Easy Personalisation to Increase Conversions

To start off, Alex and Chester from Wave Commerce shared how online stores can easily unlock personalization to improve sales. Since more than 50% of shoppers are likely to buy from retailers who remembered their purchase histories, recognized them by name, provided relevant information, and recommend options based on past purchases Wave Commerce recommended the following tactics for merchants to easily implement for their store with little risk:

1. Segmenting online shoppers for site interactions (such as offers for new vs returning visitors)
   
2. Add product recommendations, which Shopify found achieved an average 7.9% recommendation conversion rate
   
3. Build personalization into offsite customer engagement and CRM with welcome e-mails or VIP rewards
   
4. Extend personalization to Facebook dynamic product ads and cross-sell new customers or up-sell return customers
   

Catering to a Mobile-First Economy

Source: Moz (2017)

The mobile interface landscape has evolved rapidly, with deep implications for merchants considering marketing channels to reach new customers. In 2017, organic mobile searches lost 55% of click share. Part of the reason is because Google’s Product Listing (PLAs) reportedly took up 60% mobile clicks, eating into traditional Google text ads.

Alex demonstrated how Google ads and visual listings have taken increasing screen space on mobile over the years. In addition, Alex also shared how merchants can assess whether PLA performance differs from traditional search ads. PLAs have different features, such as images displayed at the top of search results and not allowing competitors to bid for your brand term. For online businesses in Hong Kong, choosing descriptive product names and product information becomes key to a successful ad.

Follow the User Shifts on Social Media

Finally, Alex shared how brands are looking ahead for new social media engagement channels. Though Hong Kong consumers are heavy Facebook users, Instagram is estimated to reach 1 billion users. With the introduction of Instagram stories, brands have a unique mobile-first opportunity to engage interested audiences through quick uploads such as behind the scenes updates, quizzes and interactions, and before/after product shares, and quick “how to” tips.

The Wave Commerce team emphasized the importance of thinking about customer engagement throughout the conversion funnel from awareness, to consideration, purchase, and loyalty.

Changing policy as part of marketing to attract more sales

Andre Poon from EasyShip, an all-in-one shipping platform with 100+ solutions for ecommerce merchants, shared how Hong Kong brands can offer great customer experiences for delivery that retain and attract new customers.

Andre noted that cross-border commerce has been outpacing domestic growth with: 17% compound annual growth rate in Asia. Yet, currently only 21% Asian brands sell internationally because cross-border delivery is often seen as a complicated, costly process. Andre addressed this concern by identifying shared global shoppers demands: fast delivery, free shipping, real-time tracking and a choice of couriers.

Offering dynamic shipping solutions to customize for shopper priorities

Source: Easyship

Andre shared that customers in different countries make purchases based on different preferences and priorities, such as product, quality of customer service, offering free or fast delivery, availability of peer ratings and reviews, and sales and promotions. The key for merchants is to provide choice to meet each market’s and shopper’s needs.

Andre then shared that 60% of ecommerce companies cite “free shipping with conditions” as their most successful marketing tool, according to RJ Metrics. He provided examples such as merchants finding a free shipping threshold with a minimum order amount, which encourages higher sales and can help convert customers. He also recommended that merchants can offer a customer the best value for shipping options (such as cheapest or fastest) rather than what is most convenient for the business. Finally, he also demonstrated how mentioning shipping options can be used to attract clicks when placing a search ad or choosing an SEO title.asia ecommerce trends 2018 digital marketing

In 2018, mobile transactions comprised US$ 1.8 trillion (63.5%) of ecommerce sales, with only upward growth projections. While the rising cross-border ecommerce trend in Asia is good news for merchants in Hong Kong, brands also need to keep updated on the latest interface changes on large marketing channels like Google, Facebook, and Instagram to allocate resources into effective engagement channels. Finally, small businesses and establish brands are in a better position than ever to build brand loyalty by offering memorable customer experiences from personalized welcome messages to courier options that cater to each unique shopper’s needs.

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