According to Business News Daily, quality website traffic and visitor conversion are some of the top challenges of ecommerce businesses. The global conversion rate remains less than 3%. Therefore, achieving visibility from purchase-driven consumers is an uphill journey. 

To solve this problem,  you need ecommerce marketing channels that are best suited to attract the right customers at the right time. 

But there are already countless marketing channels. Does that mean you have to surf through each of them to find the right fit? 

Absolutely not! We have already tried out the best options available to create a list of the top ecommerce marketing channels you can readily leverage. 

Let’s dive in. 

What are ecommerce marketing channels? 

Ecommerce marketing channels are tools or platforms that can help you promote your brand and communicate with your target audience. 

These channels could be social media, email marketing, SMS marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and pay-per-click advertising, among others. Through these, you can share content and nurture potential customers at various stages of their journey.

Needless to say, each channel comes with its distinct edge and respective potential to enhance visibility, drive traffic, and boost sales. For example, SMS is one of the best channels to send time-sensitive messages to your customers, whereas SEO builds online credibility over time. 

Now consider this: if you use a tool that offers access to various high-volume marketing channels, along with its extensive messaging network, it could be a valuable asset for your company. 

Could this be the missing piece for your business? We'll uncover the answer soon.

Before moving forward, let's examine some of the most impactful ecommerce marketing channels and tools that yield tangible results.

Top ecommerce marketing channels

SMS marketing

52% of customers have purchased a product from a brand after being influenced by their text messages. Because of text messages’ almost 100% open rate, SMS marketing is perfect for delivering time-sensitive alerts like sales offers, flash sales, and urgent updates to nudge people to purchase. 

Here’s how you can leverage SMS as an ecommerce marketing channel:

• Take consent: Use opt-in forms, keyword campaigns (e.g., texting a specific word to a number), or checkboxes during the checkout process to gain consent of your customers.

• Identify your brand: Each message must include your brand name at the beginning so recipients immediately recognize who the message is from.

• Add clear CTAs: Add CTAs, such as “Shop now” or “Get 20% off today,” to direct customers toward specific actions. These CTAs help you drive traffic to your website and encourage purchases.

• Personalized messaging: Send highly-tailored messages to engage customers. For example, share special offers on their birthdays and anniversaries to build personal connections. Additionally, you can segment customers using SMS marketing tools and then trigger specific messages based on key events.

• Comply with regulations: Customers have control over their SMS subscriptions. To ensure compliance with privacy laws and regulations such as TCPA, CAN-SPAM, and GDPR, include opt-in and opt-out options, avoid misleading content and identify your brand in all messages.

Here’s a perfect example of a brand SMS by Lashify. It’s short, conversational, and includes a CTA and an option to unsubscribe. 

Now that we've seen an example of an effective brand SMS, let's explore a tool that can help businesses create and manage such messaging campaigns at scale.

Plivo CX is a web-based omnichannel marketing engagement platform suited for midmarket and ecommerce companies. It provides a single platform to manage all SMS marketing activities. You can deploy an SMS marketing campaign in four simple steps: 

1. Select your audience
2. Schedule SMS
3. Create messages with AI assistance
4. Track performance with analytics

Besides offering an AI copywriter so that you can craft engaging messaging on the go, the Plivo CX platform comes packed with audience management features so you can segment your customers based on their buying habits. Following this, you can quickly share personalized messages to each segment. 

You also get access to Journeys, which lets you capture events from your storefront to trigger personalized messages for customers at the most relevant times. 
Also, Plivo’s premium carrier network comes with global coverage that lets you deliver messages globally with high reliability.

WhatsApp marketing 

With over 3 billion active users worldwide, WhatsApp is the world's most popular messaging app—and it's likely your customers are already using it. This platform is ideal for building direct relationships, delivering timely updates, and promoting your products or services to your target audience.

Here’s how you can use WhatsApp as an ecommerce marketing channel:

• Obtain customer consent: Customer consent is important when sharing messages on WhatsApp. Use opt-in forms on your website, social media, or during the checkout page to seek permission.
• Create a business profile: Set up a WhatsApp Business account to access features tailored for businesses. Customize your profile with your logo, business description, contact information, and website link to establish credibility.
• Personalized messaging: Use customer data to address them by name and tailor messages based on their purchase history and preferences. You can also share personalized greetings on special occasions.
• Broadcast lists and groups: Utilize broadcast lists to send messages to multiple contacts at once. You can create groups to engage customers in discussions and receive support.
• Use quick replies and automated messages: Set up quick replies for common questions and automated messages for welcome greetings or out-of-office notifications. 

You can get started with WhatsApp marketing with Plivo CX. It lets you segment your audience, schedule WhatsApp messages, craft compelling copy with AI, and monitor your campaign’s performance—all in one platform. 

This way, you can stay top-of-mind with your customers and reach them through their most-used channels.

Email marketing

The 2023 Square Future of Commerce report found that 60% of consumers listed email as their preferred method. 

Compared to SMS, emails allow for more comprehensive communication. You can add infographics, images and videos to creatively educate your customers and solve their problems. 

Here’s how you can use email as an ecommerce marketing channel:

• Build a quality email list: Use sign-up forms on your website, pop-ups, and social media campaigns to encourage visitors to subscribe. Offer incentives like discounts or free resources to entice people to join your list.

• Segment your audience: Divide your email list into segments based on demographics, purchase history, and engagement levels to send more targeted messages to each group.
  ‍
  For this, Plivo CX comes with a powerful code-free segment builder that lets you segment your contacts with as many rules as you’d like.
  

• Create compelling subject lines: 47% of recipients open emails based on subject lines alone. Your subject line is the first thing recipients see, so make it catchy and intriguing. Use action words and personalization to increase open rates. For example, "Exclusive 20% Off Just for You, [Name]!"

• Share personalized content: Include the recipient’s name and tailor content to their preferences and past purchase behaviors. You can also use dynamic content, such as triggering an abandoned cart email whenever someone leaves a product in the cart or greeting them with special offers on their birthdays and anniversaries.

• Design for Mobile: Ensure your emails are mobile-friendly, as a significant portion of users check their emails on smartphones. Use responsive design, concise text, and large, tappable buttons to enhance the mobile experience.

• Automate Your Campaigns: Use email marketing tools to automate your campaigns. Set up welcome series, abandoned cart reminders, and post-purchase follow-ups to keep customers engaged without manual effort. 

Here’s a perfect example of a brand email:

You can kickstart your email campaigns with Plivo CX by segmenting customers and building automated workflow sequences for welcome emails, abandoned cart emails, re-engagement emails and much more. Also, the  AI writing assistant can help you here as well, as you can write and develop personalized emails within the platform.

Retargeting

98% of first-time visitors leave your website without making a purchase. 

Retargeting is perfect for bringing back these potential customers. You remind them of the products they've shown interest in. 

Here’s how you can use retargeting as an ecommerce marketing channel:

• Set up retargeting pixels: Install retargeting pixels (small snippets of code) on your website to track visitors. These pixels help collect data on visitors’ behaviors, which you can use to create targeted ads later.

• Segment your audience: Create visitor segments based on their behavior, such as pages viewed, items added to the cart, or time spent on the site. With these segments, you deliver highly relevant ads to different groups of potential customers.

• Create engaging dynamic ads: Design ads that feature the products or categories your website visitors viewed. Use eye-catching images, compelling copy, and strong CTAs like "complete your purchase" or "your cart misses you" to encourage clicks.

• Frequency capping: To avoid overwhelming potential customers, set frequency caps on your ads. These caps let you limit the number of times an ad is shown to the same person to prevent ad fatigue.

• A/B testing: Use the insights from Meta or Google to test different ad creatives, copy, and CTAs for click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and return on ad spend (ROAS) to determine what resonates best with your target audience.

Influencer and affiliate marketing

As per a Statista survey, 32% of marketers say that influencer marketing results in increased engagement, while 19% say that it results in increase in social media traffic. Influencer or affiliate marketing is perfect for leveraging word of mouth to expand your reach and drive sales.

Here’s how you can use influencer and affiliate marketing as ecommerce marketing channels:

• Identify relevant influencers: Look for influencers whose audience and values align with your target market. You can use tools like BuzzSumo or Social Blade to find influencers based on engagement, reach, and relevance to your brand. 
• Create mutually beneficial partnerships: Offer influencers incentives such as free products, commission on sales, or flat fees for promoting your products. You can also offer tiered commissions, which reward top-performing affiliates with higher percentage commissions.
• Set clear objectives and guidelines: Communicate your goals such as increasing brand awareness or driving sales. Also, provide influencers with creative briefs along with banners, product images, and pre-written copy to ensure consistency. 
• Track performance: Use unique discount codes or affiliate links to track the performance of each influencer. You can track metrics like engagement rates, CTR, and conversions to evaluate effectiveness.

Here’s a perfect example of a successful influencer collaboration by Glossier. This reel shared by Emily Weiss on her Instagram, in collaboration with Glossier, has 468k views and 4686 likes. 

Source: Instagram

Google ads

As per Databox’s recent survey, most businesses get 3.1-6% ROI from Google Ads. Google Ads are perfect for reaching your potential customers right at the moment they are searching for products or services like yours. 

Here’s how you can use Google Ads as an ecommerce marketing channel:

• Conduct keyword research: Use tools like Google Keyword Planner to identify relevant keywords for which your target audience is searching. Focus on a mix of broad, exact, and long-tail keywords to capture various search intents.

• Create compelling ad copy: Write clear, concise, and compelling ad copy that highlights your unique selling propositions (USPs). Include your keywords in the ad copy and use strong CTAs to increase conversions.
• Use ad extensions: Ad extensions let you add contact details, site links, CTAs, and more to increase their visibility and CTR. For instance, you can link to specific product pages or highlight special offers to increase conversions.
• Leverage shopping ads: Use shopping ads to display product images, prices, and merchant names directly in the search results so users can find and shop your products right when they search for them on Google. 
• Set up conversion tracking: Track key actions such as purchases, sign-ups, and other valuable interactions to understand what’s driving results and where to optimize.

Here’s an example of Google ads for a “night cream:”

Social media ads

A US-based social media buyer spends $779 on average. This amount is projected to reach $937 in 2025. It's clear that consumers are increasingly purchasing directly through social media channels. This makes it an opportune time to invest in social media advertising. 

Here's how to get started:

• Choose the right platforms: Identify which social media platforms your target audience uses most. Each platform has unique ad formats and targeting capabilities. 

For example, here’s a dataset showing the percentage of US adults on different social media platforms: 

Source: pewresearch

• Define your campaign goals: Establish clear objectives for your social media ad campaigns, such as increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, generating leads, or boosting sales. Your goals will guide your ad strategy and copy.

• Leverage targeting options: Utilize the advanced targeting features of social media platforms, such as demographic targeting, interest targeting, behavior targeting, and custom audiences. 

As a case in point, you can use demographic targeting to reach women aged 25-34 in urban areas, interest targeting to connect with users who are passionate about fitness and wellness, behavior targeting to focus on individuals who frequently purchase health supplements online, and create custom audiences by uploading your email list to target existing customers with special promotions. 

• Experiment with ad formats: Take advantage of various ad formats such as carousel ads, video ads, story ads, and collection ads to keep your audience engaged. Different formats can help showcase your products in unique and interactive ways.

• Monitor and optimize performance with A/B testing: Track metrics such as CTR, conversion rates, and ROAS. You can also A/B test different ad elements, such as visuals, copy, CTAs, and targeting options, to find the best-performing ads and maximize your ROI.

Here’s an example of a social media ad from Instagram:

SEO

68.7% of all clicks on Google go to the top three ranking pages. That’s why optimizing your ecommerce website for SEO is super important. It’s perfect for increasing your website’s visibility in search engine results and driving organic traffic.

Here’s how you can use SEO as an ecommerce marketing channel:

• Conduct keyword research: Use tools like Google Keyword Planner to identify relevant keywords that your target audience is searching for. Focus on a mix of high-volume, low-competition, and long-tail keywords to capture various search intents.

• Optimize on-page elements: On-page elements include title tags, meta descriptions, headers, and URL structures. Make sure each page has a unique and descriptive title tag and meta description, and optimize them for relevant keywords. 

• Enhance user experience (UX): Optimize site speed, ensure mobile responsiveness, and create a clear and intuitive site structure to improve user experience and reduce bounce rates.

• Build quality backlinks: High-quality backlinks from reputable websites improve your site’s authority and search engine ranking. You can reach out to industry influencers, guest blog on relevant sites, and create shareable content to earn backlinks.

• Utilize internal linking: You can link to relevant pages and posts within your site to help search engines understand your site’s structure and content hierarchy.

• Implement technical SEO: Address technical aspects such as XML sitemaps, robots.txt files, and schema markup and fix any broken links or errors that may impact your rankings.

• Leverage local SEO: To rank for local searches, claim your Google My Business listing, include local keywords, and encourage your customers to share reviews on Google to boost your local SEO efforts.

Here’s an example of top-ranking blogs for the keyword “wall decor:”

How do you choose the best ecommerce marketing channels?

1.Understand your target audience

Figure out where your target audience spends their time online. Use tools like Google Analytics and social media insights to gather demographic data and create detailed customer personas.

2.Analyze the channel costs and fees

Each channel has its costs associated with ads and content. Consider how much you can spend on ads, subscriptions, and other transactions. 

3.Assess marketing and reach

Evaluate the potential reach of each channel to attract and engage your target audience. For broad reach, consider Facebook Ads, which offer extensive targeting options and a large user base.

4.Consider integration and management tools

Check if the marketing channels can integrate with your existing ecommerce platform and tools for easier management. For example, Plivo CX lets you sync data from Shopify to kickstart SMS, email and WhatsApp marketing. 

5.Analyze competitor strategies

See where your competitors are marketing and how successful they are on those channels. You can use tools like SEMrush to analyze competitors' ad campaigns and see which channels they are most active on.

Run omnichannel ecommerce marketing campaigns with Plivo CX

Each marketing channel mentioned above has a positive ROI, but using them separately is time-consuming and impractical. So, you need a single platform to automate marketing for at least 2-3 channels so you can focus on content strategy and results. 

Plivo CX holistically automates end-to-end marketing so you can sit back and enjoy results. As a true omnichannel ecommerce marketing platform, it supports diverse channels such as WhatsApp, SMS, and email marketing. It also comes with features like:

• Audiences: To segment customers based on several rules
• Journey: To identify events and trigger marketing messages to automatically send to the right customer at the right time
• Copywriter AI: To write compelling copy that captivates your customers’ attention 
• Campaigns: To launch, manage and monitor marketing campaigns

‍Try Plivo CX and kickstart multiple marketing campaigns together today!