How to enhance the brand experience with eCommerce

It does not matter whether you are active in the b2b or b2c segment: a strong brand always performs better than a weak brand. A clear brand identity carries weight, tells what values ​​a company has and makes clear what you can expect as a customer. Building a strong brand identity is therefore an important building block for success. In this blog article, you can read how you can enhance the brand experience with eCommerce.

Formulate a good eCommerce strategy

Strengthening the brand experience with eCommerce starts with formulating a clear eCommerce strategy. This answers a number of key questions.

What needs does your customer have?

Strengthening the brand experience starts with knowing your target audience. There are a number of tools and methods available to help you uncover potential customer information.

• Give customers the opportunity to provide direct feedback on your products or services (customer engagement).
• Look beyond what customers say and immerse yourself in the behavior within the buyer's journey. Where in the sales process does the potential customer drop out and to which ads do people respond best?
• Social listening allows you to keep an eye on what your customers share and say about your brand.
• With analytics you can see which device your customer is using so that you always know which device can get the focus in terms of brand experience. This can differ per brand or product.

How do you want to appear?

Every company has a vision and / or mission. Make sure you propagate this consistently by clearly highlighting your most important core values ​​through all communication and sales channels.

Why wouldn't a customer go to the competitor?

The choice is huge in the world of eCommerce. Do you want to offer a better brand experience than the competition? Then your brand must impress and exceed customer expectations. By getting the most out of your USPs (Unique Selling Points) you create a WOW effect that leads to effective word-of-mouth advertising.

Map and optimize touch points

The phase before someone buys a product consists of several touch points. Map it out and optimize it in the following ways:

• Harness the power of customer reviews. The positive ones are a good recommendation, while the negative ones can provide valuable lessons for further optimization.
• Choose the socials that match your brand identity.
• Be professional with customer reviews, including negative ones. Ignoring criticism or immediately being on the defensive also reflects negatively on your brand identity.
• Help customers find what they need quickly. How? Clear, logically structured product pages and good search filters.
• Make sure you have a good balance on your product pages. Show visitors what they need to know about a product, but don't overwhelm them with mountains of secondary information.
• Provide a personalized shopping experience. Think of a personal salutation in your emails, a 'My account' and targeted product recommendations based on search history and previous purchases.
• Offer more than just products in your webshop. Consider, for example, blogs or video content to inspire your target group.

Communication and packaging

The communication to confirm an order, order status or delivery is also part of the brand experience. In this area, therefore, ensure recognisability and tone of voice that matches your brand identity. The packaging ideally also confirms your brand image.

Aftercare

Aftercare towards your customer is important: the way you deal with existing customers contributes to the brand experience. In a world where everyone is always "on", customers expect excellent customer service with short response times. Also try to reward loyal customers now and then, for example with a nice discount or nice gift. Positive word of mouth is worth its weight in gold.

Consistency is key

There are several ways in which eCommerce enhances the brand experience. What's very important: stay consistent. Your website and all your marketing channels and communications must have a unified identity that customers can easily associate with. Within your own channels you ultimately have the most creative freedom and space to share the story of your brand both before and after the ordering process.