Ecommerce marketers often spend so much time thinking of ways to sell more products online that they never think about using direct marketing strategies that affect people offline. Instead of dedicating your entire marketing budget to PPC and social media ads, set aside some money for these direct marketing options.
Target customers with physical mailers
When someone buys a product from your ecommerce store, they have to give you a physical address to receive the order. Don’t waste this valuable information. Use your customers’ home and business addresses to promote products, services and events.
Physical mailers give you an opportunity to target customers that don’t use their computers very often to shop. Somewhat surprisingly, Baby Boomers make up more than 30% of online buying. People 75 and older, however, rarely buy from online stores. With physical mailers, you can educate them about the benefits of using your ecommerce site. Make sure you highlight advantages like:
- Lower prices.
- Great customer services.
- Free shipping and handling.
Older people may not turn on their computers when they want to buy something, but they like getting great deals. A physical mailer reminds them that your store can beat the prices and services of brick-and-mortar stores.
Send emails to keep customers engaged
Customers don’t mind giving you their email addresses so they can get updates on their orders. Use their email addresses to keep them engaged after the initial sale.
One report shows that 80% of professionals use email marketing to acquire customers. Make your emails more effective by:
- Writing a short, catchy subject line.
- Including preview text that offers additional information.
- Using short, punchy sentences in your copy.
- Closing your email with an influential call-to-action.
With a little practice, your email marketing will turn casual shoppers into dedicated customers.
Use telemarketing to connect with your customers
Telemarketing gets a bad rap for bothering people with unwanted phone calls. Conventional wisdom says that you should avoid telemarketing. After all, Congress passed a law to prevent people from getting annoying calls.
Rethink telemarketing so you can turn it into a customer service. Contact your customers to follow up with them about recent purchases. Ask them if they’re satisfied with their products and services, and give them discounts for answering your questions.
Suddenly, you’ve turned a hated form of direct marketing into a customer service that people will enjoy.
Increase sales with SMS campaigns
Start asking customers to include their cell phone numbers when they shop at your ecommerce store. Doing so will give you the chance to increase sales through SMS (text message) campaigns.
Once you have a customer’s cell phone number, you can send SMS messages that:
- Inform them about upcoming sales.
- Tell them about products that might interest them.
- Offer them discounts.
- Encourage them to rate your products and services.
SMS messages don’t cost much to send. If only 5% of your customers respond, then you haven’t wasted any resources.
Boost sales and track effectiveness with coupons
Who doesn’t like coupons? You’ve probably used e-coupons to attract more customers to your store. Now it’s time to think about using print coupons to boost sales and track the effectiveness of your campaign.
If you have a customer’s address, then you can send them coupons for your website. Include a unique coupon code that will tell you which coupon your customers use. The more you know about how people respond to your physical coupons, the more effective you can make your next campaign.
Use door-to-door leaflets to grow your brand identity
You don’t need to have someone’s address to send them information about your ecommerce store. Instead, you can use door-to-door leaflets to grow your brand identity in neighborhoods around the world.
You won’t believe how easy it is to send leaflets, postcards, flyers and other print materials to homes. The United States Postal Service even has a website that will help you find local designers and printers in the areas you want to target.
If you design and print your own materials, you can still use USPS’s Every Door Direct Mail delivery service to save money on delivery.
Don’t abandon face-to-face selling
In a world dominated by chatbots, emails and text messages, it’s easy to forget about the power of face-to-face selling. In-person selling, however, sets you apart from your competitors and helps you establish a well-known, likable brand.
You can introduce more in-person selling to your ecommerce company by:
- Using pop-up stores to connect with new customers.
- Setting up booths in crowded places like shopping malls and conferences.
- Partnering with brick-and-mortar stores that will let your rep spend time talking to customers.
In addition to improving brand awareness, you can use face-to-face selling to minimize shipping costs, learn more about what your customers want and give people valuable advice that helps them choose products.
Head out into the real world to see how in-person selling can grow your ecommerce business.
All successful online stores use electronic marketing strategies to grow their businesses. Adding direct marketing to your approach can help your ecommerce store stand out from the pack, find more customers and increase your sales.
Have any questions about direct marketing? Ask them in the comments!