• by Sebastian Aroca , December 29, 2011

If your business provides products or services targeted to the U.S. Hispanic market, you will want to follow some basic tips that will help you to reach your business goals and increase your profits at the same time.

What you can do

To increase your sales to Hispanics in the U.S., begin by accurately quantify how many consumers in that demographic are already part of your current customer base. This is a figure you can use later on to determine how effective your new marketing techniques have been once they are put in place.

Here are some marketing steps you can take to reach Hispanics in the U.S.:

• If possible and within budget constraints, consider the use of Hispanic celebrities to be your brand Ambassadors. This will create unique branded content that drives ratings for media partners.


• Include social and mobile content. According to a recent presentation by Mark Lopez, Google’s head of U.S. Hispanic audiences, at Versailles Breakfast Club (VBC) in Miami, 86% of U.S. Hispanics use broadband, and the smart phone adoption among U.S. Hispanics is 45%, compared to a 34% of the general population.


• Include digital and video content. During the same presentation at VBC, Mark Lopez said that 73% of U.S. Hispanics are on YouTube, and 93% of U.S. Hispanics are Google users.


• If you have issued coupons or made similar offers, the number of items that have been redeemed will be a good indicator of how receptive this demographic has been. You can make coupons available online (in your website or other sites) and in print (direct mail or in inserts).


• You can also provide your customers with some form of digital or hard-copy sales information that will interest them (both in English and Spanish). Then, based on their response (or lack thereof), you can calculate how many people are part of your U.S. Hispanic clientele at that time.


• In regard to those customers who already buy your products or services, analyze statistics such as your email responses and credit card information. The percentage of new records, when compared to your past average records, will help you determine your Hispanic marketing strategy in the future.


• One very good way to boost your e-commerce sales in the U.S. Hispanic market is having an adequate number of employees who speak Spanish, and if they are bi-lingual, that’s even better.

Remember also that, in a business setting, the ability to converse fluently in Spanish surpasses any skill those on your staff may have in reading and writing the language. If that ability is lacking, your access to the Spanish-preferred or Spanish-dominant U.S. market will be limited or virtually non-existent.

Maintaining the customer base you have

If you are unable to communicate effectively with your Hispanic customers in the U.S., you may find that you are losing some of the customers you already have, much less see an increase in sales with that targeted demographic. Being certain that you have employees who can work in a multicultural environment and provide customer, sales and technical support by speaking English and Spanish is essential in welcoming U.S. Hispanics as an important segment of the e-commerce marketplace. Cultural Relevance and Language Accessibility go hand-by-hand.

Your next Hispanic marketing step

Once you are certain that the lines of communication are open and that you offer an outstanding level of service to your customers, you will also want them to know that they have access to content that is culturally relevant to them. Also, when they visit your website, make it clear that customer support in Spanish is readily available as well as English, and that they can gain access to it quickly and easily at any time. This can be done through the use of a browser pop-up window, or by inserting a special graphic or hyperlink where it can be found on your home page with little difficulty.

Adding a “Click to chat” or “Live Chat” with an option to Spanish live support is a plus. Many “Live Chat” options allow you to configure it this way by choosing two departments (one for Spanish Customer Support and another English Customer Support.

If your U.S. Hispanic customers can tell that you value their business and offer your support and services in both languages, you should also assure them that the details they provide online are secure. This can be done by posting relevant information about your company’s concern for preserving their privacy and security. Otherwise, some potential customers may be very reluctant to conduct business transactions via the internet, and your sales numbers will remain flat.

What you may not know

Unfortunately, there are only a few techniques for promoting low-cost or no-cost e-commerce market expansion to Hispanics in the U.S.. By using very little capital, your company can grow any targeted demographic market base if you plan carefully. Also, by following the few basic steps mentioned above and making some simple changes to your advertising and marketing material, along with your customer correspondence, you will find that your sales numbers in the U.S. Hispanic market have increased steadily and significantly.

Hope this article provides you with some insights for growing your e-commerce sites with U.S. Hispanics. I’d be interested to read any questions and comments regarding this post, as well as other tips that were not presented here.