ecommerce-marketing-trends-2023

eCommerce Marketing Trends For 2023

It’s easier than ever for customers to make purchases online. With just a few simple taps on a smartphone, consumers can have almost anything they want packaged and shipped to their doorstep in just a few days – sometimes hours!

While this is great news for ecommerce brands, it also means there is a lot of competition. And with inflation rising and wages stagnating, brands need to do everything they can to prevent customer churn.

This is why the most important ecommerce marketing trends for 2023 will revolve around customer retention. Let’s take a look!

Ecommerce Marketing Trends To Watch In 2023

While ecommerce companies are enjoying an exciting growth streak, the odds of economic recession are becoming higher and higher. To adjust to the volatile economic environment, brands are shifting the focus from customer acquisition to customer retention.

To foster customer loyalty and streamline retention, it’s imperative to study the latest marketing tendencies. Let’s take a closer look at the ecommerce marketing trends that deserve your attention in 2023.

1. Personalization

There once was a time when personalization was considered a competitive advantage. But now, we consider it an absolute necessity for any ecommerce marketing strategy.
With the recession looming, customers are becoming pickier about purchases and requiring closer attention from the brand. Research shows that personalization has a direct effect on customers’ behavior in the following ways:

  • 80% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a brand that offers personalization.
  • Personalized emails deliver six times higher transaction rates
  • When the emails are not personalized, 52% of consumers say they will find somewhere else to shop.

Personalized marketing makes your customers feel like they are more than just another name in the system and helps to create loyalty. You can use AI and Machine Learning platforms to track user behavior and customer data points that can be used to create personalized experiences for your customers.

2. Conversion Optimization

In times of uncertainty, you’ll want to do everything you can to control your ad spend and get more conversions from existing website traffic. This is why Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) should be a cornerstone of your ecommerce marketing strategy in 2023.

Ecommerce brands need to evaluate and optimize their entire marketing funnel for conversions. Some key tactics you can employ include:

  • Better user interface – studies show that an excellent user interface can increase conversions by 200%. The more intuitive your website design is, the more likely customers are to stay and shop.
  • Video shopping – product videos help customers make better buying decisions and reduce the number of returns.
  • Recovery emails – automated and personalized recovery emails can bring customers back to the website and drive the conversion through.
  • Customer reviews – Many customers rely on reviews to make a purchase decision. It’s up to you to make sure these reviews are readily available. Focus on encouraging customer feedback, making it easy to leave a review, and replying to existing feedback.

Conversion optimization is an easy way to “do more with less” and brands need to include this as part of their ecommerce marketing strategy in 2023.

3. Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are becoming an essential part of ecommerce marketing. AI streamlines customer personalization by analyzing vast amounts of data in real-time and helping you understand what the audience needs.

Artificial intelligence allows you to automate many ecommerce marketing processes, including:

  • Email marketing – analyze purchase history data to create personalized email campaigns.
  • Social media marketing – examine customer behavior to streamline audience segmentation and create personalized experiences.
  • Ad targeting – use AI-driven tools to improve ad targeting on search engines and social media platforms.

Learning how to leverage AI is important for any 2023 ecommerce marketing campaign. This instrument can even help with marketing campaign management by automating scheduling and conducting performance analytics.

4. Customer Retention

The Pareto principle dictates that 80% of sales come from 20% of your existing customers. As the recession nears, the importance of existing customers is becoming even higher. The latest customer retention trends, you may want to pay attention to in 2023 include:

  • Focus on shared values – customers are more likely to stay with the company that shares their value (e.g., donates to the same charity).
  • Sourcing reviews – the more you ask consumers about their experience, the more data you get to improve it.
  • Delivery – due to logistics issues, delivery options have changed. Plan ahead to ensure faster delivery. This can put you ahead of the competition.
  • Flexible return and exchange policies – customers are more likely to choose brands that offer simple and convenient return and exchange policies.

Customer acquisition is expensive. Ecommerce brands that focus on retaining existing customers can reduce their CACs while also encouraging more purchases.

5. Omnichannel Experience

In 2023, an average American consumer has nine connected devices and around the same number of social media accounts. Building your ecommerce marketing campaign to create an omnichannel experience is key to reaching your entire target audience and making existing customers happier.

Omnichannel marketing strategies increase the incremental store visit rate by 80%. Meanwhile, 56% of customers are likely to ignore ecommerce brands that don’t offer a mobile shopping experience.

You can identify top marketing channels for your audience by using customer behavior data gathered by AI-driven tools. Since preferences change, creating an omnichannel experience is the best bet.

6. Chatbots and Customer Experience

Streamlining customer experience is key to driving loyalty. In 2023, customer service is a top priority. Today, 90% of customers expect an immediate response. Without it, they will leave the website and look to your competitors to get the service they need.

The rising efficiency of chatbots is making it easier for companies to provide high-quality customer experience and customer service. With ChatGPT changing the chatbot scene rapidly, staying on top of this trend is vital to keeping customers loyal.

Staying on Top of Ecommerce Marketing in 2023

With a looming economic recession on the horizon, brands need to refocus their ecommerce marketing strategies on customer retention rather than customer acquisition.
Building a small community of loyal customers around your brand is the best way to create new business opportunities in 2023. This means focusing on tactics around personalization, conversion optimization, and improving the overall customer experience instead of running brand awareness campaigns.

About WEBITMD

WEBITMD is an ecommerce marketing agency specializing in paid media, copywriting, email marketing, automation, and other digital tactics that help brands grow and scale. Contact us today to learn more about our experience working with brands like you.