We’re excited to announce the March 23rd launch of an omnichannel marketing guide for creating the ultimate MarTech Stack. Gone are the days of customers tolerating disjointed experiences and unoptimized channels. Succeeding in the yet-increasingly competitive environment of e-commerce requires curating a holistic brand experience. The first step is to curate an integrated MarTech stack that seamlessly moves shoppers through their customer journey. 

Get a sneak peek below of strategies for creating this united experience and sign up to get a copy of the guide in your inbox when it launches!

Stage 1: Awareness

The awareness stage occurs when a consumer has realized they have a need and begin to look for a solution. This general, surface-level research is mostly a search to see what’s out there and review their options. For retailers, this is a stage where you should focus on making your brand or website appear in front of shoppers so they can begin to build awareness of your offering.

Shogun

As a page building platform, Shogun knows that a landing page design and flow can make or break your customer’s first impression. With the average user leaving websites within the first three seconds, design is crucial for grabbing their attention and guiding them to engage with your website. Use modern design techniques to create engaging page designs that quickly educate customers on your products for reduced bounce rates and increased conversions down the funnel.

Nick Raushenbush Shogun
Nick Raushenbush
Co-Founder

Shogun Landing Page

Stage 2: Interest & Evaluation

The interest and evaluation stage is where consumers land once they’ve done cursory research  stage to narrow down their options. These visitors are taking a more in-depth look at only a few brands to compare product details, price points, etc.In order to make informed comparisons across brands, they need information: the more, the better.

Stamped.io

As e-commerce businesses are moving to a D2C strategy, it’s become increasingly clear that including social proof is more important than ever to a marketing strategy. Reviews are the core component of any successful e-commerce business as they bolster shopper confidence and help you stand out from the competition. More than 70% of shoppers want to read the feedback of any products or brands they’re purchasing from, so leverage this user behavior to close more sales.

Tommy Ong Smile.io
Tommy Ong
CEO & Founder

Stamped.io reviews

Campain Monitor Commerce

The best – and most profitable – brands build long-term relationships with their customers. They aren’t all about impulse buys, flash sales, or merely the next call to action; instead, they prioritize personal interactions that keep customers engaged and their brand top of mind. Learn how to create workflows and campaigns, segmentation strategies, and content that evolves your email marketing from being a seasonal one-hit wonder into a sustainable, revenue-generating all-time greatest hit.

Adii Pienaar
VP of Commerce Product Strategy

Stage 3: Conversion

The third stage is about the all mighty conversion, this is both your onsite experience of adding items to the cart and navigating the pages as well as the checkout process itself. But before any of that can happen…you have to get visitors back to your site through relevant re-targeting and compelling off-site campaigns.

Shoelace

When audiences are nearing the point of purchase, it can become tempting for merchants to leverage aggressive direct-response experiences to make that final push. However, those who focus on getting a quick sale from the hottest audiences often squander their ability to build long term connections with their hard-earned traffic. Learn how the best merchants leverage retargeting experiences to educate future brand champions, while still driving increased sales from engaged audiences.

Elliott Brand Shoelace
Elliott Brand
Marketing Specialist
Shoelace Targeting
Justuno

Focus on your onsite conversion optimization with personalized onsite messaging through intelligent product recommendations based on previous behavior. These can not only boost AOV through upselling and cross-selling algorithms but also increase time on site and enhance user experience. Use segment-based messaging as well to show in-page promotions creating unique experiences for various audiences. Once you’ve hooked a visitor using these personalization techniques, make sure your checkout process is streamlined to avoid abandoned carts and close the sale.

Erik Christiansen - CEO and Co-Founder
Erik Christiansen – CEO and Co-Founder
AI powered product recommendations

Stage 4: Loyalty

You’re not done once you’ve made the sale! Post-purchase efforts are critical for a positive experience that can be leveraged into a repeat purchase and, eventually, a loyal customer. Encourage loyalty program sign-ups as a way to engage with your brand and motivate the next purchase along with newer marketing channels to create 1:1 conversations leveraging content designed to drive return traffic.

Smile.io

As an e-commerce brand, considering every stage in the marketing journey is crucial for success. But, beyond acquiring customers and encouraging them to make a purchase, have you ever thought about what you can do to get customers to return to your store and make another purchase? This is where loyalty comes into play. As the fourth and final stage, loyalty programs are crucial to increasing your customer retention rate. We’ll do a deep dive into what customer loyalty is and why it’s important as well as how to leverage rewards programs to boost retention and best practices for doing so.

Christina Donati Smile.io
Tina Donati
Content Marketing Specialist
Barney Cools Rewards customer retention 2020

Postscript

Making a sale is only the beginning of the customer journey—you’re not done once the purchase has been completed. But what comes next? By leveraging newer marketing channels like SMS to create one-to-one conversations that deliver highly personalized content, you can work toward building long-term customer loyalty that brings customers back to buy again and again. Segmentation is key for delivering these relevant, individualized messages, and with the help of automation and customer data, you can create an engaging dialogue without the legwork.
We’ll dive into the nuts and bolts of post-purchase efforts that create a positive overall customer experience.

Alex Beller Poscript
Alex Beller
Co-Founder & President
Postscript Phone

Final thoughts

Love these strategies and want to dive deeper? Sign up below to receive the full guide when it launches and learn how to optimize your marketing funnel from the first stage to the last and beyond!