Are you keeping up with the ever-changing e-commerce landscape? If you said no, don’t worry; you’re not alone. The digital advertising market is progressing quickly, with innovation and technology as accelerators.
What is in it for e-commerce advertisers in 2023? What’s trending now, and how can you elevate your advertising strategy for e-commerce success?
Let’s explore some of the significant trends shaping the future of e-commerce advertising. And more importantly, we’ll dwell on how you can take advantage of them to compete with the market leaders in your sector.
7 E-commerce Advertising Trends to Up Your Game
Here are the top seven must-follow trends to win this year's e-commerce advertising race.
Invasion of AI
“Hello, my name is Lisa, and I’m your virtual chat assistant.”
Nowadays, Getting such a greeting from an AI-powered chatbot on an e-commerce site is common. Chatbots are great for automating tasks, providing instant customer support, and streamlining business operations. Choosing a chatbot that aligns with your company's specific needs is crucial. Check out this one from Giesswein.
Indeed, artificial intelligence has already made a seismic shift in e-commerce. AI algorithms power up customer service and shopping experiences: personalized product recommendations (Amazon), dynamic price adjustment in real-time (Walmart), sentiment analytics (Sephora), predictive analysis (ASOS), etc. Recently, AI has kicked the door down and exploded into the room of e-commerce advertising with all its force; voice AI and chatbots are certainly part of that.
Voice AI is now ruling the kingdom of audio and video ads. This is one of the top trends in e-commerce marketing and an unmissable chance for brands to make ad content affordably and quickly.
You can unlock your creative ad potential with one of the following AI voice generators:
- Instreamatic
- Resemble.ai
- Speechify
- Aflorithmic.ai
- LOVO.ai
- WellSaidLabs
Video revolution
88% of people polled were convinced to purchase a product after watching a video from a brand. This explains why video content has become a massive trend in e-commerce advertising and why 91% of businesses use different types of videos as marketing tools. Just to name a few video ad types, there are:
- Explainer video
- Shoppable video
- Customer testimonial video
- Brand presentation
- Comparison video
- Interactive video
- Live stream
- Behind-the-scenes video, etc.
According to Tom Golubovich, Head of Marketing & Media Relations at Ninja Transfers, “Virtually, any video can supercharge your marketing game. But some do that better than others.” He provides several examples of video content that works best at the first stages of the marketing funnel:
“An explainer video is a perfect way to introduce website visitors to your brand. It’s ideal for the awareness stage.
Comparative advertising is an excellent tactic at the consideration stage. Videos with side-by-side comparisons of products or services can help you demonstrate what differentiates your brand from your competitor.”
Ninja Transfers, for example, meets potential customers with an interactive explainer video on the homepage. The ninja character advertises the brand and gives instructions on how to place an order.
Branded podcasts
Branded podcasting is indeed a gold mine for marketing, whether you’re working in B2B or B2C. There are many B2B giants like Cisco, Basecamp, or Slack utilizing this very tactic. And many B2C companies such as Duolingo, Sephora, Zendium, and Dior have also gone down this path. But it’s worth asking…does advertising via podcasts really work? The short answer is absolutely.
81% of podcast listeners pay closer attention to advertisements in podcasts than to TV or radio commercials or even social media ads! Moreover, podcast ads lead to a 14% rise in buying intent and a 24% boost in brand favorability.
Now consider this. As of 2022, podcast advertising in the US generated $1.8 billion in revenue. That is a 25% increase from 2021. Statista projects it to reach $4 billion in 2025. When and how did it happen that branded podcasts came into the arena of e-commerce marketing?
“Consumers became highly receptive to podcasts during COVID-19. And that’s when businesses hopped on this e-commerce trend,” explains Ben Knegendorf, Co-Founder of Dropship Breakthru. He shares his company’s experience:
“We started The Dropship Podcast in October 2021. We’re moving close to our 200th episode in the series about the ins and outs of the dropshipping business. So, with almost 200 episodes behind our back, we can assure you that a branded podcast is a superb tool to help you outflank your competition, engage with the target audience, and build brand authority.”
Interactivity in emails
Boring email as we knew it was dead. Long live interactive email advertising! Interactivity is a crucial secret to efficient content creation for email ads. Interactive email content boosts click-to-open rates by 73%. You can easily decorate your e-commerce ads in promotional emails with –
- Hover or rollover effects
- Gamified elements
- Sounds
- Videos
- Quizzes
- GIFs
As for the latter, they drive conversions like crazy. For instance, a GIF-centric campaign by Dell saw a 42% increase in the click-through rate and a 109% increase in revenue.
Just look at how other e-commerce companies harness the power of GIFs and animations in emails. Here’s an animated promotion in the email by Bonobos.
Enhanced consumer privacy and data protection
“One of the most significant e-commerce advertising trends in 2023 is the privacy and security of customers’ data,” believes Volodymyr Shchegel, VP of Engineering at Clarion.
“That is why the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) should always be on digital marketers’ minds. It forces brands to be more transparent about gathering, storing, and managing user data and obtaining consumer cookie consent. At the same time, advertisers need to get ready for the cookieless future too,” he highlights.
Google, for example, has already announced its plans for entirely cookieless and privacy-first marketing. The company delayed cookie-cutting to 2024. It is still looking for privacy-preserving alternatives for advertisements.
You should keep watching this trend in digital advertising to stay on track with the latest news. Meanwhile, you can switch to non-intrusive advertising in e-commerce and easily find your way in the cookieless world with Marin Tracker. Check MarinOne’s GDPR FAQs and data privacy policies, and be sure you and your customers are safe.
Paid ads on social media
In 2022 already, social media made up 33% of all digital ad spending.
Let’s go through several profitable platforms for e-commerce advertisers and see how different brands leverage paid social advertising on each of those: Meta (Facebook), TikTok, and Pinterest.
Meta Ads
Meta (renamed from Facebook) still serves as the main lifeblood channel for brands. Why? Because Meta Ads have immense power to drive e-commerce sales.
There’s a tendency among e-commerce brands to use dynamic ads in a carousel format. Take a look at this one from AliExpress.
TikTok Ads
The most popular TikTok ad formats are:
- In-Feed Ad
- TopView Ad
- Brand Takeover Ad
- Spark Ad
- Branded Effect
- Branded Hashtag Challenge
For example, such companies as ASOS, Guess, ZALORA, Chipotle, and e.l.f. Cosmetics rocked their audiences with the following Branded Hashtag Challenges: #ASOSAlterEgo, #ZStyleNow, #InMyDenim, #GuacDance, and #EyesLipsFace, correspondingly.
Consider using MarinOne + TikTok for Business to expand your brand reach with paid ads on TikTok.
Pinterest Ads
Have you noticed tons of promoted Pins in your Pinterest feed? See some examples of those in the screenshot below.
Then there are Promoted Video Pins, Promoted Carousels, Buyable Pins, etc. For example, Floor & Decor increased sales performance by 3x with shopping ads on Pinterest. Familiarize yourself with the Pinterest Ad bidding system before setting up an ad campaign on this social platform. Done? Great, you’re all set to manage Pinterest Ads like a pro.
Ads automation
Automate, automate, automate. This is not a mantra to repeat. You should do this right now to keep up with your competitors in the e-commerce business. Although mentioned last, this is one of the most critical e-commerce marketing and advertising trends. Already, 96% of marketers have tried automation to promote their business or are considering it for the upcoming year.
What makes them do that?
Of course, some valuable perks marketing automation has got in store:
- Saved time and money
- Alignment of marketing and sales
- Dynamic personalization
- Smoother customer journey
- Effective budgeting for ad campaigns
- Cross-channel monitoring
- More intelligent decisions with analytics tools and more.
Gain a Competitive Advantage in E-commerce Advertising with MarinOne
So, you’ve got the list of advertising trends that will dominate e-commerce in the next 12 months. What next? It’s high time to jump on these trends and seize this opportunity to beat your online competition. Why else would you be here?
Let MarinOne take you on a tour to see how it can help you optimize your e-commerce ad campaigns with automation and data-driven reports.
