How to attract customers to your e-commerce site or online shop

I started an EC site/online shop, but...

• I can't attract as many customers as I would like.
• I don't have anyone around me to talk to, so I don't know if my customer acquisition strategies are correct.
• I want to attract customers without spending money

Aren't there many people who have the same concerns?
This time, we will introduce some basic ways to attract customers to your own e-commerce site for those people.

This article is aimed primarily at those who have just started an e-commerce site or online shop and summarizes basic methods of attracting customers.

table of contents

List of typical customer attraction measures

Attracting customers through SEO
・Internal measures
・External measures

Attracting customers through online advertising
・Paid listings
Display advertising
Shopping ads
・Affiliate advertising
・SNS advertising

Attracting customers through social media

Attracting customers through PR

Summary: What are the first steps to take when you set up an EC site?

List of typical customer attraction measures

First, let's look at some of the most common customer acquisition strategies.

This time, we will introduce four main customer acquisition strategies (SEO / web advertising / SNS / PR).

Attracting customers through SEO

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a free customer attraction measure that can be implemented by the EC site operator themselves. It is a measure aimed at making the site appear higher in user search results.

This graph shows the market share of search engines in Japan.

Among search engines in Japan, Google, Yahoo!, and Bing account for 99% of the market share.
Of these, Yahoo! uses Google's search technology, and the combined market share of Google and Yahoo! exceeds 90%.
In other words, SEO in Japan can basically be thought of as optimization for Google searches .
There are two main types of SEO: internal and external.

Internal measures

Internal measures are literally SEO measures within the site. Internal measures are mainly implemented with the following three objectives:

Help Google understand your site structure

Markup

It is important to see how well the content of the page matches the user's search query (keywords). Specifically, it is important that keywords and related phrases are included in the page title, headings (h tags), image alt attributes, meta descriptions*, etc. Markup helps Google understand the content of the page.

*Meta descriptions themselves don't affect search rankings, but they do affect click-through rates by providing a clear explanation of the page.

Structured data

Providing structured data, such as JSON-LD, is also important as a way for Google to more accurately understand the content of your page.
Structured data does not directly affect search rankings, but it can improve click-through rates by enriching the content displayed in search results. Structured data is a bit technical, so please refer to this article we published in the past.

This information helps Google understand the content of the page and ranks the pages that are more useful to the user's search query.
Naturally, the higher you appear, the more customers you will attract*.

Encourage crawlers to visit (encourage indexing)

Google is constantly crawling the web, so your page may eventually be crawled and indexed. However, it is not clear when it will be indexed, and if it is not indexed, it will not appear in search results. Not appearing means that you will not be able to attract customers from searches.
There are three ways to encourage crawlers to visit your site:

Submit a sitemap

By sending sitemap.xml to Google, you can let the crawler know the hierarchical structure of your site and what pages are there. If the site is recognized, it will be easier for the crawler to navigate, so it may take less time to index your site.

Setting up internal links

By placing a link to another page on the site within a page, you can encourage crawlers to crawl the linked page when they visit that page. On e-commerce sites, you can place links to related products on product pages using the cart system's functionality, but you can also encourage crawlers to visit other pages by placing links to highly related pages on those pages.

Apply for indexing

You can apply for indexing by running a URL inspection from the Google Search Console. When you create a new page, run it together with submitting your sitemap. Even if the page is already registered, it's a good idea to apply for indexing when you update it.

Mobile Friendly

In recent years, with the spread of smartphones, the majority of web page accesses are from mobile devices. For this reason, since 2015, Google has begun to rank pages optimized for mobile devices higher in search results. Specifically, the page is judged based on ease of use for mobile users, including font size, content display width (responsive display), button size and placement, etc. You can also check whether a site is mobile-friendly from the Search Console.

content

In recent years, the quality of content has become important. When creating content on a page, make sure to create content that is useful to users.
A typical example of content on an EC site is owned media such as blogs. Articles related to specific products (such as recipe variations for food products) and articles introducing your company's know-how can be content that attracts customers in the long term. Although you cannot expect immediate sales, it is a good idea to actively disseminate information as a way to cultivate users (prospects) who may purchase from you in the future.

External measures

External measures in SEO are about acquiring "high-quality" external links. The key is "high quality." Obtaining links randomly from unrelated websites will not attract customers and will only result in penalties. For example, if you operate a company website or a product or brand website in addition to your EC site, you should place links to your EC site from relevant pages on those sites.
It is also possible to gain links from major media sites by using press releases, etc. You can also check the link acquisition status from Google Search Console.

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Attracting customers through online advertising

Web advertising is a way to attract customers that can increase access in a short-term and reliable manner if you spend the money. Consider which advertisement matches the current phase of your shop and then allocate your budget accordingly.

Pay-per-click advertising

Listing ads, also known as search-linked ads, are ads that appear at the top and bottom of search results. As mentioned above, Google and Yahoo! have over 90% of the market share in Japan, so you can think of them as ads that appear in Google and Yahoo! search results. As mentioned above, Yahoo! uses Google's search technology, but listing ads are provided as independent services called Google Ads and Yahoo! Ads, so if you have to choose one or the other, let's start with Google Ads, which has the largest market share.

When attracting customers through listing ads, a fee is charged for each click. The budget can be set on a daily basis, so even small amounts are possible. Since listing ads are placed for keywords, they are characterized by their ease of displaying to users who have a certain degree of purchasing intent. Since it is difficult to rank highly in search results immediately after the opening of an EC site, this is also an effective measure to help attract customers via search during this period.

For more information on listing ads and shopping ads, please see this blog post.

Display Advertising

Display ads are ads that can be delivered to a specific target audience and are displayed in ad space on specific websites or apps in combination with images or videos (or as text alone).

Like listing ads, these services are provided by both Google (GDN) and Yahoo! (YDA). GDN is displayed on sites that use Google AdSense as well as Google's partner companies, so it also applies to personal blogs. YDA is displayed mainly on websites operated by Yahoo! as well as on the sites of several partner companies.

Display advertising is effective when you want to increase awareness of a specific target. For example, if you want to raise awareness of a new lotion, you can narrow down the target age and gender and place the ad on a beauty-related website, so that the ad is delivered to people who are likely to be interested in lotions. Because you can narrow down the target, the chances of the ad being clicked are higher. This is a recommended method of attracting customers when you want to increase awareness of a product, service, or the e-commerce site itself.
It is also possible to use remarketing (retargeting as described by Yahoo!) lists to deliver ads to users who have already visited your e-commerce site.

One thing to note is that while display ads are suitable for attracting customers at the awareness-raising stage, they tend to have lower conversion rates than listing ads. This is because display ads increase clicks at the interest stage. Although they are suitable for raising awareness, you should consider allocating your budget according to the user demographic you want to attract.

Google Shopping Ads

Google Shopping Ads are ads that are placed on the top or right side of search results, at the top of Google's Shopping tab, as well as on the Display Network, YouTube, etc. To use them, you need to feed product information to Google Merchant Center.

There is no need for targeting, as there is with listing ads and display ads. Google will deliver ads in the most optimal way according to your budget, based on the product information fed from the e-commerce site.
Since detailed settings are not required, it is important that product information is comprehensive.

In addition, if you operate a physical store in addition to an e-commerce site, you can display the inventory at the physical store and distribute it to nearby users, attracting customers to the store.

Feeds are easy with Shopify

Currently, only Shopify and Woocommerce can automatically feed the shopping cart system to Google Merchant Center. For Shopify, you can connect by installing this app.

For more information on how to run Google Shopping ads on Shopify, please see this blog.

Free listings available

Although it is not an advertisement, by feeding product information to Google Merchant Center, there is a possibility that it will be displayed in the free ad space. Since it is a chance to attract customers without incurring any costs, it is a good idea to feed data to Google Merchant Center even if you do not have a budget for shopping ads.

Affiliate Advertising

Affiliate advertising is advertising where a product is posted on a media managed by a third party (affiliate) and the users of that media introduce the product. Since it is a performance-based advertising, no advertising fees are paid unless a purchase is made through the affiliate. The average fee is around 10% of the product price, but naturally the higher the commission amount, the more likely it is to be introduced.

Social Media Advertising

These are advertisements that appear on timelines on social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LINE.
According to an announcement by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, LINE had the highest usage rate of 90.3% of major SNS in Japan in fiscal year 2020, followed by Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
*The survey showed that YouTube was the second most used app after LINE, but since YouTube ads are part of the Google ads we have introduced so far, we will exclude them here.

LINE has an overwhelming number of users, which means more opportunities to attract customers.
Twitter has a high rate of dissemination due to its retweet function, so depending on the content of your ad, it can be very cost-effective.
Facebook requires real-name registration, so user information is accurate. It is suitable for detailed targeting.
Instagram is mainly a platform for posting photos, so it is possible to naturally lead viewers to click using product images, which is highly compatible with e-commerce sites. Also, like Facebook, detailed targeting is possible.
Tik Tok has seen a rapid increase in users over the past year or two. The number of users is particularly high among teenagers, and it is catching up with Twitter and Instagram.
After understanding the characteristics of each, consider which media would be best to advertise the products you are selling.

Attracting customers through social media

In the previous section, we mentioned SNS advertising as one of the ways to attract customers through web advertising, but SNS itself is of course free to use. Even if you can't increase your exposure using advertising due to budget constraints, you should still post regularly to the extent that you can.

The graph below shows the results of a survey on SNS usage trends published by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in fiscal year 2020, summarizing the purposes of use. It shows that more than 60% of SNS users use them for the purpose of gathering information.

Posting on social media not only allows you to promote your site or products to people who are looking to gather information, but also helps to build a brand image by posting consistently over a long period of time.

Another major feature is that it allows you to have direct contact with users, something that other customer acquisition measures do not offer. Although interacting with users on SNS in addition to the daily management of your EC site can be a hassle, you should actively use it to build relationships with your users.

Please check out this blog for information on how to connect Shopify to Facebook and Instagram.

Attracting customers through PR

PR strategies can be carried out by releasing information to the media using your own company's resources, or by distributing information using services such as PR Times or @Press .
The latter will cost several tens of thousands of yen per item (monthly plans are available), but we recommend using these services when you consider things like managing delivery destinations and measuring cost-effectiveness.

By releasing a release, you may be featured in various media. Not only will it help you raise awareness, but if it is featured in web media, you may also gain external links. This is something you should definitely do, especially right after opening your e-commerce site, when the number of external links is limited.
One thing to pay attention to is the timing of the release.
If the purpose is to sell in a brick-and-mortar store or feature in a magazine, it takes about two months from interview to publication in the paper, so the release may be made before that, but in the case of an EC site, it is desirable for the site and products to be viewable (or more precisely, available for purchase or reservation) immediately after publication. At the earliest, the press release will be posted on web media two or three hours after the release, and the designated EC site URL will be accessible, so prepare so that it can be opened before the release.

[Summary] What are the first customer attraction measures you should take when opening an EC site?

We have introduced various measures so far. You may be wondering where to start.
Finally, we will summarize the customer attraction measures that you should implement immediately after opening your e-commerce site.

Internal SEO measures & listing ads

As mentioned above, it will take some time before you can see the effects of your internal SEO measures and before your site appears at the top of search results.
Start doing this even before your e-commerce site opens, and work to get your site indexed as soon as possible.
During this time, it will be difficult to attract customers via search engines. In order to display your EC site in users' search results during this time, we recommend using listing ads in addition.

Create a social media account

Even if you can't start full-scale operation right away, you should at least create an account before opening. Like SEO, it is difficult to get results from SNS followers in the short term, so continuous efforts are required. Responding to contact from followers as much as possible and building relationships with users is also an important point for attracting customers to your EC site.

Announcements to close friends

It's something that's surprisingly easy to forget, but it's also important to announce it to those close to you.
Share the information about the new e-commerce site you have opened and encourage people to become early users (they don't necessarily have to make a purchase).
At that time, it would be even better if you could give us your feedback on the usability of the EC site, if possible.

Links from existing sites

If you operate a corporate or brand website in addition to your EC site, create links from highly relevant pages on those websites to your EC site. If the website is already attracting a certain amount of customers, you can expect to attract a certain amount of customers from that alone.