With the world slowly getting back to its feet, more and more people are buying school supplies on e-commerce websites to prepare for face-to-face classes. From preschool to college, we can guarantee that there will always be a demand for school supplies in e-commerce to help them pursue the education they need. So, if you’re an e-commerce business that specializes in school supplies, this is prime time for you to start thinking of marketing strategies to help generate new leads and sales online.
As an Orange County marketing company, we’re here to help. Years in the business have taught us these eight helpful tips to get your e-commerce website ready for the school supplies season all year long!
1. Focus on Your Digital Marketing
Long gone are the days when you can rely on supportive family members and word of mouth to get your business to the top. That’s reserved for household names like Target and Staples that have already been long-established, not small businesses. These days, the best way to improve your e-commerce website is to not only have a digital presence but also know how to market yourself in the digital world.
Having a digital presence is very important because it allows more customers to discover you, even if they haven’t visited or cannot visit your physical store. It puts you on a level playing field with big businesses and might even give you an edge if your products aren’t things you can readily find at your local grocery store.
And to establish a digital presence, you need to market yourself properly in the digital world. That means putting up a website, setting a Google My Business profile, and creating social media profiles for your businesses. The website is a space where both you and the customer can interact, while social media is where you can attract people to click on your website.
Utilize the power of the Internet by hiring a digital marketing agency in Orange County today!
2. Know Your Target Audience
We already know you’re looking for customers to buy your store’s school supplies, but that’s still a pretty large audience that needs to be narrowed down. For example, the list of school supplies a preschooler would need would largely differ from what a college student would need. What would a preschooler do with a new laptop, and what would a college student do with jumbo crayons?
Additionally, it’s highly doubtful that a preschooler would be doing online shopping. It’ll probably be their parents doing it, and they’re going to require a different tone of voice compared to a college student. Parents would probably care more about the safety of their children, while college students would care more about convenience.
The bottom line is this: knowing who to target is essential. This way, you can market your products and content specific to them.
3. Utilize Customer Data
Speaking of knowing your customers, you should also take it a step further by analyzing customer data. That way, you can suggest some items for them to purchase before they even realize they needed them!
For example, knowing your customers’ ages lets you know what you need to focus your marketing on while knowing what they added to their carts last time will help you suggest other products they might be interested in.
4. Optimize Your Website for SEO
Search engine optimization is a cost-effective technique that helps your website gain visibility in search engine results pages. Not only should this attract the customers, but it should also make them stay on the website as long as possible and, of course, purchase something from you.
You should always start by using the right keywords on your website. These keywords are what searchers will be plugging into the search engines, so make sure you know what they are by conducting thorough keyword research. A good rule of thumb is to start with local SEO first (e.g., stationery Chicago, school supplies Atlanta) before moving to more competitive keywords.
The technical aspects of things are also important. Page loading speed, for example, is crucial for your website’s SEO because it directly affects the customer’s experience. Anything annoying will have you falling down the ranks quickly.
5. Ensure Your Website is Mobile-Friendly
Did you know that more than 50% of online purchases these days happen on mobile devices like phones and tablets? If your e-commerce website isn’t already mobile-first or mobile-optimized at the very least, you needed to hop on that train yesterday!
Mobile-friendliness is very important for two reasons. The first is that it provides a better user experience for your customers. Nobody wants to look at a clunky-looking website from a small phone screen! That’ll just have them zooming in on too-small text and accidentally clicking links they didn’t mean to press.
The second is that mobile-friendliness is a confirmed SEO ranking factor, meaning that mobile-friendly websites are likelier to rank higher than websites that aren’t. And considering that many searchers rarely look past the third option on the search engine results page, that can be very bad for you indeed!
6. Have Live Chat
Dealing with problems while buying products can be a real pain in the butt for your customers! You need to make sure you’re with them every step of the way so the path to purchase goes smoothly. And sometimes, having a frequently asked questions page just isn’t going to cut it.
Thankfully, many e-commerce websites these days offer live chat options where the customer can directly contact the owner or employees. You can answer any questions they’re having, address any concerns, or even just thank them for their business.
7. Encourage Unsure Shoppers to Buy
We’ve all been there before—we were all happily adding new items to our cart when something stopped us from going all the way and clicking purchase. It could be exorbitant shipping fees, long delivery times, or even a lack of items in our carts.
So, we need to minimize hesitation as much as possible by offering them deals that are hard to resist. Offer free or discounted shipping fees if you can. See if there’s a way to have express delivery, so customers will get their items within days.
Also, try not to have too many sold-out or unavailable products in your shop. Paying a hefty shipping fee for just one or two items just isn’t worth it. Some people like having a cartful of items so only one shipping fee needs to be paid.
8. Invest in Email Marketing
Many of the young ones today might find email a bit old-school, but it’s still pretty effective when it comes to bringing customers in. That’s because when you’re in someone’s email, it’s more personalized. You can address them by name and only email them when they need you the most (e.g., letting them know an item they’re interested in is back in stock, showing them a coupon code for 15% off the next purchase, etc.)
Additionally, in an email, there’s less competition. If you rely on social media marketing alone, you’ll be competing with every other business that’s advertising on Facebook and TikTok, and that can be very bad for you since visibility is totally dependent on these websites’ algorithms. Emails are simpler, and there’s more chance of being seen by the customer.