In today’s e-commerce business landscape, there is no room for a lack of planning. Use the RACE Framework to create a focussed and well-structured digital marketing strategy to attract and retain high-value customers online as part of their ecommerce strategy.
What is an e-commerce marketing plan?
About formalizing how you intend to drive traffic to a website and convert it from prospective users to customers
- Plan, reach, act, convert, and engage
- The model divides the customer journey into clear phases, with appropriate marketing activities playing a different role in each stage
Focus on conversion (CONVERT)
What activities will persuade your audience to take that vital next step and turn into paying customers?
- Identify conversion funnels and paths to purchase
- Plan how you can personalize the digital experience within your current constraints and resources
- Establish a communication process between your marketing and development teams
Measuring the effectiveness of your e-commerce marketing plan
Set SMART objectives that align with your forecast commercial contribution from digital channels for each stage of the RACE framework
- Track and report on all KPIs
- Customized Google Analytics goals, segments, events and dimensions
- A conversion-based forecast model for media ROI
- Conversion rate for different types of leads or subscribers
- Attribution across all digital channels
- How to track returning customers, and their value
- Email subscriber engagement
- Customer satisfaction and loyalty drivers
Use the RACE Growth Process to win more customers
Rhian Harris is a copywriter and blogger helping businesses with content for their marketing collateral.
- IDM qualified, Rhian is an online marketing all-rounder with a passion for words. She is a regular expert commentator for Smart Insights.
Grow your audience (REACH)
Maximize reach using communications and planned campaigns to create multiple interactions using paid, owned and earned media touchpoints
- Define your key brand messages focusing on awareness, familiarity and purchase intent
- Embed campaign tracking and attribution to adequately review performance
- Perform keyword research to identify strengths and opportunities
- Identify the appropriate channels to promote the right content to the right people
- Set up media budget to reach the correct audience
What’s in an e-commerce marketing plan?
A SMART plan consists of 5 key areas that can be expanded on as appropriate for the business, stage or category
Prompt interactions, subscribers and leads (ACT)
The ACT stage in the e-commerce marketing plan is aimed at encouraging interactions that will result in lead generation
- Focus on creating interactions with content rather than conversion at this point in the funnel
- Plan the next year’s activities with appropriate budgets and KPIs specifically aimed at the middle of the funnel
Keep it going (ENGAGE)
Keep adding value to your brand experience to generate repeat purchases, build loyalty, and improve customer satisfaction
- Plan how you can use content to nurture the post-sale relationship
- Outline your intended onboarding process using e-commerce marketing techniques and online messaging
- Establish your multi-channel customer service process
e-commerce marketing plan covers
Plan: Create a digital marketing strategy, mission and objectives
- Reach: Grow your audience online, situational analysis and competitive landscape, target audience, budget and goals
- Act: Encourage brand interactions and leads, media and channels
- Convert: Increase online and offline sales through optimization
- Engage: Build customer loyalty and advocacy
Step 1: Assess current situation
What channels worked best? What was the growth rate? Where could your business have been better? What opportunities did you miss?
- Begin your plan by assessing the previous year’s performance
- Work out your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats using the SWOT/ TOWS frameworks
- Outline your e-commerce marketing goals and make sure you’ve set SMART objectives
