Author: Asselya Sekerova

Why is Voice Search Important for SEO?

The use of voice search has grown significantly in recent years. This is largely due to the rise of smart speakers and voice-activated assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple’s Siri. Research shows that in 2022, 57% of voice command users used voice commands daily. And by 2024, 8.4 billion digital voice assistants will be used worldwide. 

For eCommerce businesses, voice search matters because it presents a new opportunity to reach customers. Voice search is shifting how people discover and purchase products online — and eCommerce businesses must adapt their SEO strategies accordingly.

This article will explore the emerging world of voice search and how to leverage this channel to create better customer experiences while generating more sales for your eCommerce store.

Voice Search vs. Text-Based Search

With each passing year, it’s becoming easier and easier for online shoppers to search for anything they want by speaking into their devices and applying voice search. But it’s important to note that people use this technology differently from how they use text-based search. 

People often use short and keyword-driven queries when typing into a search engine. However, they are more likely to use longer and more complex sentences when using voice search. They might also use a more conversational tone. For example: “What’s the best product for…” or “Where can I find a great…”. 

It’s also important to note voice search is typically used in a different context than text-based search. When using voice search, people may be doing so while multitasking — cooking, driving, or doing housework. As a result, they will likely choose the first or second result provided by the search engine. 

The user goals could also vary depending on the type of device they are using:

• Smartphones: Quick Voice Queries. When people want immediate answers or solutions to pressing issues, they typically use their smartphones for voice searches.
• Smart Speakers: In-Depth Voice Search Exploration. People often rely on smart speakers within the comfort of their homes for more comprehensive searches. 
• Car Speakers: Voice Searches Addressing Consumer Needs. Employing voice search while driving is generally used for inquiring about locations, directions, and stores offering the best prices.

What is Voice Search Optimisation?

Voice search optimisation refers to adapting your content and eCommerce website to rank higher in voice search results. It requires shifting focus from traditional keyword optimisation. It starts with understanding how people use voice search and what they are looking for. 

As we’ve discussed, voice search allows users to find answers and solutions quickly and efficiently, which is why it’s becoming increasingly popular. With this in mind, eCommerce businesses must focus on creating strategic content that provides smart, helpful and informative answers to common user queries.

How to Implement SEO for Voice Search

The first step to success with voice search SEO is using conversational keywords and natural language. Optimising for humans and not for Google is always a great place to start.

Transforming your website for voice search may seem overwhelming at first glance. However, following some simple best practices will allow you to improve rankings and increase visibility among potential customers in voice search results:

• Understand your target audience. Start by understanding your audience and how they use voice search. What types of questions do they ask? What specific challenges or difficulties are they facing? 
  You want to provide genuine value and accurate answers to frequently asked questions about your products or services. This could include FAQ pages, product guides, and other helpful content pages with valuable information and solutions to common user problems. Here’s a proven technique to get you started with some of the common questions your customers have:
  – Create a page with a title that poses a frequently asked question
  – Present a brief and clear answer to the question directly following the title
  – Use the remaining portion of the page to provide in-depth information or clarification on the subject matter
• Conduct keyword research. Identify the keywords and phrases that your audience uses to search for information about your products. You can use Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Rank Ranger and other common SEO tools to identify relevant keywords and phrases. However, to understand how people already use voice search to find your website, you can use Google’s Voice Search API. 
  Instead of just targeting specific keywords, incorporate conversational long-tail keywords and phrases that mimic how people speak in real life It’s a good idea to include question keywords and queries that start with “who,” “what,” “where,” “when,” and “how,”.. For example, instead of “best running shoes”, target the phrase “What are the best running shoes for marathon training?”
• Create conversational content. Optimise for voice search by mirroring conversational style. Use natural language in your content to make it more conversational. Shorter sentences and simpler language are easier for voice assistants to understand and read aloud. 
• Use structured data. Structured data helps search engines better understand the content, making it easier to find them in voice search results. eCommerce businesses should implement schema markup to help search engines identify your content’s purpose and context.
• Optimise for featured snippets. “Position zero” or featured snippets are concise answers at the top of the search engine results page. The fact that voice assistants often read snippets aloud makes them essential for voice search optimisation. Aim to create content that can rank for featured snippets by providing precise and concise answers to commonly asked questions.
• Proper text design. Use bullet points, tables, and lists in your content to make it easy for voice assistants to read and understand.
• Apply local SEO and use your Google Business Profile. For eCommerce businesses that rely on local customers, local SEO is crucial for success in voice SEO. Voice search queries could be location-based (meaning users look for businesses and products nearby). One effective strategy is to create location-specific landing pages and content that includes local keywords and phrases. Your business may also appear at the top of local voice search results by leveraging the Google Business Profile. 
• Advanced multilingualism. Voice search integration makes your content’s translation accuracy critical. It’s a good idea to seek assistance from a fluent speaker of the language to manage the translation and editing of your written material and content. Refer to Google’s guidelines for effectively managing multilingual websites.
• Interact with users on social media platforms. Voice search results frequently leverage content with a lot of likes and shares on social networks. Maintaining active and thriving social media pages and providing them with ample attention and care is crucial. The higher your level of interaction with social media users, the greater the likelihood they will come across your business via a virtual assistant.
• Optimise your video rankings in search results. An informative video can often be more effective than plain text in answering user queries. If a video can assist your audience, it is also valuable for voice search. Include conversational long-tail phrases in the video titles, for example, starting with “How To”, incorporate keywords in the video’s description and transcript, and use a clickable and enticing thumbnail that encourages users to watch your video. Where possible, Google can extract relevant video sections based on user requests.
• Enhance your Domain Authority. The higher your website ranks, the more powerful it is for voice search. You want to intensify your SEO efforts with proven best practices — backlinks, local search, technical optimisation, and more. These will positively impact domain authority — one of the most important ranking factors. 
• Improve your website speed. Site speed is critical in voice search SEO. A slow-loading website can result in a poor user experience and decreased rankings. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify areas where you can improve page load and site speed.
• Ensure your website’s mobile-friendliness. This is crucial, given that a significant proportion of voice searches are performed on smartphones and similar mobile devices. 
• Focus on a high-quality user experience. Optimise your website to make it fast and easy to use, with clear navigation and prominent calls to action.

By following these steps, you can gradually optimise your website for voice search and increase the probability of achieving a higher ranking in voice search outcomes.

How to Use Google’s Voice Search API

Google’s Voice Search API is a powerful tool to analyse data and acquire valuable insights on how your website is accessed through voice search. To use Google’s Voice Search API, you’ll need to integrate it by installing a small piece of code. 

One of the benefits of using Google’s Voice Search API is that it allows you to identify which phrases are most commonly used in voice search. This information can help you identify keywords and phrases that you can start to optimise your content for. Additionally, the tool can help you determine which pages on your website are most frequently accessed through voice search, allowing you to focus your optimisation efforts on these pages first.

How to Test and Measure the Effectiveness of Your Voice Search Optimisation Efforts

After implementing voice search optimisation techniques, it’s important to track the results and measure the effectiveness of your efforts.

• One method involves monitoring the analytics of your website: looking at the website’s traffic, bounce rates, and conversion rates and determining whether or not your voice search optimisation strategies are having the desired impact.
• Another way to measure the effectiveness of your voice search optimisation efforts is to conduct user testing: having individuals interact with your website using voice search and providing feedback on their experience. 
• Additionally, you can use voice search analytics tools like Voice Metrics to track the performance of your website’s voice search capabilities and identify areas for improvement.

One thing is for sure… voice search is no longer a trend but a necessity for eCommerce businesses that want to remain competitive in today’s digital landscape. Ignoring voice search optimisation can result in lost traffic, leads, and sales to your competitors who have optimised for voice search. We strongly suggest you start adapting your SEO strategy for voice search today!

Reach out to the LION Digital team to discuss how we can help.

Article by

ASSELYA Sekerova –
MARKETING & PROJECT MANAGER

Looking to drive up your conversion rates while also creating a better experience for your online shoppers?

Dynamic product discovery utilises advanced technologies, such as visual search, recommendation engines, and AI — to create a more personalised and engaging shopping experience for online customers.

This article explores why eCommerce retailers need to utilise dynamic product discovery and how it can drive more revenue for your store. It also highlights some successful examples of implementation.

Improve Customer Experience

Studies have shown that customer experience is crucial to the success of eCommerce retailers. Companies that provide a better online shopping experience than their competitors increase revenue and demand faster. On top of that, 73% of online shoppers consider buying experience an essential factor in purchasing decisions. Dynamic product discovery is one of the most powerful ways retailers can achieve a positive customer experience.

Delivering personalised shopping experiences can improve buyer engagement in several ways. Firstly, merchants can provide personalised recommendations and visual search results based on user behaviour and preferences — resulting in a more enjoyable and relevant search experience. Secondly, it can save online shoppers time by providing them with relevant products quickly and easily, increasing satisfaction and loyalty. Finally, dynamic product discovery can reduce frustration by minimising irrelevant search results and recommendations, leading to a better overall experience.

Industry-leading companies have led the way in implementing personalised browsing and shopping experiences with great success. For instance, Amazon and Netflix use their recommendation engines to personalise each customer’s product catalogue, contributing significantly to their conversion rate.

Increase Sales

Dynamic product discovery can have a significant impact on sales for eCommerce retailers. By providing personalised recommendations and visual search results, online retailers can increase the likelihood that customers will find and purchase the products they want. Providing truly personalised experiences can also help retailers upsell and cross-sell products by suggesting complementary items that customers may not have considered, leading to increased sales and revenue.

Studies have shown dynamic product discovery can significantly impact retailers’ business optimisation and revenue. Companies that personalise the search and discovery experience can see a 10% – 15% increase in revenue. Also, 78% of online shoppers are most likely to repurchase from (and recommend) companies that personalise.

Stay Competitive

Retail technology is a highly competitive industry, and eCommerce retailers must continually adapt to stay ahead of their market. Dynamic product discovery allows retailers to stay competitive by offering a more personalised and relevant product investigation, leading to increased user engagement and loyalty.

Zalando, a top European fashion retailer, is an excellent example of a company that stays ahead of the curve and remains competitive. Zalando uses AI-powered personalised search to provide online shoppers with a more personalised and relevant search experience.

Meet Customer Expectations

Customers now expect a seamless and personalised shopping experience across all online and in-store channels. They want retailers to understand their needs and preferences and offer personalised recommendations and promotions. Dynamic product discovery can help eCommerce retailers meet customer expectations by providing a more personalised and convenient product identification experience.

By utilising machine learning and other cutting-edge technologies, retailers can offer customers personalised recommendations, search results, and promotions, helping customers find new products they are interested in more quickly and easily. Additionally, these technologies can help retailers offer a seamless shopping experience across all channels.

Gather Valuable Data

Dynamic product discovery can also provide valuable data on customer preferences, behaviour, and buying patterns that eCommerce retailers can use to improve various aspects of the business — from product development to data analytics strategies. This data allows companies to optimise product offerings and ensure stock of the products their customers are interested in. It also allows merchants to improve marketing strategies and use insights on customer behaviour and preferences to create more targeted and effective marketing campaigns. Additionally, retailers can use the data to improve their supply chain and logistics operations, optimising inventory levels and streamlining delivery processes.

A Reliable Partner for Implementing Dynamic Product Discovery

We strongly believe online retailers should consider incorporating recommendation engines, visual search, optimisation and other product discovery technologies into their strategy — to increase conversion rates and user engagement, improve search results, enhance personalisation and relevance, and ultimately stay competitive in the fast-paced and ever-changing retail landscape.

In LION Digital, we work with the market-leading platform Nosto to meet evolving customer expectations and improve business optimisation for brands that have chosen us as their trusted eCommerce advisor. Nosto was born from the idea that every shopping experience can and should be personal. With the help of powerful machine learning and a team of global eCommerce experts, Nosto uses shopper behavioural data to design digital commerce experiences that create customers for life.

Article by

ASSELYA Sekerova –
MARKETING & PROJECT MANAGER

Wondering what the fuss is all about with Shopify Plus?

Selecting the right eCommerce platform is critical to the success of any online business, as it can provide the necessary tools, features, and flexibility to thrive in the competitive world of online retail. The top eCommerce platforms help businesses manage their online stores, from inventory management and order fulfilment to payment processing and shipping. They also provide tools to optimise the user experience and a marketplace of 3rd-party integrations. 

Over the past few years, many eCommerce companies have chosen to migrate to Shopify or Shopify Plus from their current platforms. Shopify vs. Shopify Plus comparison and related questions are very common. While both platforms offer the same dashboard and editor, Shopify Plus offers more advanced features and is tailored to high-volume businesses — offering enterprise-level tools to support growth and scalability. 

1. Scalability and Flexibility

Is your business growing quickly? 

Shopify Plus excels in scalability and flexibility, making it an ideal solution for rapidly growing businesses. It can seamlessly handle high-volume sales and sudden spikes in traffic or orders without compromising performance or speed. 

• Scalability
  Shopify Plus is built on a cloud-based infrastructure that can adapt to changing business requirements. This means you can easily add new product lines, expand into new markets and handle large order volumes without worrying about infrastructure limitations or downtime. With Shopify Plus, businesses can customise their online store infrastructure to meet their specific needs, allowing them to scale quickly and efficiently.
• Flexibility
  Shopify Plus offers a range of APIs and development tools that make it easy for businesses to customise their online store and integrate with third-party applications — giving them complete control over their growth and evolution. This level of flexibility is a significant competitive advantage for businesses requiring a platform to keep up with their changing needs.
• Handling traffic spikes and large order volumes
  Shopify Plus is designed to meet the demands of high-volume sales, providing businesses with the infrastructure and tools to handle large spikes in traffic and orders without slowing down or crashing. The platform can handle millions of visitors and orders daily, ensuring that it remains stable and always available. Additionally, its scalable architecture allows businesses to expand and contract their resources as required, enabling them to handle sudden surges in traffic and orders during peak seasons without any performance issues or downtime.

2. CUSTOMISABLE CHECKOUT PROCESS

Looking to improve your buyer experience and conversion rate?

Shopify Plus allows businesses to customise their checkout process and improve the user experience — leading to higher conversion rates and increased sales. By customising the entire checkout process, businesses can create a seamless and intuitive experience for their customers, reducing cart abandonment rates and increasing customer satisfaction.

One way to customise the checkout process is using the one-page checkout feature. This allows customers to complete their purchases on a single page without having to navigate through multiple steps, simplifying the checkout process and reducing the likelihood of cart abandonment. 

Another feature is adding custom checkout fields, such as gift messaging or engraving, which can be especially useful for businesses that offer personalised products or services.

Shopify Plus also offers a wide range of payment options, including credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Stripe and others. This allows businesses to cater to a wide range of customers and provide a convenient and secure checkout experience. Additionally, Shopify Plus allows for custom payment gateway integrations, which can be useful for businesses with unique payment processing needs.

3. ADVANCED MARKETING AND SALES FEATURES

Shopify Plus is a game-changer for businesses looking to boost their eCommerce sales and revenue. The platform offers a range of advanced marketing and sales features that can help businesses to better engage with their customers and drive more sales.

One helpful marketing feature of Shopify Plus is abandoned cart recovery, which automatically sends reminder emails to customers who have left items in their cart without completing their purchase. These emails can include incentives like discounts or free shipping to encourage customers to return and complete their purchases.

For businesses not running their email marketing through a tool like Klaviyo — Shopify Plus also offers a range of email marketing capabilities, including creating and sending newsletters, product updates, and promotional emails to specific segments of your customer base. Additionally, businesses can create and manage discount codes to incentivise purchases or reward loyal customers with exclusive discounts.

Moreover, Shopify Plus seamlessly integrates with third-party marketing tools such as Facebook Ads, Google Analytics, Klaviyo and many others. By integrating these tools, businesses can gain deeper insights into their customers’ behaviour and tailor their marketing efforts accordingly. This includes tracking conversions from social media ads, analysing website traffic, and creating personalised email marketing campaigns based on customers’ past purchases and browsing behaviour.

4. ROBUST REPORTING AND ANALYTICS

Shopify Plus’s advanced reporting tools and analytics features can help businesses make data-driven decisions to boost sales and drive growth. Businesses can track their performance, monitor key performance indicators (KPIs), and gain valuable insights into customer behaviour and sales trends.

The platform allows businesses to generate reports on various metrics, including sales, customer behaviour, and inventory levels. Shopify Plus also offers customisable dashboards that allow businesses to track KPIs and monitor the health of their online store. By using these tools, businesses can identify areas for improvement, optimise marketing and sales strategies, and increase conversion rates.

Shopify Plus enables businesses to gain insights into how customers interact with their website, what products are popular, and which channels drive the most sales. With numerous different report templates, businesses can generate custom reports tailored to their specific needs and receive them daily, weekly, or monthly. The platform also offers the ability to create custom dashboards that consolidate data from various reports, allowing businesses to gain a holistic view of their performance.

5. MULTI-CHANNEL SELLING

Shopify Plus offers several benefits to businesses looking to expand their reach and increase their sales. One of the platform’s key features is its integration with social media platforms. With Shopify Plus, businesses can easily create and manage their social media accounts and connect them to their online store. This allows businesses to sell products directly through social media channels like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, reaching a wider audience and driving more traffic to their online store.

Another advantage of Shopify Plus is its ability to sell through multiple channels, including popular marketplaces like Amazon, eBay and Etsy. This feature allows businesses to expand their reach and tap into new markets without investing significant resources into building new sales channels from scratch. Shopify Plus seamlessly integrates with these marketplaces, enabling businesses to manage their product listings and orders from a central location and providing tools to help manage inventory across all sales channels.

Centralised inventory management is another significant benefit of Shopify Plus. With this feature, businesses can track inventory levels across all their sales channels in one place, eliminating the need for manual updates and preventing overselling, out-of-stock items, and order cancellations. Shopify Plus also offers an advanced inventory management feature that allows businesses to track their inventory levels in real-time, set up automated reorder points, and manage their suppliers. By having a clear overview of their inventory, businesses can make informed decisions about their stock levels, reduce their storage costs, and prevent stockouts.

6. ENHANCED SECURITY AND COMPLIANCE

Shopify Plus is a platform that takes security very seriously. Being certified as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) Level 1 compliant, which is the highest level of certification available, Shopify Plus ensures businesses comply with industry standards and provide the highest level of security for handling credit card data. This means that Shopify Plus is protected against credit card fraud and data breaches. By using Shopify Plus, businesses can be confident that they have a secure and reliable payment processing system that uses advanced encryption and security measures to protect customer payment data during transactions.

Another way Shopify Plus protects customer data is through SSL encryption. SSL encryption is a standard security technology that establishes an encrypted link between a web server and a browser, ensuring that all data passed between the two remains private and integral. This feature is important for keeping customers’ personal information safe and building trust and credibility. By displaying the SSL padlock icon in the browser’s address bar, businesses can show their customers that their website is secure, which can go a long way in boosting customer confidence and encouraging them to purchase.

To further ensure the security of its users, Shopify Plus provides a dedicated security support team. This team is available 24/7 to assist with security-related questions and provide guidance on best practices for keeping customer data and transactions secure. The team is made up of experts in the field of security and compliance who work closely with businesses to ensure that they are meeting industry standards for security. They also ensure that they have the necessary safeguards in place to protect customer data.

Shopify Plus also offers compliance with various industry standards, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR is a set of regulations implemented by the European Union to protect personal data privacy and ensure that companies handling such data are transparent about their processing activities. Shopify Plus offers GDPR compliance features such as data portability, data access, and data erasure, which help businesses meet the requirements of the regulation. In addition, Shopify Plus provides features such as cookie consent banners, GDPR-friendly form builders, and privacy policy generators to help businesses comply with the GDPR.

7. CUSTOMISABLE APIS AND INTEGRATIONS

Shopify Plus’s customisable APIs and integrations can greatly benefit eCommerce businesses by helping them streamline their operations and improve efficiency. By using these APIs and integrations, businesses can easily connect with third-party tools and services that they may already be using, such as marketing automation platforms, accounting software, and shipping providers. This allows businesses to automate repetitive tasks and reduce manual data entry, freeing time for growth and revenue-generating activities.

For example, integrating Shopify Plus with accounting software like QuickBooks or Xero can automate financial tasks such as invoicing and expense tracking. This saves time and reduces the likelihood of errors that may occur with manual data entry. Similarly, businesses can integrate their Shopify Plus store with shipping carriers to automate the fulfilment process, reducing the time and resources required to ship orders and ultimately improving efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Shopify Plus also offers pre-built integrations with popular third-party tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zendesk, among others. These integrations are designed to work seamlessly with Shopify Plus, providing businesses with a unified view of their data and a more holistic approach to managing their online store.

8. DEDICATED SUPPORT AND RESOURCES

With Shopify Plus, merchants enjoy exclusive priority support. This includes:

• 24/7 Priority Technical Support
  One of the most significant benefits of Shopify Plus is its 24/7 priority technical support. This feature enables Shopify Plus customers to access expert help whenever needed, regardless of location or time zone, with support via phone, email, and live chat. This ensures that businesses can quickly resolve any issues or technical difficulties they encounter without having to wait for the next business day. This is especially important during peak periods, such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday or Christmas when businesses are more likely to experience high traffic and increased sales.
  Shopify Plus users also have access to a dedicated support team with a named Account Manager who can help with any questions or concerns. This team is specifically trained to handle the unique needs of enterprise-level businesses and can provide advice on everything from site optimisation to app integrations. With this level of support, businesses can ensure they are maximising the potential of the Shopify Plus platform and driving sales growth.
• Access to Exclusive Resources and Training Materials
  Shopify Plus offers its users exclusive resources and training materials to help businesses learn and develop their skills. These resources are designed to help users get the most out of the platform and maximise their potential for success. The platform’s community of experts, developers, and partners are also on hand to provide advice and support.
  Shopify Plus users can access webinars, workshops, tutorials, documentation, and best practices on various topics, including marketing strategies, design tips, and technical support. They can also access the Shopify Plus Academy, an exclusive online learning portal offering training courses, certifications, and many other resources to help users build their expertise and advance their careers.

9. PRICING AND FEES

In contrast to Shopify’s defined pricing plans, the pricing for Shopify Plus varies based on factors such as your business model, monthly turnover, and marketing needs. Also, Shopify sets fixed fees per transaction for both platforms, but transaction fees for Shopify Plus are negotiable during the quote process.

10. THE SHOPIFY PLUS PARTNER PROGRAM

Shopify Plus is a game-changer for eCommerce businesses, providing a powerful platform and support system to help businesses thrive and succeed in today’s highly competitive eCommerce market. But there is one more amazing benefit that merchants can access for growing their stores and taking their business to the next level — the partner program

The Shopify Plus Partners program supports merchants by linking them with trusted world-class service providers (such as LION Digital) that have the platform expertise to help brands grow. By utilising the platform efficiently with the help of one of the Shopify Plus Partners, merchants can benefit from a complete eCommerce solution and tailor it to their specific needs and goals.

LION Digital has successfully applied the platform’s best practices and generated online growth for brands like Ledlenser, OneWorld Collection, Nutrition Warehouse, and Havaianas, to name a few. We encourage eCommerce businesses to consider Shopify Plus as a tool to grow their brand, increase customer loyalty, and drive sales. In June of 2022, our agency was recognised for its long-term partnership with Shopify, and LION Digital has achieved the very exclusive Digital Marketing Partner status with Shopify Plus.

Article by

ASSELYA Sekerova –
MARKETING & PROJECT MANAGER

Conversational marketing is about personalised, one-on-one conversations with customers to create a more engaging and interactive experience. Its ultimate goals are increasing conversions, driving sales, building stronger relationships, and improving customer loyalty. This approach is particularly effective in eCommerce and digital marketing because it enables businesses to offer instant customer support and assistance, address concerns, and guide them through buying. Among the benefits of conversational marketing are its cost-effectiveness and enhanced data collection.

There are various types of conversational marketing tools that brands can use to engage with their audience, and they fully reflect the latest conversational marketing trends:

• Chatbots simulate human conversation and are used to answer customer inquiries, provide personalised product recommendations, and even complete transactions.
• Messaging apps, such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and WeChat, allow brands to communicate with customers more casually and conversationally.
• Voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant engage with customers through spoken interactions.
• Live chat is another type of conversational marketing that involves real-time conversations with customers on a brand’s website or app.

Various conversational marketing software solutions help businesses to create and deploy chatbots on their website or social media platforms and enable brands to engage with their customers through these conversational AI tools.

Overall, the global conversational AI market size is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 29.7% and the conversational commerce market at 21.9% from 2021 to 2026, with the market size projected to reach respectively $13.9 and $22.8 billion by 2026. The increasing demand for AI and machine learning technologies, especially in customer service and marketing, is the key driver for this growth of the conversational AI market. In its turn, the rising demand for personalised shopping experiences and the increasing use of messaging platforms for eCommerce are significant factors contributing to the growth of the conversational commerce market.

Successful conversational marketing examples and case studies that showcase the effectiveness of this approach are already wide-known. One example is H&M’s Kik chatbot, which allowed customers to browse and purchase clothing through a conversational interface, resulting in a 20% increase in sales. Sephora’s Facebook Messenger chatbot, offering customers personalised beauty advice, product recommendations, and a seamless checkout experience, had an 11% higher conversion rate than Sephora’s website. 

1. Know your audience

To develop an effective conversational marketing strategy, conducting audience research and creating buyer personas is crucial. These personas are detailed profiles based on research representing the ideal customer for a particular product or service. Understanding the communication preferences of your target audience is essential. Questions such as what communication channels and devices they use most frequently, their preferred content format and the communication style that resonates the most with them must be answered. By creating buyer personas, businesses can better understand their target audience’s unique characteristics, intentions, and behaviours, allowing them to tailor an approach to meet the customer’s needs and preferences. This understanding ultimately leads to a more successful conversational marketing strategy.

2. Humanise your brand

Incorporating conversational tools into eCommerce can elevate the shopping experience by offering a personalised touch. These tools can assist customers by answering their queries, providing product recommendations, and even offering discounts. However, it is crucial to remember the importance of conversational etiquette and tone. Building a rapport with customers through a friendly and approachable tone can boost their confidence and comfort while interacting with eCommerce businesses. This, in turn, leads to increased customer loyalty and repeat purchases.

In addition to tone, creativity and humour can set eCommerce businesses apart from their competitors. Using humour can make the shopping experience more enjoyable and relaxed for customers, while creativity can generate interest and engagement. Ultimately, these techniques can help businesses create a memorable brand image and establish a stronger emotional connection with customers.

3. Be proactive in your conversations

Proactively offering customer support and suggestions is critical to a successful conversational marketing strategy. By doing so, a brand can demonstrate its commitment to delivering exceptional customer service while enhancing the overall customer experience. Automated messaging systems can identify when a customer has difficulty completing a task or navigating the website and offer assistance proactively. This approach can significantly reduce the likelihood of customers becoming frustrated or abandoning their purchase altogether.

Another essential element of a successful conversational marketing strategy is addressing common questions and concerns that customers may have. This can be achieved by analysing customer data and identifying patterns or trends in frequently asked questions. Pre-written responses to these inquiries can save time and ensure that customers receive consistent and accurate information. By anticipating and addressing these questions, businesses can provide a more seamless and satisfying customer experience.

4. Don’t overdo the automation

Finding the right balance between automation and human interaction is crucial to an effective conversational marketing strategy. Although automation can streamline simple tasks and save time, it can lead to a cold and impersonal customer experience if overdone.

Freeing time for human engagement by using automation to handle straightforward tasks, for instance, in frequently asked questions or automated follow-up messages after purchase, while incorporating human interaction at key touchpoints in the customer journey, such as during checkout or when addressing complex queries, can make the experience more personalised. 

However, ensuring that automated responses remain conversational and not overly robotic is still vital. Avoiding too much technical jargon or overly formal language is essential. Instead, focus on using a conversational tone that aligns with your brand voice.

5. Optimise for mobile

Most online shoppers now use mobile devices to browse and shop, so designing conversational experiences with mobile in mind is important. This requires ensuring the chatbot or messaging platform is responsive, user-friendly, and easy to navigate on smaller screens. Additionally, mobile-specific features such as swipe gestures or voice input can make the experience more intuitive.

To engage customers where they are, it’s worth considering using mobile messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. These platforms have billions of active users, and integrating them into your conversational marketing strategy can help you engage with customers on their preferred channels. It is essential to understand the nuances of each platform and tailor the messaging accordingly to make the most of these channels. Moreover, automated messaging campaigns are available in these messaging apps to send personalised messages to customers based on their behaviour, preferences, or purchase history.

When designing conversational interactions for mobile devices, it’s the point to remember that users have limited attention spans and may be easily distracted by other things on their phones. Therefore, simplifying the conversation flow, using clear and concise language, and providing quick and relevant responses can help keep customers engaged. Additionally, incorporating visual elements such as images, videos, or GIFs can break up the text and make the conversation more engaging.

6. Use conversational data to improve your strategy

Collecting and analysing conversational data and assembling conversational marketing statistics from multiple channels is crucial to building an effective conversational marketing strategy. By gathering data on customers’ behaviour, interests, and pain points, businesses can gain valuable insights into their customers’ needs and how they interact with their brands.

Using conversational data, brands can identify common questions, areas where customers need additional support or guidance, engagement frequency, and the overall sentiment of customer interactions. With this information, businesses can develop messaging that resonates with their target audience, test new approaches, improve the website or product offerings, and provide targeted training or resources to their customer service team.

However, it’s not enough to collect data; it’s crucial to test and iterate based on insights from conversational data continuously. By regularly reviewing and analysing customer interactions, brands can identify trends and patterns and adjust their strategy accordingly. This approach will ensure businesses stay ahead of the competition and keep their marketing strategy aligned with customer needs and preferences.

7. Be transparent about the use of chatbots

In eCommerce, chatbots are becoming more prevalent for businesses to handle customer inquiries efficiently. However, it’s important for companies to be transparent about using chatbots and to let customers know when they are interacting with one. Here are a few reasons why:

• Transparency
  Customers value transparency and honesty from businesses. Businesses can build trust and improve the overall customer experience by being upfront about using chatbots.
• Expectations
  Customers may have different expectations when speaking to a chatbot than when talking to a human agent. Informing customers that they are speaking to a chatbot can help set appropriate expectations for response capabilities and limitations.
• Personalisation
  Chatbots can be programmed to personalise responses based on a customer’s past behaviour or preferences. By informing customers that they are speaking to a chatbot, businesses can encourage customers to provide more information, allowing the chatbot to provide more tailored recommendations or responses.
• Efficiency
  Chatbots can handle a high volume of customer inquiries and provide quick responses. By letting customers know they are speaking to a chatbot, businesses can manage customer expectations regarding response times and improve overall efficiency.

Conclusion

Conversational marketing has the potential to enhance customer engagement and drive sales in eCommerce and digital marketing. However, companies must tailor their approach to their audience’s specific needs and preferences to be effective. Striking a balance between automation and human interaction while humanising the brand is crucial. Optimising for mobile and leveraging conversational data can also improve the overall customer experience. Being proactive in conversations is essential to reduce customer frustration and abandonment rates. By following these tips and best practices, businesses can create a more engaging and personalised shopping experience for their customers, leading to increased conversions, sales, and loyalty.

Article by

ASSELYA Sekerova –
MARKETING & PROJECT DIRECTOR

The LION Digital x preezie partnership

LION Digital and preezie have formed a dynamic partnership to offer a comprehensive suite of services that aims to elevate the digital marketing and sales performance of eCommerce businesses. By working together, we help our shared clients create exceptional customer experiences by fostering deeper online engagement.

From declining conversion rates to skyrocketing sales: How LION Digital and preezie solve eCommerce’s biggest challenges

Adaptability is crucial in the constantly evolving world of eCommerce. With businesses facing numerous challenges, such as the lingering impact of the pandemic and economic instability leading to high inflation and a potential global recession, brands must now be more resilient and resourceful than before to drive value and keep customers purchasing.

To thrive in this changing landscape, brands must respond quickly to changes and invest in specialised solutions that meet their unique needs. The partnership between LION Digital and preezie enables eCommerce businesses to differentiate themselves by creating deeper connections with customers through initiatives such as product-specific campaigns, gamification, and personalised communications. We also offer assistance with lead generation, database expansion, and sophisticated segmentation strategies that can help brands build customer loyalty.

Experience the power of preezie’s industry-leading solutions

preezie’s “journeys” solution incorporates behavioural psychology principles to enhance the overall customer experience and drive more conversions. Through interactive quizzes, customers are guided to discover products that meet their unique requirements. This tailored approach boosts the likelihood of a purchase as the customer is provided with personalised “best match” recommendations, which increases their confidence in the product. preezie journeys also help brands bridge the gap between in-store and online experiences by mimicking the role of a sales assistant. By educating customers and providing them with a curated selection of products, preezie journeys ensure customers can make informed decisions just like they would in-store.

As retailers strive to improve their sales metrics month over month and year over year, LION’s expert team understands what it takes to achieve those goals. That’s why LION provides innovative digital marketing services to help brands stay ahead of the curve by aligning their strategies with consumer demand. With a specialised team of experienced channel directors and specialists focused on channels such as SEO, SEM, Social, Email, and Web, LION offers a centralised eCommerce marketing strategy that consistently performs at a high level.

Get started today

The collaboration between LION and preezie is a game-changer for eCommerce businesses, providing them with the tools to be adaptable and responsive to changing market demands. By leveraging our joint forces, brands can build stronger connections with customers and drive conversions for sustainable revenue growth.

Article by

ASSELYA Sekerova –
MARKETING & PROJECT DIRECTOR

At first glance, the Playing Field hasn’t changed much since the world started leveraging eCommerce and retail technologies. The eCommerce ecosystem is now moving towards sophistication that was once inaccessible for many retailers and reasons Chief Technology Officer of eStar Matt Neale outlines. The infrastructure has upgraded, becoming highly dynamic, reacting to customer and competitor behaviour in live mode, targeting views and offers to provide maximum value.

In this article, we will cover the online shopping trends that will shape the eCommerce industry in 2023 and sometimes even further future of online businesses, including but limited to the technical aspects.

Online Shopping Market Landscape Trends

In 2022 global retail market experienced the tendency to return to offline sales after the pandemic, which slowed down the eCommerce increase pace. Nevertheless, the eCommerce revenue growth is forecasted to bounce back in 2023 and grow until 2025.

While in the past year, only essential needs like Food & Beverages were performing well, this year, the growth rate for all major eCommerce categories will increase, and several of them can even outperform the 2021 indicators.

Social media as an eCommerce trend

The time when marketing practitioners pouring budgets on social media was asked, “Does Social Media Sell?” had passed. 94% of all internet users worldwide nowadays are also social media users, and it directly affects the development of eCommerce. The significance of social media, which is from being barely one of the communication channels boosted towards being an essential sales tool, is unnegotiable, and it expresses in the generated revenue increasing exponentially yearly.

Preference prediction in the eCommerce industry

Intimate human experience, help with browsing, personalised advice and product recommendations are the points where traditional retail still has advantages in front of eCommerce. Online shopping trends incline eCommerce retail businesses to imitate face-to-face shopping assistance further by attentively tracking customer preferences and behaviour, retrieving deepened insights and optimising the shopping process by applying intelligent solutions. As a result, the “recommended products” block on the websites and other similar features are expected to become even more advanced.

Voice search impact on eCommerce

The way people search for services and products is also evolving. Data suggests that by 2024 over 8.4 billion digital voice assistants will be used worldwide. Consumer query that was typed focuses on specific keywords, whereas voice search is more likely to happen in the form of a question. For instance, “black shoes” vs. “Where can I buy black shoes?” Considering significant differences between typed-in and voice search, eCommerce business owners should observe this online shopping trend closely since it might seriously change the best practices of organic and paid search engine marketing channels.

Cryptocurrency for e-business growth

When integrating cryptocurrency into the business, the owners’ main anxiety was the lack of understanding of the crypto concept among the consumers. However, the studies demonstrated solid proof for the inconsistency of this doubt: 43% per cent of respondents claim their understanding of the concept, 35% consider it as a legitimate form of currency, and 28% view it as the future of currency. Moreover, surveys have shown that over 1 in 5 Gen Z, Millennial, or Gen X respondents invest in crypto, whereas 34% of crypto owners already have used it to make purchases other than buying crypto.

Thus, it could become one of the main tendencies that shape the future of eCommerce and brands that integrate cryptocurrency features into their eCommerce platforms can facilitate faster payments with an expansive multinational customer reach.

Chatbots in conversational marketing development in eCommerce

In real-time one-on-one interactions in their preferred channel, lay opportunities to build close personal relationships with customers and provide more value to their experience with the company. Additionally, conversational marketing helps gather more data and information from your customers, neatly nudges customers further along the funnel and enriches the customer experience by feeling more connected to the organisation. 

Customisable conversational marketing interactions can be tailored to the customer’s needs and, therefore, could replace long lead forms and complement each touchpoint at every stage of the customer journey. However, keeping up with the “always-online” customer is not feasible for most businesses. If their questions are simple or they don’t want to wait for a human, most consumers who ask for a live chat while shopping online are happy to interact with chatbots as long as they know indeed that it is a chatbot. Recent generation live chats allow brands to keep interactions coherent with their brand voice. Moreover, the recent tendencies in AI-guided chatbots like ChatGPT and related competition will further warm the conversational marketing trend in eCommerce.

Virtual reality and metaverse trends that will affect the future of marketing

A new level of brands’ interaction with consumers develops towards a virtual environment known as “the metaverse”. 40% of respondents already claim that they understand the metaverse concept. Among the over 80% of those who reported shopping across at least three channels over the last six months, one out of three say they used a virtual reality (VR) channel, and a significant number of them used it to buy retail products and luxury goods.

Metaverses are built as the elements of the web3 concept. As one of the ways for brands to improve customer engagement, virtual stores in the metaverse let retailers provide their customers with an immersive experience, already promising to become a game-changer in the future of online business. Although there are still open questions, the milestones of consumer interaction, as for the entire eCommerce now, will still be the smooth transition and seamless connection. Whereas interconnected and trustworthy omnichannel brand experience importance will only increase. 

Redefined retail experience for the future of online businesses

Although the scope of tools hasn’t changed much since the world started leveraging eCommerce and retail technologies, being a specialist eCommerce marketing agency, LION Digital closely observes a new way of people’s thinking about e-shopping. We understand the constant need for redefinition and choose to partner with companies that strive to upgrade online retail for the healthy future development of eCommerce.

eStar is a proven, only enterprise-level total eCommerce solutions platform that works directly with brands and businesses to deliver ongoing growth. eStar’s mission is: “Empower client success by redefining the retail experience”. Client portfolio includes companies like David Jones, Country Road Group, Briscoe Group, Air New Zealand, Bed Bath & Beyond, Stirling Sports and many more. 

To achieve outstanding outcomes eStar has a passion for working collaboratively with clients, thus, is a perfect partner: 

• For CEOs and owners who are concerned and frustrated by the lack of sales and online growth
• For Digital Executives and Marketing who are struggling with low conversion rates
• For Successful in the past retailers who are now experiencing anxiety due to stagnant and lacklustre results.

Article by

ASSELYA Sekerova –
MARKETING & PROJECT DIRECTOR

Although the forecast of global economic recession directly affects the consumer’s behaviour on the Australian market and the tendency to save money over the festive season is observable, half of a million (570k) households on top of October’s results shopped online in November, achieving a record of more than 6 million households overall. eCommerce purchases in Queensland grew with the biggest lead of 11.2% YoY, whereas online shopping decreased by an anti-record 6.4% YoY in the Australian Capital Territory. Purchases being down by 3.8% in the last 12 months compared to the previous year is quite expected, considering that in 2021 lockdown-driven spending took place. 

Preceding the Cyber Weekend period, Click Frenzy’s sales run between the 6th and 19th of November gave a splash of 20% online purchases increase in comparison with the previous two weeks and 4.2 million households that shopped online over this period. General clothing and Beauty were the top categories, with 36% and 35%, respectively.

Despite increased foot traffic back into retail stores, Black Friday and Cyber Monday online sales events were almost 7% higher than last year’s record Cyber Weekend period. To capture a larger share of wallets, in 2022, retailers started sales earlier, which explains an immediate increase that took place a few days before the official takeoff on November 25th. Overall, during Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2022 events, between the 20th of November and the 3rd of December: online purchases surpassed last year’s by 6.6% and increased by an additional 42% compared to the Click Frenzy period; 4.9 million households shopped online which is 700k more households than during the Click Frenzy period. The most popular categories during the Cyber sales were Athleisure, Sporting & Outdoor Goods and Fashion Accessories. 

Here we share with you data from Australia Post. The results summarise the data and give insights into Australian Online Shopping trends for November 2022.

The market’s competitiveness directly affects the intensity of Online Retailers’ search for additional ways to acquire new customers and upgrade the service for existing ones to retain them. In a softening economy, it’s sensible for businesses to shop around for the best deals – better efficiency and results for the same price.

As consumers become more advanced in their eCommerce habits, they are looking for goods and services in whatever digital channel they’ve grown accustomed to. Moreover, depending on different aspects, the same potential customer could use more than one channel during their journey towards the actual purchase. When several parties with different approaches and levels of transparency are involved, managing these eCommerce marketing channels can become challenging.

360-degree observation

Once a reliable eCommerce marketing agency that manages all channels is found, the business will be able to observe the complete picture of business indicators throughout all marketing activities. Moreover, having a full view allows more appropriate budgeting for the most effective channels while keeping the rest on the minimum necessary activity level.

This is different from when several, not synchronised agencies manage the channels, and the risk of evaluating the global results wrongly and retrieving doubtful strategic insights based on fragmented information is high.

Scalability, flexibility and timely results

Data is the lifeblood of any organisation. Without data, decisions are based on guesswork, not objective analysis. When you can’t see the full picture, data is scattered and hard to access.

When the full picture is observable and accessible in one place, it’s much easier to make changes and scale in whatever direction with less loss in terms of always-scarce resources like time, money and effort.

Accumulate data and avoid ineffective overlaps

In marketing, the rule of 7 is a guideline that states you need seven interactions with a brand before a prospect decides to buy. However, this doesn’t mean that you must strictly limit the number of interactions to this specific “magic” number in all channels.

Marketing practitioners will tell you it’s preferable where it’s technically attainable, but they also raise an important issue: resources and efforts are sometimes wasted to keep impacting through an inappropriate channel or with an unattractive message.

Exclude cannibalisation

For instance, if you’re working with a performance-based partnership with a CPL (cost-per-lead) model — where the uniqueness of the attracted clients and transactions are your most significant indicator — data accumulated from different resources in one place and analysed using a uniform approach allows for more targeted exposure to your audience and avoids ineffective expenditures.

One of the biggest challenges that agencies face is channel cannibalisation. When two or more different parties separately manage channels, the appearance of the situation when these parties compete to achieve their own KPIs and eventually dilute the benefits for business is probable. For instance, SEO and SEM channels are very interconnected. The crucial part of agency work here is to ensure that paid traffic growth will not negatively affect the organic traffic through the cannibalisation of keywords and instead fill the gaps and increase the value of both channels through the Blended Search Marketing approach.

Article by

ASSELYA Sekerova –
MARKETING & PROJECT DIRECTOR