What is global eCommerce: Preparing your business for expansion?
Where local eCommerce means online selling only in your country of origin, global eCommerce means expanding to do business in non-native markets.
You might think that ‘global expansion’ sounds like a difficult goal for your business. And you’re right, trading across international borders isn’t always easy.
With current trends in mind, however, you cannot deny the extraordinary potential held by global markets. While we’re not saying that you should dive right in with no research, with a careful approach, there is no reason to limit yourself to a single country. Why not reach out to new audiences and benefit from the changing global attitude to shopping online?
To be successful in entering new overseas markets, you need a smart plan. This article focuses on how you can prepare your business for expansion by improving existing marketing channels to build brand awareness, drive sales, and ultimately boost global success along with marketing tools.
The channels at hand are email and SMS. Both are cost-effective, accessible channels that lend themselves to global reach and personalization.
Global markets hold huge potential, but you need to be strategic. Effective business capability modeling can help you understand your business’s core framework, setting you up for success as you scale up to meet international demand.
Streamlining Global Expansion with Email Marketing
1. Build a global email list with clear website signup forms
You want to expand your customer base to a global audience. The first place to start is your email list.
An extensive and diverse email list is a foundational tool for global ecommerce. To encourage subscribers from all over the world, make sure your signup forms are setting you up for success.
Firstly, your signup forms must be prominently placed on your site. You want them to be easy to find and use with minimal effort. The easier it is to sign up, the more subscribers you’ll have – meaning all the more people interacting with your email marketing efforts.
You should also take the opportunity to get creative. For example, experiment with exit intent popups. When a customer is about to leave your site, an exit intent popup essentially grabs them by the hand and redirects them, offering an incentive to join your mailing list before they go.
For instance, an exit intent popup might read, ‘Don’t go! Here’s 10% off your next order!’ giving the user a compelling reason to pause and input their contact details.
2. Craft compelling email campaigns with personalized content
If step one is building a more diverse international email list, step two is to engage your subscribers, new and old, with compelling email marketing content.
Personalization, as ever, is key. Many email marketing campaigns already tailor their messages with data like the recipient’s name, location, and past purchase history. Focusing on location: why not research recipients’ local culture and preferences? You may find that your approach needs tweaking to appeal to different markets.
For example, your copy may need to be edited for different emails. In many cases, a direct translation between languages isn’t enough to get the same idea across to different audiences. Be especially cautious when slang is involved. For instance, remember when the iconic slogan “Got Milk?” was mistranslated to “Are you lactating?” when directed to Hispanic audiences?
This kind of cultural disconnect can be avoided by doing your research and creating personalized email content guaranteed to appeal to your subscribers, wherever they may be. This personalized approach not only increases open rates but also encourages a deeper connection with your brand.
3. Ensure compliance with global spam laws positive sender reputation
One of the difficulties with global commerce is adhering to a new set of rules. Each country has its own set of business regulations, and as an international ecommerce store, it’s your responsibility to know and obey the rules in any market you trade in.
Leveraging enterprise and solution architecture can be helpful here. Enterprise architecture provides an overview so that decision-makers can understand what is happening on an organization-wide level, while solution architecture is about planning and streamlining solutions. Combined, they help ensure your technological infrastructure supports global compliance and operational efficiency.
Regarding emails, it’s crucial to be aware of global spam laws to maintain a positive sender reputation. It’s best to consult with professionals experienced within your target market who can talk you through the nuances specific to a region and industry. For example, US-based online businesses need to be well-versed in GDPR compliance before expanding operations to the UK.
To ensure your emails are compliant, start by providing clear options for opting-in and unsubscribing. Respecting user consent builds trust, demonstrates your legitimacy, and will likely save you from legal issues down the line.
4. Leverage email marketing tools that fit your expansion goals
Boost your global expansion efforts by investing in the right email marketing tools. EngageBay’s all-in-one email and SMS software equips you with email automation tools, A/B testing, signup forms, templates, and comprehensive campaign performance reports. Everything you need to effectively manage and scale your email marketing campaigns across multiple regions.
Enhancing Global Reach with SMS Marketing
SMS is another great channel for expanding your global reach. With online phone numbers, businesses can effortlessly communicate with customers overseas.
1. Implement clear opt-in methods for your global SMS subscriber list
As with email marketing, building a global SMS subscriber list starts with clear opt-in methods. Invite interested customers to subscribe via creative website forms and social media promotions. The most important thing here is transparency: let customers know what they are signing up for, but make it worth their while.
You might offer SMS exclusive offers, personalized discount codes, competition entries, free shipping, or another perk. Remember, without explicit consent, you risk compromising subscriber trust and compliance with regional regulations. So, do your research before hitting send.
2. Keep messages concise and culturally sensitive
SMS marketing is an exercise in getting your message across effectively within the character limit. As you expand overseas, an extra challenge is added: predicting how different audiences might interpret your words.
Certain phrases, or even emojis, may carry different connotations in different cultures. It’s worth playing it safe, especially when you are newly entering the market. Keep your messages short and sweet, and be sure to consult with experts to ensure your phrasing is both comprehensible and appropriate to its intended receiver.
BayEngage has SMS tools designed to take some of the guesswork out of crafting perfect text messages. You can benefit from pre-built SMS ideas and free templates serving as a springboard for innovation, while maintaining consistency of tone, format, and professionalism.
3. Schedule automated SMS campaigns for promotions and updates
Timing is everything in ecommerce. With the small windows you’re given, you want to grab users’ attention and keep them interested in following through on a purchase. For example, a “hey, did you forget something?” message sent in the hours after an abandoned cart may nudge the customer to reopen the tab and follow through with their order.
This is where automation is your friend. It’s not practical to manually monitor every potential customer’s online behavior and send out messages when they might be responsive. Instead, you can schedule automated SMS reminders to be triggered by particular customer behavior to keep them engaged at key points. Automation ensures that all customers receive timely and consistent communication that is relevant to them.
4. Personalize messages with names, purchase history, or location
SMS is an inherently personal means of communication. You are reaching customers all over the world on their handheld devices.
As you expand globally you are trying to reach an enormous amount of people, – but it shouldn’t feel like that to the recipient. Again, personalization is key.
Bayengage helps you connect with customers on a personal level with advanced segmentation strategies. Categorizing your audience into meaningful groups allows you to tailor your content and deliver the right message to the right type of customer, drawing on personal details, previous purchases, location-specific offers, and events. This way, you can be sure that your content will resonate with its receiver.
Conclusion
Your ecommerce business could see success overseas with a little research, planning, and personalization.
Taking your existing tools, email marketing, and SMS, and building on them is a great place to start. With easy and enticing signup forms, build a list of subscribers and potential leads from all over the world (or just the country you’re expanding to first).
Then, focus your efforts on tailoring your marketing across locations and segmenting your customer base so that you can appeal to new people and build a name for yourself in new lands.
