BigCommerce is a cloud-based platform that allows businesses to create and operate online stores. It provides a range of features and tools to manage the entire e-commerce experience, including website design, product catalog management, payment processing, order fulfillment, shipping integration, and marketing and SEO tools.
BigCommerce is known for its scalability and flexible customization options, making it a popular choice for businesses of all sizes looking to build and grow an online store. It is also one of the world’s most popular e-commerce platforms. Its powerful, user-friendly interface gives businesses of all sizes everything they need to build a thriving e-commerce brand.
To get the most out of your BigCommerce store, you must also implement a comprehensive BigCommerce strategy. In this article, we’ll discuss how to do exactly that.
Explore more in our digital marketing guide and social media marketing resources.
Preparation Checklist
Let’s go over a quick preparation checklist before diving into your strategy:
- Market research: it’s a good idea to understand the latest e-commerce trends for growth in 2022. This will help you to identify your priorities and discover what kind of features and services your customers currently expect.
- Strengths and weaknesses: analyze your current performance and prioritize the areas that need the most work. Then, outline your specific marketing goals for the year ahead.
- Choose the right theme: A professional and appealing theme is essential for a profitable BigCommerce store. Choose a BigCommerce theme that’s fast, customizable, and mobile-friendly and tailor the design to your specific needs.
- Get the right apps: from marketing automation to streamlined shipping and improved customer loyalty, many of your processes can be given a boost with BigCommerce third-party integrations. Check them out and add the ones that could be useful for your BigCommerce store.
With this preparation done, let’s check out some of the proven BigCommerce strategies to drive shoppers to your store.
1. Utilize Marketing Automation
Integrate robust marketing automation tools with your BigCommerce store to save time on repetitive tasks. Depending on your needs and goals, you can try a variety of automation techniques. However, the following features could benefit any BigCommerce store:
- Abandoned cart recovery: recapturing customers who added items to their cart but did not complete the purchase. Send an email, an SMS, a push notification, or a combination of the three.
- Welcome emails: bring new subscribers into the fold with your brand story and tempting deals for a first purchase. Keeping customers engaged and informed is crucial for building trust in the long term.
- Omnichannel marketing: this gives your customers an integrated, personalized experience and allows you to reach out on the channels where they feel most comfortable. Follow up a promotional email, for example, with an SMS offering time-sensitive discounts.
- Birthday emails: make subscribers feel valued on their special day with special deals and discounts.
BigCommerce automation is essential for increasing your efficiency, accuracy, and productivity. Delegate repetitive marketing tasks to your marketing automation platform to free up time for more strategic thinking.
2. Focus on Referral Marketing
Word-of-mouth marketing has always been one of the most effective forms of advertising. People who share their positive experiences with their friends, family, and social media followers are more likely to be listened to and trusted. In fact, 71% of people are more likely to buy something after seeing it on social media. For a deeper dive, explore our guide on Omnichannel Marketing.
As a result, referral marketing is an important part of your BigCommerce marketing strategy. The first step is to provide the kinds of experiences that encourage people to recommend your brand to others. Making a lasting impression requires things like friendly communication, helpful support, informative welcome messages, and other personalized services.
URL structure optimization is one of the most impactful BigCommerce SEO decisions. BigCommerce allows custom URL structures for categories and products — take full advantage by creating clean, keyword-rich URLs that describe the content accurately.
Category page SEO is chronically under-optimized on most BigCommerce stores. Category pages aggregate authority from their child product pages and often rank for high-volume head terms. Each category page should have: unique keyword-optimized meta title and description, a 200-400 word introductory text block targeting the category’s primary keyword, and a clear content structure.
Product page structured data enables rich results — star ratings, price, availability — directly in search results. BigCommerce supports Product schema natively, but many stores fail to populate all available fields.
BigCommerce Performance Optimization for Conversion and Rankings
Page speed on BigCommerce directly impacts both SEO rankings (Core Web Vitals) and conversion rates. The highest-impact optimizations:
- Image compression and WebP format: Product images are typically the largest page weight contributor. Converting to WebP and implementing lazy loading can reduce page weight by 40-60%
- Theme optimization: Bloated BigCommerce themes with excessive CSS and JavaScript significantly slow rendering. Audit theme files and remove unused code
- Third-party app audit: Each installed BigCommerce app that loads scripts on every page adds load time. Quarterly app audits eliminate performance drag from forgotten integrations
- CDN configuration: BigCommerce’s built-in CDN accelerates asset delivery globally — ensure it’s properly configured for your primary markets
Our eCommerce SEO services guide and Shopify optimization guide provide complementary frameworks. For BigCommerce platform documentation, BigCommerce’s official SEO best practices guide is the authoritative reference for platform-specific configurations.
BigCommerce Email Marketing Integration: Recovering Abandoned Carts
BigCommerce’s native email marketing integrations — Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Omnisend — enable sophisticated abandoned cart recovery, post-purchase sequences, and customer retention campaigns that significantly improve revenue per visitor.
Abandoned cart email sequences are the highest-ROI email automation for any BigCommerce store. Industry benchmarks show abandoned cart email sequences recovering 5-15% of abandoned carts. A three-email sequence — sent at 1 hour, 24 hours, and 72 hours after abandonment — consistently outperforms single-email recovery efforts. The 72-hour email should include a modest discount or shipping incentive to recover price-sensitive abandoners.
Post-purchase sequences build the repeat purchase behavior that defines profitable eCommerce operations. A well-designed post-purchase sequence: (1) order confirmation with product care/usage tips; (2) shipping notification with tracking; (3) 2-week post-delivery review request; (4) 45-day replenishment reminder for consumable products; (5) 60-day cross-sell recommendation based on purchase category. This sequence runs automatically once configured — building customer lifetime value without ongoing manual effort.
BigCommerce Analytics: Measuring What Matters
BigCommerce’s built-in analytics, combined with Google Analytics 4, provides the data foundation for ongoing optimization. The metrics that drive actionable decisions:
- Conversion rate by traffic source: Organic, paid, email, and direct traffic convert at different rates — understanding these differences guides budget allocation
- Revenue per visitor: The ultimate efficiency metric that combines traffic quality and conversion rate into a single actionable number
- Cart abandonment rate by page: Where in the checkout flow are customers dropping off? Each abandonment point identifies a specific friction to address
- Product page conversion rate: Which products are driving disproportionate revenue relative to traffic? These winners deserve additional photography, copy, and promotional investment
- Search query data from Google Search Console: What are customers searching for to find your store? These queries guide both SEO optimization and product catalog expansion decisions
Connecting BigCommerce data to Google Analytics 4 via Enhanced eCommerce tracking unlocks the full purchase funnel visibility needed for data-driven optimization decisions.
The Evolution of Digital Marketing: From Traditional to Modern Approaches
Digital marketing has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past two decades, evolving from simple banner advertisements and email campaigns to sophisticated, data-driven strategies that leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning. Understanding this evolution provides valuable context for developing effective modern marketing strategies that resonate with today’s consumers.
The early days of digital marketing were characterized by interruptive advertising tactics that prioritized visibility over relevance. Companies spent significant budgets on display ads that reached broad audiences but delivered limited engagement. As consumer behavior shifted and technology advanced, marketers began recognizing the value of permission-based marketing and targeted approaches that delivered personalized messages to specific audience segments.
Today’s digital marketing landscape demands integrated approaches that combine multiple channels and tactics into cohesive customer experiences. The most successful businesses recognize that modern consumers interact with brands through complex, non-linear journeys that span multiple devices and platforms. Meeting customers where they are requires sophisticated targeting capabilities, real-time personalization, and seamless cross-channel experiences.
The integration of marketing technology has enabled unprecedented levels of automation and optimization, allowing marketers to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time. These capabilities have transformed marketing from an art to a science, enabling continuous improvement based on real-time performance data and predictive analytics.
Strategic Content Development for Search Engine Success
Content remains the foundation of successful digital marketing, serving as the primary mechanism for attracting organic traffic, building brand authority, and engaging target audiences. Developing a comprehensive content strategy requires understanding search intent, creating valuable resources, and optimizing for both search engines and human readers.
Effective content addresses specific search queries while providing genuine value to readers. This requires deep understanding of your audience’s needs, questions, and pain points. The best content answers questions comprehensively, provides actionable insights, and offers unique perspectives that readers cannot find elsewhere.
Content optimization extends beyond keyword placement to include structural elements, readability, and multimedia integration. Well-structured content with clear headings, bullet points, and visual elements performs better in search results while delivering superior user experiences. Mobile optimization is particularly critical as mobile traffic continues growing.
Content promotion and distribution are equally important as creation. Even excellent content delivers limited results if target audiences cannot discover it. Strategic distribution leverages social media, email marketing, influencer partnerships, and paid promotion to maximize content reach and impact.
Data Analytics and Performance Measurement Fundamentals
Modern marketing success depends heavily on sophisticated analytics capabilities that enable data-driven decision making. Understanding which metrics matter most and how they connect to business outcomes allows continuous optimization of marketing efforts and improved return on investment.
Essential marketing metrics include traffic volume and sources, engagement rates, conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, and lifetime value. Each metric provides insights into different aspects of marketing performance, and comprehensive analysis reveals the full picture of marketing effectiveness.
Attribution modeling helps marketers understand how different touchpoints contribute to conversions. Multi-touch attribution provides more accurate pictures of customer journeys than last-click attribution, enabling better allocation of marketing budgets across channels and campaigns.
Advanced analytics approaches segment data by multiple dimensions to identify patterns and opportunities that aggregate data might miss. Understanding audience segments, channel performance, and campaign effectiveness enables continuous optimization and improved results over time.
Building Brand Authority Through Thought Leadership
Establishing thought leadership in your industry provides significant competitive advantages, including increased brand awareness, customer trust, and organic visibility. Thought leadership requires consistent creation of valuable content that demonstrates expertise and unique insights.
Effective thought leadership content addresses emerging trends, challenges conventional wisdom, and provides actionable guidance that readers can apply to their own situations. This type of content positions your brand as an authority that audiences can trust for reliable information and guidance.
Building thought leadership requires sustained effort over time, with consistent publication of high-quality content that addresses relevant industry topics. The most successful thought leadership strategies identify unique perspectives and expertise areas that differentiate your brand from competitors.
Distribution amplifies thought leadership impact. Strategic promotion through social media, email marketing, industry publications, and speaking opportunities extends reach and builds recognition among target audiences.
Maximizing Return on Marketing Investment
Proving and maximizing marketing return on investment requires clear objectives, sophisticated tracking, and continuous optimization. The most successful marketing organizations treat marketing as an investment that must deliver measurable returns rather than an expense that cannot be quantified.
ROI calculation requires understanding customer lifetime value, acquisition costs, and the contribution of marketing activities to revenue generation. These calculations enable informed budget allocation decisions and help identify the most effective marketing tactics for your specific business.
Continuous testing and optimization improve marketing performance over time. A/B testing, multivariate testing, and iterative improvement processes enable identification of optimal approaches and continuous enhancement of marketing effectiveness.
Marketing automation improves efficiency while enabling personalization at scale. Automating routine tasks frees marketing teams to focus on strategic initiatives while maintaining consistent customer experiences across touchpoints.
Future-Proofing Your Digital Marketing Strategy
The digital marketing landscape continues evolving rapidly, with emerging technologies, changing consumer behaviors, and new platforms creating both challenges and opportunities. Future-proofing your strategy requires staying current with trends while maintaining focus on fundamental marketing principles.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning continue transforming marketing capabilities, enabling more sophisticated targeting, personalization, and optimization. Businesses that embrace these technologies gain competitive advantages through improved efficiency and effectiveness.
Privacy regulations and changes to third-party cookies require adaptation of tracking and targeting approaches. First-party data strategies and consent-based marketing become increasingly important as the industry transitions to a privacy-focused environment.
Voice search, visual search, and AI-powered search experiences create new optimization requirements. Adapting content and technical strategies for these emerging search modalities positions businesses for success in evolving search environments.
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By Guy Sheetrit
- Apr 17, 2023
By Guy Sheetrit
