You can do so much to win over customers when you have a store. You can dress it up, play up to a theme, offer a great atmosphere, play amazing music, and so on. You can create a 360° experience that embraces all elements of the present to really sell your brand and products.
With digital stores, you don’t have that same connection, but what you do have is the ability to sell more for less. Never underestimate that. While you may one day decide that it’s better for you to open up a location of your own, you don’t need one to succeed. Instead, you’ll want to try the top tips in this guide to help you win over your customers as a digital-first brand:
Create a Winning Brand Identity
One of the most important steps when it comes to winning over digital customers is your brand identity. Your brand identity is how customers can quickly and emotionally separate you from the rest of the pack. You need a very clear identity that helps customers identify you and also relate to you. Part of this will be visual branding; the other will be figuring out your tone of voice and what kind of communication approach you want to take with your customers.
How to Make Your Digital Presence Feel Authentic
One thing to keep in mind when it comes to establishing a brand identity is that you need it to feel authentic. Putting your face forward (and the faces of your employees who consent) is a great way to do this, but you’ll also need to establish an engaging tone of voice and a content strategy that puts forward the real people behind your brand. As a smaller business, you can really stand out for being real and by connecting to customers in more meaningful, impactful ways.
Bring Your Presence to the Physical World in Unexpected Ways
While most of your efforts should naturally go toward your website, social media, and email marketing efforts, never underestimate the power of the personal touch. You have very few opportunities as a digital eCommerce brand to make that connection, so take advantage of it when you can. For example, you can go to Ignite Post and have handwritten notes created by a robot (and written with a real pen) to create a thank you note for your customers that they get after their order arrives. This note can also include information like where to review, make a referral, or use a discount code, or even the chance to enter into a competition if they post their purchase online and tag you.
Encourage Ongoing Conversations with Your Customers
While a simple thank you note is sweet, you’ll really want to continue the conversation with your customers (no matter what step they’re at in the buyer’s cycle). A great way to do this is to add value. Give your customers reasons to keep clicking on your emails, following your social media pages, and buying your new product ranges. These reasons can be helpful information, entertainment, deals, and more. In fact, it should be a mixture of all your ideas, built into a masterful approach that keeps your customer base engaged, even if it’s online.
