4 Tips From the Top: How to Level-up Your E-Commerce Store This Summer

With the start of summer come long, lazy days soaking up rays and lounging by the pool. But summer has a different meaning for e-commerce retailers. In fact, for many it means long, stressful days staring at sales numbers and wishing they would tick upward.

Customers are out hitting the beaches, spending less time on their devices, and shopping less overall. So what’s a high-growth eCommerce store owner to do?

If you want your sales numbers to sizzle during the slow summer months, stop staring at those spreadsheets and get creative! The following four tips will kick your sales into high gear.

Tip 1: Stand Out with Better Ads

Google Ads is practically tailor-made for e-commerce. “With Google, you can get in front of users who are very likely in the market for what you sell,” says former Google employee and CEO of Red2Green Digital, David Koves.

Of course, the same is true for your competitors, so David recommends the following to really make your brand stand out:

• Make the most of your ad by talking about your value proposition. What differentiates you from your competitors?
• For Google, use keywords in the title, URL, and in-text of the ad. This increases your ad quality and reduces your cost per click (CPC).
• Add the most important message you want to convey (e.g., offers and promos) to the first line (This increases your click-through rate).
• End with a clear Call-to-Action so the user knows what you want them to do next.

Tip 2: Invest in High-Quality Creatives

With all the competition in the e-commerce world, if your product images aren’t studio quality, you will lose out. “Think about the last purchase you made online,” says David, “I bet it was the image or video in the ad that stopped your scroll or made you click.” Still, taking your own photos for your eCommerce shop? This one will be a game-changer for sure. Every image and video should tell a story that connects with your customers on a deeper level.

And while you’re at it, if your sales are slower in the summer months, take advantage of this time to get your products into the studio and get some amazing creatives made. This way you’ll be ahead of the game this holiday season.

Tip 3. Invest in Your Copy

Sure, having high-quality photos to go with your ads will boost your sales, but you also need to have great copy. “You have a story to tell and when your user resonates with your story, it’s advertising gold,” says David.

Great copywriters know how to take your story to the next level. You can waste time banging your head against the keyboard writing your own copy. Or you can hire a professional who will do the job faster and likely better than you can. This is another good investment if you’re ready.

Everyone loves a good story and there’s no limit to the creativity you can bring when you lean into storytelling. If you aren’t putting effort in here, you are missing out.

Tip 4: Think About Your Marketing in Terms of Layers

Many e-commerce retailers use siloed marketing plans. In other words, when they create an ad or other content, they aren’t thinking about where the target user is in their funnel. This makes your marketing efforts less effective and your ad budget less sustainable.

David says you need to think of your digital marketing in terms of three layers:

• Top of the funnel: where you work to build awareness and make the customer fall in love with your brand
• Middle of the funnel: where you can hone your message and move into a nurturing role
• Bottom of the funnel: where you reestablish your authority and create an environment where it’s safe for the user to invest in your business (testimonials are key for this layer)

“We use separate campaigns for different parts of the marketing funnel,” says David. “With this structure, you can optimize toward profitability, while at the same time continuing to show ads to customers who are still in the ‘consideration phase’ of their search.”

According to David, “In Google Ads for instance, this strategy gets you in front of users for your most important keywords, while saving you money on long-tail ads that have lower conversion rates.”

Although summer tends to be a slower time for e-commerce sales, it doesn’t have to be this way for your brand. With the above four tips, you can give your sales a boost while using your time productively during the next few months. You’ve got this!

About David Koves:

David Koves is the Founder and CEO of Red2Green Digital and a former Google employee and marketing industry veteran with 10+ years of experience. R2G’s mission is to help digital businesses break out  from the old silo system and achieve meaningful revenue growth through innovative and data-driven advertising techniques.

In 2020 they perfected an eCommerce strategy so powerful that it generated over $12m in sales for a single client! To learn more please visit: www.r2gdigital.com