Online store: The top trends and tips for 2017

Ranking high in the Google rankings and addressing the interests of potential customers correctly at all times - this is the only way entrepreneurs can stand out from the crowd these days and achieve profitable success. The prerequisite for this is the right online marketing strategy. But this sounds easier than it is, because hardly any market is as hotly contested and at the same time as fast-moving as online retail. This makes it all the more important not to miss trends in digital marketing and to always be up to date. What developments store operators and webmasters need to be prepared for in 2017, the experts from the online marketing agency Lion Strong summarized:Mobile SEO A trend that has persisted for years is mobile - and this area will continue to grow in 2017. Therefore, an ever greater focus should be placed on mobile SEO. At the moment, everything runs via a crawler. Content that ranks well on the desktop is also ranked well by Google on mobile, as long as it is responsive.Simpler purchase process In search engine advertising (SEA), too, there is no way around mobile. After all, the first point of contact between the retailer and the potential customer is usually mobile. In the context of SEA, the entire customer journey will move more into the foreground in 2017, instead of just individual contact points. In order to specifically address the customer's wishes, the content should be adapted to the customer's interest - depending on which phase of the customer journey he is currently in and the associated goal. If, for example, a potential customer in the research phase is looking for all the models currently available from a manufacturer, then he should be offered an overview of the models and not specific individual product information that does not interest him. In addition, the information should be provided to him on all channels - PC, smartphone, tablet, social media, Google, etc. Due to the mobile trend, the development in 2017 will go towards an even simpler purchasing process, e.g. via a one-click system...Experience Design The goal of every online retailer is to differentiate their own online store from the others and to retain users in the long term. Experience design is the new 2017 trend in usability. It means telling a story during the buying process and thus actively supporting users in their decision to buy from the store. The retailer achieves this best by creating an emotional shopping world and making the user curious. A male target group, for example, is more likely to be motivated to buy if the purchase becomes a "hunt". This can be achieved by placing them in a hunting environment in the online store. This feeling can already be achieved with appropriate wording such as 'want to have', instead of 'add to cart', 'bare facts', instead of 'product information' or 'prey', instead of 'cart / products'. In this trend, more attention is paid to the target audience. In addition, personalized product streams - search filters predefined by the store operator, such as price or manufacturer - should be used for registered users. Configurators for individual products should also be offered to interested parties.One-to-one concept in email marketingThe best newsletter is useless if it ends up unseen in the spam folder. Email marketers have been able to avoid this problem by avoiding spam-catching features such as misleading text links or typical spam terms. But in the future, this alone will no longer be enough. Some email programs have already started to automatically unsubscribe unread newsletters if the recipient does not read or ignores these emails several times. Therefore, in 2017 it will be even more important to pay attention to suitable sending times and to provide content tailored to the recipient and individual offers in the newsletter. One-to-one marketing is the big keyword here. The one-to-one marketing concept focuses on the individual customer relationship, so that the customer is addressed individually. In addition, e-mail marketing is currently in the transition phase to responsive design. The major providers are currently revising their e-mail presentation. For marketers, this means always keeping an eye on and optimizing the correct and user-friendly presentation of their emails in 2017.