How to manage your e-commerce promotions?

With the evolution of consumer habits, companies are increasingly using e-commerce to offer their products and services. Today, online sales account for more than 40% of the annual turnover of most retailers and brands in the mass distribution sector. What consumers particularly appreciate is the fact that they can order items from the comfort of their own home and have them delivered to their door. However, a study conducted by British researchers in 2015 revealed that more than half of consumers only buy their products online when there is a web promotion. By improving the forecasting of its promotions, a company is likely to boost its sales on its website. The same is true if it applies these 6 techniques of good management of promotions on the Internet.

Determine the e-commerce promotion to be implemented.

There are several types of web promotions: flash sales, cross-selling, up-selling, free offers (free delivery, free service, free products or gifts, etc.). The list is not exhaustive. Companies compete with each other in terms of creativity to make their investment profitable. But in reality, the best web promotion is the one that corresponds to the needs of the customers and that encourages them to buy a product on an online store.

In order to make sure that you offer an online promotion that fits with the customers' expectations, you need to know enough about them. This is what businesses have to resign themselves to in the first place if they truly want to make big profits on their product inventory. Fortunately, unlike physical commerce, it is much easier in e-commerce to develop a deep customer knowledge.

Indeed, a company can consult the comments posted by its customers on social networks, browse the information contained on customer satisfaction questionnaires or analyze its transactional data to define the profile of each visitor and determine the promotional offer that will best suit him.

Offer targeted web promotions

Designing an online promotion according to the target and its needs is a good marketing strategy. But, a company can go further by offering targeted web promotions for a certain customer base. The goal is not only to improve the customer experience, but also to gain market share. However, this assumes that key customer segmentation criteria have been defined in advance.

Segmentation is used to adapt the offer, but also to target and personalize communication. It is therefore a valuable asset for any company that wishes to manage its promotions on its online store. By segmentation, we mean the division of a customer base or a population of prospects into homogeneous groups.

It is up to the company to identify these homogeneous groups by analyzing its customer data. As a general rule, there are 3 segmentation criteria:

• socio-demographic criteria: age, gender, level of education, etc. ;
• behavioral criteria: frequency of purchase, advantages sought, time slots for purchase, etc. ;
• psychological criteria: consumer opinions, activities and interests, etc.

The segmentation exercise could be facilitated by using continuous learning technology such as machine learning. In any case, the company must use consistent criteria if it wants to create web promotions that have an impact and can generate greater profits.

Plan special web promotions to build customer loyalty

The objective of web promotions is to make a profit and to win new customers. However, a company would gain more by keeping its old customers than by trying to gain new ones. This is especially true in terms of economic benefits. According to Reichheld and Dawkins: "retaining a customer would cost up to 5 times less than gaining a new one". In addition, a loyal and satisfied customer is more likely to repeat the purchase experience and increase consumption, which ultimately contributes to improving the company's profitability.

Therefore, it would be just as relevant and profitable for a company to use web promotions to build customer loyalty. Why not design special web promotions for customers who subscribe to the newsletter or for those who make the most purchases on a product? This could be a personalized reward to be sent on the customer's birthday or a promotion only available to loyal customers on a specific product category.

Optimize visitor conversion

A sales promotion on the Internet does not automatically guarantee the sale of stock. In fact, studies have proven that 55% of consumers who visit a store buy, while the conversion rate of Internet users after visiting a site is 1 to 3%. As prices drop, the percentage tends to rise somewhat, but it is still insignificant in relation to the financial objectives that the company sets at the beginning of each promotional campaign.

This situation is explained by the lack of human contact in a web promotion. To ensure a good management of its online promotions, a company could integrate in its strategy the consultation of a quality expert in video chat to answer the various concerns of the consumers as much on the specificities of a product having a promotional mechanism as on other products of the catalog.

Give visibility to your web promotions

Online promotions only have an impact on sales if they have good visibility. Thus, a company must imperatively set up marketing actions to accompany a promotional offer. Otherwise, it will not benefit from it. One of the strategies they can adopt is to broadcast their web promotions in the form of banners on their online store or on their different social networks. This would allow them to increase their reach to the communities they animate.

Several other communication solutions can be exploited to reach a more or less sufficient ratio of informed people. For example, the use of carousels on the category page or home page is very effective. Broadcasting in emailings, newsletters as well as discount banners and pop-ups are all means to be used to highlight an ongoing web promotion.

Follow up on web promotions

The follow-up of any commercial action is necessary. Thus, companies must audit their web promotions to evaluate their performance and possibly adjust their strategy for future years. Many indicators can be used to measure the results: click-through rate, number of orders using the promotional code, number of views on a product sheet after clicking, etc.

Dedicated dashboards or CRM software allow to follow the evolution of results in real time. This is an invaluable advantage for companies that can export the list of orders to analyze the details, know which products have benefited from a promotion and which product orders have been placed.

In conclusion, web promotions are not conducted in the same way as promotions in a physical store. Evolving in a virtual environment is not a pleasure. On the contrary! It requires a certain amount of practice in order to master the main workings. It is therefore essential for a company with an online store to take the necessary measures to make its Internet activities profitable