In an age where instant access to products all around the world has become mainstream the art of branding is more important than ever. This newfound love for instant gratification and impulse shopping makes navigating the future of eCommerce more complicated than ever before. With the barrier of entry as low as it is, the industry is more saturated than ever, and it has been increasingly more difficult to stand out from the crowd. In this article, we will share with you the secrets to upgrading your online eCommerce brand image that is sustainable and allows you to scale to higher highs.
Why work on your brand image? In eCommerce, your store is everything. How your store feels and flows determines how your customers interact and feel out your brand. This feel directly influences how your customer or lead proceeds to purchase or take your offer. Did you know 46% of American small businesses still don’t have a website? Considering this alone, branding gives you an instant edge over your competitors.
What goes into building a brand? When you think of branding, you probably picture visuals like colors, logos, and the design of your store. While visuals are important, they aren’t the only components in creating a successful brand. From a psychological standpoint, branding is how your products and business make a customer feel - is it good, bad, neutral? When implemented correctly, branding gives potential and past customers a clear idea of what you offer, your values, and what makes you different from the rest of the eCommerce brands they could buy from.
Getting started with branding The first thing you need to do is define your target market. These are a group of people that you will target, market towards, and potentially buy from you repeatedly. Finding your target market is important because, without a specific group of people in mind, you will end up targeting the wrong people which could have negative effects on your business. If you need help with this, don’t hesitate to give us a call above. When you know who likes and wants your product you can then develop a brand look and feel that speaks directly to them. When creating the look and feel you need to take into account traits like, what is their age range? Where do they work? What are their dreams? Creating a brand around more than just visuals creates brands that stand out from the crowd. When getting started or re-evaluating your brand ask yourself these four questions. What is your companies’ mission? What value do your products or services provide the market? What do people already think about you? What qualities do you want people to associate with your brand?
Once you can answer these questions, you can move on to how to implement these into building a solid brand. Picture
Brands that stand out and have exceptionally good branding take time to make content everything. Brands' content is what makes them memorable. People don’t remember what they read on websites or where they got that information from. They remember the visuals and colors associated with that website. Good high-quality content also creates immense trust for the brand if done right. If people see different colors and visuals and content with your brand they will get mixed messages and start feeling a lack of trust in your brand and bounce from your website never to be seen again. Once you hone in your visuals and messages, it's important to use them repeatedly and ingrain your message in everyone who visits your website. This means using them in banners, emails, social media, and every place you can to make sure you are coming across as a professional and well-put-together brand.
One branding tip that’s incredibly overlooked is getting feedback from your customers. Most brands like to guess and sometimes split test different messages. Even though this is better than nothing, it's much easier to just go straight to the sources. eCommerce brands rely heavily on the satisfaction of your customers and asking them how you can improve your service will give you direct insight on how you can position yourself to make the customer experience better.
As well as asking directly, you can also use software and tools to get a detailed breakdown of your customer’s behavior throughout the sales funnel. This doesn’t give as much information, but it’s better than guessing or spending money split testing. Asking for feedback then displaying it on your website is a powerful tool. Leveraging customer testimonials, reviews, and feedback not only improves your brand image but increases the brand's social proof. As we know social proof is important to creating a sustainable long-term brand that gets people excited. When people see other liking and enjoying your brand it creates a sense of FOMO and gets people wanting to be a part of you and your brand. Branding is key for long-term sustainability. It might be difficult to stand out in eCommerce today, but it’s doable. If you don’t know where to begin creating or redefining a brand that represents you and everything you want your business to be known for it might be worth getting help from a reputable agency. They can help craft messages that resonate with your target audience and create graphics that are designed to impress anyone who interacts with you or your brand. This combined with marketing can take your brand to the next level and help create that edge you have been looking for. Key Takeaways
The eCommerce industry is growing faster than ever
Branding is incredibly important to gain a competitive advantage in any niche
Branding isn’t limited to your logo or visuals, it drives deep into your message
Consistency in branding is key to long term growth
Customer feedback is an undervalued tool
One branding tip that’s incredibly overlooked is getting feedback from your customers. Most brands like to guess and sometimes split test different messages. Even though this is better than nothing, it's much easier to just go straight to the sources.