Building Your E-Commerce Brand

Being a small business owner in today’s world is a lot different than the small business owners of the past. Successful companies of older generations relied on solid products, storefront displays, a property in an ideal location, and word of mouth.

However, in the technology era, some things about small businesses have changed forms. Today your storefront display is likely your homepage of the company’s website. Word of mouth still exists, but it might also include reviews and testimonials, and your ideal location is to pop up on the first page of a search engine.

While your company may have out of this world goods or services to offer customers, what about the rest? In the online marketplace, successful companies have these few things in common:

• Awesome products
• Immaculate web design
• Seamless checkout
• Recognizable brand
• Compelling customer experiences

Okay, so you have great merchandise and, yes, your web page is clean and cohesive, but what about your brand? This is often the make-it or break-it of a successful ecommerce business.

Those who market themselves correctly want to be more than just a company. They aim to be a brand—and not just any brand. Your company should aim for a reputable, recognizable brand that generates compelling customer experiences.

There are a few steps you can take to achieve this. Here are 4 steps that will help you better your brand:

Narrow down your product

What you need to evaluate first is what your company’s main focus should be. You want people to think of your brand when they think of a certain product. So, if you have too many categories you are trying to fulfill, or too many audiences you are trying to reach, you need to de-clutter.

Think of what product you want to focus on and its target audience. Once you do this, you can focus on building your brand around it.

Consistency is key.

After you determine your company’s main focus, keep things consistent. This will help customers recognize you and your brand. When building a brand, you want your social media, website, and product descriptions to all have the same tone and voice. Use all your images to set the same tone and mood. These two (and everything else about your brand) should complement each other.

Another important note: the delivery experience should always be consistently exceptional. Making sure the customer gets exactly what he/she wanted will turn your brand into a trustworthy one, and that customer into a loyal one.

Enhance perceived value.

The perceived value of your brand is what the customer thinks the items are worth when he/she agrees to pay for them. Increasing your perceived value will increase demand and generate more revenue for you. Ways to do this include:

• Invest in high-quality photography for all items and images on website/social media.
• Use engaging product descriptions.
• Honest product reviews will increase the amount of user-generated content.

Create a one-of-a-kind shopping experience.

In the world of ecommerce, you have to make sure your customers have an emotional shopping experience. They should connect with your brand on some level.

About EYStudios

EYStudios is best at creating e-commerce experiences that will delight your customers and run circles around your competition. While ordinary stores simply list a product, an EY design sells the product through pro-active merchandising and cutting-edge usability. Whenever a customer encounters your brand, whether it’s on your store, in your marketing, or even when they open up the box of stuff they ordered from you, we want to lead that experience.

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