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6 must-have martech platforms and tools for your ecommerce business

Are you fulfilling your marketing potential? If the answer is no, then it is time to try a new approach. 

Nowadays, it is all about harnessing technology to deliver on your marketing goals. And we want to help you get the most out of your martech stacks and platforms. 

But, the wide selection of digital tools available now for businesses means that it is hard to know where to focus your marketing strategies. 

Hopefully, we can help you realize the benefits of marketing automation tools and enable you to choose the ones that suit your business.  

So, what’s a martech stack?

A martech stack or platform is a grouping of digital tools that enables marketers to automate and streamline various marketing functions. 

They come in various shapes and sizes depending on your business’s scope and goals. The use of SaaS martech platforms is on the rise but they are not as ubiquitous as you might think. 

Ascend2, a marketing research firm conducted studies showing that while 38% of B2B and B2C respondents prioritize martech stacks, only 19% have a martech stack strategy ready to go. 

Why is martech important? 

If you get set up with the right martech software today you will have an advantage over your competitors. 

For ecommerce businesses, it is essential to be taking advantage of martech tools such as loyalty programs, social media and ecommerce analytics.  

A martech stack allows you to get a full scope of top-tier tools to engage your new and existing customers the right way. Additionally, you will be able to integrate them and use them to make all areas of your marketing thrive. 

So, what tools will help your business most? 

📧 Email service providers (ESPs)

Email is a tried and tested method of securing and growing your customer base. 

Even today, in an ever-expanding world of communication, email marketing continues to show a better ROI compared to all other marketing channels. 

We know how important it is to have a dynamic email service provider in a robust martech stack. 

Here’s a list of ESPs we integrate with:

⭐️ Reviews

Reviews are important because they build up your reputation and helps new customers come to a decision about your brand faster.

You will also get an SEO boost. Ecommerce websites with customer reviews rank higher for long-tail searches because they use words and phrases similar to the phrasal keywords used by the buyer. 

Here’s a list of reviews platforms we integrate with: 

Having a clear mobile shopping app strategy is key because that’s where most customers are doing their shopping today.  In 2019 around 2 billion people made a purchase from their mobile phone. 

📱 Mobile shopping apps

Here are the mobile shopping apps we integrate with: 

  • SMSBump –  SMSBump allows merchants to send SMS notifications, providing a direct line to the customers
  • Plobal Apps –  With data-driven insights, Plobal Apps help merchants build a mobile app for their store

📸 Social media

Why is social media a good marketing tool? Because every business uses it to reach customers and build a community around their product or service.

When adding social media into your martech stack, we recommend focussing on the channels where your customers shop and engage with their friends the most (Instagram is important, but if your customer base is present on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube – these are also places you should be appearing). 

Social media can also be integrated across your other martech tools such as ESPs, reviews and mobile apps to make them more effective. 

These vital tools can help maintain brand consistency, promote user-generated content and build advocacy. 

🎁 Loyalty programs

Loyalty programs are important because they retain your most valuable shoppers, keep customer engagement high and can be used to improve your acquisition rates. With one, you can reward your customers with points and rewards for every purchase or engagement.

They’re also versatile. They can be integrated with social media, your ESP, reviews provider and much more – helping you to elevate all parts of your tech stack. 

For example, you could reward customers for a social follow or for making a successful referral over social media – turning them into advocates and micro-influencers of your brand. This can help you get seen by more shoppers and develop a loyal base of customers. See how the biggest brands in ecommerce have built loyalty programs by downloading the LoyaltyLion Hall of Fame.

📈 Ecommerce analytics

You probably already use Google Analytics and are aware of how useful it can be. But it can only get you so far. To truly take advantage of the sophisticated ecommerce analytics available today you need to go beyond Google.

Here are some tools you could use: 

  • Glew.io – creates a one-stop picture of your customers
  • LoyaltyLion campaigns and insights – to A/B test different messaging for differing segments

These analytics will give you real insights that will help increase your ability to efficiently serve your customers.  

How can you use martech platforms to grow your business

We have shown you examples of martech platforms and tools available today that indicate the plethora of ways you can choose to scale your business. 

We believe you can render your marketing problems down into manageable segments with technology and start scaling your business in a more robust way with tools like our free ecommerce analytics app. 

About the author

Mollie Woolnough-Rai

Mollie is a Senior Content Marketing Executive at LoyaltyLion. After graduating from UCL in 2016, she has worked both in-house and at marketing agencies providing expertise in content for both B2B and B2C clients. At LoyaltyLion, Mollie manages our content, making sure our readers get the best quality resources about customer loyalty and retention.

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