Launching a Fitness eCommerce store is just not enough to achieve sales. You need a perfect eCommerce marketing strategy.
Why do I need an Ecommerce marketing strategy?
Most Fitness eCommerce stores don’t bother about promoting, they think people will find their store automatically but they’re wrong.
Marketing is the only way through which you can take your Health & Fitness eCommerce store to people and increase your sales.
And if you’re looking for a Fitness eCommerce marketing plan, don’t worry, we’ve got it covered.
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Health and Fitness Ecommerce
Health and Fitness eCommerce stores have been on a steep rise since the beginning of the decade.
The popularity of health supplements, sportswear, and sports gear have surged in this eCommerce era.
When the popularity increases, the demand increases. That is why it is necessary to follow the best eCommerce marketing strategies to take your store beyond the skies.
Tips to promote your Health and Fitness eCommerce store
Stay in tune with the trends
The first thing you have to do is decide where your store should be in this current fitness demographic. Will you create something new and iconic or you’re going to play it safe by tuning it with current trends.
Why is this decision important?
It is important because if you want to strategize a perfect fitness eCommerce marketing plan then you must know what your store is going to do.
If you’re creating a new fashion then you need a far more advanced Fitness eCommerce marketing strategy.
If you’re staying with the trend then you must follow what the popular fitness eCommerce stores are practicing.
To achieve stability and the instant success it is recommended to propel your store in parallel to the trends.
Alright, is there any downside while staying with the trend?
Yes, there is a downside, Price. Price is the major factor that you’ve to compete with when you follow the same trend.
For example – Take a look at the above image, it is a product page from the Attitude sports store, you can clearly see the pricing and the trend.
This product page is from Nike, notice the difference between these two stores? Nike products are low priced compared to the former store.
Now, this becomes an easy choice for customers, they’ll choose a brand that has the lowest prices.
This is what you’ve to face when your store follows the current trend, you’ve to compete with the price of other stores. So, make sure you use a dynamic pricing plugin to boost your sales at a max profit.
Research your target audience for better sales
Now that you’ve decided the path of your fitness store, it’s time to research your audience so you can target your fitness eCommerce marketing campaign.
You can find out information about your customers, which you didn’t know before, by studying your audience.
Is it really necessary to research my audience?
Audience research is not just studying what your customer’s interests are rather it is the initial step of building buyer personas. It is much needed for your fitness eCommerce marketing campaign so yes audience research is necessary.
This audience research should cover all possible aspects like customer interests, demographics, customer pleasure and pain points so that you can create the best buyer personas and personalize your content.
What should I do once I’ve collected these informations?
Now you should segment your audience based on demographics and more. This will help you target your customers better in your fitness eCommerce marketing campaign.
Nowadays stores have started following a new improvised method, letting the customers choose the best for them directly from the store.
Nike is the best example for product customization, customers can design their own design and Nike will custom make it for them.
This is also a type of audience research in which you can find out the demographics, lifestyle and preference of a particular customer. It can help you build more personalized buyer personas for customers.
Make use of your emails
Once you’ve done your research, it is time to connect with the customers and emails are the best possible way to nurture a relationship.
The best fitness eCommerce marketing strategy is to stay in touch with the customers and educate them about health and fitness through newsletters.
Emails are cost-effective and an efficient medium of communication with the highest ROI.
It can be used as an effective fitness eCommerce marketing tool and promote your store to achieve better conversions.
Start with an welcome email and motivate them to become a member to earn exclusive rewards and product updates.
Emails are not just a relationship developer, they can also help you recover your sales.
How can emails help recover my sales?
Well, the major problem that most fitness eCommerce stores face is Cart abandonment. Emails can help you recover your lost cart and convert them into sales.
Retainful is one of the best Cart recovery plugins with hundreds of templates and customization options. It is an automated plugin so you can concentrate on your business.
You can create your Cart recovery campaign within minutes and start recovering your carts.
Abandoned cart emails are great marketing tools because it shows how much you care for the customer which in turn increases your customer loyalty and simultaneously boosts WOM marketing.
Use images & videos for a better appeal
When it comes to sports and fashion stores images are the prime component for persuasion.
Customers decide whether to purchase a product from your store based on the quality of the images and videos you’ve included for the product.
The focus should be put on the specifics of your product itself, however, to inspire potential consumers you should use images that your sports or fitness product is meant to endorse.
Why is it so important?
Speaking from a generic perspective, you see, eCommerce stores don’t have a sales executive like the physical stores.
That’s why images are needed to entice customers into purchasing.
You can use images in two ways, the above image is the first way, it emphasizes on the product alone. It has the different sizes, different colors and different angles of a specific product.
The second type is the Live image, you can use images of persons wearing your product for better persuasion. This will give customers an idea of what a product will look like on them.
Under Armour takes it up a notch by featuring their product worn by celebrities, in that way you can increase your conversion rates.
You can see Dwayne Johnson wearing the Under Armour products, it is easy to market your product if you’re ready to invest.
Here are some benefits of using images in your store,
- HD images persuade customers, increases sales.
- It gives you the best first impression with HD images.
- Customers will be encouraged to share it socially.
- Boosts up our brand value and helps you maintain consistency.
- It makes your store unique amongst your competitors.
Engage with Fitness/Sports influencers
There are influencers present for almost every category and fitness/Sports influencers are dime a dozen.
These influencers would have already established credibility in Social media. There will millions of followers that look up to them as inspiration.
What is the need for Fitness influencers?
Imagine you have this profound inspiration on someone, won’t you be ready to do anything that they tell you to.
That’s what Fitness influencers do, they motivate people and their followers will accept anything they endorse, in this case, your product.
The best fitness marketing strategy is hiring a fitness influencer to endorse your product, this will organically expose your products or store to millions of people.
Since these influencers have credibility, your conversion rates will increase.
Under Armour and Dwayne Johnson, this one of the best examples of product endorsements in recent years.
Johnson is the brand ambassador of Under Armour. He has created the ‘Project Rock’ line of fitness accessories with Under Armour. This is the kind of plan you need if you’re aiming for the skies.
Even though this is costly but the exposure it can give for your products, you can skyrocket your sales through influencer marketing.
All you have to do is find the right influencer that can resonate well with your product and your target audience.
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Establish your presence on Social media
It is a serious mistake not to involve social media when talking about advertising and marketing.
Social media controls the world as of now, it is the best way to expose your store to millions of users with minimal effort.
It is a serious mistake not to involve social media when talking about advertising and marketing.
When it comes to Health and Fitness, social media users from Facebook and Instagram are abundant, So, promoting your store through these mediums will help you achieve a better conversion rate.
As a high user interaction, Instagram has developed into a strong social media network for marketers.
Reports show that the per-follower engagement of Instagram is 58 times and 20 times greater than Facebook and Twitter.
As many fitness models and sports models use Instagram for images, exposing your store through instagram ads is a great way to attract customers.
You can also run targeted Facebook ads and integrate your store with your Facebook account and convert it into a virtual store.
This is why Social media interaction is necessary in this digital world. You can attract many young customers and make them stay at your store.
Another effective way of using your Social media is by organizing a Contest or giveaways.
Contests can be an effective way to use social competition to increase brand awareness, advertise your products and services, perform market research, and bring new leads into your pipeline.
Showcase your UGC
People don’t trust products or brands, they trust what other people say about the brand.
Yes, that’s right, user-generated content has become a more influential fitness eCommerce marketing tactic when it comes to encouraging purchase decisions.
80% of people have mentioned that User-generated content motivated them to make the purchase. That is why it is essential for you to showcase your UGC in your store to boost your sales.
Like we said earlier, our world is powered by social media, Customers express their views on a particular product across these networks.
They talk about the product quality, shopping experience of your store and customer service, this gives you unlimited exposure.
They do the job for you, yes they unknowingly expose your store to hundreds of new customers.
All you have to do is find your UGC, screenshot it and showcase them in your store as part of your fitness marketing campaign.
As users create user-generated content, you do not have to pay for it. It can be considered in conjunction with paid publicity campaigns.
One way to incorporate user generated content into your store is perhaps the simplest – but most effective way to allow clients to post reviews on your website.
What Nike does is, they display the images of customers wearing their product and also the review. This is a direct way of engaging with the customers and boosting your conversions.
Either screenshot the reviews from Social media or you can request customers to leave a review and showcase them, the choice is yours.
Initiate a loyalty program to get hold of your customers
One of the main factors that influence the success of your store is Customer retention.
When a customer makes repeated purchases at your store you should do everything in your power to make sure he stays loyal to your store forever.
Why is Customer Retention important?
Acquiring new customers is costly, that is why it is important to retain the existing customers. Loyalty program is the right way to do it.
Loyalty programs offer you a chance to nourish your engagement with the customers. You can foster loyalty by offering discounts to your customers for repeated purchases at your store.
Set up a Successful loyalty program in your store and increase your sales because a returning customer will always purchase more.
Also, loyal customers are crucial for stabilizing your revenue and to increase your WOM marketing. They’ll always refer your store to their friends thus increasing your conversions.
Host an event and giveaways to persuade users
One of the old schools and still successful ways to advertise your product / store is by planning an event. It could be a product launch venue or a general fashion event.
These events are a perfect opportunity to promote the product.
Even Though these event cannot draw a huge crowd like social medias, they give you an opportunity to grab a few definitive customers
That is the best aspect of organizing an event because you can persuade and entice the crowd by talking about your product’s features and amplify your customer base.
This was an event organized by Nike to launch their iconic Zoom Pegasus running shoes, they even organized a marathon for which these shoes are intended.
That way Nike was able to persuade many customers into purchasing the product.
Organizing an event like this will not only give exposure to your products but it’ll also help you increase your sales.
Apart from events, you can organize a contest and check how your customers respond to you. You can create Buyer personas based on these contests.
It is also a great way to nurture your relationship with the customers and boost your brand awareness. Because contests like these will attract people apart from your customer lists too.
Build a formidable brand
With all these fitness eCommerce marketing strategies, you should keep one thing in mind, build a brand, not a profitable business.
If you’re doing all this to earn better profit without concentrating on the status of your brand then you won’t last long.
Remember, you are running a Health and Fitness business, so the relationship with your customers is crucial. Because they rely on your products to make their lifestyle better.
That is why you should focus on upbringing a lifestyle not a revenue business.
One thing to keep in mind is that you’re not selling a jersey or a pair of shoes, you’re selling a lifestyle for the betterment of your customers.
Brands like Nike or Adidas didn’t reach their throne overnight. There was years of struggle and they sold a lifestyle that changed fashion forever.
You should aim for that success. A simple way to do that is by following some of these brands. They always have a catchy, motivational message in their posters.
These messages have an emotional impact on customers and it is also a great marketing technique. It can motivate customers and attract them to your store thus bringing your brand more success on the way.
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Conclusion
Health and Fitness stores are in huge demand in recent years and if you want to achieve success then you must follow the best fitness eCommerce marketing strategies.
These fitness eCommerce promotional strategies will help you propel your store beyond the horizons and achieve exceptional sales.
Whatever you do just remember this one thing ‘Sell a lifestyle not a Product’.
