Marketers want their web content to do a lot of things, but conversion rates are among the most important goals. Bottom-line benefits justify internet marketing investments and prove hard work is paying off. B2C brands will have a lot hanging in the balance in the next few years, as ecommerce sales are expected to climb double-digit rates every year through 2017, according to eMarketer. Marketers must develop smarter content strategies to reach and convert this growing population of online shoppers.
According to eMarketer, 73 percent of the United States population is already online, buying products and services. While it’s considered a mature market, the U.S. still has growth potential and it’s predicted that 81 percent of consumers will be online shoppers by 2017. As ecommerce penetration increases, so will online spending. The report expects U.S. B2C online sales to hit $395.28 billion this year, rising to $545.81 billion by 2016. Worldwide, ecommerce spending is projected to reach $1.2 trillion by the year’s end.
Marketers know they need strong web visibility to stay at the top of customers’ minds, especially when they’re ready to hit the “buy” button. Brafton recently revealed companies earn the most ecommerce conversions with their email marketing campaigns.
A Monetate Quarterly report found email conversion rates are four times higher than those of direct search traffic and social media marketing. On top of that, emails also contributed to the most website pageviews.
Marketers can leverage their online content to capitalize on rising ecommerce spend, repurposing popular articles for email newsletters and featuring calls to action that encourage site visitors to sign up for regular correspondence. Social networks are even introducing tools that make it easier for customers to opt-in to email campaigns – Twitter recently announced it’s adding the Lead Generation Card, which allows users to hand over their contact data with the click of a button.
