Branding Tips for Ecommerce Businesses

This guest blog was written by a representative from noissue.co.

Ecommerce stores have a lot going for them, which is why the ecommerce industry is growing at an astounding rate. Cumulative data from Statista suggests that the online selling industry will top $4.8 trillion by 2021. This is up from $1.3 trillion in 2008, representing a 269% increase in just over a decade. With that kind of success, it’s easy to think that all it takes is creating an account, listing your items, and kicking back while the cash flows in the door.

Well, as any experienced ecommerce seller knows, there’s a lot more going on, especially when it comes to maintaining a strong brand presence in an online world. A lot of major retailers have it easier, because at the end of the day a customer can always walk into their local store and exchange an item or talk to someone in person. To maintain an ecommerce brand, however, you need to be a little bit more creative, active, and attentive.

Here are our top four ways to improve your brand presentation as an ecommerce seller.

Illustrate Your Brand Attributes

Presentation is all about who you are and what you do, and without these defined, it’s hard for customers to have a clear reason to care about your brand! Think about it like style and personality and picture your brand walking down the street. When it comes to brand presentation, customers will often take their cues from how you look and what you say. This is why it’s important to lay out your fundamental brand attributes as follows:

1. Define your values
This can be as a brand or as a person, but having convictions and values is incredibly helpful in defining the direction your brand will take. If you’re big on being environmentally conscious, make it a point of pride in your brand! If you want to give back to the community, incorporate it into your sales structure or in where you source your products. If you can walk the walk and talk the talk, you’ll have a better idea of where your brand is going.

2. State your benefits
What are you providing that others aren’t? Why would a potential customer choose you over someone else? This isn’t meant as a competitive exercise, but making it clear what you offer is important, even if it’s something simple.

3. Identify your purpose
After the dust settles and your profits are counted, what makes your brand tick? You need to identify what the intrinsic purpose of your company is beyond the numbers. While at the beginning of any ecommerce experience, the numbers are incredibly important. But the best brands maintain longevity because they have a fundamental goal that exists outside of the world of sales. To sum it up: what does your store offer the world beyond the products you sell?

Proof your User Experience

User experience (UX) is often taken as the design of a webpage, but it’s is just as important when considering how your customers interact with you as a company, how they perceive your products, and whether or not they make a purchase. Take a step back and imagine the online buying process: from arriving to your online store to eventually purchasing (or not!). What caused them to click away? What were they looking for that they couldn’t find?

Often times, the difference between someone completing their purchase has a lot to do with the path they took to get there. To you, it’s straightforward; after all, you helped design the process. However, take a look as an outsider. Are you price-competitive? Was there enough opportunity to talk to a real person regarding your goods? With good user experience comes positive associations for your brand and an increased likelihood that a customer will recommend your business to their friends. Keep that in mind, because we’ll be touching on this a lot more!

Primp your Packaging

It’s been said time and time again, and you’ve probably heard it all too much, but there’s a reason for that! Your brand presentation as an ecommerce business relies heavily on the final product that arrives on your customers doorstep. By shipping direct to consumer, you have the perfect opportunity to make your brand stand out, and to give them an exciting and memorable experience that, again they will want to share with others.

Let’s dial it back to the basics: 40% of online shoppers say that branded packaging makes them more likely to recommend a product to a friend. Furthermore, 49 percent of online shoppers said that premium packaging gets them more excited about opening a package. This should be obvious--if someone gave you a gift for your birthday without wrapping it first, it would take away the mystery, excitement and curiosity, which is what gifts are all about! Similarly, wrapping your product, designing a custom box, or using some other element of custom packaging will leave a lasting impression.

After purchasing, the next time your customer will interact with you is when they receive what they bought. That’s what makes it such an important touchpoint for your brand. You rarely get multiple chances to make a good impression, and since custom packaging can be a great way to impress your customers. Look at it like an exciting bonus — they didn’t have to pay anything extra for great packaging.

Maintain Your Social Media Accounts

Strong ecommerce brands have a strong social media presence. Other than shopping for products on your store, this is the only other time you’ll get to show your customers two things:

1. What they can buy from you
2. Your personality

We love brands that have come up with creative personalities to express themselves online. In an age where the boundary between customer and brand have been reduced (I mean really, you can tweet at Wendy’s and likely get a response) this should be looked at with glee. Interacting with your audience on social media is incredibly rewarding. Not only do you get a chance to see what they like and who they are, it’s also fantastic for your brand integrity.

While your selling platform can be used to showcase your products, your social media accounts should show off your brand image. So what will your social brand be? You could post a series of quotes relevant to your passions; or ask your customers to post photos of themselves with your product (à la Blunt Umbrellas); or take the opportunity to photograph your products in interesting places! The options are limitless. And with a well-maintained social presence, your brand will see the positive effects.

Tying it together

To wrap it up, as an ecommerce store, you have a lot going for you — no brick and mortar store to maintain, no rent, and most importantly, you can work from home (sometimes). Keep in mind these tips for maintaining your brand and you should be good to go.

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