How to turbo charge your
e-commerce offering in 2021
There is no doubt the pandemic has accelerated changes in consumer behaviour and consumption. Specifically, and most importantly for us as marketers, the dynamics of our audiences and customers.
Australia Post reported that between April and September last year over one million households received their first order through an e-commerce supplier, that’s a big number and compelling evidence of a real and significant acceleration in consumer behaviour around e-commerce.
The good news is with change comes opportunity, and never before has it been possible to reach more potential customers, so if you’re starting out or looking to ramp up your online offering, here a few things that if done right, will turbo charge your e-commerce business;
Invest in media and customer acquisition.
Build it and they will come, unfortunately no they won’t! The search for new customers and innovative ways to upsell existing ones is always on. In many ways this is the grind of making your e-commerce work. There really are no short cuts, there’s no magic sauce and beware of anyone who says there is.
The only way forward is to have a sound strategy, execute the strategy well with good people and continually test, learn and optimise. Digital media is always on, it never sleeps and the new customer search is unrelenting (if you work in e-commerce, you will likely be asked about performance on a daily basis for the rest of your life!) for this reason you need to select good partners who know the game and you like working with, because you’ll be working with them a lot!
Creative content and brand codes.
Media usually gets the bulk of the budget, but creativity is the key to marketing effectiveness. Recent research from Nielsen suggests that creative is the single most important component in effective marketing campaigns;
Exceptional creative work can make a real difference, so think about:
- Having distinctive brand codes that identify your brand easily, these can be logo’s, shapes or colours (e.g Cokes red, McDonalds yellow) and re-enforce them whenever you can.
- Being bold and taking risks, inaction and maintaining the status quo is not enticing, many of your customers are going to be millennials, their desire for change is difficult to ignore so make your communications exciting
- Leverage any current cultural events that are relevant to your brand and audience, this is especially useful on social media and allows you to deliver communications that are relevant and more likely to cut through the social media noise.
Audience
Everything starts with the audience. Strategy, media and creativity should all be directed by the knowledge and insights you can gather on your potential customers. How well do you know your audience right now? How has COVID and the rise of e-commerce changed their behaviours and needs?
Doing audience research upfront before starting any type of creative work or significant media investment is highly advisable, it’s so much easier to deliver a compelling and successful communications strategy when you have fresh audience research.
Let Yango know if you need help with this, and we can make sure you’re on the right track before plunging big dollars into media and creative.
Online consumers behave differently, here are some ideas to keep in mind when talking to online shoppers:
Be Authentic
Consumers today have a finely tuned bullshit radar and don’t like advertising or anything corporate. Keep all communications (including ads) as authentic as possible. Let the brand values and purpose shine through, increasingly online consumers want to buy from companies that have a social conscience.
Be Fast
Online buyers expect an instant response. If a question is asked on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram respond quickly and appeal to instant gratification culture. Adjusting your communications to respond to recent events that are relevant to your brand (e.g Australian open tennis, football finals, grammy’s) create relevancy and make your message cut through the advertising noise.
Be Different
Be creative and take risks with your communications to stand out. Attention spans online are very limited, you only have a few seconds at most to gain attention. A moment of creativity can be the difference between being seen or scrolled right over. Online shoppers tend to seek progressive and creative brands.
Be Social
Social-media presence is a badge of acceptance. These platforms drive the most significant engagement opportunity for brands and products. Keep communications brief and don’t assume consumers are waiting around to watch long videos with the sound on, social media gives you scale and the opportunity to be creative, to make your message stand out.
Wahu Case Study
See how we turbo charged their e-commerce and delivered some outstanding results for the business
