9 Tips Attract Shoppers to ECommerce Sites [SEMrush Web Traffic Research]

The start of a new year is a time to analyze the previous year’s work—your progress, mistakes committed during the yearб, and the wins and positives of your process.

While the eCommerce industry has yet to gain much in recent years, there is always a sign of positives in this industry, such as healthy profits, which allured the past years.

A recent report on the eCommerce market by IBEF appraises it to be around a $39 billion market, fuelled by increased wealth, the easy availability of inexpensive Smartphones and the ever-increasing coverage of 4G networks.

Also, revenue from online sales is rising by around 51% annually, which is, in fact, ‘the fastest in the world!’

Source

Every player in the eCommerce industry wants to benefit from the consumer aspect and thus return to good profits.

The research was conducted on eCommerce by SEMrush, a digital marketing tool suite, taking into account a wealth of data on online traffic sources, devices, advertising spends, trends, and technical issues in search engine optimization, and aims to help retailers.

This helps businesses stand firm against their competitors by informing them and educating them on the marketing strategies they adopt.

The annual eCommerce trends report considered 13 different product categories and analyzed the traffic of more than 8,000 of the world’s top e-commerce websites. The study results came up with interesting and actionable insights on paid and organic traffic.

Here are the highlights of the study. Check this out:

1. Direct Traffic beats out all other traffic sources

There are five different sources of web traffic:

• Direct Traffic (when your customers directly visit your website by typing your website URL into the browser)
• Organic Traffic (results gained from search engines)
• Referral Traffic (traffic that is gained when users click links on other websites)
• Social Traffic (traffic gained from social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.)
• Paid Traffic (Through clicks on paid ads)

The study concludes that direct traffic is the biggest traffic source to e-commerce sites, beating out organic search traffic by a margin. Check this out:

This concludes that brand awareness is most critical when it comes to urging consumers to spend money. Everyone in digital marketing knows that Amazon is itself a search engine!

But that doesn’t mean you can ignore all other web traffic sources. They all play an important role in attracting consumers in their own way and provide a good foundation for building brand awareness.

2. Desktop is consumers’ first preference as a shopping platform

SEMrush’s study reveals that desktop (56.98%) still leads against mobile devices (43.02%) regarding organic traffic sources on a global platform.

However, this scenario may differ in India, as around 80% of the total traffic comes from mobile – accessing social media platforms on mobile is relatively easy and most preferred. Gathering detailed information and making purchases on a desktop PC is still preferred.

Dig into the site-specific data to better decide how to allocate your entire efforts to desktop and mobile. Bear in mind that Google’s mobile-first index is already here.

3. Reviews are precious

When it comes to eCommerce, reviews are the standout feature. Changes are always occurring on SERPs, but reviews will always play a leading role in the eCommerce industry.

As you can point out, reviews are the top features; customers always look at product details and how products are fair in the market before making a purchase. Incorporate reviews, videos, images, and ads in your marketing campaign to produce better results.

4. Analyze how much competitors are spending on ads

A surprising stat reveals that almost 50% of top sites spend less than $1,000 monthly on paid ads.

The breakdown of the eCommerce industry reveals that the apparel industry is the biggest spender, while businesses that sell books, music and flowers are a little constrained in terms of spending on ads.

Thus, closely analyze the industry and (you're?) competitors before making a decision on ads. The SEMrush study found that Amazon is way ahead of Flipkart regarding paid traffic. However, the difference in organic traffic is comparatively smaller. Check out the graph:

5. They are focused on mobile devices

It’s no surprise that retailers are more inclined to purchase display ads on mobile rather than desktop. A whopping 85% of all display ads are viewed on mobile devices (smartphones and tablets).

If your business niche sells books, sports goods, clothing, etc., your target will naturally be smartphone users.

6. Supercharge your Google Shopping Ads

Product listing ads, popularly called ‘Shopping Campaigns by Google,’ are ads with images and prices that are displayed at the top of search results. This can be one of the most effective promotional means for your products.

Thus, except for businesses like flower shops and grocery stores, retailers like to invest heavily in these ads.

7. Allure consumers with deals and guarantees

Play to consumers’ emotions. It’s far more effective and profitable than satiating consumers’ needs and demands. Use contextual ads with the right keyword focus.

The Indian audience loves to use British English rather than the American version. Also, Indian consumers are more concerned with pricing, so they focus on creating calls to action that include price-related terms. Here are some examples of CTAs:

• Free Shipping
• 35% Off or Coupon Code
• 100% Money Back Guarantee or 15-Day Money Back Guarantee
• Limited Time Offer or Hurry, Only 20 Left in Stock! (creates a sense of urgency)

8. Build quality links and grow your brand

Links, and more importantly, quality links, are critical to improving keywords’ rankings and achieving better traffic from search engines. Try to include anchor texts that match users’ intent as a search engine.

Always try to build a perfect mix of links that point to blog pages, category pages or product pages, along with your home page, of course. Use a variety of non-branded and branded anchor texts according to the customer’s journey.

9. HTTPS is a ranking factor

Google has always laid emphasis on a safer web, and, as a result, it rewards websites that use a secure version of HTTP, i.e., HTTPS. Websites that employ HTTPS are rewarded with better search engine rankings, and non-HTTPS websites are penalized – meaning Google shows users a ‘not secure’ message.

The SEMrush ranking factors study found that among the top 50 websites on Google, 75% of those are using HTTPS.

Thus, you need to run your website on HTTPS to promote your business and build trust.

Make it happen in 2022!

This year you should collect more data and use it to benefit your eCommerce business. The more data you have, the better analysis you can do for your ecommerce business in this already crowded marketplace. Start playing with data more and more.

With the best research and analysis, you can adopt the most effective Digital Marketing Tactics to improve your eCommerce business and generate more sales!

Subscribe to weekly updates

You’ll also receive some of our best posts today