Summer is a great time for margaritas and digital marketing. By focusing on the digital platforms that people visit most frequently in the warm months, your ecommerce business should be marketing the summer vibe with sizzling deals and scorching offers. Sunny weather makes people happier in general, so ecommerce business owners, especially in the dropshipping domain, need to be on the ball when it comes to customer experience. If you are not up-to-date on the latest trends in customer experience, your competitors will be. 

With ecommerce margins already stretched thin for small to medium sized businesses, it is vital to capitalize on the latest tech and tools to win and retain customers. Especially during summer months, because customers spend less time looking at their devices as they do in the cold depths of winter. 

It’s necessary to put in some extra work to grab the already limited attention span of your audience. Once you have it, how do you convert the sale? This article details the main customer experience trends in ecommerce going into the summer of 2021. 

Create a Summer 2021 Strategy for Improved Customer Experience

The latest ecomerce trends for improved customer experience are the following:

• mobile optimization, 
• micro-influencers, 
• email marketing, and 
• voice search. 

The commonality found here are summer-savvy, ‘on-the-go’ styles of consuming information. From looking at a shopping app on the beach or checking email by the pool, your company should intelligently spend resources where people are looking. 

Strategy 1: Mobile optimization

When people are on holiday, camping, or out sunbathing beside a swimming pool (must be nice), the summer months tend to be downtime for PC usage, and uptime for mobile devices, smartphones, and tablets. 

Increased mobile usage also draws more people to social networks such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram, which creates added opportunity for ecommerce merchants to sell or advertise on those platforms and makes it easier to reach your target audience. Depending on the age demographic of your products or services, create optimized ads and campaigns to suit summer buying behaviors.

Also, don’t be afraid to churn some marketing budget on running promotional campaigns geared specifically for the summer months. You can run these in isolation or try some re-targeted ads to your email database subscribers. Hitting people with the same message on multiple platforms is a proven approach to generating more attention and conversions. 

Strategy 2: Utilizing the power of Micro-influencers

If you run a new company or are launching a new product, people usually require more convincing to buy, compared to a big brand or known entity. With ecommerce specifically, customers need to trust in what they’re buying to be convinced to open their wallets. The younger the potential customer, the more important it is to find a way to show them your product in all its glory.

Enter: Influencers. Showing people how things work is even more effective when the person doing the demonstration is someone they know.

Some surveys show that influencers or bloggers promoting your product can increase sales by upwards of 30%. This doesn’t mean you have to spend tens of thousands to enlist a d-list celebrity on Cameo. In fact, many survey respondents indicated that they respect and associate with micro-influencers more than celebrities that are just in it for the paycheck. 

Beyond their effectiveness, another advantage of micro-influencers is that they are a lot more cost-effective than traditional online advertising channels. Some influencers will even agree to be paid in different ways than just cash, like free or discounted product. 

Try negotiating with these influencers to give them product samples in return for promoting your products. Also, you could consider an ambassadorship, offering a percentage of sales instead of a flat fee agreement. 

Strategy 3: Email marketing 

Summer is not the time to overlook your hard-earned database of email subscribers. In fact, it’s the ideal time to catch people checking emails on the go, during an idle moment in an airport, ferry, or at their hotel. 

While social media may create a buzz of activity and noise, it doesn’t come anywhere near email marketing regarding conversion rates. Email marketing is one of the best-performing of all digital channels in terms of creating conversions. More than 65% of users polled indicated they had purchased the back of an email campaign. That rate is more than double that of the combined social media platforms. 

Email marketing is highly targeted since it enables you to send specific messages to people that have already expressed an interest in your products. Utilize a basic CRM and email marketing tool to track what your subscribers are interested in. You can update their preferences and send them only the most relevant products. 

Ensure your email marketing campaigns show a clear ‘call-to-action’ button at the end. Summer sales, discount codes, and personalized recommendations are particularly effective. You can also use email marketing to clear overstocked products or discontinued seasonal lines. 

Strategy 4: Turn up the volume on voice search.

Voice search accounts for around 50% of searches, by some reports. This varies by country, but there is no denying voice search is a growing trend. 

Virtual assistant devices are present in an increasing number of homes. This creates a new opportunity for ecommerce retailers: Voice search optimization. Voice search does not directly compare to search engines optimization (SEO) and must have specific content.

Ensure that your website, and especially your product listings, are optimized for voice search. Voice search responds more to search phrases than it does to traditional keywords, so you should customize searches based on answers to questions.

Wrap It Up

Successful ecommerce retailers need to be leaders in customer experience along the shoppers’ journey. Creating a smoother customer experience means making it easier for people to buy from you wherever possible.

Position your products where people will see them during the summer months, mainly mobile devices, smartphones, and social media. When you’ve piqued their interest, ensure that the buying or decision-making experience is a smooth one. From showing color options to tech specs, your potential customers should locate and see more information quickly.