E-commerce sites are generally very niche-focused.
E-commerce startups that identify a gap in the market for a particular product,
service, or idea are successful. They market themselves as leaders in the
provision of these niche products or services. Niche products and services also
mean the existence of an audience with niche interests. For this reason,
determining the right audience is of vital importance in e-commerce. Finding
and attracting this audience represents a challenging process.
What is the Target Audience?
An important factor for a business venture is the target
audience is the people who respond to the marketing message. The target
audience can sometimes be the end user; However, the end user cannot always be
seen as a target audience. For example; The target audience of a baby product
is babies; but it is necessary to address the original parents. The target
audience of a gift product is both the person to whom the gift will be given
and the people who will give it. Therefore, the target audience in marketing
campaigns should not be considered only as end users. Companies must appeal to
the target audience effectively to sell their products. For this, they need to
understand their desires and needs.
Defining the Target Audience
It is not possible to market products and services
effectively if it is not known to whom the marketing is done in commercial
activities. There is no such thing as “average marketing”. Every advertisement,
every content, or every social media post must be interesting compared to
others. When defining the target audience, those who may be interested in the
products or services offered should be focused on. For example; Offering
products that middle-aged people are interested in to a young audience is a
waste of time and will lead to unnecessary costs.
Marketing costs are increasing with the introduction of new
trend advertising techniques. Many businesses; cannot afford marketing spend
that will not be effective in increasing sales, conversions, and profits. So,
it is necessary to spend marketing budgets wisely. Narrowing the market and
focusing only on the target audience that is statistically most likely to
convert can help businesses grow and thrive. For this reason, among potential
customers visiting the e-commerce site, only the audience that makes purchases
should be focused on.
Here are some tips to identify your target audience and keep
them engaged:
• The first step in determining the target audience is to
know and understand the products or services the business offers. “What does
the product do?”, “Who will demand it?” Questions such as these should be
answered.
• A niche e-commerce site needs a niche audience. Therefore,
special content should be created to capture the specific interests of the
niche audience.
• Established
businesses should use existing customer information rather than conducting
an audience analysis from scratch. Real data should be taken into account about
who can offer which product and which audience will or will not be interested
in the products.
• Who has purchased products or services in the past should
be examined. Even if a new target audience identification is required, the old
customer base will still provide insight.
• Visiting
the website or store in the marketplace with some target audience analysis
tools; however, it is possible to create a database and focus on this audience
by determining the audience whose visits do not turn into purchases.
• Determining what type of audience the competition in the
industry focuses on is also a good way to define a new target audience. For
this, competitors' websites can be examined. The contents and texts they
publish regularly should be examined; blog posts should be checked.
Things to Consider in E-Commerce Target Audience Analysis
The audience focused on in target audience analysis in
e-commerce should not only be the audience that is likely to buy the product.
For example; It would be insufficient to determine women between the ages of 25
and 45 as the target audience for a high-quality make-up product. It is
necessary to consider that not only the women who will use this product but
also their siblings, boyfriends, spouses, or mothers and fathers can buy this
product as a gift. For this reason, when analyzing the target audience, it
should be taken into account that the target audience may change at certain
times.
In target audience analysis, the next stage after
determining the target audience is to attract this audience to the brand or
products and make them interested. For this, it is necessary to create content
that is of interest to the audience. Well-defined, well-analyzed target markets
and audiences can be part of an ideal marketing campaign.
In target audience analysis, it is necessary to pay
attention to the following;
• Before the target audience analysis, the product should be
determined in every detail and then the target audience study should be carried
out.
• It should be investigated which needs the offered products
and services meet or what value they add to the target audience.
• It should be determined what the target audience is
interested in, which sites they follow, and on which social platforms they are
active.
• Competitors' activities on all types of commercial
platforms should be examined in detail; Content and marketing plans should be
created accordingly.
• After the target audience analysis, a customer profile
should be created and the target audience should be defined with demographic
and psychographic information.
In conclusion; Selling in e-commerce or online marketplaces
is not just about offering products or services. It is necessary to advertise
the product, analyze and determine the target audience, and finally determine
the channels to deliver the product to the target audience. If target audience
analysis is not done with appropriate techniques, it may not be possible to
achieve marketing goals.
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