How to Break into New Markets with an Ecommerce Store

Most training companies offer brilliant in-person options. But, you saw the writing on the wall. You knew the world was moving digital. You knew you needed to invest in a learning management system (LMS). Now, you’re worried your LMS isn’t helping you expand your market reach as expected.

Unfortunately simply installing an LMS isn’t enough to break into new markets — you need an ecommerce storefront.

Luckily, BenchPrep built an ecommerce integration directly into our platform. You just need to enable it. This blog post will give you some advanced tips and tricks to ramp up your digital marketing with an ecommerce store.

The Nitty Gritty SEO Behind Digital Product Pages

Digital product pages are your ticket for reaching new markets. But, you'll need search engine optimization (SEO) to make global reach a reality.

How can your ecommerce store make this dream come true?

One simple feature — The ability to change all of your labels.

When we talk about labelling for SEO, we don’t just mean the product name. Google also searches for keywords in your url, title page, navigation links, and metadata. An ecommerce platform designed for SEO, like the BenchPrep integration, will allow you to change all of these labels independently.

You’ll want the generic term to appear in most of those locations because those are the terms learners. They tend to search Google for words like “sales training,” not your course title.

To rank higher on Google, you want the ability to label as much of your product page as possible generically.

🔎Related Reading: How to Turn Learning Science Concepts into Profitable eLearning Products [On-Demand Webinar]

Supercharge Your Marketing

Maybe you’re already using Google Analytics or buying ads from social media sites. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get more bang out of these advertising dollars?

You can, with your ecommerce Store. Here are few ways your ecommerce store integrates with other digital marketing tools:

Google Analytics already has a remarketing tool. Your ecommerce store will automatically export anyone viewing your products to Google analytics. Soon, your audience will see ads for your products across the web, not just on your ecommerce store.

Facebook pixel marketing takes retargeting your audience one step farther. With pixel marketing, potential buyers will automatically see targeted ads from your ecommerce store in their Facebook feed.

🔎Wondering about other marketing techniques for your learning program? Download our On-Demand Office Hours: How to Market Your Learning with Amanda Wynne!

What about email marketing?

Collecting email addresses presents a huge opportunity. With an email, you can begin building a relationship with your target client.

Your ecommerce store presents another opportunity to be given that all important email. When buyers abandon their carts, you can set up trigger emails to ask them if they still want their product. And, if they purchase a product, then your data analytics present a whole new opportunity for upselling and cross selling.  

Grow Revenue with Data Analytics

You need to go beyond breaking into a new market to becoming a market leader. To do that, you need repeat customers. Your ecommerce store data analytics will help give you exactly that in two ways. It’ll make it easy for your both upsell and cross sell your products.  

🔎If you haven’t explored your LMS’s other data analytics, check out our blog post, Find Data Intimidating? How to Pull the Best Data from Your LMS.

Cross selling

Your ecommerce platform makes cross selling incredibly easy. Your clients will see similar or suggested products as links at the bottom of the product page.

Suggestions for types of products to cross sell:

• Bundled courses: Package multiple resources on the same topic. Or, package multiple levels together (i.e. a discount for purchases Level I, II, and III).
• Different modalities: Sell a textbook version, a digital version hosted on your LMS, and a blended version of the same course.
• Train-the-trainer versions: Design a version of your course to help businesses learn how to train their own employees.

Upselling

The opportunities for upselling are even greater with an ecommerce store. You can offer add ons through your checkout process. Or, you can use email marketing to recommend these types of products.

Great educational addons:

• Access to a microlearning platform like BenchPrep Engage.
• Subscription access to all of your content.
• Ability to contact an expert or discussion group participation.  
• Micro Credentialing products — mix & match 3 or 4 courses for a certificate.

An ecommerce platform not only automates your upselling. It personalizes it. Data analytics give you the option to send emails alerting clients to recommended products. This option will keep your business growing for months and years to come.

What are you waiting for?

Your LMS has an ecommerce integration waiting to be explored. You could be harnessing the power of SEO within minutes. Or, maybe you want to link your Google Analytics to your LMS. Try some of the new functionality today to break into new markets.

If you’re looking for more advice on how to grow your business, look no farther. Download our ebook, Dreaming of Recurring Revenue? Engage Learners Continuously.