Is Your Brand an Obstacle to the Performance of Your Online Business?

Is your company working hard on growing your online business, but for some reason that escapes you, your competitors always seem to be one step ahead of you?

But you’ve followed the little guide to the letter: your eCommerce platform is intuitive, user-friendly, and respects all the best web practices (nice work on that!), your products are high-quality and your customers appreciate them, you’ve managed to generate considerable traffic on your website… What’s missing?

Have you ever considered the possibility that your brand could be the element that is sabotaging your efforts? A strong brand is an essential ingredient in the performance of an online business, and this aspect is too often overlooked. Consumers are demanding toward brands: they demand to be seduced, dazzled; they demand an emotional connection with the brands with which they identify. Let’s see if yours is living up to their expectations.

Consumers are looking for emotions

Previously, given consumption habits and beliefs, a customer’s satisfaction with their shopping experience was very easy to calculate: the product meets their needs, is of high quality, and is reasonably priced, and the transaction took place with courtesy. These days, to build customer loyalty, it takes a little more je-ne-sais-quoi. Beyond satisfaction, the customer wants to fall in love with the brands in which they place their trust.

If you manage to make them dream, inspire them, and put a smile on their face, in addition to concluding a sale, you will earn a customer who will continue to have a crush on your brand. These customers are more likely to buy again, but also to be engaged on your social networks, become your ambassadors, forgive you for any missteps, or support you during hard times. Love is blind, as they say…

Are you familiar with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs? The pyramid below, developed by designer Aarron Walter, presents the needs of consumers, and according to him, the element most often forgotten by brands: pleasure.

It’s this little extra distance that, once covered, allows the customer to become more emotionally invested. A simple and effective shopping experience is good, but a shopping experience that is simple and effective and inspires a wave of emotion is much better!

Proudly show off your colours

So, how do you create that valuable emotional connection with consumers? The same way you make friends! Show off your personality, your distinctive traits, your history, your beliefs, your little funny side, your original expressions, or your unique clothing style. By showing some personality, your brand won’t be able to please everyone, but it will be much more interesting than a beige or generic brand.

Having a strong and assured identity is a competitive advantage to make yourself known and stand out from the competition. To be memorable in the eyes of consumers who are already bombarded with thousands of messages each day, yours must be simple, original, and attention-grabbing. Imagine your brand at a speed dating session: what is its hook to stand out from the other contenders?

However, creating a brand isn’t just about creating a flamboyant personality from scratch that has no connection with the reality of your products or your business solely for the purpose of winning over your target audience. Consumers have a real knack for uncovering inauthentic brands or those that talk out of both sides of their mouths.

To make your brand memorable and recognizable, your message needs to be consistent, from the company name to the behaviour of the buttons on your website. On all your channels and on a continuous basis, communicate from the main pillars that are specific to you. They can be summed up in four big “V”s:

• The vision of the company: the main idea behind your business; what you are seeking to accomplish with your brand, outside of the financial aspects
• The values of the company: your beliefs; the principles that are important to you and your customers and which guide your actions.
• A distinctive voice: the tone you adopt to address your customers, whether it’s educational and polite or friendly and relaxed.
• An extensive visual landscape: well-defined visual elements that are consistent across media and contexts. We’re definitely not just talking about a logo and colours here, but also typography, layout grids, photographic, illustrative, and iconographic style, animation styles, and much more.

7 indicators to assess whether your brand is part of the problem

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, tell me if my brand is an obstacle to the growth of my online business!”

Measuring the awareness of a brand or the feelings that it generates isn’t an easy task and involves a great deal of qualitative data. It’s also hard to specifically isolate the impact of the brand in the overall user experience, but there are still performance indicators that can guide you and let you know whether there is a problem to be solved.

1. What is the awareness of your brand? Is it familiar?

   This question can be addressed through surveys or workshops with a sample of your target customers. Can they name your company spontaneously when your industry is mentioned? If not, this may be a sign that your brand isn’t strong or memorable enough to stand out from the competition. If they have already been exposed to your brand, what is the first word that comes to their minds to describe it? Get ready to receive the unvarnished truth!

2. What is your CTR (click-through rate) and CPA (cost per acquisition)?

   How many clicks are generated by your ads? What is the average amount you are spending, on all media combined, to acquire a new customer? How does this result compare to your industry average? A touching message and attractive visuals will maximize the effectiveness of your ads.

3. What is your retention (repeat) rate and attrition (churn) rate?

   Are your buyers becoming repeat customers? If so, it’s because they have developed a feeling of attachment to your brand. It will sometimes be highly relevant and profitable for you to return your attention to the customers that you have lost over time. Why did they end their relationship with your brand? Was the grass greener on the other side?

4. What is your bounce rate?

   Are you able to attract potential customers to your eCommerce platform, but as soon as they arrive, they jump ship? Maybe the visuals or the tone aren’t grabbing them enough to make them decide to spend more time on your site, or their experience doesn’t match the idea that they had formed of your company at the initial point of contact. In either case, there is definitely something wrong that deserves to be fixed as soon as possible.

5. What is the engagement of your customers on your social media?

   Customers who engage with your social media are good indicators of the overall health of your brand. Do your followers react, comment on, and share your content? Do you offer them content to nurture and cultivate your privileged relationship or are you repeating the same promotional messages ad nauseam until they get bored?

6. What is your Net Promoter Score (NPS)?

   The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a simple and widely used formula that makes it possible to evaluate whether your customers are potential promoters, passive customers, or detractors of your brand.

   How likely are you to recommend [your company] to a friend or colleague?
   (0 = “not at all likely,” 10 = “very likely”)

   With this simple question that fits well into a shopping experience, you are able to evaluate the degree of enthusiasm that your customers have toward your brand.

7. What is your sales volume?

   After all, this is the main goal! Your brand image isn’t the only player in your sales volume, but it shouldn’t be overlooked either. If your sales are growing exponentially, it’s probably because your brand is contributing to this momentum. Conversely, if your figures seem stagnant while everything seems easier for a competitor who just updated their brand, it might be time for you to think about that, too!

To evaluate the performance of your brand, update some of its elements, or totally rethink it and thereby meet the expectations of your customers, Novatize is your partner of choice. We are equipped to make the data speak, to offer suitable and efficient design solutions, and to support you in all aspects of the growth of your online business in order to maximize your return on investment.

Contact an eCommerce expert at Novatize.