7 Account-Based Marketing Strategies To Boost Your E-commerce Sales
E-commerce is an attractive channel for retailers and brands that want to sell their products directly to consumers. But it's not just about making a sale; you also want the experience to be memorable for your consumers. How can you do that? Well, try the account-based marketing (ABM) strategies listed below.
What is account-based marketing for e-commerce? 🤔
Account-based marketing (ABM) is a strategy that focuses on specific accounts. It's used to build relationships with customers and prospects, increase customer lifetime value, and ultimately drive sales.
You can apply ABM to B2B or B2C e-commerce businesses. Yet, it doesn't only apply to e-commerce; any business that wants to grow its revenue through account-level relationships with individual customers or companies can benefit from ABM.
Stop treating your customers like a list. 😒
We're used to thinking about customers as a list of data points rather than as individuals. But that's not how they see themselves.
Your customers are people with different needs, wants, and buying cycles.
They have their communication preferences--and it's up to you to figure out what those are.
Fortunately, ABM can help you understand your audience better to ensure they receive personalized experiences tailored specifically for them.
Create a customer-centric roadmap.
A customer-centric roadmap will help you determine the ideal steps to take to grow your business and identify areas where you can improve.
An excellent way to start creating a customer-centric roadmap is by mapping out each of your prospects' paths before making a purchase.
This includes everything from how they discover your brand and product offerings through their final decision process.
Once you've mapped out this journey, use it as an opportunity to gain insight into what works well for different types of customers based on where they are in their buying journey.
Look at what you can enhance so that more people come back as repeat buyers or refer others who may also need what you offer (which will increase lifetime value).
Get personal by leveraging innovative content and automation.
Account-based marketing is not just an e-commerce play. It can help you meet your overall marketing goals, increasing revenue and reducing customer churn.
One way to do this is by leveraging smart content and automation to personalize every customer's experience.
A good example would be automating emails based on different stages in their journey with you (e.g. when they're about to purchase something).
This helps ensure that everyone gets the right message at the right time, which increases your chances of achieving high engagement rates.
Another way ABM helps meet other marketing objectives is through its ability to generate leads through demand generation campaigns targeted towards specific accounts or people within those accounts (known as "targeted" vs. "mass" strategies).
To illustrate, if no leads are coming from one particular company, maybe you know someone within their organization who might be interested in hearing more about the products you offer.
You could reach out directly using email outreach tactics.
Target the right prospects with the right message at the right time.
The first step to account-based marketing is to identify the right prospects. Focus on people with a high propensity for buying but have yet to make any purchases.
These are your best bets for converting into customers.
You can use data from your website and emails to determine which people are most likely to purchase (and then do so).
Then, once you've found them, it's time for step two: Sending personalized messages at just the right time.
Adapt to emerging technology trends.
As technology evolves, your business needs to adapt. Newer technologies can help you reach your customers and understand them better.
For example, the rise of voice search has led many marketers to explore how they can use voice-powered devices like Amazon Echo or Google Home as an additional channel for customer interaction.
Additionally, other technologies such as blockchain have the potential to reshape industries by improving transparency and trust between all parties involved in a transaction--including consumers and brands alike.
Test, test, and test again!
Account-based marketing is an experimental process. You should constantly test everything, from your landing pages and emails to offers and timing.
Here's a quick list of things you can test:
Landing pages - Do they convert? What are the best CTAs? How long do people stay on them before leaving or taking action? Can you improve your landing pages by adding more content or images?
Email campaigns - Which subject lines get opened most frequently, and what are the clickthrough rates for each (hint: A/B tests)?
Are there any words in particular that resonate more strongly with this audience than others--and if so, why might that be true?
Do specific offers work better than others at driving sales conversion rates without compromising customer satisfaction (aka Net Promoter Score)?
Only use tools that make sense for your business. 🔧
As I've discussed, there are hundreds of tools out there that can help you achieve your ABM goals. Some will be more useful than others, but it's important to remember that not every tool suits every business.
If a new tool might be helpful for your company and its goals, test it out. Don't be afraid to try something new or different--you may discover something unique.
ABM is not just an e-commerce play but one that will help you meet your overall marketing goals
It's easy to see how ABM can help you build a strong relationship with your customers and create a loyal following, but it also has other benefits.
For instance, you can use it to improve the customer experience by reducing friction points and making it easier for users to find what they need when they visit your site.
Final thought
ABM is one of the most powerful marketing strategies available to e-commerce businesses. It can help you improve your customer experience, increase conversion rates and grow revenue while providing the tools needed.
As you can see from my list of best practices, there are many different ways that you can implement ABM into your overall e-commerce marketing strategy.
Until next time and your forever fren, 🤝
Parrotfish