Obaid Arshad

How to Leverage Digital Marketing for E-commerce Success

Published on April 25, 2025

We are all aware that digital buying and selling is at its peak today. Around the world 2.64 billion people are making online purchases. This makes up 33% of the world’s population. So businesses that were not online are speedily moving towards online retailing to get maximum benefit. Approximately 9.8 million retailers worldwide are selling their products or services through digital media. The most surprising fact is that 30.7 million e-commerce websites are currently active globally. Therefore, for a brand specifically a new startup understanding the importance of digital marketing for e-commerce business is necessary. Without having an effective e-commerce marketing strategy in place attracting buyers is not possible. 

Digital marketing vs traditional marketing

The traditional way of advertising a product was through television, newspaper, or radio ads. That was effective but slow and its reach was limited. But in digital marketing, a product or services are promoted through an online platform e.g. social media, emails, or websites. Such promotion is more personalized and lets e-commerce businesses: 

  • Reach a global audience 
  • Increase brand awareness and boost sales 
  • Target specific customers through interactive ads. 

Track performance in real-time because data is collected which can be then analyzed easily to improve e-commerce marketing strategy. 

Digital Marketing fuels your e-commerce business

Talking about your product again and again through videos, images, or attractive content will help people learn about what you sell. This is what marketing is and marketing yourself digitally is more beneficial because it gives you: 

 

 

Wider reach and global audience 

Traditional marketing is limited to specific areas whereas digital marketing helps e-commerce businesses to touch the global audience. Through social media, SEO, and paid ads, businesses can connect with customers from different parts of the world without needing a physical presence. 

 

Cost-Effective Marketing 

Compared to traditional advertising (TV, radio, billboards), digital marketing is more affordable. As so many types of digital marketing are available e-commerce businesses in the beginning can pick the one that suits their budget and can gradually scale up seeing results. For example, they can start with e-mail marketing that has an ROI of $42 for every $1 spent. Moreover, a small start can be taken through marketing via Facebook, and Instagram then gradually began to boost posts to get more followers and increase reach.  

 

Better Targeting and Personalization 

The ability to target specific audiences is the most important benefit of digital marketing. Businesses can show ads to people based on their: 

  • Location,  
  • Interests,  
  • Search history, 
  • Past purchases. 

“Digital marketing lets merchants speak directly to the right people, at the right time, with the right message.” 

For example: 

  • A clothing store can target an audience that is conscious of the latest trends in fashion.  
  • A sports brand can target fitness enthusiasts. 

With AI tools, businesses can even suggest products that match a customer’s interests or past purchases, making it more likely they’ll buy. 91% of customers are more likely to shop with brands that provide relevant offers and recommendations

 

Higher Engagement and Brand Awareness 

Social media allows businesses to engage directly with customers through comments, messages, and live sessions. This builds trust and creates a loyal customer base. 79% of people say user-generated content influences their purchase decisions such as: 

  • Customer reviews,  
  • Testimonials,  
  • Social media posts  

 

Increased Sales and Conversions 

With digital marketing, businesses can track and optimize their campaigns in real-time e.g. if an ad is performing well, businesses can invest more money into it or if a campaign is not working, they can adjust their strategy immediately. 

 

24/7 Availability and Automation 

Unlike physical stores, e-commerce websites and digital marketing campaigns run 24/7 giving the benefit of increasing sales without a constant manual effort. Businesses can: 

  • Use chatbots to assist customers at any time. 
  • Automate email campaigns to send reminders and promotions. 
  • Run ads that work even when the business owner is asleep.

Grow smarter with essential digital marketing strategies

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 

SEO helps your online store appear on the first page of Google. 75% of users never ignore the search results that appear on the first page of Google. So, the major task for you is to get yourself on the first page because if your store isn’t there, you’re missing out on sales.  

How you can do it?  

Here are simple SEO Strategies: 

  • Find the right keywords by using free tools like Google Keyword Planner to see what customers are searching for. 
  • Use clear product titles, descriptions, and high-quality images to improve product pages. 
  • Slow website speed can annoy users, a 1-second delay in page load time can reduce conversions by 7%and your page will get 11% fewer views. So work on maximizing website loading speed.  
  • Get Backlinks because when other websites link to yours, Google sees your site as trustworthy. 
  • Post helpful content such as blog posts and FAQs to attract more visitors. 

 

Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC) 

PPC ads help businesses get instant traffic. Research shows that if you spend 1$ on Google Ads it will deliver an average ROI of $2. Apart from that Google ads and Facebook Ads can help you reach billions of users. Use this digital e-commerce marketing strategy in the following ways: 

  • Retarget visitors because 98% of visitors leave without buying, retargeting ads remind them to come back. 
  • Try different headlines and images to see what works best. 
  • Set a specific budget at the start and gradually increase spending on ads that perform well.

Social Media Marketing

According to Statista report 2025, 5.56 billion people are using the internet worldwide out of which 5.24 billion are social media users. From this the importance of digital marketing through media, platforms like Instagram and Facebook is evident. E-commerce businesses should have active status on social media platforms. Here is how you can utilize these platforms: 

  • Post consistently such as sharing daily updates about products, offers, and trends. 
  • Use influencers to promote your brand because they have a large number of followers and 49% of customers make a purchasing decision if an influencer recommends it.  
  • Encourage customer photos as People trust other shoppers, most of the people say UGC (user-generated content) influences their purchase decisions. 
  • Go Live, show behind-the-scenes, new arrivals, or answer customer questions 
  • Engage with customers by replying to their comments and messages. This will build trust and good customer relationships with the brand. 

Email Marketing

Email marketing is very cost-effective and highly recommended for startups who have limited budgets.  

What you can do is: 

  • Customers open emails with their names 26% more often so send them personalized emails. 
  • Automate Emails by setting up welcome emails, abandoned cart reminders, and thank-you messages. 
  • Encourage people to sign up for your newsletter with a special deal. Offer them exclusive discounts.  
  • Keep your words short, clear, and easy to understand. Also, make your emails visually appealing.

Content Marketing

Companies that regularly post blogs get 67% more leads than those who don’t. Quality content attracts more visitors and builds trust. 

Here are simple content ideas: 

  • Write guides to help customers understand how to use your products. 
  • Create short videos regarding your product or services because video gets 1200% more shares than text and images collectively do. 
  • Make infographics as these are easy to understand and share. 
  • Offer free E-books and give valuable tips in exchange for email sign-ups.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing means paying others to promote your products. Businesses using affiliate marketing generate 16% of all e-commerce sales

They do so by: 

  • Partnering with bloggers and YouTubers who introduce your products to their audience. 
  • Offer them a good commission, this will encourage them to work hard to promote your brand. 
  • Use tracking tools to see which affiliates bring in the most sales. 
  • Give affiliates banners, images, and sample content to use.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

CRO helps turn more visitors into customers. 

  • Use Clear Call-to-Action (CTA) Buttons, “Buy Now” or “Add to Cart” should stand out. 
  • 17% of users abandon carts because checkout is too complicated, make this process easy. 
  • Encourage customers to leave reviews on your page because 72% of shoppers give equal importance to reviews for making purchasing decisions as they give it to personal recommendations. 
  • Use exit popups offering a discount before a visitor leaves the site.

Influencer Marketing

For every 1$ brand spent on influencer marketing return them $5.78 approximately. Social media influencers can help promote your products effectively. Be careful about the following: 

  • Pick the right influencers with 10K–50K followers often have higher engagement. 
  • Give them freedom so influencers can use creative ideas to present your brand in their style. 
  • Use discount codes and affiliate links to measure sales. 
  • Build Long-Term Relationships: Partnering with influencers for multiple campaigns builds trust.

Few tricks to do it better

  • Incorporate AI-powered tools because they make online shopping easier. Customers expect 24/7 services, for which chatbots provide instant support. Moreover, AI makes personalized product recommendations by suggesting items based on customers’ browsing history. It helps adjust product prices according to market demand and competition. Also, it provides voice search optimization, which most people find easy to use for searching products while shopping online.  
  • Focus on customer retention strategies because it’s 5X cheaper to retain customers than to acquire new ones. Happy customers bring repeat sales. 
  • Offer them loyalty rewards in the form of points for every purchase that can be redeemed later. 
  • Give quick responses to customer queries as it makes them happy.
  • Follow up after purchase by sending thank-you emails and request reviews. 
  • Run retargeting campaigns to bring back lost visitors by showing them ads tailored to their interests. 

In the nutshell

Any e-commerce business can increase sales, grow faster, and stay ahead of the competition with a good e-commerce marketing strategy. Start now and see the difference digital marketing can make. 

You need to plan and execute it carefully by:

  1. Defining your goals 
  1. Understanding your target audience 
  2. Choosing the right digital marketing channels 
  3. Creating high-quality content 
  4. Setting a budget 
  5. Implementing and monitoring your strategy 
  6. Optimizing and improving continuously 

By following these steps, you can create a digital marketing strategy that drives traffic, boosts sales, and strengthens your brand presence online.

 

Obaid Arshad

Obaid Arshad

CEO & Co-Founder

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