Ecommerce Marketing Agency

Questions we’ve been asked… so we’re answering here!

How is ecommerce marketing different from standard digital marketing?

There's lots of cross over, but the biggest difference between the two tends to be the channels that are most important. For instance, ecommerce marketing will focus heavily on email, SMS, CRO, influencer advertising, paid ads and organic social, while general digital marketing may include events. eCommerce brands that have wholesale components to their business model will still need to think about and plan for both.

Do I need a full service digital agency?

Great question! Often founders and business owners think they might need a full service agency because it's easier to deal with one. And it's absolutely true that thinking holistically is fundamental to growing any brand. But sometimes trying to find someone to do everything, can mean they're not truly expert in any one thing. Specialist expert teams can be the difference between a 10% and a 200% lift in results.

What's unique about what Foresight offers in comparison to other digital marketing agencies, is that our approach gives you our full focus and precision from day one. We start with paid ads where the quickest gains can be made, get you access to the marketing academy to help you manage other channels like email marketing, and then provide done-for-you management options after 4-6 months.

What the difference between an ecommerce marketing agency and a digital marketing agency?

Any agency that says they're a specialist in ecommerce marketing services, needs to understand the business model mechanics that exist for ecommerce businesses. The metrics that drive outcomes for an online store are very different to a services business whose main focus is leads. Unique contributors include but aren't limited to:

CLTV: Customer lifetime value
COGS: The cost of goods sold and how that directly relates back to your Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
Landed Cost: The inclusion of shipping and handling within the COGS figure
Returning Customer Rate: The percentage of people who repurchase from you
AOV: The amount people spend on average per order

If an ecommerce marketing company can't articulate how they understand, account for, or impact some of these metrics, then it's unlikely they're specialists.

The term ecommerce agency / ecommerce agencies can be used often interchangeably between ecommerce services companies that specialise only in ecommerce website development, those that specialise only in marketing for them, or those that choose to do both.

Who are the best ecommerce marketing agencies?

The best ecommerce agencies are those that:

Understand an ecommerce marketing strategy needs to encompass more than a single channel
Are aware of how online retailers are particularly susceptible to changes in consumer sentiment, interest rate rises, global supply chain blockers - and have plans for how they can use their marketing approach to provide stability at those times
Can give you a list of ecommerce clients or ecommerce sites they're currently working with and results they've been able to achieve
Are able to articulate exactly how they plan to help you achieve your business goals through marketing strategies relevant for ecommerce merchants
Have ecommerce experts in their team. That is, people who understand both marketing AND the world of eComm

Scaling an ecommerce business model isn't always easy, but there is a predictable formula and if you're ready to chat, our team can't wait to share it with you!

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What about web design and web development, how important is that?

Very important! If you did nothing but improve your conversion rate from 1% to 2%, you would double your sales overnight, which might even more than double your profits. That's why Foresight has a select group of web development partners who also specialise in working with Female Founded eCommerce brands, just like we do.

Offering web development is a very different skillset and business model and we strongly believe an ecommerce store in particular is best served by having separate suppliers for both.

How do ecommerce marketing companies actually work?

Top ecommerce marketing agencies will usually offer digital marketing services which also encompasses social media marketing. They may or may not include website development as part of their offering. At Foresight, as mentioned previously, we don't do web development and work with strong partners on this. However, we have been web developers previously, so we can assist you in finding the right partner, assessing them, assessing the UX and design as it comes through, helping to structure product meta fields and variant meta fields for our paid digital data feeds (which will also allow you far more flexibility in creating relevant collections), and ensuring that SEO and paid digital migration occurs smoothly as part of your new site launch.

How does digital advertising help with brand recognition and brand recall?

Marketing research suggests that the optimal campaign frequency to achieve brand awareness (that is, someone can recall your brand without even being presented with the name), is around 11 times. But to take action they need much less, sometimes only 7 exposures, and 8 exposures for brand preference. So this means that for bottom of the funnel type marketing, you can get away with less exposure while still driving sales outcomes.Digital advertising helps where our experts tightly control the frequency that your brand shows up for people who may be interested in what you sell.

For instance, we've seen Facebook where frequency is at 20x, and that is definitely NOT better. In those cases ROAS has usually plummeted long ago. The key is to create a balance, and be clear about the objective across all paid advertising so that the objective for each campaign and the dollars spent can be properly accounted for.

How are data driven strategies for ecommerce sites created?

Sounds like a bit of jargon doesn't it! At its simplest, it's about understanding the machine that is marketing and ecommerce.

Here's just one simple example. Let's say that your best selling products have an average order value of $180, but you also have some accessories. In analysing both sales volume and AOV, you notice that a campaign you've been running has slowly been getting more conversions. But your AOV has been going down because those extra conversions are coming from accessories; lower value, lower margin products.

In this case we might use that analysis and data to decide to separate out the accessories into another campaign, and if they cannot be profitable (e.g. by site visitors coming in by clicking on an ad for an accessory and then buying a higher value item as well once they get there) we may even choose not to run a campaign for them at all. Any ecommerce strategy needs to consider data because it's the one thing you can genuinely rely on when you scale. Gut feel is great, but back it with data too.

In every case with our clients we create a client growth calculator which helps us understand from the very beginning, whether you are already profitable, or if you could be - given the current conditions of your business model. That's how powerful strategies can be created with data.

What is a Google Premier Partner and is it important?

So this is a really interesting one. There are two types of partners - Google Partner and Google Premier Partner. Google Partners are required to meet certain baselines including optimisation scores across all linked accounts and certifications. We think having Google Partner status is important, it at least tells you an agency has done their basic due diligence in terms of platform knowledge.
Premier Partners are 3% of agencies in any country who:

Use the most Google inventory
Ensure they keep clients spending on Google
And get clients spending more on Google

How agencies obtain this status is a bit of a black box, but once done, they get access to an account manager and betas which are usually under NDA.

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What's the problem?
The way Google Premier Partner status is chosen is very much based on how important an agency is to Google's revenue, not whether they are a good agency that provides excellent outcomes for their clients. That doesn't mean Google Premiere Partners are not any good - in fact many of them are brilliant. It's just to say that this shouldn't be a deciding factor in any way when considering the right fit for your brand.

Our belief is that you and what's right for your brand should be the only drivers for the agency deciding where to invest your advertising dollars. We also fundamentally believe it's important to not put all eggs in one basket. That means we actively work toward diversifying your media spend across multiple channels so that you are not at the mercy of any one major advertising platform. And at Foresight, that is our primary goal. Putting you and your business growth goals first.

Can you help with influencer marketing on social media?

In our marketing academy we offer support to help you understand how to set your influencer marketing up for success, including contract templates, influencer outreach templates, content briefing templates and much more.

How has online shopping changed in 2023?

According to Roy Morgan, Australian's are expected to spend over 9 billion in mid-year and end of year sales. We are continuing to see consumers being shaped by retail sales periods, with further activity around Afterpay Day. More and more retailers are either going to sale early, or extending sales beyond the sale period to maintain a competitive edge. But that can be a slippery slope pricing strategy for any ecommerce business. To respond to shifts in consumer demand, online brands need to have stronger messaging and value propositions. Especially as consumers feel the pinch financially and may attempt a switch to off-brand products only to be disappointed, there is an opportunity to win them back with more nuanced digital marketing strategies. Thinking outside the box is a speciality here at Foresight!

What kind of ecommerce digital marketing campaigns do you run?

First let's define a campaign. Traditionally in marketing, a campaign tends to be a short-term burst of activity that centres around a particular message. It might be a product launch, a new feature, something back in stock or a sale. And, these campaigns would go across not just one marketing channel, but many.

This has been muddied with the term "campaign" being used by all paid advertising platforms to describe the highest categorisation of an ad structure (usually it goes campaign > ad set or ad group > ad).

The majority of the ads that we run in these contexts we try and keep going for as long as possible, so they aren't limited to a particular period.Nevertheless, we run campaigns of both types: the long-term campaigns that provide consistent results from paid digital, as well as multi-channel campaigns that might support a launch, sale or some other key message or marketing objective for your business.

Ecommerce marketing agency

Grow Your Brand With Foresight

The #1 digital agency for ecommerce brands

The Foresight Approach

Paid Digital Channels

The Foresight Difference

Some Love From eCommerce Businesses We Work With

Questions we’ve been asked… so we’re answering here!

HOW-TO-AUDIT-ADS KIT

Ecommerce marketing agency

Grow Your Brand With Foresight

The #1 digital agency for ecommerce brands

The Foresight Approach

Paid Digital Channels

The Foresight Difference

Some Love From eCommerce Businesses We Work With

Questions we’ve been asked… so we’re answering here!

How is ecommerce marketing different from standard digital marketing?

Do I need a full service digital agency?

What the difference between an ecommerce marketing agency and a digital marketing agency?

Who are the best ecommerce marketing agencies?

How do ecommerce marketing companies actually work?

How does digital advertising help with brand recognition and brand recall?

How are data driven strategies for ecommerce sites created?

What is a Google Premier Partner and is it important?

Can you help with influencer marketing on social media?

How has online shopping changed in 2023?

What kind of ecommerce digital marketing campaigns do you run?