It should come as no surprise that a strong mobile presence is indispensable in today’s market. After all, the average user spends most of their Internet time on their smartphone as opposed to their desktop.

Whether your company is a new startup or an established brand, staying current is essential. You must adapt to the latest ecommerce marketing trends to remain competitive. Structuring and launching an ecommerce website is a milestone achievement for your brand. Therefore, it’s crucial to invest in effective mobile marketing techniques, and here are five tips on how to do so:

1. Website Design

A website is your most important marketing and communication tool, as it connects you with your user. Modern brands cannot afford to miss the mark with mobile optimization. Your website must load flawlessly on smartphones, tablets, and desktop screens alike. If you’re an ecommerce brand, you want to make sure that your website is ready for their devices.

Some brands quickly jump to a mobile app when it’s time to make “mobile decisions”. However, it’s not always the most efficient choice for each and every brand. Ultimately, they should be developed once you already have a mobile-friendly website as well. 9 times out of 10, an app should not be created in place of a mobile-friendly site, but instead in addition to it. Custom apps are costly endeavors. To succeed, they must offer unique value that your mobile site lacks. Otherwise, users have no incentive to download them.

Responsive design is incredibly important for modern ecommerce brands. Because mobile screens are significantly smaller than desktop monitors, your layouts must adapt seamlessly.

Your customers should never struggle to navigate your online storefront. They need to easily view product images, scroll through categories, and tap call-to-action buttons. Furthermore, typing billing data into form fields must be completely effortless.

Websites that lack a responsive framework always contain hidden technical flaws. Consequently, these structural errors act as a major deterrent, causing mobile users to abandon their shopping carts before completing a purchase.

2. Referral Marketing

We are all social creatures, and we love sharing our experiences with our families and friends. If we have a good experience, we’ll want everyone to know about it. For this reason, referral marketing is highly powerful. It remains one of the most underrated ecommerce mobile marketing techniques available today. Referral marketing  is when you deliberately influence the process of word-of-mouth. Whether it is encouraging more sharing, or positioning the sharing to be positive. Referral marketing is a secret weapon that many ecommerce companies embrace. It benefits advertisers too-we help each other avoid bad experiences, and encourage each other to support places that provide an excellent experience.

The fastest and easiest way to kick-start  referral marketing is to set up a referral program. If you have the resources, you can hire a developer to custom design a referral program for your store. This allows you to have full control over your referral program, but the work may be tedious and resource-intensive. An alternative is to install a referral program app. A referral app allows you to get started quickly, as everything is (almost) done-for-you. However, if you do not promote your referral program, nobody will know of it. So do all you can to promote it, and let people know about it.  Share it on your social media and send it on your email list. Invite all of your past customers to join your referral program. You will be sure to notice results.

3. Mobile Friendly Email Marketing

Most ecommerce customers check their inbox from their smartphone, not from a desktop. Emails that get opened on mobile devices yet aren’t optimized for those devices typically get sent to trash. Producing emails that fail to render correctly on smartphones is a waste of time. It quickly drains your marketing budget.

To ensure that your efforts are not wasted, it is worth checking to make sure your email marketing is mobile-friendly. Use a responsive design for all of your emails so that the content renders well regardless of device. This is one of many options that can help create an optimal experience for your email recipients. A clean layout allows recipients to see your true brand value. Consequently, they will be much more likely to visit your website.

Some visual tips to include are fonts that are easy-to-read, stick to one column of text, use compelling imagery, and always include clickable icons and calls-to-action (CTAs). Think about subject line, and how character count is more limited on mobile inboxes than desktop. Best of all, these guidelines help offer a greater experience on mobile devices, and are beneficial to those on desktop.

Similar Article: How To Outshine Your Competition With Effective Ecommrce Marketing

4. Proper Mobile Friendly Content Marketing

Mobile optimization refers to the elements found on your site infrastructure. As such, consuming content on mobile devices is different than on desktop. Proper content marketing can attract more positive attention, interaction, and sustainable conversions in a way no other marketing method can. That’s because the Internet is content. By creating and promoting original content you are ensuring that your audience is receiving new information that matters to them on a continual basis.

Brainstorm with your team to imagine a list of the different types of content you wish to create. This can be blog posts, videos, and newsletters. Also, make sure you are utilizing your marketing budget by consulting with experts, outsourcing work when necessary. Invest in high-quality software, subscriptions, employees, and training for your team.

You will also find that if you work with the right people, many of the things you’ve paid for in the past can be done internally. Create diversity within your team and listen to everyone’s ideas. It is also a good idea to create content based on Pareto’s 80/20 rule, which means that your promotions should comprise of 80% informational content, and 20% promotional content. All of the content you publish should be relevant, interesting, and unique.

5. Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is one of the most powerful mobile marketing techniques available. It allows you to communicate with your industry, customers, and market in a personal way. You can utilize social media to generate engagement and interaction, boost traffic to your website, and develop a larger base of customers.

Utilizing different social media platforms for different purposes also creates a rich presence for your company that diversifies your abilities and efforts. This will ultimately help you cater to your customers’ needs in a way that grows your business over time.

Maintaining a consistent brand voice across social media is vital. This reliable personality builds deep trust with your target audience over time. In order to develop and maintain brand recognition and authority, make sure your outreach efforts are unified; by ensuring your team is on the same page with your company’s communication style.

Frequently Asked Questions About Ecommerce Mobile Marketing

Why should an ecommerce business prioritize a mobile website over a mobile app?

Building a custom mobile app is an expensive and resource-intensive endeavor. Statistically, nine times out of ten, an app should only be built in addition to a responsive website, not in place of it. A mobile-friendly website ensures you capture all organic search traffic immediately without forcing a user to download software.

How does Pareto’s 80/20 rule apply to mobile content marketing?

When distributing content to mobile users, keep your messaging balanced. Your strategy should comprise 80% helpful, informational content and only 20% direct promotional content. Providing consistent value builds deep consumer trust, while constant sales pitches cause users to mute your channels.

What is the easiest way to optimize marketing emails for smartphones?

To optimize your email marketing, always stick to a clean, single-column text layout. Use highly legible fonts, include compelling imagery, and ensure your call-to-action buttons are large enough for a thumb to tap easily. Additionally, keep your subject lines short so they do not get cut off in mobile inboxes.