalogue containing all your product information – serves as the foundation of your Performance Max campaigns.
This is your store’s digital inventory that Google uses to create and display your ads across its networks.
The quality and optimization of your feed data directly impact your campaign’s performance. A well-optimized product feed should include:
Descriptive product titles that include key search terms.
Accurate pricing and availability information.
High-quality images that meet Google’s specifications.
Detailed product descriptions and specifications.
Proper categorization and product types.
Additional attributes like color, size, and brand.
For maximum effectiveness, regularly update your feed with:
Competitive pricing information.
Current inventory levels.
Seasonal product information.
New product launches.
Updated promotional messaging.
Asset-Based Approach
Your creative assets are fundamental to Performance Max’s success, serving as the foundation for ads across all of Google’s networks.
Unlike traditional campaigns where you create specific ads for each platform, Performance Max uses your provided assets – images, videos, text, and logos – to automatically generate optimized ad combinations for each placement and audience.
Sarah Steman provides valuable insight into asset optimization:
“A powerful PMax strategy is to leverage themed asset groups, especially during holidays or promotions.
By conducting a dedicated photoshoot and comparing its performance against evergreen assets, I can gain valuable insights for campaign optimization.”
Successful asset management requires:
Regular performance analysis.
Seasonal content updates.
A/B testing of different creative approaches.
Audience-specific variations.
Consistent brand messaging.
Smart Bidding Integration
Performance Max uses automated bidding strategies powered by machine learning to optimize for your chosen goals.
The system continuously learns from performance data to adjust bids in real-time across all channels.
Strategic Campaign Structure
Effective campaign segmentation is crucial for success. Susan Yen emphasizes the importance of audience targeting:
“Segmenting campaigns with custom audience signals ensures your ads target users with genuine intent, leading to stronger performance and higher-quality leads.”
Implementation considerations include:
Product categories and types.
Profit margins and pricing strategies.
Seasonal variations.
Geographic targeting.
Customer segments.
Performance goals.
Advanced Optimization Strategies
Performance Max works best as part of a holistic marketing strategy. Chris Chambers shares an innovative approach to device targeting:
“You can’t set device bid adjustments for PMax, but PMax does follow value rules that you set. So you can still set up a value rule multiplier for device types or geos, which gives you some control over how the PMax serves.”
“Some days it kills it, and others it is terrible. This is because if you have a lot of other top-of-funnel (TOF) traffic, like YouTube or Meta or Influencers, whenever those other channels push, PMax goes in and scoops up the conversions.”
Performance Monitoring and Optimization
Key optimization areas include:
1. Channel Management: Monitor how your budget is being distributed across channels:
Track performance metrics by placement.
Analyze channel interaction patterns.
Assess the impact on existing campaigns.
Identify and address channel cannibalization.
Review placement performance data.
2. Asset Optimization: Regular testing and refinement of creative elements:
Monitor asset performance ratings.
A/B test different creative approaches.
Update seasonal content proactively.
Create audience-specific variations.
Remove underperforming assets.
3. Bidding Strategy: Fine-tune your automated bidding:
Review and adjust ROAS targets based on performance.
Monitor conversion patterns.
Analyze competitor activity.
Adjust targets for seasonal changes.
Consider device and location performance.
Measuring Success And ROI
Primary Metrics:
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).
Conversion Value.
Conversion Rate.
Average Order Value.
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA).
New vs. Returning Customer Ratio.
Secondary Metrics:
Impression Share.
Click-Through Rate (CTR).
Asset Performance.
Channel Distribution.
Geographic Performance.
Device Performance.
Implementation of best practices:
Set up proper conversion tracking.
Use value-based bidding when possible.
Monitor cross-channel attribution.
Regular performance audits.
Analyze customer lifetime value.
Overcoming Common Challenges
1. Performance Volatility
Implement consistent monitoring schedules.
Maintain a balanced channel mix.
Use complementary campaign types.
Set realistic performance expectations.
Regular strategy adjustments.
2. Creative Performance
Regular creative refreshes.
Performance-based asset management.
Seasonal content planning.
Brand consistency across channels.
Regular creative testing.
3. Budget Management
Strategic budget allocation.
Performance-based adjustments.
Seasonal planning.
Competitive analysis.
ROI optimization.
Future Developments And Preparation
As Google continues investing in AI capabilities, prepare for:
1. Enhanced Transparency
Improved reporting features.
Better performance insights.
More detailed placement data.
Enhanced budget allocation visibility.
2. AI Integration
Advanced asset creation.
Dynamic optimization.
Sophisticated audience targeting.
Improved testing capabilities.
3. Data Integration
Enhanced first-party data usage.
Better cross-channel attribution.
Improved audience insights.
Advanced bidding algorithms.
Conclusion
Returning to our initial question about balancing automation with control, success with Performance Max requires a strategic approach that combines:
Well-structured campaigns.
High-quality product feeds.
Strategic asset groups.
Proper tracking implementation.
Regular monitoring and optimization.
The future of Performance Max in ecommerce lies in finding the right balance between automation and strategic oversight.
Those who master this balance while maintaining adaptability to new features will be best positioned to succeed in the evolving landscape of ecommerce advertising.
Each component of your Performance Max strategy should work together to create a cohesive approach that leverages automation while maintaining strategic control.
This balance, combined with regular optimization and adaptation to new features, will help ensure long-term success in your ecommerce advertising efforts.
More resources:
Featured Image: PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock
Peak shopping periods like Black Friday, Halloween, Christmas, and other holidays attract millions of shoppers online.
They also present prime opportunities for ecommerce and retail brands to drive incremental revenue and traffic for the holiday season.
According to the NRF, the 2024 holiday forecast is consistent with its forecast that annual sales for 2024 will be between 2.5% and 3.5% over 2023. Some noteworthy mentions:
One differentiating characteristic from last year’s holiday shopping season is that the shopping period between Thanksgiving and Christmas will be six days shorter, totaling 26 days. Additional contributing factors this year could include the economic impact of Hurricanes Helene and Milton; even though the 2024 U.S. presidential election will take place during the winter holiday season, it is impossible to measure its impact on current or future spending.
Screenshot from NRF.com, October 2024
According to Statista, in the U.S., a lot of holiday consumers intend to buy products for 2024 for the holiday celebration, with 97% for Halloween, 92% for Thanksgiving, and 96% for Christmas.
Screenshot from Statista, October 2024
Since sales are expected to be up year over year, what are the best ways to optimize your site for the holidays? When should you start, and what should you do? Let’s explore.
SEO Tips For Optimizing Your Ecommerce Website
Plan Ahead
One of the most important aspects of optimizing your site for the holidays is planning.
If you build landing pages now for Christmas and expect them to rank for competitive terms, it won’t happen.
Always build out your content calendar in advance (i.e., two to three months or more ahead of time).
Make sure you do your keyword research and start planning which content you need to create, get approvals for, deploy, etc.
Use Evergreen URLs
Create reusable URLs for promotions that you can use year after year. You can mention the date or year in the page title or copy and then change it each year, but don’t use it in the URL.
I can’t tell you that, in my 20 years of doing SEO, I saw a lot of big brands make the mistake of either taking down their landing pages or adding the year to their landing page URL for seasonal products.
The good news is that most big box retailers are doing this correctly now.
For example, Target has a dedicated landing page for its Thanksgiving TV deal at https://www.target.com/s/samsung+tv+deals+thanksgiving.
Now, if it were to put in a year, it would have to redirect the page every year, but it is following a good SEO strategy. This allows the pages to age, secure links, build authority, and be used for internal links.
Screenshot from Target.com, October 2024
Prepare For AI Overviews
We live in a world where AI has changed user behavior, and people ask questions about your brand and our product.
Screenshot from search for [plasma TV], Google, October 2024
Support and expand on the information in AI Overviews.
Target long-tail information queries.
Make sure the content is relevant and answers questions.
Format the content structure.
Keep content fresh and updated.
Blend SEO And PPC Strategy
Unfortunately, SEO keeps getting pushed down further and further down the page.
You must work with your paid search team to build a blended strategy for ranking competitive keywords and owning the entire SERP.
For example, a search for [what is the best TV to buy for thanksgiving] has transactional intent. The SERPs show sponsored listings first, followed by videos and People Also Ask (PAA).
Having both a paid ad and ranking organically is key to capturing more clicks and potential sales.
Paid search can also create holiday-themed ad campaigns targeting your trophy keywords and drive more sales.
Build out content that uses the PAA strategy. This feature in the Google SERPs provides end users with additional questions related to their search query and quick answers.
Don’t Forget About Reddit
Reddit has been showing up in the SERPS for questions regarding holiday queries.
Identify relevant subreddits related to your products (e.g., r/Gift ideas).
Avoid self-promotion and engage with the community.
Share relevant content, optimize, and monitor performance.
Post, network, build relationships, and participate in discussions.
Screenshot from search for [holiday gift ideas], Google, October 2024
Optimize Speed And Performance
Make sure your site is optimized for mobile devices, loads as quickly as possible – preferably under 3 seconds – and passes Core Web Vitals.
It’s important from a user experience perspective, especially because most shopping will be done using a mobile device. Avoid big holiday hero images, interstitials, etc.
Offer Holiday Gift Guides And Promotions
Display promotions on your homepage to drive incremental clicks and sales.
If you had holiday pages from last year, you might want to refresh the content so that you can update it in time for the holiday season with new and popular products, seasonal messaging, and images.
Use Holiday-Specific Keywords In Product Descriptions
Product descriptions are especially important and can improve your ecommerce site’s visibility during the holiday shopping season.
Using relevant holiday keywords can help your products appear in holiday-related research and make them more appealing to shoppers looking for relevant products.
After you conduct your keyword research for your holiday terms using your favorite tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, etc., produce a list of terms including:
General terms: “holiday,” “festive,” “seasonal,” “gift.”
Specific holidays: “Christmas,” “Hanukkah,” “New Year’s,” “Kwanzaa.”
Highlight holiday use cases. Describe how the product can be used during the holidays or why it makes a great gift, and add videos.
Use seasonal modifiers; add holiday-specific adjectives to your product titles and descriptions. Example for clothing:
Original: “Red Knit Sweater.”
Holiday version: Festive Red Knit Sweater, Perfect for Holiday Parties.
Leverage Email Marketing For Holiday Campaigns
While email marketing doesn’t directly impact SEO, it can indirectly help your SEO efforts during the holiday season.
Having targeted email campaigns can bring previous customers back to your store, as long as they’re personalized based on previous purchases, browsing interest, and limited offers.
Plan For Out-Of-Stock Items
With the recent events in the world, i.e., U.S. port strikes by 45,000 dock workers, wars, hurricanes, an uncertain presidential election, and the fact that COVID is still around, there are still some issues with the supply chain.
You always need to have a plan if your products aren’t available if something happens.
In this case, it is recommended to stock up on products that have sold out in previous years and make sure your inventory management system is integrated with your website in real time.
Other alternatives include:
Emailing customers when products are back in stock.
Creating useful and shareable content, holiday giveaways, and social media deals can drive engagement metrics and promote your holiday SEO content to attract links and social endorsements. In addition, shoppable posts facilitate discovery and purchases on social platforms.
Add An On-Site Search Functionality
Adding in a site search, if you don’t have one, can significantly improve user experience, increase conversions, and indirectly benefit your SEO efforts.
Users like to search using on-site functionality.
Run A Tech And Internal Security Audit
With the number of cyber security threats, data breaches, and incremental web traffic during the holidays, always run a technical audit on the site and make sure:
Your site has a valid, working SSL certificate installed, so all your data is encrypted and safe.
Your product pages return to 200 response codes and load quickly and properly.
Run a vulnerability scan on your website to make sure there are no issues.
Use Product Schema
Use structured data (i.e., Product schema) so Google can understand your products and show product discounts and sales prices, which could have a positive impact on rankings and clicks.
Have A Simple Checkout Process
While not exactly pertaining to SEO, having a checkout process that is hard for users to navigate can have a detrimental impact on your online sales.
You need your checkout process to be quick and easy to complete a purchase, which will help:
Reduce cart abandonment.
Improve customer experience.
Increase conversion rates.
Complete purchase faster.
Strengthen positive brand perception.
Being Festive With Design
There is nothing better than visiting a website that puts you in the holiday mood.
For example, with Halloween approaching, Target does an excellent job updating its imagery to match the Halloween theme.
It’s also an innovative idea to build out gift guides, holiday FAQs, and holiday categories and optimize them to improve your customer experience, drive customers deeper into your website, and increase product purchases.
Screenshot from Target.com, October 2024
Product Reviews
Don’t forget about your product reviews. It is highly recommended to have detailed reviews of your most popular holiday products, showcasing why they are needed, useful, and relevant and make great holiday gifts.
Review KPIs
To make sure the holiday season is a success, start by reviewing your KPIs such as:
Revenue, traffic, and sales year-over-year.
Rank, impressions, and clicks.
Click-through rates.
Conversions.
Wrapping Up
The holiday season presents an excellent opportunity for ecommerce businesses to drive more sales and build customer loyalty.
To capitalize on the holiday season, it’s crucial to plan ahead and create an exceptional customer experience.
Work with your paid and social teams to develop a blended marketing strategy, run technical and security audits, and ensure a smooth checkout process.
Also, leverage email marketing and other tactics to drive incremental revenue and traffic while building lasting relationships with your customers for years to come.
This post was sponsored by Wix Studio. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.
Black Friday 2024 is rapidly approaching and with ecommerce websites vying for the attention of a global audience, you’ll need to stand out. Now is the time to put the finishing touches on your SEO implementation, verify your tests and ensure you’ve taken steps to prepare for multi funnel campaigns and traffic.
Your final audit and updates can make the difference between a campaign that goes up and to the right, or falls flat. On Tuesday, October 29, Loren Baker, Crystal Carter and Mordy Oberstein will carry out live ecommerce website audits and share top tips on how to improve your online store.
Want to get a head start?
Here are 7 essential areas to audit now to ensure your site stands out during Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) 2024.
1. M-Commerce Readiness
It will come as no surprise that your customers will be accessing your site via mobile during Black Friday but in 2024 they should be high priority users in terms of traffic and conversion.
Optimizing for capturing and converting traffic from mobile users can include a few tried and tested methods.
Prioritize your site for mobile users by emphasizing above the fold CTAs and trackable events for multi-funnel campaigns.
Optimize your site for rich results with targeted structured data which can help you capture mobile users more consistently from the mobile SERP.
Test responsive designs to ensure they are working seamlessly.
Review mobile navigation from top BFCM landing pages to ensure a smooth customer journey.
2. Server Preparedness
If you are running high traffic campaigns via email, social and paid traffic, it is important to ensure that your website infrastructure is ready for traffic surges. Without proper server preparation, even the most impressive campaign can fail if your site crashes, leaving engaged users unable to convert. Cloud hosting can offer incredible benefits for infrastructure reliability. For instance, Wix Studio users are able to serve their content across a network with 99.98% uptime with servers that include the AWS, Google Cloud, Fastly and Wix Studio servers on over 200 nodes across the globe.
If you are planning for a huge surge in traffic compared to your typical numbers, review your server configuration to ensure that you can manage the swell.
3. Tested Results
BFCM season is not the time to work on assumptions. Use data and test your content and campaigns. Whether you are split testing landing pages, A/B Testing meta tags, or testing site wide SEO updates, small changes can make a big difference to your year on year growth. Conduct SEO tests with tools like Microsoft Clarity now and review any key findings from previous campaigns to make sure you’re putting the best site forward for peak season.
4. Global Accessibility
Expanding your serviceable market is one of the most effective ways to grow your website and overall business.
Review landing pages, payment offerings, and the on-page positioning of your distribution to connect with a more global audience.
Cross-border ecommerce has grown substantially in the last decade with estimates putting the value of B2C cross border online sales in at $785 billion worldwide in 2021. This means that more users than ever before have the potential to make purchases from countries outside of your core market. Knowing that you offer “worldwide shipping” can help users to convert.
To prepare for traffic from global users:
Review international SEO implementation.
Confirm that your payment portals and currencies can support your target markets.
Localize translated campaign landing pages and copy for maximum impact and value.
Update T&Cs to reflect additional payment portals and other logistical partners – this can form part of your website’s EEAT profile for ecommerce.
Update on-page SEO and CTAs to reflect global shipping and delivery options.
5. AI QA for On-Page Seasonal Updates
AI provides powerful capabilities for generating content at scale and will play a crucial role in BFCM 2024 – it’s already everywhere.
Platforms like Wix Studio have built in AI product descriptions, Google Merchant Center have introduced AI product image enhancers, and Amazon Sellers can use AI to help enhance their listing. In daily use, AI offers significant efficiencies, and adapting product descriptions for seasonality is one ideal application. However, it’s crucial to maintain content quality throughout the process.
Audit your AI generated product copy to ensure that your copy is distinct and helpful to users. Product pages should have unique copy and product descriptions should accurately reflect the product being sold. When generating at scale, the auditing process becomes particularly crucial.
6. Google Merchant Feed Status
Google is prioritizing Shopping results in the SERPs, and with over 30 updates to Google Merchant Center, an optimized product feed is key for visibility. Improving the quality of your feed, the product attributes, and identifiers can make a significant difference to the impact of your results for paid and organic search. Changes to product rich results, product categories, and Google Merchant Center can impact what should be featured and highlighted within the product feed. It is worth taking a moment to review your key product listings to ensure they present the most effective information ahead of the big Q4 push.
Review your feed to:
Remove out-of-season, out-of-stock or low margin products.
Align with the latest guidelines for required product attributes for your inventory.
Update structured data to support and/or supplement product feed data.
Address any invalid products listings.
7. Marketplace Listings Optimizations
As major retailers increasingly adopt the marketplace model to feature third-party products, consumers have come to expect brands to offer a diverse range of items from external sellers.
While the marketplaces have been adopted by high profile online retailers like Walmart, ASOS, and other major players, this option is not limited only to enterprise level teams. Integration and apps make it easier than ever to sell your products on new markets and list others on your site to fill product gaps.
If you are listing content from third-party sellers on your website, you should audit this content for accuracy and ensure that the product description is optimized to a similar standard of your own product listings. This is important for building trust with your users and for showcasing the product in the best light. For sellers listing on marketplaces, consistency of imagery can help users discover more about your product via visual search. This means that the quality of your product imagery should play a role in part of your listings audits. As well as ensuring compatibility with marketplace requirements, review copy for key products to include keywords, USPs and relevant attributes.
Want to learn more about how you can improve your site for ecommerce? Join the webinar on Tuesday, October 29.
Image Credits
Featured Image: Image by Shutterstock. Used with permission.
In-Post Images: Images by Wix Studio. Used with permission.
From window displays and newspaper ads, to sidewalk sandwich boards and pop-up events, there are many ways to market a retail store.
Whether your goal is to draw in casual passersby or increase online sales, having a well-planned (and well-executed) marketing strategy is key to wooing more customers.
But before you get fancy with flashy ads or influencer partnerships, it’s best to start with the fundamentals. That’s what makes this guide essential reading for any savvy retail business owner.
Master the four pillars of retail marketing – often referred to as “the 4 Ps” – and you’re well on your way to having an iron-clad marketing plan.
What Is Retail Marketing?
Retail marketing refers to the various activities, whether in-store, locally, or online, that are used to attract customers to a retail business.
While the exact tactics may vary, retail marketing at its core is about establishing a brand identity, promoting your products, and engaging with potential customers (often across multiple channels).
Marketing as a whole has changed over the years, evolving from traditional media (print ads, flyers, in-person networking, etc.) to more technologically advanced methods (social media, online ads, email marketing, etc.), but the fundamentals have remained mostly the same.
That said, it’s important to know that retail marketing differs from other types of marketing.
How Retail Marketing Differs From Other Types Of Marketing
Like all types of marketing, retail marketing is all about connecting the product or service with the consumer. But retail marketing is different from other types of marketing – like Business to Business (B2B) marketing or service marketing – in a few distinct ways:
Customer Needs: Retail marketing focuses on individual consumers (B2C), whereas B2B marketing targets other businesses. Retail customers are typically driven by personal needs, while B2B decisions are often based on business requirements, return on investment (ROI), and long-term objectives.
Sales Cycle: Retail marketing usually involves a shorter sales cycle, with consumers making relatively faster purchasing decisions than B2B buyers.
Tangible Products: Retail marketing primarily deals with tangible products that consumers can see and touch, whereas other types of marketing (B2B or Service) often deal with intangible offerings like consulting or software.
Physical Presence: Retail marketing often (but not always) involves a physical presence, usually via a brick-and-mortar store. Digital marketing, while it can support retail efforts, primarily operates online using tools like social media and email to reach customers.
Retail marketing is different from other types of marketing in its focus on the close interaction between the business and the consumer at the point of sale.
Many retail business owners understand that the success of their marketing efforts often comes down to face-to-face interactions and personalized experiences.
What Are The 4 Principles Of Retail Marketing?
When it comes to something as broad as “marketing,” simplicity is key. The essential elements of retain marketing revolve around four primary pillars:
Product.
Price.
Place.
Promotion.
We’ll refer to these as “the 4 Ps” throughout this article. They have even been known to extend beyond to include “Presentation” and “Personnel.” But for our purposes, we’ll stick to the primary four.
1. Product: What You Sell
The first pillar, product, pertains to the actual item or service you offer customers. This might involve a single category of products (e.g., novelty candles) or, most often, a variety of products (e.g., candles, home decor, furniture, etc.) offered by your brand.
Before you market your product(s), you need to understand it. This means not only its physical attributes and design but also the value it provides to customers. This also includes its material quality, branding, and even post-sale support resources.
Your product (again, it can pertain to a category of products) should speak to the needs, challenges, or interests of your prospective customers. You must fundamentally understand what it is that you sell and how that provides a benefit to customers.
For example:
If you sell office chairs, your product could address the challenge of reducing back pain or increasing comfort for people who spend long hours at a desk.
If you sell natural skincare products, your product could appeal to customers interested in natural ingredients and being environmentally conscious.
If you sell durable running shoes, your product could cater to athletes looking for footwear that lasts long, provides support, and prevents injuries.
If you sell gourmet coffee, your product might connect with coffee enthusiasts looking for unique flavors, high-quality beans, and a connection to Fair Trade growers.
The key is to gain a deeper understanding of your product’s connection to your customers. Ask yourself: What do they need? What are their challenges? How does your product address a need or a problem?
Try This To Better Understand Your Product
Every retail business owner can benefit from some practice in examining their products and how they might appeal to the needs of their customers.
If you aren’t crystal clear on the “why” behind your product(s), start with this activity:
Workshop: Gather your team (sales, marketing, and service) to identify the key features of your most important products. Off the cuff, what are the primary features that stand out?
Map: Then, outline the customer journey, from the time someone first discovers your product to the after-sale experience. Discuss what points of interaction a customer is likely to have during this process (e.g., entering your store, being welcomed by a sales rep, trying on clothes, weighing pricing options, etc.)
Empathize: At each touchpoint, put yourself in the customer’s shoes. How might the customer feel? What else might they need?
Apply: Based on your customer journey map, consider any improvements to made to your product or process. Could merchandise be laid out differently? How might you enhance the customer experience? Could post-sale support be improved?
Refining your product is a continuous process, influenced often by customer feedback and actual sales numbers.
Train your team on how they should communicate about your product, associate products with related offerings (cross-selling), and answer customers’ questions to direct them to the most appropriate product (read: solution).
2. Price: What People Pay For The Product
The second pillar, price, refers to the amount of money customers are willing to pay for your product.
This is more than just the number you put on the price tag. It is a representation of your product’s perceived value and the benefit it provides to your customers.
Some things to consider are your own brand’s positioning in your market, your competitors’ pricing, and the quality of materials used to create the product.
For example, if your product is of superior quality, has unique features, and conveys a sense of luxury, premium pricing may be the way to go.
On the other hand, if you’re in a saturated market and can’t outshine your competitors based on quality, you could undercut them on price.
The objective is to find that sweet spot – where your pricing generates a profit but also feels appropriate based on your customer’s perception of the product’s value.
Developing Your Pricing Strategy
Not sure how to price your products? Pricing is both an art and a science.
Here are some steps to follow to develop a profitable yet appropriate pricing strategy:
Research the Competition: Scope out what your competitors are charging for similar products. Consider the materials used to create your product relative to your competitors. Determine where your product stands in terms of quality, features, convenience, and brand positioning.
Consider Your Audience: As stated, pricing isn’t just about quality and materials, but also customer perception. Think about who your target customer is, what they need, and what they’re willing to spend. Consider their income level, spending habits, location, and desire/necessity for the product.
Count the Costs: Figure out how much it costs for you to acquire, market, and sell the product. How many products do you need to sell to turn a profit? Make sure all the associated costs are covered by the price, plus a healthy margin.
Edit and Adjust: Over time, you might need to test different pricing models to determine what resonates with your customers and still turns a profit. When you apply discounts or bundled pricing, observe how these changes impact sales. Monitor your sales data and customer behavior to adjust your pricing strategy accordingly.
Simple Retail Pricing Formula
Here’s a simple retail pricing formula to help you:
Retail Price = Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) / (1 − Desired Profit Margin )
Where:
Cost of Goods Sold (COGS): The total cost of producing or purchasing the product, including materials, labor, shipping, marketing, etc.
Desired Profit Margin: The percentage of profit you want to make on the product, expressed as a decimal.
Your prices aren’t set in stone. Prices often fluctuate due to market conditions, operational costs, customer behavior, and many other factors.
The key is to effectively communicate the value behind your pricing – and train your team to understand your product’s offerings – so your customers feel confident that the product is worth the price.
3. Place: Where You Sell The Product
The third pillar of retail marketing, place, refers to the channels through which you advertise and sell your product. This might include your physical storefront, but also includes online marketplaces, an ecommerce website, digital marketing channels, pop-up events, partnerships, and more.
When considering a place, think about where prospective customers are most likely to look for products like yours. Are they scrolling social media? Window shopping while on vacation? Searching blogs for product reviews? Put yourself in their shoes when it comes to searching for products.
For example:
If you sell luxury handbags, your place might be a high-end boutique located in the prime shopping district.
If you sell fresh produce, your place could be a local farmers’ market on the weekends.
If you sell handmade gifts, your place could be a mix of local craft fairs, pop-up shops, and online marketplaces like Etsy.
The Place(s) To Sell For Retail
When it comes to place, the key is to ensure that your products are available where your customers are looking for them. This might include several different channels, in fact.
While you don’t need to (and probably shouldn’t) attempt to sell in all of these places, here are the most common sales channels for retail:
Brick-and-mortar stores.
Ecommerce website.
Online marketplaces (like Amazon, eBay, Etsy, or Faire).
Social media (Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.).
Pop-up shops.
Mobile apps (e.g., Shopify App, Etsy App, InstaCart, etc.).
Wholesale (selling products in bulk to other retailers).
Direct sales (via parties, door-to-door sales, etc.).
It’s best to focus on one to three channels where your target customers will most likely spend their time. This helps ensure that your marketing budget is allocated to those channels most likely to yield the best return.
4. Promotion: How You Advertise The Product
The fourth pillar, promotion, is all about connecting with your target customers and making them more aware of your brand and products.
Making sales isn’t just about being visible, but also about using marketing strategically to draw customers in and convince them to buy from you!
Rarely do people stumble upon a retail store online and immediately make a purchase. They might require multiple touchpoints to discover, research, compare, and finally purchase your product.
The length of this sales cycle can look different for different types of retail businesses, but the idea is the same: Make sure customers have the experience and information they need to make their purchase decision.
For example:
If you run a clothing store, a customer might first discover your brand through a social media ad, and then visit your website to browse your products. They might sign up for your newsletter to receive a discount code, check out reviews on your blog, and finally make a purchase.
If you sell electronics, your customers may initially see your new gadget on YouTube, visit your online store to compare specs, read customer reviews, and then make a purchase.
If you sell home decor, your potential buyers might find your post on Pinterest, visit your website and add a product to their cart, consult a friend, and finally decide to buy a product to complete their home aesthetic.
Obviously, there are many different channels and means of promoting your products. The channels and approach you use will vary depending on what you sell, who your customers are, and your budget.
Increase The Visibility Of Your Retail Business
Once you’ve determined where (place) you want to sell your products, it’s time to use those channels for promotion.
Using the examples listed in the previous section, here are a few ways to promote your retail business:
Brick-and-mortar store: Use eye-catching window displays and signage to draw in passersby. Host in-store events like product launches or workshops, and offer in-store discounts to incentivize customers.
Ecommerce website:Optimize your website for search engines to drive organic website visitors from Google. Use email marketing to keep customers engaged, send personalized offers, and offer product recommendations.
Online marketplace: Showcase your products on websites like Amazon, Faire, or Etsy. Optimize your product listings with high-quality images, detailed descriptions, features, and customer reviews. Consider running sponsored ads on the marketplace to increase product visibility.
Social media: Stay active online with engaging posts, videos, reels, and stories. Reply to customer comments and re-share happy customer reviews. Consider running social media ads to reach your target audience based on shopping behavior, demographics, location, etc.
Pop-up shop: Partner with other local businesses to attract more customers and foot traffic. Promote your pop-up or event on social media, via email, and through local community channels.
Mobile apps: Consider connecting your store with a third-party app like Shopify, Uber, or InstaCart. Entice customers to subscribe for access to special offers and discounts. Add delivery options to make shopping more convenient for your customers.
Wholesale: Partner with wholesalers or distributors to close more deals in bulk. Attend trade shows or industry events to showcase your products to potential retail partners.
Direct sales: Host product demonstrations or home parties to create a personalized shopping experience. Incentivize happy customers or other brands to become referral partners.
Paid ads: Use Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads, etc. to reach target customers online. Consider implementing retargeting ads to re-engage visitors who have joined your email list but haven’t made a purchase.
Develop Your Retail Marketing Strategy
Your retail business is unique in the experience and products that it offers. But how do you make your store the obvious choice for potential customers?
With an effective retail marketing strategy, you’ll have everything you need to Price, Place, and Promote your Product, attracting more customers to you!
By focusing on the key pillars of product presentation, pricing strategies, distribution channels, and customer experience, you’ll create an environment that resonates with your ideal customers.
You can use a variety of channels – from in-store sales to ecommerce to social media – to promote your business and keep your sales strong.
Ultimately, the success of your retail business depends on your ability to connect with customers and communicate the value your brand has to offer.
Ready to master the 4 Ps? You got this!
More resources:
Featured Image: PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock
Google revealed it’s working to bridge the gap between two key product data sources that power its shopping results – website markup using schema.org structured data and product feeds submitted via Google Merchant Center.
The initiative, mentioned during a recent “Search Off The Record” podcast episode, aims to achieve one-to-one parity between the product attributes supported by schema.org’s open-source standards and Google’s merchant feed specifications.
Leveraging Dual Product Data Pipelines
In search results, Google leverages structured data markup, and Merchant Center product feeds to surface rich product listings.
Irina Tuduce, a longtime Google employee involved with the company’s shopping search infrastructure, says merchants should utilize both options.
Tuduce stated:
“We recommend doing both. Because, as I said, in signing up on the Merchant Center UI, you make sure some of your inventory, the one that you specify, will be in the Shopping results. And you can make sure you’ll be on dotcom on the Shopping tab and Image tab.
And then, if you specify how often you want us to refresh your data, then you can be sure that that information will be refreshed. Otherwise, yeah, you don’t know when we will have the resources to recrawl you and update that information.”
Meanwhile, implementing schema.org markup allows Google to extract product details from websites during the crawling process.
Reconciling Markup and Feed Discrepancies
However, discrepancies can arise when the product information in a merchant’s schema.org markup doesn’t perfectly align with the details provided via their Merchant Center feed uploads.
Tuduce explained
“If you don’t have the schema.org markup on your page, we’ll probably stick to the inventory that you specify in your feed specification.”
Unifying the product attributes across both sources aims to simplify data management and ensure consistent product listings across Google.
Regarding the current inconsistencies between schema.org markup and merchant feed specifications, Tuduce says:
“The attributes overlap to a big extent, but there are still gaps that exist. We will want to address those gaps.”
As the effort progresses, Google plans to keep marketers informed by leveraging schema.org’s active GitHub community and opening the update process to public feedback.
The unified product data model could keep product details like pricing, availability, and variant information consistently updated and accurately reflected across Google’s search results.
Why This Matters
For merchants, consistent product listings with accurate, up-to-date details can boost visibility in Google’s shopping experiences. Streamlined data processes also mean less redundant work.
For consumers, a harmonized system translates to more relevant, trustworthy shopping journeys.
What You Can Do Now
Audit current product data across website markup and merchant feeds for inconsistencies.
Prepare to consolidate product data workflows as Google’s unified model rolls out.
Implement richer product schema markup using expanded vocabulary.
Monitor metrics like impressions/clicks as consistent data surfaces.
Prioritize product data hygiene and frequent catalog updates.
By aligning your practices with Google’s future plans, you can capitalize on new opportunities for streamlined product data management and enhanced shopping search visibility.
Hear the full discussion below, starting around the 12-minute mark:
WooCommerce survey offers insights into the strategies that online retailers are using to prepare for Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) and why it’s important to be proactive.
Online Sales Is Most Important Sales Channel
One of the important takeaways from the survey is that 76% of respondents confirmed that their online sales are the primary revenue channel during the holidays, highlighting the importance of a high performance website that’s optimized for sales.
46% of stores answered that up to 30% of their annual sales volume happens during a combination of the BFCM and holiday period, while 24% answered that over 30% of sales occurred during that period. 8% of stores reported that over 50% were accounted for during the BFCM and holiday season.
Top Merchants Prepare Early
Interestingly, almost 20% prepare for BFCM three to over six months ahead of time, although most merchants tend to prepare closer to the holiday season. Online stores with revenues of $250K or more were 12% likelier to prepare ahead of time, with 34% preparing 3- 6 months in advance.
This is the breakdown of how early merchants are preparing:
26% prepare 1 to 4 weeks ahead
27% prepare 1 to 3 months ahead
13% prepared 3 to 6 months ahead
4% prepare 6+ months ahead
Strategies Merchants Plan To Use
Many online merchants are planning for a strong holiday season, with 26% of stores increasing inventory as a main part of their strategy.
The top strategies reported by merchants are:
Increase inventory
Marketing
Promotions
Website optimization
Email outreach was reported by 29% of merchants to be their most effective marketing channel. The next top marketing channel is organic search at 25%. Content marketing was reported by 6% and the balance is social, and search ads.
34% of merchants plan to change alter their strategies in the following ways:
26% will add new products.
24% are making marketing enhancements.
16% are making website improvements.
10% are focusing on early sales.
9% are offering special discounts.
Changes to customer engagement, social media, and inventory management round out the list of changes.
Takeaway:
It’s important to understand what other merchants are doing to prepare for the competitive BFCM shopping season and to make sure that you or your clients are considering all available opportunities to make take a greater share of the sales and not leaving anything behind due to a lack of planning.
The 4 Ps of marketing. Marketing mix. Marketing fundamentals.
Whatever you call them, these elements determine your luck at the high-stakes table of e-commerce:
Product.
Price.
Place.
Promotion.
Get these right, and you’ll create a loyal fanbase that you can count on for repeat orders, high lifetime value, and customer advocacy.
Neglect or miscalculate them, and they’ll derail your entire process, have an adverse effect on revenue and margin, and allow competitors to overtake you.
Here’s how to consider each of these principles in the context of ecommerce and paid media.
Product
As in every business, your product is fundamental to ecommerce success. Even the most amazing marketing campaigns can’t compensate for a broken product or lack of product-market fit.
Think of brands that cycle through many advertising agencies over the course of a year.
Chances are they tend to blame poor planning, subpar campaign execution, or some other deficiency common to all those agencies. The most likely solution is that their product just doesn’t resonate with consumers.
Statistically, it’s extremely unlikely for a brand to go through multiple agencies and for all of them to be poor at their craft. When this does happen, it’s usually the agency evaluation process that needs work.
There’s a reason marketers talk about product-market fit over and over.
A product that solves a problem and marketing that puts it in front of the right people are core fundamentals and work like gears in a complex system. Take one out, and the whole process will grind to a halt.
Pricing
Pricing is such an intrinsic part of ecommerce and paid media in general.
If you think people who see your ad aren’t also searching for competitors and doing comparison shopping, your performance numbers will confirm otherwise.
So before you start chasing clicks or even setting budgets, your merchandising play needs to be as accurate as possible.
Consider both absolute pricing and competitiveness to make sure that your product is positioned where you want it to be while still capable of being profitable against your manufacturing and procurement processes.
Google Merchant Center has a price benchmarks feature. It looks at your product feed and shows you how your products compare to other products, brands, and categories of similar natures.
This is highly useful data that can help determine if you’ve priced your products correctly or whether they even fit in the market.
The last thing you want to do is spend thousands on ads only to realize that you got too ambitious or too conservative with your margin.
Additionally, once you’ve started running a campaign in Google Ads, auction insights allow you to see which brands are coming up against you in Search and Shopping auctions.
Use this data to see how your pricing compares to theirs, fine-tune accordingly, and run tactical promotions.
Place
Starting an ecommerce business is not easy – but for those who are able to fund and find initial product-market fit, digital advertising allows brands to bypass the limitations of traditional distribution.
Geography and access to certain distributors become irrelevant when you can sell and ship directly to consumers.
However, this also presents several new challenges:
Platform Management: Ecommerce advertisers have a wealth of options when deciding where they want to advertise. This includes traditional networks like Google, Meta, and Amazon, as well as emerging and niche platforms like TikTok and YouTube. However, choosing the wrong platforms or overextending yourself before you’re ready can cause more harm than good.
Media Mix: Advertising on multiple channels can be advantageous if you have the budget and expertise to do so, even though some brands are predisposed to putting most of their budget in a primary platform. But doing all this when you’re just starting means you’ll have less to spend on campaigns, spreading your efforts too thin and limiting how much data you can acquire. You’ll also need additional people or agencies with expertise managing those different channels in order to get the best returns for your spend.
Performance Measurement: Brick-and-mortar commerce was comparatively straightforward, and advertising and in-store promotions skewed more toward non-linear measurement. Online advertising has made us crave the need to track every dollar spent and every product sold, and draw a line back through each performance metric. But even good conversion tracking is never perfect, and ad platforms are prone to fluctuation and error as they grow more automated.
Attribution Measurement: Knowing which platforms are driving sales is critical to making sure you’re investing in the right places. This is more challenging when you have multiple platforms in your media mix, none of which freely and fully share data with other platforms. Attribution will only get worse over time as the ability to track degrades due to privacy concerns. This imperfection doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have some form of attribution, but treat it as a reference point instead of a source of truth.
Promotion
While good marketing can’t fix a bad product, a good product can make marketing better, easier, and less expensive.
For ecommerce that relies heavily on paid media for promotion, there are two aspects to consider.
Account Management
With paid media, the ad account is the third gear that supports product and marketing.
Decisions like which campaign types to run, how to structure your ad account, running good ad copy and creatives, and using audiences and first-party data to target the right people will all affect your revenue and margin.
Too many brands make the mistake of trying to fix their ad accounts and campaign metrics before their product, pricing, placements, and customer journey.
If you do that in the right order, your challenges around the ad account should largely be limited to ad platform issues, like disapprovals and automation.
Customer Journey
I think of ads as just one component in a wider marketing system – one ingredient in a successful recipe.
You need all the pieces to achieve success, and if you’re neglecting everything that happens before and after the ad click, no hook or campaign is going to save you.
The bulk of ecommerce shopping happens over mobile, which, as of 2023, was valued at $2.2 trillion. If your pages aren’t easy to navigate on smartphones, there’s a good chance you’re not getting all the conversions you could. Are your pages mobile-optimized? Do they load quickly? Do they deliver good experiences during checkout, upsales, cross-sales, etc? If not, fix this.
Trust is a major objection to overcome in any sale, and reviews do a great deal to show why people should trust you. In addition to proving the value of your product with certifications and ratings, use reviews to seal buyer confidence. Your social proof should reflect your target audience, so they feel like others like them have benefited from your product.
With fraud and scams on the rise, online shoppers are becoming more guarded with their payment details. You’ll have to prove that you can be trusted if you want to earn their money. Security validation and third-party payment logos (like PayPal and Apple Pay) go a long way in establishing that you are a real business with good intentions.
The journey begins long before the ad click and continues long after. User-generated content shows people using your product and positions them as the hero, which means prospective customers are more likely to feel the same way. Email marketing can address abandoned carts, communicate shipping status, and make the rest of the journey pleasant.
Does your ad copy tell people what problems you solve creatively? Instead of features like “x milligrams of caffeine,” you might focus on outcomes like “the energy burst you need to be productive until late afternoon.” Be imaginative and help people picture their life after they buy your product.
The Future Of Ecommerce Requires Full-funnel Thinking
Ecommerce might be glamorous and often lucrative, but it’s not easy.
The period when low-cost manufacturing and a frictionless global supply chain made it possible to start a direct-to-consumer brand with minimal investment and hassle is gone.
Between ad platforms becoming increasingly automated and reducing the amount of campaign management required, brands need to focus more on fundamentals and the pre-click and post-click experiences to stay profitable.
It’s important to stop thinking about paid media as the entire package and instead focus on its actual position as one part of a wider marketing strategy.
