Apple released the iOS 14 mobile operating system update on September 16, 2020, and for ecommerce merchants, it introduced impactful privacy enhancements. The updated App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy will allow users to decide whether or not they want to share personal data with advertisers. Since the introduction of social media and paid media marketing, data collection has been an integral part of reaching consumers.
Businesses should carefully refine their target criteria to showcase advertisements that align with the viewers’ interests, region, demographics, and more. It helps ecommerce businesses craft personalized ads for specific audiences to increase the chances of engagement and conversions. The new iOS 14 privacy changes present a new challenge to craft compelling ads to increase their ROAS and bottom line.
Ecommerce businesses will have to pivot and adjust their marketing strategy to maintain scalability and revenue. Many ecommerce businesses rely heavily on user data to guide their marketing efforts on Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and other platforms.
The new coronavirus ecommerce environment has accelerated the evolution of ecommerce. Ecommerce sales have increased 39% from 2020 to 2021, so merchants must continue to focus on their online presence and invest in a comprehensive marketing strategy to capitalize on the continued growth.
Google has also recently updated its privacy policy, ending cross-site tracking and slowly phasing out third-party tracking cookies, which track users as they move from website to website. The data provides advertisers rich data to identify audience interests and create hyper-targeted ads.
Stay ahead of the competition and learn five ways to adjust your marketing plan to increase engagement, conversions, and repeat customers.
1. Update Your Facebook Ads and Use Google Analytics for Greater Campaign Insights
The iOS 14 update has made some crucial changes to Facebook ads. If you haven’t already, make sure to follow our checklist for your Facebook campaigns:
- Resubmit your domain for verification in Business Manager for domains using pixels. (Verify your domain.)
- Limited eight conversion events per domain in your Business Manager. The Aggregated Event measurement will limit domains to 8 conversion events for ideal campaign optimization. Select conversion events that provide the most valuable and informative business information to guide your campaigns.
- Connect your Facebook campaign to Google Analytics to gain greater insights into conversions. Use Google Analytics to filter data by “Buy-to-Detail Rate” and “Cart-to-Detail Rate” or view conversion tracking data on user behavior for more significant insights. You can also segment customers by iOS14 users in Google Analytics for more information on users interacting with your campaigns.
- Attribution window settings are set by the ad set level instead of the account set level. A 7-day click attribution window is the new default, and 28-day click-through, 28-day view-through, and 7-day view-through attribution windows are no longer supported. The 7-day click attribution setting will become permanent in the near future.
2. Focus on Creating Compelling and Creative Google Ads
The iOS14 update will make mobile apps ask iPhone users if they would like to share their user data with advertisers before downloading it. However, Google recently changed its privacy policy and will end cross-site tracking and targeting users for advertising purposes.
Instead of relying on data, focus on developing strong, polarizing creative ads that grab attention. Utilize emotionally and captivating language in your ads. Emotional messages are more enticing to click on, and the more clicks you receive, the higher your Quality Score, which will help the success of your campaigns.
If you’re in the luxury ecommerce space, consider celebrity collaborations to help endorse your products. Lead with a strong value proposition and try to offer a money-back guarantee to lower the action threshold of potential buyers. We will soon release a multi-channel market automation tool that features predictive analytics and machine learning to create the best ads to maximize your ROAS. Stay tuned!
3. Improve Your Website Performance and Focus on Mobile Optimization, Page Speed, and Voice Search
Google recently launched a new search update to favor websites that deliver exceptional user experience. Google will favor sites in search engines with fast load times, mobile friendless, and safe browsing protocol.
Ecommerce businesses must prioritize improving their site experience to align with Google’s preferred criteria. Enter your domain in Google’s Developer Pagespeed Insights Tool to receive a site audit that will tell you what steps you need to take to improve your site performance.
Mobile accounts for 58% of all Google searches, and voice searches account for approximately 20% of queries on mobile. As more ecommerce shoppers switch to mobile shopping, it’s crucial to invest in exceptional mobile responsive web design to deliver seamless mobile shopping experiences.
Also, users are increasingly utilizing voice search. Drafting content that aligns with Natural Language Processing (NLP) will help Google contextualize your site content that aligns with user voice searches. Use Google’s NLP tool to understand how Google processes your content and revise it accordingly based on your target keywords.
Regardless of what ecommerce business platform you use, mobile-friendly and site speed initiatives are instrumental in making your site more search engine friendly. They will all contribute to help improve your target ecommerce KPIs.
4. Develop Long-Form Content to Rank for Target Keywords
Since the new iOS 14 update will limit data tracking for your audience, it’s essential to develop long-form, top-funnel content to attract new visitors. A comprehensive content strategy aimed at increasing organic traffic and keyword rankings will pay off in dividends in the long run. Google ads cost your business money for every click, and if you do not convert the customer on the initial visit, that is money down the drain.
Great long-form content outlined using high-volume keywords will increase your chances to appear in Google search organically. The average content length for pages that rank on the first page of Google is at least 2000+ words. Appearing in search naturally will generate clicks that don’t cost a dime out of your marketing budget. Focus on developing content around your target keywords that provides tangible and informative value to your audience.
It’s also an excellent way to qualify visitors, deliver beneficial content that informs the reader on the benefits of your products and the problems it solves and will help increase the likelihood of conversions. (If you are new to content marketing, make sure to check out our ultimate ecommerce marketing funnel guide.)
Many ecommerce businesses focus solely on attracting customers through paid advertising efforts, but as ecommerce evolves, investing in a comprehensive marketing approach will ensure you can attract customers from every potential avenue. Long-form content is also an excellent way to cultivate brand loyalty. Express your mission statement, draft content with a distinctive voice that resonates with your audience, and provide upfront value to your visitors will build rapport and increase the chances of returning customers.
5. Focus on Customer Loyalty, Retention, and Building an Email List
Converting a customer is great, but for any ecommerce business. However, developing a consistent relationship with your audience is essential to increase sales through repeat transactions. One of the biggest barriers for any ecommerce business is creating an efficient way for customers to create an account. However, once they do, their contact and payment information exists in your CRM, making it easier for them to make future purchases. Customer loyalty and creating a vibrant and attractive experience for your visitors will ensure they are enticed to continue purchasing products from your ecommerce store.
Email marketing is the best way to persuade your customers to continue purchasing from your online store. Since customers must submit contact information before completing a purchase, you have the opportunity to continue to nurture your relationship between your brand and your audience.
Businesses can send promotional coupons, share new content, or keep their customers up-to-date on new products. Email is also a great way to boost revenue and persuade visitors on the fence to complete a purchase. In fact, sending three abandoned cart emails results in 69% more orders than a single email. Always provide value to your audience and create loyal customers to your brand to keep your ecommerce business thriving.
Although only 15% of online shoppers are repeat customers, return customers comprise 33% of online shopping revenue and spend 3X more than one-time shoppers on average. Keep your customers happy and do everything you can to turn them into loyal, repeat customers.
Stay of the Competition and Operating Systems Using Your Nogin and NEVER Replatform Again!
Nogin helps retail & ecommerce brands keep pace with the big online retailers who are spending millions on R&D to innovate and adapt to this fast-changing environment constantly. Adjusting to new operating system updates is one thing. Investing thousands of dollars in resources and countless hours to adjust to the ever-changing ecommerce space prevents many ecommerce businesses from reaching their potential.
We sit at the intersection of Simple DIY Commerce, like Wix, and Enterprise Commerce, like Magento and Demandware. We help our partners stay nimble and avoid expensive and time-consuming internal problems by leveraging our proprietary ecommerce solutions and platform.
Clients go live in less than 90 days and will never have to replatform or download apps ever again. We helped many ecommerce giants profitably scale their online channels, including Hurley, Bebe, Justice, ModCloth, and Brookstone.
Simply put, we do ecommerce smarter. Fill out the contact form below and tell us how we can help you propel your ecommerce operations to the next level.
