Worst Ecommerce Marketing Trends to Avoid This Year

As we prepare for the new year ahead, you may be thinking about ecommerce marketing trends to try this year. There are many worthwhile trends and strategies to consider, from abandoned cart emails to personalisation, location-based marketing, video, and many others besides.

This year, to ensure that you get off to the right start, make sure that you are fully aware of the ecommerce marketing trends that you should avoid at all costs.

Avoid These Ecommerce Marketing Trends at All Cost

These ecommerce marketing trends can end up doing far more harm than good. Whether you are trying to take your shop to the next level, increase your engagement, boost your sales or simply start the year on the right foot, here are some of the worst trends to avoid in 2018.

1. Fake followers: While bought and fake followers are not a new trend, both continue to muddy the waters. For online stores, fake followers are especially damaging. The biggest problem with purchasing followers is that it gives your channels the illusion of growth, without the actual conversion. The result is a large following, without the sales that result in paying customers. Needless to say, this equates to zero value in the short and long term.
2. Generic email blasts: If you are still sending out generic mass email blasts, now is a good time to start thinking about personalisation, segmentation and other lead nurturing strategies that will allow you to target your ideal customer on a deeper level. Generic emails typically have a far lower chance of conversion, which essentially means wasted time, money and effort.
3. Overly complex activation: Activation strategies continue to be a trend to watch this year. There are many ways that you can appeal to in-store shoppers in a way that synchronises your online efforts. Overly complex systems are not one of these ways. In fact, the more complicated your approach, the less likely shoppers will bother to head to your website.
4. Comment spam: Another trend from the dark ages that is not showing any sign of going away soon, comment spam is a sure-fire way to get blacklisted. Rather than wasting time and budget spamming, put your efforts into a cohesive ecommerce marketing strategy that is designed to help you succeed.
5. SMS spam: The same goes for SMS spam. There is a huge leap from comprehensive, targeted mobile marketing to generic SMS spam. This takes us back to the very beginning. If you are purchasing lists of followers or numbers, you are almost certainly on the wrong path. Get back on the right path with a mobile marketing strategy that is based on trust, and you will soon see the difference in your results.

Now that you have a better idea of what not to do, make sure that you invest in a proper, well-designed ecommerce marketing strategy that will help you get ahead without falling victim to dodgy trends and practices.