How to acquire leads for a store in 2024?

Did you know that retaining a customer is much easier than getting a new one? However, if you want to stay in business and increase your revenue, you need to not only build loyalty with your existing audience, but also keep reaching out to new ones. This can be helped byan effective lead acquisition strategy for e-commerce, which must take into account how customers make purchasing decisions, motivations and habits. How to acquire leads for e-commerce? Check out our strategies.

What is an e-commerce lead?

Lead is a recipient who has expressed interest in your product or service This interest can manifest itself, for example, through:

• clicking an advertisement,
• visiting the product page,
• adding the product to the cart,
• create an account in the online store,
• interact with a live chat or chatbot,
• subscribe to a blog or newsletter,
• watching the brand on social media,
• downloading lead magnet

How to match lead-collection methods with a target group?

Strategies for generating leads should include knowledge of who your audience is and where to find them. To acquire this knowledge, take the following steps:

• In the first stepfind out who you want to reach – build your marketing persona, taking into account such information as age, gender, location, interests, buying behavior, habits, education and income level, family status, challenges, difficulties and problems they face. The more accurately you describe your buyer persona, the more likely you are to create high-quality digital campaigns for your store that resonate with your target audience.
• In the second stepdetermine in which channels you should look for potential customers This will help you refine your marketing campaigns and maximize return on investment (ROI) To do this, you can use Google Analytics 4 to find out where your website’s traffic is coming from – whether it’s organic or paid results, or maybe social media. When you know where your customers are coming from, you can focus your marketing efforts on that specific channel to attract new potential customers who will convert.

Ready to learn the best lead generation ideas for e-commerce?

1. Get leads from blogs

How to acquire leads for an online store? Take advantage of the blog. Studies show that it’s an extremely effective channel for acquiring leads because:

• 1 in 4 consumers made a product purchase as a result of reading about it in a blog post,
• 46% of consumers say they look at blogs to learn about products,
• As many as 84% of consumers bought a product just because it was interestingly described on a blog (data source: https://www.dynata.com/?lang=gb).

To achieve this effect, however, you must ensure that your content is responsive to your audience’s needs and concerns. To do this, use tools such as Google Trends, Answer the Public, Google Keyword Planner to see what your potential customers are searching for on Google. Use a keyword search strategy for your store for this purpose. Also take advantage of insights from your sales and customer service department – find out what problems customers are reporting and what solutions they are looking for. Particularly important in this regard will be evergreen content.

Remember, however, not to sell pushily on the blog. You can do this in subtle ways -for example, include a newsletter sign-up form in the blog content (about 1/3 or halfway through). Assure your audience that you will not pester them with content.

2. Create an email list

E-mail marketing is one of the most effective ways of generating (acquiring) leads, because with it you reach people who have already initially expressed interest in your offer and signed up for your newsletter on their own. Studies show that recipients still enjoy reading newsletters and staying in touch with brands (https://optinmonster.com/email-marketing-statistics/). You can use email to promote your sales funnel, promoting discount coupons, limited-time offers, news or quick sales campaigns on your online store. To increase the number of subscribers, make sure they have a reason to sign up for your newsletter, such as offering them free shipping on their first purchases or a discount.

3. Create lead magnet for potential customers

How to acquire leads in e-commerce? Use a lead magnet, a reason for a user to stay in touch with your brand that convinces them to take advantage of your offer. A lead magnet is a valuable freebie you give your customers in exchange for their email addresses – it could be, for example, a guide, checklist or e-book on a topic of interest to your potential customers. The best magnets for potential customers are simple and easy to understand. They solve the readers’ problem and make people want to learn more about your brand or buy a product just from you. How to develop a lead magnet that works and acquires leads?

• Understand your audience – first define who your ideal customers are and what they need most. If you sell products for physically active people, a lead magnet in the form of an exercise guide or workout plan can be a hit.
• Provide immediate value – your offer must have real value to your audience. If you promise a free course that actually helps solve a specific problem, you will quickly gain trust and interest.
• Maintain consistency with your products and values – the lead magnet should be consistent with the products you sell. For example, if you’re running a kitchen tool store, the ideal lead magnet could be an exclusive cookbook available only to subscribers.
• Evoke a sense of urgency – add items that evoke a sense of urgency or limited availability, like “download for free for the next 24 hours only”. This encourages quick action.
• Simplify the registration process – registration in exchange for a lead magnet should not require more than basic information. The fewer steps and simpler the form, the better. Any additional barrier may discourage potential leads.
• Use attractive visuals – introduce professional-looking graphics and clear, eye-catching call to action that effectively communicate the value of the offer.

4. Apply pop-ups with intent to exit

Many users visit your store’s website, but leave no trace? You can change that and turn them into leads, all with the help of pop-ups that display when a user signals his intention to leave the site. At that exact moment you should display an attractive offer to the recipient. How to do this andhow to acquire leads for an online store using pop-ups?

• Don’t just limit yourself to standard discounts You can offer a free consultation, exclusive access to special content, or an interactive quiz that instantly gives you results or discounts depending on your answers.
• Use the data you already have about the visitor (e.g., by tracking what pages they viewed). If someone has browsed pages with certain products, the pop-up may contain an offer related specifically to those products.
• Take advantage of excitement and a sense of urgency – a message like “Are you sure you want to miss this opportunity?” or “Last chance to sign up for an exclusive webinar!” can effectively motivate people to stay on your site.
• Make sure the pop-up is visually appealing and matches the aesthetics of your site. It’s important that it doesn’t repel with its appearance, but attracts attention.
• Take care of the proper timing of the message – displaying the pop-up too early may annoy visitors, too late will make them miss it. Experiment with different settings to find the perfect time for your site.

5. Offer the option to save a shopping cart

Customers often add products to their shopping cart and then…forget about them or deliberately abandon the purchase. You can motivate the recipient to buy by informing them that the products in the shopping cart or wish list will only be saved for a certain period of time, such as a few hours or days. Other shopping cart strategies worth using to acquire leads are:

• E-mail reminders for abandoned shopping carts – when a user adds products to the shopping cart but does not finalize the purchase, automatically send them a reminder. You can make it more interesting by adding personalization, such as “We saw that you were interested in [product name], don’t let someone else get ahead of you!” Add images of the products that are in the shopping cart to make the reminder more visual and eye-catching.
• Exclusive additions to the saved cart – by offering something extra just for those who choose to save the cart, you increase the appeal of this option. This could be a limited edition product, an additional discount on future purchases, or free delivery when finalizing a saved order.
• Reward system for shopping cart sign-ups and returns – for example, after saving five shopping carts, a customer may receive a discount coupon. This adds an element of fun and may encourage customers to use this feature more often.
• Integrate with mobile app – if you have a mobile app, integrate the shopping cart saving function into it. Allowing users to track saved shopping carts through the app increases the likelihood that they will return to shop.
• Price freeze – within a saved shopping cart, you can offer to “freeze” the price for a specified period of time. This is an especially attractive option if your prices change frequently.

See also ways to rescue abandoned shopping carts in e-commerce.

6. Offer gifts and freebies

Like getting something for free? Your customers do too! By offering additional value at no charge, you increase user engagement no matter what type of interaction is involved.How to use this strategy to generate leads? Require users to provide contact information (name, email address) to build further relationships with them. However, if you’re holding social media contests, be sure to follow the rules. You can’t require recipients to take action on their personal profiles, such as sharing a post, tagging a friend or liking a profile. Such tactics could involve deleting your contest post. You can also offer free mini-products or samples, but be careful. Many people, especially the environmentally conscious, don’t want such freebies at all.You can ask the user at the order finalization stage whether he or she wishes to get a freebie or not necessarily.

7. Use dynamic remarketing

The person who abandoned the shopping cart is your lead, and you can save that transaction. All you need to do is use remarketing in Google Ads or social media (Facebook Ads) and remind users about the product left in the shopping cart. Why does this method of acquiring leads pay off? Because remarketing is relatively inexpensive and effective due to the fact that it reaches people who have already expressed interest in your offer. What’s more, with the help of retargeting, you can present the user with an ad for exactly the product they have previously viewed in your store. See more ways to retarget for your store.

8. Use orchestrated content

Are you familiar with the phenomenon of FOMO? It’s the fear of missing out on something (fear of missing out). You can effectively use this strategy to attract leads and convert them into real customers in e-commerce. Take advantage of it. using so-called gated content, i.e. content that is only available when a specific action is performed. It doesn’t have to be a payment – it can be, for example, signing up for a newsletter. You can also:

• offer content that is only available for a short time –you can share an exclusive shopping guide for your latest fashion collection only for 48 hours after its release. Announce it on your homepage and via email and social media to build anticipation and drive users to take action,
• offer customers access to special content after performing a certain action on the site. For example, after adding products to the shopping cart for a certain amount, the customer gets access to an interactive course on how to get the most out of the purchased products. Already this strategy is available on Instagram – stories can display after posting,
• access only for registered users – create a “VIP” section on your site where registered users can access exclusive content such as advanced tips, trend analysis or product previews. You can combine this with a loyalty points system, where longer partnerships and larger purchases increase access to increasingly exclusive content,
• live streaming – organize live streaming sessions where you showcase products, answer questions and offer special promotions to viewers. Set only registered users or people who have signed up for live or made a recent purchase to access the stream.

Summary

Capturing leads for an online store in 2024 requires adaptation to rapidly changing customer needs and expectations. The effectiveness of the strategy depends on innovation and the ability to build lasting relationships with customers. Implementing modern ideas and solutions is key to increasing consumer engagement and loyalty. Modern online stores must not only respond to current market needs, but also anticipate and stay ahead of future trends and consumer behavior.