Do we know where customers enter our online fashion store? At what times of the day do we usually have the most sales? Which days of the week? If we don’t know, we should start to find out. Data like this is essential to refine our marketing strategy, increase the desired ROI and get the most out of our advertising budget.
How is it possible to control all this data? With our faithful travel companion for e-commerce (and websites in general): Google Analytics . An indispensable tool to find out data such as:
– Total sales
– Total revenue
– Revenue by product
– Number of sales by specific product
– Total products sold in a given time range
– Number of unique sales
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Let's say we have a product or an entire category that isn't selling well. Tracking can help us determine what the possible cause is. It also helps us see when people are buying and when they aren't, so we can focus our efforts on peak times and squeeze every cent we invest in marketing.
Tracking is mandatory in our clothing store, that's for sure. So let's have our Analytics account set up properly .
Sin 2: Ignoring the buying cycle
The buying cycle, or Buyer's journey , is the architecture email lists entire itinerary that a consumer goes through, from the moment they become interested in a fashion item from our online store until they make the decision to buy it or not.
We must understand that not everyone who enters our online store is ready to make a purchase. This does not mean that they will not buy in the future. Nor does it mean that we should ignore them until the moment they decide to buy.
Therefore, it is a cardinal sin to focus only on the final results (the purchase), and not the path that led them to make that decision.
That said, we should value every user who enters our website, regardless of what purchasing cycle they are in. We have worked hard to attract them to our store, so let's take advantage of the fact that they have shown interest in what we offer.
“Keep in touch” . Let's keep in touch with the visitors we receive. If we are not already doing so, let's collect their email accounts by offering them something of value in return; such as a fashion trend guide, a coupon, or a sneak peek of the next collection.
Once we have their contact, without abusing them, we can offer them special discounts, show them our most exclusive models, which are the best combinations… In the long term, we will have a huge exposure for our store and enough influence for them to finally buy from us.
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Sin 3: Not performing A/B Testing
Doing A/B testing, although it sounds boring, is actually one of the most enlightening resources for our fashion store .
A/B testing is a usability tool that allows us to compare small (or sometimes large) changes in the way users interact with an online fashion store.
For example, when a potential customer clicks on one of our ads, they are directed to a landing page . If we decide to create several versions of that landing page and measure the response ( remember the first sin: tracking ) that we get from each one, we can see if we have managed to get more users to leave us their email and even come in to buy something, with a more friendly landing page by offering, for example, a special offer in one way, or if on the contrary we have been too aggressive in the other and scared them away.
We will not always get a clear result as to which way is better, but it is worth trying.