Do you know that, by 2021, the estimated number of online shoppers is expected to reach 2.14 billion? Without a doubt, e-commerce is becoming a giant of an industry, if it’s not one already. It’s a challenge for brands to stand out among thousands of small to big e-commerce sites. But the good news is, there’s nothing a dash of creativity and tech strategy can’t do to help.
Start 2020 right with these e-commerce branding ideas.
Create Personalized Emails or Newsletters
Never underestimate the power of email marketing for as long as you have the creativity and data mining. With the customers’ varied preferences, one cannot expect a one-size-fits-all approach to work. Increase customer loyalty by building one-to-one relationships with personalized emails. Eighty-two percent of marketers have witnessed an increase in email open rates through this strategy.
By harnessing the power of AI, one can easily identify specific audience preferences for better-curated recommendations. Personalized emails go beyond customized names and birthday discounts. Through marketing automation services, one can send targeted emails based on the point of the customer’s journey.
Are they browsing through items? Persuade with social proof, or recommend options. Has the user been dormant for a week? Send discounts, and email often. If the user abandoned items on the cart, send emails with 24 hours of the cart’s abandonment.
The bottom line is this: make emails as relevant as possible to the recipients to gain engagement and loyalty.
Consider Subscription Boxes
Subscription boxes are nothing new, but unique twists and creative strategies keep them fresh and still popular. Fifty-four percent of online shoppers are registered to subscription-box services and are in it for convenience and novel experiences.
Whether it’s for replenishment, curating, or access, the customer’s experience—and not just subscription—is what matters the most. Provide tangible benefits through personalization, and develop great experiences.
One of the ways is through unique and reusable packaging. Gone are the days when packaging was merely for product protection. Fifty-two percent of online shoppers say they would shop again from a business if it included premium packaging. Meanwhile, 74 percent of people between 18 and 25 years old will share an image of the product with its packaging on social media.
In that case, it’s high time for you to start subscription-box fulfillment with great packaging, making sure it really speaks of your brand. Think of the missed marketing opportunities if you take packaging for granted.
Create a Video Series
Five hundred million people—that’s half a billion people!—consume video content on Facebook every day. And more than half (specifically, 59 percent of executives) would rather consume information through video than read a chunk of text.
Capitalize on the statistics of video marketing, and create engaging videos that highlight your products and help consumers solve a problem. Do styling videos if you have a fashion e-commerce site, a review or challenge for beauty and food brands, and so much more.
Think about the questions that customers will have when browsing through your products, and harness the power of videos to answer those in a fun, engaging way. Don’t forget to take advantage of user feedback to keep improving the content that comes out.
Consider Microinfluencers
Generally, people are more willing to trust the opinions of people they know on a personal level. Because of this, microinfluencer marketing is beginning to rise above celebrity advertisements and marketing done by already-established online influencers.
Microinfluencers (anyone between 1,000 and 10,000 followers) may have smaller niches and followers but have more personal interactions. In fact, their engagement rate is 85 percent higher than those with six-digit followings. Collaborate with and treat these microinfluencers as one would any celebrity endorser. Just make sure these influencers align with your brand’s values and products.
Collaborate with Other Brands
Partnering with other brands is a good strategy to break into new markets. This strategy requires a lot of involvement and, when executed well, makes a win-win situation.
Take GoPro and RedBull for example. Apart from selling themselves as the products that they are, the brands’ shared values make them a perfect pair for campaigns surrounding action sports and athletes.
The most iconic campaign they had collaborated for was Stratos, in which a person strapped with a GoPro jumped from a space pod more than 24 miles above the earth’s surface. This stint embodied the value of reimagining the limits of man that define both Red Bull and GoPro.
Brand collaboration is fantastic for two reasons: you get to combine two great brands and use each other’s audience for promotion.
