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If you are a student or a parent, you definitely know the back-to-school season.
Even though students don’t enjoy this period, you, as an e-commerce business, have to prepare your marketing efforts for one of the busiest times of the year.
Parents with their list of supplies keep on looking for the best deals. Hence, you should do whatever it takes to increase your visibility and to stand among the fierce competition.
Accordingly, in the upcoming paragraphs, we will take you through some of the best strategies and ideas to ace back-to-school marketing for your e-commerce. Also, we will show you some successful campaigns for inspiration.
Table Of Content:
- Back To School Statistics.
- Strategies for Back To School Marketing For E-Commerce.
- Ideas for Back To School Marketing For E-Commerce.
- Campaigns for Back To School Marketing For E-Commerce.
Statistics About Back-to-school For Online Sellers
Before digging into the back-to-school marketing for e-commerce, we will show you some statistics that indicate the booming of this category.
- In 2022, around 50% of American parents intended to spend more than 250$ on back-to-school supplies, and around 25% aimed to spend more than 500$ (Insider Intelligence).
- According to Retail Dive (2023), 55.2% of parents intend to spend more on back-to-school supplies this year.
- A study showed that more than 40% of online shoppers search for deals and discounts on Meta before going to physical stores (PR Newswire,2023).
- In 2022, back-to-school shopping sales accounted for 34.4.billion dollars (Snipp,2023).
Strategies for Back To School Marketing For E-Commerce
Image source: socital.com
Since the back-to-school season is already around the corner, you have to start working on some strategies to benefit the most from this busy time. No worries, we have got you covered with the best strategies for back-to-school marketing for online stores that you have to prepare for in advance.
1- Segment Your Audience
The first strategy you should follow during the back-to-school season is to segment your audience and understand their needs.
Students are a huge audience. Therefore, you will have to segment them based on different age groups, grades, gender, etc.
Different segments will require different messages and products. Hence, understanding your target audience is the key to offering a tailored marketing message.
Speaking of segmentation, we understand it’s a hectic process. Therefore, Converted.in is the optimal solution.
Convertedin will automate your segmentation process to achieve the right target audience. So, there is no need to analyze segments on your own anymore, as Convertedin will handle everything effortlessly.
2- Incorporate Back To School Theme Into Your Website
A back-to-school theme is one of the main things that users want to see when visiting your website. This just ignites the vibe of the busy season and makes people more inclined to start their school orders.
Accordingly, you can use neutral autumn colors for your website. In addition, you can highlight the back-to-school products with some banners and a timer to create a sense of urgency.
Also, you can create banners that direct customers to back-to-school products and have a dedicated search page.
You got this, so get creative as much as you can.
3- Create An Email Marketing Campaign
Even though the back-to-school season can not be forgotten, why not remind your customers of it just in case they were so indulged in the summer vacation?
So, the best strategy you can use to remind customers is to create an email marketing campaign.
Your email marketing will be sent to your customers with reminders of the upcoming season. Additionally, you can send some useful tips or highlight the most useful products that can’t be missed in back-to-school shopping.
Also, you can rely on cart abandonment emails to remind customers of the products they left behind.
A winning tactic is to send exclusive coupons and discounts for your email subscribers only. In this busy season, customers will undoubtedly appreciate coupons. In addition, they will feel special for receiving exclusive coupons, which will encourage their purchase decision.
4- Initiate Social Media Campaigns
Your social media campaigns can never be left behind. It’s a crucial strategy for the success of back-to-school marketing for your e-commerce.
Therefore, you have to integrate social media while preparing for back-to-school marketing. It is necessary to be active on social media through relevant posts and stories.
Also, you will have to use social media ads like Facebook and Instagram ads. This will enable your online store to reach the largest target audience with relevant product recommendations.
5- Create A Mobile Friendly Website
As we mentioned earlier, back-to-school season is already a busy one. Therefore, it makes sense that customers are most likely to place their orders while scrolling from their mobile phones. Chances to shop through desktops or iPad are less likely to happen.
Accordingly, you have to create a mobile-friendly website to reach out to the largest possible customers. It has been proven that the largest number of customers and conversion rates occur from mobile visitors.
Hence, with the fast pace of back-to-school shopping, it will be necessary to keep up with customers’ needs by offering them a convenient mobile shopping experience.
6- Use Influencer Marketing
In this tough time, customers might need an extra push to direct them to the right place to shop for school supplies. Therefore, with the increasing influence and popularity of influencers, it’s a chance you should consider.
Collaborating with influencers to promote your back-to-school products will accelerate the performance of your campaign.
Shoppers are already tight on time, and influencers’ reviews will be their savior. Hence, you have to do some research to choose the suitable influencers with the largest base of your target audience.
So, if you still didn’t choose a suitable influencer to promote your school supplies, you should start working on it instantly.
Ideas for Back To School Marketing For E-Commerce Stores
With the beginning of the back-to-school timing, there are some ideas that you can consider that will enable you to ace this season’s marketing. Keep on reading to know them all.
1- Offer Free & Fast Shipping
Well, that’s a pretty simple one, but it can do wonders for your e-commerce during this eventful time.
Believe it or not, shipping costs can sometimes affect customers’ purchasing decisions and even hinder the completion of orders. So, in this critical time, we don’t want anything that hinders order completion.
Accordingly, a good place to start with by offering free shipping. It will seem like a good deal for online shoppers. In addition, it will be a strong card that supports your online store during this season’s fierce competition.
However, if free shipping is not an option for your store, you have to at least ensure a fast one. Parents and students are already tight on time, and slow shipping won’t be tolerated.
Therefore, you have to show your clear shipping policy with estimated arrival times to build trust in your e-commerce.
2- Provide Back To School Supplies Checklist
Sometimes during this season, things might get crazy. With the plenty of demanded supplies, people might miss some important products.
Hence, you are here to the rescue with your back-to-school supplies checklist.
It certainly depends on the products your brand has to offer. However, you can create a complete checklist with the needed products for your customers that are available in your store.
Hence, you will ensure customers won’t miss any product and also buy it from your store.
3- Create Product Bundles
People love discounts on packages and bundles. And shoppers will value them even more at this busy time of the year.
As a result, you can offer your products to be sold in bundles. This will make shoppers feel like they are saving money and time too. In addition, bundles will encourage customers to make a purchase and increase the average order value.
So, it’s a simple idea but definitely a win-win.
4- Offer Giveaways
Who doesn’t like free products? Seriously, no one. What if these free products were given during a tense time like the back-to-school season? We bet that during these times, winners of free products are lucky ones.
Hence, you have to be part of the buzz created around free products by offering giveaways.
It’s undoubtedly a successful idea for back-to-school marketing for your e-commerce. You are simply going to the next level with your freebies.
Just to ensure the success of your giveaway, you will have to identify your objectives, as they will be your guidance throughout the giveaway.
Also, your gifts have to be valuable, relevant, and appreciated by customers to encourage them to participate. It’s a useless giveaway if it lacks participants.
Finally, you might need to do some research to choose a suitable channel for announcing your giveaways.
Most importantly, make it fun.
5- Interact With Your Customers
Interacting and engaging with customers might seem like an already-known idea. However, most businesses neglect it during busy seasons like the back-to-school one. Therefore, interact with customers during the hectic season to increase visitors to your store.
Rely on user-generated content (UGC). For instance, encourage shoppers to share their supplies purchases from your store. Also, you can motivate customers to share pictures of their first day of school or even college for a chance to be featured.
Also, ask for customers’ reviews and testimonials. This will create social proof and will give shoppers more reasons to buy from your online store.
Campaigns for Back To School Marketing For E-Commerce Brands (Examples)
Not sure where to start? Check the following campaigns for some inspiration for your e-commerce.
- Staples
Staples is a widely known American office supply business. And we have to say; Staples is killing it in its back-to-school campaign.
Staples created a sense of nostalgia in its back-to-school campaign directed at value-conscious parents. Accordingly, in its campaign, Staples goes back to the 90s pricing by offering plenty of discounts, bundles, and sales.
In addition, Staples collaborated with influencers to promote its campaign. Also, it created back to school checklist directed to each grade. Hence, it becomes easier for parents to find all the products they need in one place.
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Amazon
Amazon has always been a pioneer in the back to school shopping. It is mostly the go-to place for parents or students in the returning to school season.
Therefore, Amazon understands the game very well. It offers lots of discounts, promotions, and fast shipping during this hectic time.
Amazon created the “Spend Less on your kids' campaign” to shop through Amazon for back-to-school supplies with the lowest prices.
The campaign was directed to budget-conscious parents to save money while shopping for their kids. Not to mention that Amazon collaborated with the American actress and Comedian Kathryn Hahn. So, more social proof and orders to Amazon.
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Blume
Even though Blume is specialized in skin products, it was able to find its way to fit in the needs of this season.
It created the back-to-school bundle, which includes sanitizers and other necessary hygienic products for students in class.
Blume showed that you don’t have to be selling stationery to fit in the back-to-school season. Regardless of what you sell, you can always try to keep up with the demands of this busy season.
Final Thoughts:
There is no better time to start working on back-to-school marketing for e-commerce. The season is around the corner, with plenty of parents and students getting ready to stock their supplies.
Also, by going through this article, you have all the winning strategies and ideas to nail this season’s back-to-school marketing.
Most importantly, these strategies will ensure that shoppers will convert.
