Collaboration drives new partnership and business models. Retail will never be the same. Key Audiences Targeted for Marketing: Brand-loyal shoppers Competitor-loyal shoppers Value shoppers Abandoned carts Lookalike audiences Key Insights: Real-time sales, conversions, abandoned cart and repeat customer rate Kimberly-Clark percentage of cart size, product affinities, weighted cart ranking Optimized ad spend across loyal customers, competitors’, and undecided shoppers Tested…

You want to grow your ecommerce revenue. Your customers want to feel valued, understood and have a seamless user experience with your website. How can those two things work together? We’ve got a few ideas that are bound to make an impact. “Show me the money!” — you, after implementing these 10 methods for growing your ecommerce revenue: 1. Content Marketing Organic…

Remember those word problems from elementary school where you had to figure out if Sarah has four shirts and three pairs of pants how many outfits can she make? Well, I’ve got some news for you. They were setting you up for social advertising success the whole freakin’ time! That’s right friends—your fifth-grade math class is coming in handy for…

Black Friday and Cyber Monday represent huge opportunities for ecommerce businesses. Unfortunately, lots of brands do themselves a disservice by not testing their headlines, placements, and imagery before the holidays roll around. Here’s why: Black Friday and Cyber Monday can account for the equivalent of 5.4 normal days of traffic, so it’s definitely not the best time to A/B test. Instead, you need…

I don’t know if you’ve looked at a calendar recently, but we’re now into October and Pumpkin Spice season is in full force, meaning that it’s almost Halloween and therefore basically Christmas. With November (*cough* Black Friday *cough*) and December quickly approaching, it’s time to make sure your ecommerce site is in top shape to handle the influx of Q4…

It seems these days that everyone is telling you what to do on your own store. You should be offering more products, change up your theme, switch platforms, or install a “must-have” app (that they’re selling of course). But the one thing we see most often on ecommerce blogs is people telling you that you should be offering subscriptions on your…

If you run an ecommerce store, you know efficiency is key. This extends to everything you do – from product development and distribution to advertising. Unless you’re operating with a massive ad budget (lucky you), you probably don’t have the time or resources to mess around with Facebook ad targeting that doesn’t convert as well as it should. Luckily, you don’t…

When running an ecommerce store you have to worry about the user experience above all else. What effects user experience can range from your return policy to your level of customer service – even your social media reputation can affect your sales, repeat purchases and more! Given the analytics component of our platform, we have access to a large library…

While Black Friday probably isn’t the first thing on your mind – it should be! It’s just around the corner and what better way to help you prepare for 2017 by re-visiting some surprising and helpful Black Friday 2016 stats. What to Know about Black Friday 2016 Why? Because as the title says, Black Friday is only a few months! Why does…

If you advertise on Facebook, you know how important Facebook ad creative is to the performance of your campaigns. When managing your ad creative you must juggle different headlines, images, text and CTA options for different placements, across different devices. What looks great for one will almost certainly not work for another. Fortunately, we have outlined 7 quick tips to creating…

We can write a dozen blogs telling you how BigCommerce store owners or other ecommerce stores can improve your ad creative, promote ecommerce growth, reduce abandoned cart rate, and make a big difference in their inbound strategy, but it only does so much at the end of the day. At some point, it’s helpful to see how other real-life BigCommerce…

Let’s talk about getting more reviews on social media. Gretchen Wieners famously told Cady Heron “you wouldn’t buy a skirt without asking your friends if it looked good on you.” Well, the 2017 ecommerce version of Gretchen’s iconic declaration is “you wouldn’t buy a skirt without reading reviews from 15 strangers, sorted by body type and including photos.” That’s right,…

Millennials – they’re an entitled, phone-obsessed generation so millennial shoppers therefore don’t have much pull in the world of ecommerce, right? Wrong. Very wrong. In fact, millennials are likely some of your most critical customers. If you’re looking to drive ecommerce sales in 2017, you can’t afford not to focus on millennials. In addition to being the largest generation in U.S….

Today, influencer marketing stands out as one of the most important marketing tactics available. According to Convince and Convert, businesses generate an average of $6.50 for every dollar they invest in influencer marketing. Before you can dive into influencer marketing, though, you’ve got to catch the attention of said influencers, which is easier said than done. Luckily, these tips are here…

It can be difficult to cut through the noise and connect with and obtai Instagram followers. The advent of Instagram shopping has launched a whole new avenue to sell your products. With this exciting channel on the rise for ecommerce entrepreneurs, how do you convince someone to stop scrolling their feed, notice your product and click ‘buy’? While it’s definitely not…

Hey, we all make Facebook advertising mistakes. And, as the great Homer J. Simpson has demonstrated over the last 30 years, insanity can be defined as doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. Don’t be like Homer. Try something different if you want different results. Crucial Facebook Advertising Mistakes to Avoid   Mistake 1:…

Are you one of Instagram’s 700 million monthly active users? If you aren’t, it’s about time you signed up. Instagram has become an essential platform to be spending your advertising dollars on – if you can make it work for you. As with any social media network, there are tons of best practices out there explaining how you can use Instagram…

It may be tempting to think that all you need for a successful social ad is a high-res, beautiful photo because after all, a picture is worth a thousand words, right? However, as we all know, it takes two to make a thing go right and copy just so happens to be that other thing. For those of us not #blessed…

All marketing, including Facebook ads, email, and old-school print ads, have a single goal: to sell. While this is no easy task to undertake, luckily, things like Facebook ads are making it easier than ever to market effectively. Where to begin? Here are six tips you can start using today to maximize your Facebook ads. 1. Use Visuals That Are…

As much as you’d love your ecommerce business to be the next Amazon, even striving to measure up can be quite the undertaking. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t compete with this ecommerce giant, and there are a number of tips and tricks you can employ to help your online business stack up against Amazon. To help get you started,…

Shopify is one of the most popular ecommerce platforms today – and it’s not hard to see why. With so many easy ways to customize and expand your store, Shopify gives you all the keys to setting up a successful business. Believe it or not, Shopify doesn’t only cater to small and medium sized ecommerce businesses, they also have another…

One of the major challenges for any ecommerce business owner is shipping and delivery. It’s one of the areas where brick and mortar stores have an advantage because customers shopping at a physical store can leave with their goods at the time of purchase, whereas customers in an ecommerce store often pay extra for shipping and then wait for their goods…

Getting your Facebook ads right seems like a daunting task – but it doesn’t have to be! With a little bit of research, you can get the perfect formula for Facebook ads down to a science. The first step in mastering Facebook ads is figuring out which ads perform best, how to use different ads and placements and when they make…

Reviews, comments, and testimonials from customers have become an important currency in the world of ecommerce, and it’s vital that you understand how to leverage this feedback. For one, customer feedback can help you grade your business on performance in terms of products, services, and customer service. However, you can also use feedback to demonstrate that you’re a trustworthy company,…

Abandoned carts represent an enormous stash of potential sales, but unlocking that vault will require some prying, dedication, and likely a few changes to your checkout, policies, and possibly even your marketing tactics. But before you embark on this mission, it’s necessary to find out where you’re actually losing customers and then you can make a plan of attack to address…

Social media isn’t just for finding old high school friends and sharing pictures of grumpy cat; for ecommerce, social networks are another avenue for driving ecommerce growth. Take, for instance, the fact that a company can use social media to reach out to potential customers all over the world, guided by likes and retweets and groups. Social media can be a…

We’ve all tried a new product, service or website only to then slowly drift away from it and forgotten it altogether. You may have unsubscribed or simply stopped visiting the site. In analytical speak, this translates to you having churned, unsubscribed and/or abandoned your cart – never to return again. Let’s examine some of the sometimes confusing terminology around your…

There are so many important dates for an ecommerce business owner. While preparing for holidays and developing a sales plan with a competitive edge, the key to an effective marketing strategy is planning in advance. So, how do you go about this? With a comprehensive ecommerce marketing calendar.

In the ever-changing world of ecommerce, one element that remains constant is the desire and the need to maximize sales. Platforms, tools, techniques and concepts morph and evolve, but if your sales fall flat, your entire online business could be in jeopardy. Here are a few valuable tips that you can easily implement to help you boost your ecommerce sales….

For ecommerce, it’s a no-brainer that the best way to reach customers and attract new ones is online ads. You want to reach potential customers in the places they spend most of their time and showcase items that are tailored to their interests. Don’t believe us? Let’s review the facts! Drive Sales and ROI Online ads have revolutionized the advertising…

Gone are the days of holiday shoppers patiently waiting for the stroke of midnight on Black Friday and Cyber Monday to begin scouring for holiday deals. Retailers, specifically ecommerce, have undoubtedly caught on to the record spending levels of the holiday season and have turned two days into an entire weekend of sales to capitalize on the busiest time of…

A good friend, someone that really knows the online ad industry, called me the other day to tell me that he had an epiphany: “For most people, advertising online is like playing the slots. Something magical could happen, but it’s really unlikely. They throw dollar after dollar into a machine and occasionally get “rewarded” with a couple of shiny quarters… and…

Instagram is now drawing 300 million daily users and 500 million monthly users. The vast majority of its 200,000 advertisers are small-to-medium-sized businesses and many of them are selling online. More importantly, Instagram ads work! 60% of Instagram users confirm that they discover new products and services on the platform, while 75% say they take action after being inspired. We’re…

One of the sure fire ways to increase your customer lifetime value is to be exceptional! This is through not only delivering a superb product/service, but also backing it up with amazing, relentless customer service.

Fabletics.com sells workout outfits, with new styles coming out on the first of every month. Netflix has fulfilled in us the need to binge watch entire tv show seasons on the weekends. A stop at Tim Hortons is a morning ritual on your daily commute to work. As you can guess, these brands have high customer lifetime values, therefore, they can…

As we mentioned last week, the Customer Lifetime Value is the overall profits a customer will make for you in their lifetime. This is an important metric to focus on as it determines the long term acquisition strategy and ultimately your success as a company. There are many things you can do to focus on right now that will increase…

  Customer Lifetime Value is simply the total revenue made over a customer’s lifetime. The calculation is (Average Value of a Sale) X (Number of Repeat Transactions) X (Average Retention Time in Months or Years).

  By now, we’ve explored ways on how to grow your Instagram followers and also what types of photos work best. For my last(ish) installment on Instagram, I thought I would share some quirky “insta-hacks” that will really get you that professional Instagram badge (if it existed).

Do you send an email to your customers when you’re having a sale? Most retailers do. In fact, that may be the ONLY time retailers send emails. Do you ever notice larger retailers like the Gap or Banana Republic send you online flyers once or twice a year to come in for their 40% off sale? Do you ever hear from…

The design, look and feel of a product is a major determining factor in the way people purchase. Apple is the best example of design and marketing over technological innovation. Recently they have taken up arms on all fronts with technological strides but around the time of the iPod it was marketing and design that won out over more technologically…

Vantage helps thousands of merchants from over 80 countries around the world to turn their data into insight, and insight into action. Our expert recommendations are based on millions of customer records and close to a billion transactions. 

With platforms like Shopify, Magento and BigCommerce, it’s become easy to setup an online store to advertise and sell your products. A lot of the advertising is now done through Facebook or Google, but how to do you gain the most value from those high cost clicks? Increasing your conversion rates can only go so far to getting the best…