This ecommerce strategy article is an excerpt from our new book, The Ultimate Ecommerce Email & SMS Playbook. We’re diving into our ecommerce strategy chapter focused on the 7 Reasons Why Ecommerce Customers Leave Your Brand.
We’ve finally arrived at the core strategy that’s helped thousands of e-commerce brands like yours build better customer relationships and create profitable, predictable, and sustainable revenue streams.
The build-up is just as important as the strategy. None of what I’m about to share with you works without:
- Understanding why you must compete with Amazon, D2C brands, and Silicon Valley if you want to survive and keep customers loyal, as I’ve clarified in chapter two
- Admitting that most brands, perhaps even yours, have failed at email, SMS and CRM in the past and could be doing it a lot better for the sake of the customer, as explained in chapter three.
- Underlining the urgency to act now – COVID-19 will most likely not happen again in our lifetimes – as shown in chapter four.
- Committing to investing in an infrastructure that sets you up to succeed, as summarized in chapter five.
Let’s start diving into the core email, SMS and CRM strategy that will help you build better customer relationships and help you create profitable, predictable, and sustainable revenue streams for your business.
The Background
I want to remind you about where e-commerce comes from. If you look up the definition of e-commerce, it is defined as “commercial transactions conducted electronically on the internet.”
But I want you to think deeper as to what e-commerce really means for you as a consumer. Essentially, e-commerce is the art of replicating the in-store experience online. Think about it: e-commerce is supposedly the “death” of brick-and-mortar stores. Amazon and Walmart killed the neighborhood general store. Macy’s and Sears greatly reduced their physical locations over the past decade due to e-commerce. Even today, malls are still shuttering their doors due to online shopping trends.
For consumers, e-commerce is a more convenient way to shop, yet they still crave a personalized in-store experience. Although, at a glance, these seem like polar opposites, I learned a lot by exploring the stores at the e-commerce brands I worked, consulted, and advised on.
This strategy I’m about to share takes into account that you are a consumer and that you buy stuff. Who doesn’t, right? It goes further by saying that you, like most consumers, would like to be treated just as well digitally as you would be in-store, if not better.
I believe that if you excel in the in-store experience, you can excel in email, SMS and CRM. They’re nearly identical in strategy and tactics, though entirely different mediums. If you want to connect with the person behind the email and SMS, you need to treat them as people. This strategy will do exactly that.
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