Reach more customers through webshop marketing

Customers who find their way to your webshop on their own are a dream come true. However, many entrepreneurs underestimate the effort required to attract customers. Web traffic to your webshop doesn't just happen. That's why investing in webshop marketing is crucial. With it, you can make your webshop grow.

If you want to turn your market stall or physical store into a great success, you need to invest in promotion. Handing out flyers, putting stickers on your delivery van... those are certainly not bad ideas, but their impact will likely be limited.

With online marketing, however, you can reach a much larger audience. Advertising through Google far outweighs any poster in the local sports hall.

Many possibilities with a small budget

Do you have a webshop? Then you are fully immersed in online marketing. You can't help but advertise your webshop online.

Email marketing, social media, online advertising, search engine optimization (SEO), Google AdWords ... These are all effective ways to showcase your webshop to potential customers.

Moreover, these online investments don't have to be very expensive; you can achieve a lot in the world of e-commerce with a small budget.

The importance of good online webshop marketing

With webshop marketing, you can highlight your online store in various ways. There are many possibilities, allowing you to reach your customers through multiple touchpoints. According to a recent article by Google, many entrepreneurs are successfully investing heavily in this mix of channels.

All these webshop marketing opportunities are certainly a great blessing, but they also mean it's a never-ending task. As a result, busy entrepreneurs sometimes don't take full advantage of all the opportunities. Google notes that the SEO optimization of many shops can be significantly improved. So, now you know what to focus on. 😉

Benefits of online marketing

Webshops that are easily found online will be more successful than those languishing at the bottom of Google search results. Online marketing undoubtedly delivers better results—meaning more customers—compared to traditional, old-school advertising methods.

The basics of webshop marketing

There is no magic formula for instant success; it all depends on your webshop. However, online marketing does have some key principles. If you apply these and regularly adjust your approach, you'll be taking the right steps to attract customers.

Who do you want to reach? What is your customers' world like? What are their interests? Which channels are they active on? You need answers to these questions to launch specific and targeted marketing actions. Your target audience might visit certain niche news websites (e.g., tennis, ecology). Once you know this, you can advertise on those sites.

To get to know your target audience, you can create personas. Describe your ideal customer! Personas are created based on factors such as age, gender, income, profession, interests, etc.

For example, if you sell jewelry with animal prints, a 19-year-old named Olivia who is still studying, enjoys shopping, and is a big animal lover could be your ideal persona. You can develop more personas or describe your first persona in greater detail.

To map out your customers, you can also conduct market research. Or set up online surveys, launch calls on social media, etc.

Perhaps the most crucial rule in the marketing world: focus on the search engine optimization (SEO) of your webshop. When done correctly, SEO works for you for free. With SEO, you can drive more traffic to your webshop organically.

With SEO, you aim to position your online shop as high as possible among the top search results shown by Google. For online stores, it is essential to appear at the very top of Google’s search results—no small feat! In fact, 91.7% of internet users searched for information via Google in 2023, leaving competitors like Bing and Yahoo far behind.

You can optimize your SEO settings by, for example, conducting keyword research to link the right keywords to the appropriate pages of your webshop, regularly publishing new content (like blogs), improving the structure of your webshop, and enhancing online security.

If you are just starting your webshop, you can use tools like SiteBuilder and WordPress for building, which come with built-in SEO settings.

This form of marketing is closely related to SEO. To rank well in search engines, you need a webshop with relevant content.

You can also use this content in other advertising campaigns. So, aim to inform and engage your customers through blog posts, entertaining videos, guides, detailed product descriptions, etc.

Although content marketing can be very rewarding, it has its challenges. You need to maintain consistency. Storytelling, regularly publishing new content, promoting your content, brainstorming new ideas—these require a significant amount of time and energy. To get you started, we explain how to start a blog.

Your target audience research should reveal which channels your potential customers are active on. If you have a webshop for young people, TikTok is important. If you have a B2B webshop, you undoubtedly need an account on LinkedIn. Social media allows you to easily refer to your webshop without coming across as pushy.

You can run paid ads on social media, but you can also create free promotions. Post photos of your products or make a video giving a behind-the-scenes look. This way, you give your webshop a face and can engage with your followers.

Social media is a smart way to expand your reach and launch campaigns that have an immediate impact.

CRM is not only useful for your online marketing but also for the overall operation of your business. With Customer Relationship Management (CRM), you work on improving customer satisfaction.

You keep track of customer information in a legal manner, such as their purchases, how often they shop with you, and more. When customers contact you, they will appreciate it if you can assist them promptly and specifically. There is nothing more frustrating than having to start your story from scratch each time.

Loyalty programs are also a form of marketing. If you use CRM software, you can reward loyal customers with a gift (such as a discount code or free shipping). These customers, in turn, will spread word-of-mouth recommendations, and before you know it, you'll see extra visitors to your webshop.

If you don't have a CRM system yet but are interested in starting one after reading this, know that Combell, a leading provider of hosting solutions, offers high-quality CRM software!

Of course, paid advertisements are also part of webshop marketing. However, you don’t have to rely on them exclusively. Your ads can be one of the touchpoints where customers discover your webshop.

If you want to experiment with webshop advertising, use tools like Google Ads and Meta for Business. With Google Ads, you create search engine ads that drive traffic to your webshop based on someone's search queries.

Meta for Business is Meta’s marketing platform, the company behind Instagram and Facebook, among others. It allows you to advertise across Meta’s various accounts. Social media ads enable you to target specific demographic groups more precisely.

Webshop marketing: tips to apply right away

Applying the basic principles of online marketing will get you far. However, since we at Combell consider online success to be extremely important, here are three more crucial tips for webshop marketing. Use these tips and achieve great results!

1. Make use of webshop email marketing

Email marketing is part of online marketing and is the method you use to communicate with specific target audiences via email.

With email campaigns, you reach out to your recipients to encourage them to take action. For example, to discover new products on your webshop, read an e-book, redeem a promotion, etc.

To engage in email marketing, you use tools that allow you to send emails in large volumes, such as Flexmail. Our colleagues at Flexmail provide a detailed explanation of what email marketing is.

The answer to the question ‘what is email marketing’ is quite simple: all the ways you stay in contact with your customers via email.

Some critics claim that email marketing is less effective in terms of reach and return compared to social media. But this is not true: more people still use email than social media.

And email marketing works. According to the DMA (Data & Marketing Association), email campaigns can deliver an average return on investment of 4200%!

2. Focus on Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

When visitors come to your webshop, they expect a site that looks professional, clear, and organized. If the structure of your webshop is poor, or if it’s a jumble of disconnected pages, customers will not only lose patience but may also struggle to navigate your site.

Online, everything needs to happen quickly. If your webshop does not guide customers effectively, you risk losing significant revenue. By using Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), you ensure a highly user-friendly website with clear navigation and an intuitive design. Additionally, there are other methods to increase conversions.

Techniques to improve your webshop’s conversion rate:

3. Analyze and measure results

Investing in webshop marketing is essential, but what are the concrete results? You can only find out by analyzing and measuring the outcomes of your efforts.

Start by setting KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). These are measurable goals that you set for yourself. For example: "In the first half of the year, I want to achieve a 10% increase in traffic to a specific landing page."

You can perform the actual analysis using Google Analytics. This tool allows you to analyze web traffic, user behavior, and more. Based on these results, you can adjust and refine your marketing plans.

Frequently asked questions about webshop marketing