E-commerce grew significantly in 2020 with the existing trend of moving away from brick and mortar accelerated by the global pandemic. Over a few short months, the industry has become much busier and competitive. This has brought new challenges with it.
Online shoppers face a dilemma. Social media is crowded. Online advertising is constantly bombarding them. E-commerce brands need a way to stand out from the rising competition and personalize customer experience to meet rising trends.
Spectrm reviewed research on the most important 2021 e-commerce trends. This is what we discovered and how businesses can leverage them for better performance.
Industry Report: E-Commerce Trends 2021 - Innovation & Personalization
Online shopping is the norm for American households
2020 created some radical changes for business. E-commerce has shifted away from traditional brick and mortar to primarily online channels fueled by global health concerns. The physical retail industry experienced a large decline in sales through Q2. E-commerce, on the other hand, is expected to grow by the end of the year. Download Spectrm’s 2021 e-commerce report to see the full details.
Entire households are turning to online shopping to fulfill all of their needs. It’s no longer limited to electronics or clothing. Online shopping has become integral to the American household. For example, online grocery sales topped $7 billion for the first time in history.
Personalized customer experiences are a must for performance
Personalized shopping experiences are no longer optional or “nice to have.” They are mandatory for any e-commerce businesses that want to increase marketing performance. Marketers that use personalization strategy report up to a 20% increase in sales. Why? This is because most online shoppers are seeking personalized experiences. Tailored product recommendations. Unique content. Advertisements that cater to their specific wants and needs.
Unfortunately, 63% of marketing professionals find personalization to be difficult. They believe it’s labour-intensive or requires enormous human resources. It doesn’t have to be. Personalization at scale can be easily implemented with channels like e-commerce chatbots. View Spectrm’s report to learn more about how online stores can personalize shopping experiences in 2021.
E-commerce chatbots allow you to connect one-to-one with every customer
E-commerce chatbots built with Spectrm help businesses cut through the crowded and competitive digital environment. It helps brands avoid ad fatigue. Customers are increasingly saturated with digital advertising. Ads are everywhere. This makes people more likely to ignore ad content itself and less prone to absorb the messaging it contains. It creates banner blindness. Ads and marketing messages become a drop in the ocean. Ad spend is lost.
Without being to deliver information each customer wants and needs, it’s difficult to capture attention and drive sales from the first touchpoint. Personalization is also proven to increase revenue and brand loyalty.
Scaling and personalized marketing go hand in hand. People send more than 2 billion messages via Facebook Messenger every month. With nearly 3 billion active Facebook users, brands that use innovations like Facebook and Instagram marketing chatbots have a fully-scalable channel at their disposal.
Marketing chatbots provide enormous reach. You can grab attention on social channels and personal customer experiences from the first touchpoint a customer has with you. Engage customers on websites and messaging apps where they already spend their time. The direct feedback customers share with you, also known as declared data, can be used to improve other marketing campaigns and funnels.
Using Spectrm’s marketing chatbots to compete in a global marketplace
90% of marketers acknowledge the importance of personalization. However, only a small amount felt capable of implementing it effectively. With Spectrm’s conversational marketing platform, brands can quickly design a custom chatbot to guide customers from discovery to conversion. No coding or development needed. Use channels like Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Google Display and Video 360, and more to deliver tailored shopping journeys that drive sales.
The declared data collected with Spectrm’s conversational marketing platform gives valuable insights into customers purchasing intent. This is information volunteered by the customer during a conversation.
Chatbots built with Spectrm use declared data to grow in knowledge and improve with each interaction. It puts you ahead of the competition, increases ROI, and continually improves return on ad spend as it gets smarter over time with AI. Learn more about the importance of declared and customer intent data collected from marketing chatbots in Spectrm’s full report.
Purple, the innovative mattress manufacturer, faced steep competition and needed a new way to prospect customers. How could Purple make it easier for customers to find the best mattress based on their personal needs while providing more information?
Purple used Spectrm’s conversational marketing platform to build a “Mattress Finder.” They were able to reach 90% of internet users across desktop, mobile web, and mobile apps using Google’s extensive network of audiences on Google DV360. Customers could discover the best mattress based on their sleep preferences, learn about Purple unique value propositions, and buy recommended products in a single ad.
The first iteration of the always-on campaign resulted in over 2,500 conversations with an average length of 1 minute 37 seconds. Purple has continued to spend conversational display ads with Spectrm because of the conversion performance they are seeing relative to other channels.
Purple easily tweaked conversation flow, scaled campaigns, optimized copy, and split-tested different conversation entry points.
Along with improved targeting in Google DV360, Purple increased the average conversation length person to 1 minute 50 seconds. Click-through rate to relevant product pages on site nearly doubled. Most importantly, Purple has achieved a 4x return on ad spend and well over one 1 million one-to-one brand engagements.
Learn more about Purple’s chatbot marketing success in the full case study here.
Final thoughts on 2021 e-commerce trends
Building a successful e-commerce marketing engine isn’t always about having superior products. It’s about standing out from competitors. 2020 was a big year for e-commerce and 2021 will make it a much more competitive market as old and new e-commerce brands alike compete for consumer attention and wallet share. This brings new challenges for marketers. Innovation and personalization at scale are a must.
Shoppers have an overwhelming amount of choices. Online marketing has become extremely crowded. Online retailers need a way to stand out from other brands while delivering personalized shopping experiences.
Spectrm’s 2021 e-commerce industry report confirms that online shopping is the new norm for American households. There has been a move away from brick and mortar to e-commerce because of global health concerns. Consumers aren’t just purchasing electronics and clothing. But groceries and other essentials as well. These trends are likely to prove very sticky, even after we find solutions to the current global pandemic.
Personalization is a must for any brand that wants to perform. Spectrm’s report found that it consistently drives more sales as a large majority of online shoppers demand a personal touch. However, it’s a daunting task. Marketing professionals understand the importance but struggle to implement it.
That’s why e-commerce chatbots are an effective solution for personalizing buyer journeys and meeting this new industry challenge. Marketing chatbots on platforms like Facebook Messenger, Instagram and Google DV360 create a fully-scalable channel to grab attention, lift conversions, and build brand loyalty. E-commerce chatbots offer personalized product recommendations, content, and answers based on each customer’s needs.
Download Spectrm’s industry report to learn more about the most important 2021 e-commerce trends and how to leverage them for sustained growth.
Industry Report: E-Commerce Trends 2021 - Innovation & Personalization
Learn about the recent changes in consumer behavior, why personalization in the online customer experience is more important than ever, and how you can leverage marketing chatbots to compete in a in a global e-commerce marketplace. Download the report today.