A customer comes to the e-store. From where?

Search engine inputs are responsible for the largest share of online store traffic, according to data from the platform Shoper. The role of paid search and social media, meanwhile, is growing - trends for 2018.

Knowing the sources of e-commerce traffic is crucial for the development of an online business. It allows you to understand where customers are coming from and which ones are actually making a purchase. And with this knowledge, optimize marketing activities in individual channels, increasing their reach and profitability. Therefore, we decided to analyze the traffic sources of stores using the platform Shoper.

Where do e-commerce customers come from? Organic traffic is king

Organic generates the largest share of sessions. Entries from search engines account for the vast majority, as much as 37 percent, of store traffic. On the one hand, this could mean that retailers care about ranking high in search results, on the other hand, it could mean that they neglect other channels by betting only on users who come to the store on their own. Organic traffic is responsible for more than half of traffic in industries such as hobbies (50 percent) and automotive (56 percent). By contrast, it is almost half as important for those selling clothing (26 percent) and children's products (30 percent). Organic traffic also accounts for the majority of transactions and revenue. Overall, users who enter a store from a search engine generate 38 percent of transactions. More in the hobby (49 percent), sports and travel (47 percent) and home and garden (44 percent) industries, less in fashion and beauty (33 percent each). Surprisingly few transactions are obtained from organica by computer stores - just 19 percent. For these retailers, the referral channel has a much greater impact on the number of purchases (as much as 45 percent).

Comparably, the share of organic traffic in revenue is 33 percent. Analogous to the share of transactions, the share of revenue in the hobby (47 percent) and sports and travel (48 percent) industries ranks high. Extreme low revenue owes organic traffic to computer stores (only 9 percent) and automotive (11 percent). In the case of the latter, it can be seen that the very high share of organic in sessions does not translate completely into revenue.

You want customers, you have to pay

The paid search channel today generates 19 percent of website traffic. Just a year ago, paid search results accounted for only 10 percent of sessions. This is the biggest and arguably the most important change we've seen among our stores in recent times. However, retailers still have a lot of catching up to do in optimizing their campaigns - the average conversion rate for this channel is only 1 percent. Shops selling food (3.5 percent), books and multimedia (2.2 percent) and health and beauty (1.7 percent) are doing better.

Increasingly important socials

The role of social media is growing significantly. Traffic generated by socials has increased from 15 percent (a year ago) to 18 percent (today). The most effective social media activities are carried out by the apparel industry - they account for as much as one-third of sessions, one-quarter of transactions and one-fifth of revenues. The channel also generates a lot of traffic for stores selling children's products (23 percent) and gifts and accessories (20 percent).

A direct hit on the moto industry

A high share (15 percent) of website traffic generation comes from direct entries, that is, when a user knows the address of a store and enters the site by typing in the address directly. Direct generates the most traffic for gift and accessory stores (20 percent), hobbies (19 percent) and books and multimedia (19 percent). This is a valuable channel for retailers - it allows them to assess how many customers remember the name and web address of the store. Brand awareness translates into one of the higher e-commerce conversions - more than 2 percent. Traffic from direct translates into 21 percent of transactions and 27 percent of revenue.

There is an interesting situation in the aforementioned automotive industry - while organic traffic did not translate into revenue, direct entries, accounting for 15% of sessions, generate as much as 41% of transactions and as much as 82% of revenue. Also, the e-commerce conversion rate for these stores is much higher, oscillating at 3.4 percent. The implication here is that automotive companies enjoy visits from regular customers returning to shop at stores that have earned their trust. When buying car parts, customers attach particular importance to safety and reliability, and do not want to risk buying from an untested store.

References especially in electronics

The referral channel generates one in ten sessions in stores, but proves particularly important in those selling computers (24 percent) and electronics (18 percent). Traffic in these industries translates into an exceptionally high share of transactions: computers - 45 percent and electronics - 27 percent, as well as revenue: computers - 60 percent and electronics - 32 percent. By comparison, the channel's average in transactions is 17 percent and in revenue 21 percent. The highest conversion among users accessing the site from links, however, is achieved by book stores (5.5 percent), the health and beauty industry (4.2 percent) and children's (3.2 percent). It is worth noting that both customers buying electronics, books, cosmetics or children's products look for reviews and recommendations in the media or on blogs before buying, hence the significant role of referrals for these shopping categories.

What about conversion?

E-commerce conversion is referred to as the most significant coefficient of online sales. According to our data, email campaigns have the highest effectiveness among traffic channels (4 percent). However, it should be noted that they are the least important in terms of generating website traffic (0.06 percent). There are few hits from this type of campaign, but with proper targeting of the audience, entering the site they are closer to a purchase decision.

In contrast, the highest conversion rates among industries are enjoyed by book and multimedia stores - in addition to email and display channels, they achieve higher rates, sometimes almost double, than the average for all stores.

Where is online store marketing headed?

Observing the marketing activities of stores over the past few years, we notice an increase in interest in the area of paid marketing and, at the same time, a decrease in interest in the topic of positioning. According to data from the 2015 Online Store Report, which we conduct every year. 14.8 percent of stores relied on positioning to attract customers. A year later, only 13.5 percent of stores declared such actions. I'm absolutely not suggesting here to abandon the adaptation of their stores to the requirements of the major search engines, on the contrary, one should pay attention to the so recently commented "Awesomeness" indicator. This shows the direction of the Mountain View giant, which focuses primarily on being inspiring, engaging and simply interesting for visitors. Conversely, from paid channels, extrapolating ROI will be much easier.

What's more, optimizing the site, stores should base only on the results from paid activities. Such an approach avoids costly mistakes, adjusting SEO under the behavior of a well-known target group. And only then it adequately translates into conversions.What is ahead of us in the future? Certainly, these two directions will grow: paid search and social media. The importance of paid search will probably be influenced by the tools developed by Google. Already, Google Shopping offers great opportunities - it's easier for a retailer to launch product campaigns and get meaningful results than before with plain text. We are also seeing a lot of interest in the AdWords campaign service launched last year on the Shoper platform - Shoper Campaigns. After more than a year of running campaigns for stores, we see how much our stores needed such a service. We have seen a 1,400 percent increase in customers using the campaigns we run. The platform has already generated more than PLN 8 million in revenue for clients, and the average ROAS of the campaign (target return on advertising expenditures) is 800 percent.The increased investment in marketing is a signal to me that e-tailers' awareness of sources of traffic and orders is growing. This pleases me immensely, as stores are betting on channels that are measurable and largely more predictable.

Methodology: the data comes from more than 10,000 online stores operating on the Shoper platform from January to August 2017.

Material prepared for: Marketing in Practice.