TheMarketingblog

Influencers and E-commerce: a power duo that brings brand success

Digital marketing is about employing digital channels to reach current and prospective buyers, with social media and search engines being among the most powerful. It all boils down to meeting your targeted consumer halfway, where they spend most of their time. And that is online. With the average online expenditure per purchaser per visit reaching $2.95 this year, it’s crystal clear that your business is not given any other option than to pop on users’ displays. Only five years ago, Retail TouchPoints found that 76% of buyers who saw a product on a brand’s social media bought it, so imagining the zenith that the conversion potential has reached today can be dizzying. 

It’s not in vain that Bain and McKinsey estimate the online route will be the main avenue for luxury shopping, possibly reaching 50% by the end of the decade. Experts want aspiring entrepreneurs and business managers to accommodate this thought, and why not, jump to action as soon as possible. If feasible, consider finding a compatible nano- or micro-influencer after discovering the unique contributions they can make beyond what your marketing team offers.

Close up portrait of young woman holding smartphone in both hands sitting on street with mobile

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Boosting customer trust 

Fortunately, you don’t have to break the bank to afford an influencer’s work, for those with fewer followers and promotions on their resume tend to look more trustworthy and sincere. It makes the whole sense in the world. Imagine Kim Kardashian promoting a hairspray with flawless-looking locks and then think of a 10K-follower influencer exhibiting the same product with similarly good-looking hair. Who do you think has more chance of having actually used the shown endorsed product?

Knowing how to gain your customers’ trust is just as essential as managing to keep it intact – or even grow it. Customers ask for a few things on which they’ll never compromise, and the extent to which a product or service meets their needs and the fostered expectations ranks among the most important ones. Trust isn’t gained the moment a click turns into conversion. If you thought so, it’s time to reconsider this. According to experts from https://gomonta.com/en-gb/, how the product is secured, packed, wrapped, and delivered, as well as how their arrival is notified and the length of the journey from the factory to warehouse to doorstep, is game-changing. Nail these, and you’ll be on top of your delivery game.

The types of influencers are categorized as follows: 

  • Nano-influencers have between 1K and 5K influencers
  • Micro-influencers have between 5K and 20K followers
  • Mid-tier influencers have between 20K and 100K followers
  • Macro-influencers have between 100K and 1MN followers 
  • Mega-influencers have over 1MN followers.

Choosing the platform(s) that work for your specific expectations

For many, influencing prospective buyers’ decisions about what and how much to purchase has turned from a side hustle into a billion-dollar gig. According to Oberlo, almost 50% of influencers worldwide grossed between $50K and $500K last year. The average sum influencers accept to carry out their work revolves around $100 per 10K followers, but the factors contributing to such an equation vary greatly. For instance, you may need to spend $500 for an Instagram post made by an influencer. TikTok influencers may be willing to take payment as low as $5 for every 1K followers, but when it comes to YouTube, they may charge four times more for the same follower number. 

Julia Allison is considered by many the first social media influencer to date, having started her blog in 2005 and coming to rise to popularity during a time when this activity’s name wasn’t in the books. Now, influencer marketing is a thing and there’s a budget developed explicitly for this promotion in over 75% of brands. The factors impacting how much you’d spend on such activity vary widely, mainly regarding the influencer’s number of followers, the brands they’ve collaborated with, the connection between the influencer’s interest in your brand’s products, and so on. As puzzling as it may seem, even the tone used to convey a message or sensation impacts the amount they’ll charge for their activity. 

Inducing the desire to purchase 

Influencers’ magic works by convincing their content consumers about the excellence and necessity of a product or service. As they mainly interact with viewers online, they have all the means to create and convey the message they want in a persuading, forceful way. As thought leaders, they bond with consumers mentally and emotionally, following to support their fans through the product-choosing journey. From media to message to tone and source, they tackle all the elements that can put into words, sounds, and imagine the message that needs to be sent.

Your marketing efforts become more efficient and rewarding with an influencer by your side since they’re slowly turning from an optional tool to a highly desirable one that revolutionizes a brand’s existence. Such collaborations will free up time that you can use to improve other business areas; preferably, you’ll review the collaborators you work with presently. 

If anyone has learned a thing from entrepreneurship, it is that partners make or break the venture, which extends to some areas more than others. For instance, your product may work perfectly and meet consumers’ needs, but your retention rates are guaranteed to suffer if the order takes forever to arrive at their doorstep. Suppose you use fulfilment services that ensure your customers receive their orders intact and in the shortest time possible or expedite the order receiving, product packing, and order returning processes. Then, you’ll have satisfied your customers in a way that lingers. 

Reaching the intended audience 

You’d probably want to avoid reaching audiences that have no business with the services and products you offer, all the more if you care about your marketing budget. Such ambitions can be highly expensive if you aren’t trying to go viral and disregard the words users spread about your business. Partnering with an influencer can provide a shortcut to reaching the right audience that may actually desire your offerings. For instance, a well-developed strategic campaign can bring about numerous advantages, like more leads, increased buy conversions, enhanced customer trust, improved brand image, and so on.

Influencers have the ear of niche markets given that their success relies on the number of followers boasted and how many trust their reviews, thus bringing them closer to the customers you’re designing your offerings for. Teaming up with such seasoned individuals can become the ace up your sleeve in an overcrowded market, helping you tap into a highly-targeted group willing to discover what you put out. This is all the more pertinent in the impulse-shopping era, where around 84% of consumers get products on a whim without having considered such an undertaking before submitting the order.  

Influencing marketing has rapidly turned from a nice feat to a priority. What’s your take on this, and what would your dream partnership with an influencer be like?