All About Retailing Blog - This blog tackles the topic of retail technology solutions and key retail trends. One Step Retail Solutions is your one step resource for your retail technology needs.
Is your business’ website doing more than giving customers your location, hours of operation and phone number? Is your brick-and-mortar retail site encouraging customers to check out your website? Cross-marketing your physical and online spaces increases awareness, engagement and revenue for your business. When looking to boost your marketing efforts, here are a few points to consider:
Ensure They Boost Each Other
Marketing across channels is an excellent way to reach new customers and encourage existing ones to return. Although a website can’t deliver the highly-personalized services of a skilled salesperson, it can serve as a valuable bridge to attract customers’ attention. Make sure your website delivers the information your customers need about the products and brands you sell. Include high-quality photographs that encourage them to visit your store in person for a closer look. Boost your website by encouraging retail store customers to sign up for emails that announce sales, pre-orders and other specials.
Discovery: This phase gives customers who aren’t in your geographic area the chance to find you through local online searching. You can expedite this phase by adding your website to local search engine directories so local customers can find your retail space. Make sure your website content includes geographic and product keywords that customers are likely to use in their searches.
Connection: The second phase lets customers see if your store provides the products or services they need without making an actual trip to the store. Develop website content that informs and educates your customers about specific products. Demonstrating knowledge and expertise helps persuade them you’re a credible and trustworthy business.
Sales: The final phase can happen online or in your store.
Impress With Your Landing Page
Most online searches take the customer directly to the website landing page. Like your store, it must convey a positive first impression to encourage visitors to stay and browse. Your site also needs to make your customers feel safe and secure, not like they’re being spammed. Show perks of shopping online, such as free shipping or promotion codes. Also display security badges that testify to your site’s security. A good site will show that its site is accredited by the Better Business Bureau, approved by Norton Secured and a verified merchant from Authorize.Net.
Let Them Research Online and Buy in the Store
Many customers invest more time researching expensive products online before purchasing them from a physical location, according to ShoppinPal. This gives businesses with both online and in-person stores an advantage to target customers. An infographic on MineWhat cites research from RetailingToday that says 60 percent of consumers begin product research through a search engine and visit at least three online stores before deciding where to make the purchase.
Although nothing can replace a personalized, in-store experience, a well-designed website can be a valuable sales tool that encourages customers to visit your store to forge that relationship. For example, Spencers TV & Appliance embeds links on its website that users can click on to call and check on specific products, prices and availability. It’s easy to visualize a good salesperson using this opportunity to bring a potential customer into your store.
Who would you rather have promoting your products or services: Kim Kardashian or Michelle Phan?
Chances are you know who Kim Kardashian is and you may be thinking her widespread influence could launch your brand to the masses. Maybe you haven’t heard of Michelle Phan, a YouTube personality known for her unique makeup tutorials, but her over 8 million followers shouldn’t be overlooked.
When you’re looking to align your brand with an influencer, it may be tempting to target a famous celebrity. But with a closer connection to their audience, expertise on a niche topic and greater engagement, social media influencers could be the better fit.
Cision’s new “How to Use Influencers to Expand Reach & Impact” white paper examines the impact influencers can have on your brand and how you can harness their power. Take a look at the following three reasons for why you should consider connecting with social media influencers for your next campaign:
1. Low Cost for a High Return
Celebrity influencers will happily promote your brand – but it’s going to cost you an arm and a leg. Most brands don’t have the resources available to even consider aligning with celebrities.
That’s why it makes sense to turn to social media influencers.
While there still may be a cost involved to make them your partner, it will be significantly less than the cost for celebrity influencers. Plus, with a wide reach and significant sway, the investment in a social media influencer may be worth it.
2. Your Audience is Tuned in
While celebrities may be more widely known, they aren’t as closely connected to their audience the way that social media influencers are.
Think of the relationship between these influencers and their audience like the relationship between a mama bear and her cubs. Social influencers are the gatekeepers, protecting their followers from brands looking for new customers. They know what brands their audience should trust and that makes your audience inclined to listen.
If a social media influencer recommends your products or services, their audience is much more likely to take note than if a celebrity recommended them. Because of social media influencers’ attachment to their audience, they have more power to sway opinions.
3. They’re the Experts
Just like social media influencers have a close connection to their audience, they also have a close connection to their industry. Unlike celebrities, social media influencers are known for being an expert on a specific topic. For example, they could be a YouTuber specializing in makeup and hair tutorials or a blogger who writes about food.
Your audience sees these people as the final word on the products and services in their industry. So if that Youtuber mentions how great your eyeshadow is in their video or that blogger writes about how effective your blender is, their audience is going to believe what they say, follow their recommendation – and head straight to the checkout counter.
By Brian Ewing According to a recent study, 78% of shoppers used the internet for research during the holiday season last year. Your customers are making their lists and checking them twice…online. Even if your business isn’t e-commerce, you have an opportunity to make an impact on sales with an online presence.
What Are Consumers Researching on Store Websites?
Shopping during the holiday season is stressful. Not only are consumers trying to find the perfect gifts for loved ones, they’re fighting the crowds and calendar. Planning is key to make the most of shopping trips. Customers plot out their course ahead of time, based on what gifts are available where. As a small business, it’s crucial to let customers know the brands and products you carry to become part of their shopping schedule.
Your Store Website & the Importance of a Brands Page
A dedicated brands page on your website is the best way to give consumers and search engines an idea of what you carry in-store. This is critical for SEO ranking and holiday research. Start by listing your most popular brands and continue expanding until you have a complete collection. A great way to organize the page is to display your brands’ logos alphabetically. See this perfect example from our subscriber, Pizazz Studio.
Beyond the Brands Page
If you’d like to take your website a step further, create separate pages for each of your major brands. Display the most popular items for the season, so consumers can quickly see you not only carry the brand, but the product they want. If you’re not selling online, make sure to place a CTA (call-to-action) message on each page asking the customer to contact the store for up-to-date inventory information. Lastly, make the logos on your brands page click-through links to the new product pages for an easy navigation experience. Use your website to drive more sales, even if you don’t have e-commerce! Create a brands page to showcase your products and let holiday shoppers find you!
Only a short time ago, the value that brands provided to consumers was chiefly two things – familiarity and consistency. Shoppers had so little access to objective information about products and services that, amid a field of unknown and untrusted alternatives, a familiar brand logo, jingle or tag line provided the much-needed cognitive shorthand to help them confidently choose. If you were a traveller in a strange city, you needed only to find a familiar Hilton, Marriott or Holiday Inn logo to have a consistently predictable experience. If you were shopping for beer, you knew what to expect from Budweiser or Miller – there were no surprises. Familiar and predictable, that’s what consumers wanted from brands and that’s exactly what many big brands gave them.
All this has now changed. Shoppers are no longer blind to their options. With a couple of taps of their smartphone they can gather an immediate and even geospatial understanding of product and service alternatives available to them in the moment. Moreover, they can easily evaluate those alternatives by seeing what others think. They can take virtual tours of stores, restaurants and hotels, watch videos of products and services. They can be completely and objectively informed in a way that was unimaginable only 20 years ago
Consequently, shoppers – especially young shoppers – are no longer as dependent on brands to serve as familiar shortcuts to a decision. Now, the same traveller in a strange city can just as easily use their mobile device to find an outstanding boutique hotel to stay in. The beer drinker can quickly gather online recommendations to learn what local craft beers are popular. Instead of deferring to the familiar and predictable, the shopper can confidently venture out to discover the new and exciting in a risk-free way.
The New Value Of Brands
So, if we no longer need brands to be beacons of familiarity and predictability, then what do we expect of them? I believe that now, more than ever, we need brands to be innovators, always working to push us out of our comfort zone by offering new products, new experiences and new services that interest or excite us. We now look to brands to catalyze change…constant change.
Some brands seem to implicitly get this. Starbucks, for example, is constantly introducing new products, services, technologies and store concepts into their model. Just when it seems they might become predictable, they introduce something new to stoke our interest and augment the brand’s appeal.
Amazon too is continually proffering new services, devices, concepts and products. And while some are quick to point at Amazon’s failures, like Fire Phone for example, I would argue that even those failures can and should be counted as strategic victories because, if nothing else, they reaffirm their position as an innovator.
Even 114-year-old Nordstrom is constantly moving its customers along a continuum of innovation like its recently introduced shop by text program. While it would certainly be easier for Nordstrom to rest on its legendary laurels of superior customer service, it clearly recognizes that its role as a major brand lies in innovating beyond the familiar.
Other brands, however, like Volvo, McDonalds, Abercrombie & Fitch and Macy’s – to name only a few – have chosen to stick to the path of familiarity and dependability. They have also suffered the consequences of doing so, with poor sales and declining customer loyalty.
Making The Cut
So, do brands still have value in the digital age? Certainly they do. But that value no longer lies in faithfully delivering the familiar but rather in revealing the unknown; to no longer be predictable but rather to be constantly surprising.
For most major brands this will require a complete organizational re-wiring – a top-to-bottom overhaul of their people, their beliefs and their manifesto and above all, a willingness to risk. This isn’t easy. In fact, it very often proves impossible for organizations to alter the D.N.A that got them where they are. But in a world of one-touch discovery, a relentless pursuit of quantum innovation is the only alternative brands have left.
Chances are, you've bought something from each of these companies within the past few years. In fact, I'd be willing to guess that you've made multiple purchases from every one of these brilliant brands. I know I have.
There are several reasons why I've bought multiple products and services from these companies, but what's important to note is that they have successfully made me a repeat customer and what's more; I'm happy about it.
These companies worked very hard to become habit-forming by nature, and as a reward, they can rely on getting a certain amount of revenue from me every year with somewhat regularity.
With Apple, I truly love the products. Netflix has excellent original content and has become almost the only form of television I watch. Starbucks is everywhere and is incredibly convenient, consistent and quick. Amazon carries almost everything (including the Kindle) at low prices and can ship it straight to my door in 2 days with Prime delivery. I'm still trying to figure out this equation in my own business, right now.
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of sitting in on an incredible class on this exact subject with Best-Selling Author and entrepreneur Nir Eyal. In this class, Nir shared with us the psychology behind how any business can maximize their ability to create repeat customers at every turn.
That's me with Nir, above. We got to chat live in the class about how we at CreativeLive can increase engagement and re-purchase rates with our online education business. One of the most core concepts I took away from our conversation was the importance of always creating only the highest quality, results-driven content for our customers.
Even delivering an incredible amount of value isn't enough, alone. You have to give your customers a reason to come back for more on a regular basis.
"Today, just amassing millions of customers is no longer good enough," Nir says. "Companies increasingly find that their economic value is a function of the strength of the habits they create."
Repeat customers save your business time and resources. But most importantly, they give you the peace of mind to focus on creating the best products and services you're capable of.
How can we learn from the most successful addicting brands in the world, and apply the same principles they use, to our businesses?
Here are the two fundamental principles of creating repeat customers for your business. If you can master these, the sky is the limit.
1. First-to-Mind Wins
"A company that forms strong customer habits enjoys several benefits to its bottom line. For one, this type of company creates associations with 'internal triggers' in customers’ minds. That is to say, customers come to the website or store location without any external prompting," Nir shares.
Whether it's in the form of a Starbucks along your morning commute to work, or to flip on your favorite Netflix show every night because you love the way watching it makes you feel, these are prime examples of successful internal triggers.
"Instead of relying on expensive marketing or worrying about differentiation, habit-forming companies get customers to cue themselves to action by attaching their services to the customers’ daily routines and emotions. A cemented habit is when users subconsciously think, 'I’m bored,' and instantly Facebook comes to mind. They think, 'I wonder what’s going on in the world?' and before rationale thought occurs, Twitter is the answer. The first-to-mind solution wins," Nir says.
"Successful habit-forming companies attach their services to their customers emotions." - Nir Eyal
The same principle applies to how I shop for a new book. My first instinct is to head over to Amazon, pick up a Kindle book and begin reading from my Apple devices. I'm hooked.
How do companies create a connection with these internal cues needed to form habits?
The answer: they manufacture desire.
As Nir illustrates, "fans of Mad Men are familiar with how the ad industry once created consumer desire during Madison Avenue’s golden era. Those days are now long gone. We are now a part of a world filled with distractions, ad-wary consumers and a lack of ROI metrics. The combination has rendered Don Draper’s big budget brainwashing useless to all but the most popular brands."
"Instead, the successful smaller companies today are manufacturing desire by guiding customers through a series of experiences designed to create habits. I call these experiences “Hooks,” and the more often customers run through them, the more likely they are to self-trigger."
Here's the Hooked Model Nir designed, to illustrate how the best businesses guide their customers through an experience of rewarding desired actions, and encouraging deeper investment.
With my own online course business, my clients consistently come back for more content every time I release something new. I've applied some of Nir's principles of providing genuine value and carefully giving my customers a feeling of accomplishment so that they naturally want to keep coming back.
When your customers continuously experience the feeling of reward at the end of a desired behavior for your business, they'll begin to form internal triggers, which become attached to existing habits and behaviors of theirs. If you do this right, your customers will soon be internally triggered to think of your product or service every time they feel a certain way. In this way, the internal trigger becomes part of their routine behavior.
How will you create engagement hooks for your customers?
To view the original article please visit: Business.com
Do you want double your social engagement and get your content shared like crazy? For small businesses and brands everywhere, posting multiple images on social media has been proven to have massive traction. It seems simple right? But if it was so easy wouldn’t everybody do it?
Like most good things, in life – there’s a catch. And it isn’t not needing a huge budget or incredible graphic design skills.
When it comes to content creation, many people make this simple mistake: they add more visuals just for the sake of it. This is a basic approach. Smart content marketers create a visual content strategy that reaches people’s emotions – content with real psychological impact.
If you’re not a graphic designer or artist, don’t worry. I’m going to walk you through you ten types of powerful visuals that are easy to create and can double your social media engagement. Let’s get started.
1. High quality stock photography
Beware: your fans will smell a cheesy stock photo from a million miles away. Not only will it lead them to discredit your professionalism as a brand, but will deter them from wanting to share your post.
On the other hand, high quality stock photography can do the complete opposite. As well as making your brand seem more credible, high quality and relevant images help establish your brand’s reputation and boost engagement. If you’re looking for original content, check out this handy article that lists and rates over 70 free stock photography websites.
Image: Elite Daily
Take a look at this post on Elite Daily’s Facebook page. By using relevant and high quality stock photography, the band achieves a “wow factor” which immediately tempts the viewer to click through to the blog.
After all, everything your audience shares on social media will reflect back on themselves. You can’t blame them for wanting to look good, but you can choose the right images to make it possible.
2. Screenshots
You’ve probably heard the old adage “seeing is believing.” In terms of visual content, the psychological lesson here is that when people can see something for themselves, they’re more likely to trust the source – which develops its credibility.
Image: Buffer
In this Twitter post Buffer gauges interest around one of its growth experiments by showing two screenshots of an A/B tested email. By doing so, Buffer is able to immediately impress the viewer, intriguing them to read on.
The text used to accompany the post is short yet effective: providing a hook for the article but letting the image become the compelling factor.
3. Infographics
The most basic way to understand why visual content is so effective on social media is to consider that the brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text. When we’re scrolling through hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of posts, tweets and updates – images are simply easier to digest.
Infographics take this concept to the next level, allowing brands to capture complex pieces of information and turn them into engaging social media posts.
Notice how Charity World Vision have created a Pinterest board dedicated solely to its infographics. By doing so, they’re able to share large chunks of information in a single visual post.
Image: World Vision
By following design guidelines to ensure your infographics are easily readable and visually engaging, this is a great opportunity to increase impact beyond what a single image could achieve.
4. Personal photographs
The best way to connect with your audience on a deeply authentic level is to show them that you’re human, no matter how successful you are. If your business or brand doesn’t have a human face, people will find it hard to relate to.
To execute this personal element in your visual social posts, add snaps of your CEO or management staff. In this example taken from fashion retailer Nastygal’s Instagram, the brand’s CEO Sophia Amoruso is seen at a book signing of her recent book #GIRLBOSS.
Not only does this boost interest around the book, it builds the authenticity of the brand. Look at her: she’s a boss!
Image: Nastygal
5. Behind the scenes shots of your workplace
Another way to connect people to the human aspect of your brand is to show behind the scenes shots of your workplace. This exclusive insight fosters a personal connection with your fans and strengthens their brand loyalty.
This particular type of imagery is more suitable for Instagram and Facebook, which are often considered the more “social” mediums. Designer Jen Gotch does this well on her instagram account by regularly featuring quirky shots of team activities.
Image: Jen Gotch
These images show the “real people” behind the brand and even encourage fans to consider Jen as a friend.
6. Quote graphics
A throwback to those motivational posters in your school counselor’s office – a quote graphic is still very beloved, and highly sharable. In fact, quote graphics work on every social media platform, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.
The three things to consider with a quote graphic are the quote, the font, and the imagery. Go for a short quote with words that are easily digestible. Consider a font that’s readable on smaller screens because a lot more people are viewing through mobile devices.
Be sure to find an image that captures the spirit of the quote without competing with it for attention. The image should serve as a meditation space for the mind to go while its considering the quote.
Image: Canva Quotes
7. Original designs
Branding your images is essential in order to build recognition on social media – a goal that should always be at the forefront of your visual content creation.
Also consider that generic images are rehashed over and over again, so creating unique content gives you a much greater chance of becoming memorable.
When designing your own images, always create a style guide to ensure brand consistency. This means determining rules for your fonts, color scheme, and image personality. The goal: you want your brand to be instantly recognizable.
Take a look at how Amanda Fuller, creator of Kaleidoscope Blog, uses a simple yet original design over and over in her posts on Pinterest. Whenever I see a pin from the Kaleidoscope Blog on my Pinterest feed, I know exactly who its from based on this unique calling card design.
Image: Kaleidoscope
8. Images that reflect the essence of your brand
If you want to create images that impact your target audience always consider: what made them choose you over your competitors?
The answer to this question is your unique selling point. By choosing images based around it, you’ll be strengthening the foundations of brand loyalty.
Consider VOSS Water. Propelled by brand values of purity, distinction, and social responsibility, VOSS Water’s visual social media posts always reinforce one (or more) of these ideals.
In the Facebook examples below, you’ll find the distinctive VOSS Water bottle featured prominently as anchor branding. Both images convey a sense of nature/natural living, and the fruit infusions look fresh and healthy, right on target with branding.
Image: Voss
9. Action shots
Stimulate the imagination of your audience with an action or experience shot. Nothing is quite as convincing as a still photo that captures a moment in time.
Charity: Water engages its audience with this vibrant image of clean water and outreached hands. Without reading, you instantly get the visual: What’s a bigger need than clean water? And what’s a great joy than having access to it?
Image: Charity Water
While you may not be providing clean water to those in need, you can still use this type of visual social media post to inspire your followers to feel good about you and themselves, also, for following you.
Share images of your product or service in its ideal use. There’s a reason why, depending on the brand, beer ads show customers partying at the hottest club or lounging on the beach – that’s the desired experience.
Whatever you’re selling, you want a product shot of your ideal customer actively reaping the benefits of it.
10. Images with a striking color palette
Colors can depict and elevate mood. Whether you’re looking to compel or commiserate, colors play a huge role in human psychology. Consider: what are the feelings you want to evoke from your social media audience? Try and replicate that feeling with the colors you choose.An easy way to do this is to use a color picker tool to extract colors from your favorite images. Before you start designing, you should always set out to limit yourself to four main colors – this will help establish a theme or feeling for your designs and increase their impact.
Now it’s your turn!
Adding visual content to your social media strategy is a no-brainer, but using visual content that reaches your fans emotions and catches their eye is the smart marketer’s approach. Whether you’re creating original content, sourcing photographs or shooting your own, always consider how it will impact your audience.
To view the original article please visit: NewsCred
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Study after study has proven that referral marketing is one of the best forms of marketing when it comes to sales and conversions. Simply put, referral marketing, sometimes also called word-of-mouth marketing, is just people purchasing products based on someone else's opinion or influence. It's a powerful marketing channel because people trust the opinions of other people in their lives and people they respect, whether that be family, friends, social media influencers or big stars.
It makes sense, we regularly get advice from our friends on which TV shows to watch, movies to rent, or restaurant to go to. And, as end consumers ourselves, we wan’t to share our stories, the products we buy and the brands we choose. This becomes magnified when the buying experience and products are exceptional.
In this post, we will show you the three fundamental reasons referral marketing is so powerful, some examples of extremely successful referral campaigns, and provide you with seven tactical steps to build a powerful referral marketing engine for your business.
Let's jump into it.
Why Is Referral Marketing So Powerful?
We know that word-of-mouth and referral marketing is powerful and is continually rated as one of the most powerful forms of marketing, but why?
Let’s take a look at three core reasons for this:
1. Precision Targeting
Have you every tried using Google Adwords or Facebook Ads just to watch your money disappear, literally before your eyes? Many times this isn’t the fault of the platform, rather your targeting. A great marketing campaign involves two key components, a great message and laser targeting.
Referral and word-of-mouth marketing tend to be much more targeted because people tend to know their friends and social audiences pretty well. This allows your brand message to spread more effectively than with most other marketing channels.
2. Trust Factor
Trust goes a long way when it comes to convincing someone to buy something. If we don't trust someone, we aren't going to listen to them. Consider the last time a salesperson you know is on commission tried to sell you something. You likely had doubts about his authenticity due to a lack of trust. With referral marketing though, the sales pitch is usually coming from someone that you either know well, like friends and family, or it's coming from someone you have trust in, like a favorite blogger.
Time and time again, studies have shown that people almost always trust these people's opinions over generic advertisements and sales pitches carefully crafted by the brand themselves.
Need proof? A recent Neilson Trust Study showed that referrals are the most trusted form of advertising by a large margin:
But wait… there’s more. If you looked at the graphic above and only looked at the first row (Recommendations from people I know), you may of missed something. Position three (Consumer opinions posted online) and position four (Editorial content such as newspaper articles) are all also forms of referral marketing.
Remember, referrals aren't just limited to friends and family. They can come from a variety of sources, provided the receiver of the message trusts them. So what are the major types of referral channels?
Friends/Family
News Publications
Customer Reviews and Opinions Posted Online
Influencer Opinions (Bloggers, Social Media Influencers)
Testimonials
3. Reach and Acceleration
Not long ago, reach of the average reach of a typical consumer was limited. For the most part it was contained to the number of people they saw in person each day or talked to on the phone. In this day and age though, the average consumers' reach is much larger and for many people with strong social followings, it can be enormous. Some consumers now have the power to make or break a business by what they say about it online.
With a simple Facebook post, Twitter tweet or Instagram selfie, the average consumer can now reach hundreds, if not thousands or friends (who again trust their opinions) in a matter of seconds. That kind of social reach is a critical reasons to why referral marketing has only gotten bigger over the last ten years.
Referral Marketing Examples
So now we know referral is huge and understand the reasons why it's so important, let's look at a few examples of companies that used referral marketing to catapult their businesses.
Example 1: Dollar Shave Club
Dollar Shave Club is a great example of an ecommerce company that used referral marketing in the form of a marketing video to launch their business. Dollar Shave Club created a honest and cheeky video that now currently sits at 16 million views.
Take a look at the video below:
According to Entrepreneur.com, in the first 48 hours after the video debuted on YouTube, over 12,000 people signed up for the service, by the end of the week, that number over doubled to over 25,000.
Although many people would call this a viral marketing campaign, the truth is every single one of those 25,000 customers was referred by someone that had an enjoyable experience with Dollar Shave Club by consuming their video content.
Example 2: Harry's
Harry’s, a new grooming product company in the ultra competitive market of shaving suppliers for men grew extremely quickly, thanks to referral marketing.
In a detailed post on the 4-Hour Work Week blog, Jeff Raider, co-founder of Harry’s describes the referral based launch campaign they used to acquire over 100,000 sign-ups before ever even launching.
By setting up a referral marketing campaign on their pre-launch landing page that rewarded people with free shaving products in exchange for sharing their brand, they were able to launch to a massive audience and have continued to grow to over 40 employees.
So maybe these are two very extreme cases of referral marketing done right. However, the underlying message you need to understand is that all this was possible because of the power of referral marketing.
How Do You Use And Implement Referral Marketing?
Implementing your own referral strategy to increase referrals and sales isn't difficult. Here’s seven tactics you can implement today for your own online store:
1. Provide Exceptional Customer Service and Buying Experience
Are the core of every and all referrals is great products, exceptional customer service and a great overall buying experience. This is fundamental to any referral campaign.
To start, evaluate the buying experience of your own store, looking at it from a customer perspective and ask yourself what's worth sharing with your friends?
2. Pay Attention To Your Analytics
You’re probably already getting referrals and don’t even know it. Google Analytics has a whole section on referrals that can help you pinpoint other sites that are linking and referring people to you. This report can be can be broken down to not just visitors but customers as well, giving you a deep understanding of which of the referring websites are the most qualified.
With this knowledge, you can reach out to those sites and work out a plan to acquire even more traffic.
For example, you may work out:
Additional mentions in upcoming posts
Guest blog post
Referral program to share profit with them
3. Make Your Products and Product Experience Sharable
There are many ways to create a wow factor for your customers. Consider your packaging and unboxing experience. In a previous post on shipping and fulfillment we introduced you to the exceptional effort Trunk Club makes to create a great, share-worthy experience for customers.
You can see from their packaging below that their customer unboxing experience is very central to their overall brand experience and makes for a great photo to share on Instagram and other social networks.
Trunk Club does an such exceptional job at wow'ing customers with the packaging experience, that customers make unboxing videos on YouTube which furthers amplifies Trunk Club's reach through referral marketing.
Everlane is another great example of a brand that uses their packaging as a marketing channel. Items from Everlane arrive wrapped in craft paper with an Everlane sticker and a thank you note that encourages people to share a photo of their purchase on social media.
Consider how you can provide a wow factor to customer that makes them compelled to share your products and refer your brand to their network.
4. Make It Easy For Visitors And Customers To Refer Your Brand
You always want to make sure you’re making it as easy as possible to share your products and refer your brand. There are many ways you can do this. Consider how MeUndies Underwear has done this on their site by adding it right to their main navigation. There is no doubt that referring friends is an important call-to-action for them.
After you click it, they also make it easy by pre-populating the Twitter and Facebook message so you don’t have to think of one.
How can you make it as easy as possible for people to share your products? You may also want to consider smaller, but effective tactics like adding social sharing badges to every product page.
5. Implement a Referral Program
Sometimes people need a nudge. Providing rewards for referrals can be just the thing to get your visitors and customers sharing your brand with their friends and family.
In the example at the beginning of this post, we showed you how Harry’s offered several tiers of rewards in the form of products to get people to share their pre-signup landing page. You can do similar by offering rewards through a referral or loyalty program.
There are lots of really solid apps in the Shopify App Store that can help you quickly implement a great referral/loyalty program.
Influencers within your niche can be a goldmine of referral traffic and sales. The key is to find influencers who's following is close as possible to your target market.
So maybe you're not at the point you can afford to pay Hilary Duff to refer your product, however there are plenty of other influencers out there with small, although still huge audiences you can work with. We touched on influencer marketing in this post and this post, but influencer marketing can be as easy as reaching out to a popular blogger, YouTuber, or Instagramer and asking if they do sponsored postings or if they would like your product for a review.
7. Reviews Are Referrals Too
People trust what other customers say about your company more than what you say so make sure you encourage customers to leave reviews after their purchase.
As an example, looking at the product page for BeardBrand Tree Ranger Beard Oil, we can see they have over 400 reviews and an average rating of 4.7 out of 5. The reviews might not drive new traffic to your site but they will help people still on the fence convert.
Conclusion
Referral marketing is a powerful and important component for every business. Implementing some basic tactics can help encourage and facilitate the referral process which can be a major source of new sales.
For more information and tips and tricks when creating a referral program for your brand, check out the bonus section below.
The view the original article please visit: Shopify
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Let’s face it…
retailers don’t always have time on their side… or extra money to spare.
Between long work days and managing (or at least trying to) your
personal lives in the midst of working retail hours, it isn’t always
easy to keep up with everything on your retail to-do-list. But don’t let
this shy you away from keeping up with the always important
merchandising in your store.
There are easy changes and updates you can make to help create a
store environment that is designed to move products from your store to
customers’ homes. To top it off, there is little to no cost involved in
implementing these changes… other than your time, of course!
From obvious tips to not so obvious ideas, consider the below points
to help you give your store a merchandising face lift… while only taking
a little bit of time.
Use signage. Signage is a classic – and obvious –
way to help capture customer attention. But the catch is how you create
and use your signs. When preparing signage for your store, use
consistency so that all your signage blends together. A great way to do
this is to pick a signature color, such as Tiffany stores have with
their baby blue boxes, and repeat that color through all your signs.
Imagine the difference a lime green sign with bold, black lettering
makes versus a white sign with Times New Roman letters. Using sign
holders is a must, as well. Fun frames from a local home store are a
great way to add character to your shop signage and overall environment.
Simple plastic frames do the trick, as well. Tape holding your sign to a
shelf? No. Please, no… no… no. This screams cheap and lazy to a
customer, and unless your store can be defined as cheap and appealing to
lazy folks, pass on the taped signage to your shelves, doors or walls.
To sum it up, think clean, crisp and professional in appearance. The
signs will individually stand out in their designated spots while
cohesively blending in from an overall perspective.
Use light. Overhead lighting can be so “blah”.
Rarely does it do much for merchandise, not to mention your own
appearance. Instead, consider other lighting options that can enhance
your product and add a whole new ambiance to your store. Accent lighting
can highlight high-ticket items or be used to showcase products on
sale. Case and shelve lighting helps customers see often challenging
spots in the store more clearly – therefore not missing any merchandise
during their store visit. Adding a dimmer to bright lights is sometimes
all you need. There is no single formula for lighting that you should
follow, but instead incorporate what details you believe can help your
unique store stand out. Just keep in mind that like products, even
lights can clutter a store. Too bright is no good and too dim never
works. Find a happy medium that will let your merchandise shine.
Use space. No one wants to feel jammed between one
display and another. Give your customers some breathing room by creating
an easy-to-walk, easy-to-shop environment. Optimal spaces that
customers will naturally be drawn to include the space immediately to
the right of your front door, anything within 4 1/2 and 6 feet high from
the floor and island style fixtures. Research tells us that these
retail points are among the most shopped, making them the most favorable
opportunities for merchandising inventory. Evaluate your existing floor
plan and rearrange necessary fixtures to accommodate this strategy.
Remember to allow breathing room for your customers to comfortably enjoy
your store. Comfort translates to sales, so there’s no time to spare
here – get started in your store re-vamp in an effort to increase your
register dollars.
Merchandising is a never ending cycle that should be viewed as just
that – never ending. Accept this reality and embrace the constant change
merchandising can offer your store. A few simple changes to a strong
merchandising plan can make a big impact… and while you still may be
short on time, these quick tips can at least help you save some
merchandising dollars while helping to bring more consumer dollars to
your store.
To view the original article please visit: http://retailminded.com/3-quick-merchandising-tips-that-are-almost-cost-free/
March 17, 2015 by Bruce Jones, Programming Director, Disney Institute
Brand loyalty is defined by some organizations as simply having repeat customers. While repeat purchase behavior is certainly a good thing, it doesn’t necessarily mean customers have a long-term, deep attachment to the brand—a personal, deeply felt emotional connection that inspires true loyalty.
At Disney Institute, we have found that true brand loyalty is based on creating something truly special so that when customers interact with your brand, an emotional connection is built, and the foundation for a long-term relationship is formed. So, how can an organization move beyond simple repeat-purchase behavior to building true brand attachment? Start by making a meaningful and credible brand promise to your customers, and then deliver on that promise over and over again.
In our Disney’s Approach to Business Excellenceprofessional development course, we share with participants that a "brand promise" is a succinct statement of the tangible and intangible benefits provided by the ideal brand experience. In other words, a brand promise is a statement of how you want the customer to feel when they interact with your product or service.
So, what constitutes an effective brand promise—one that connects emotionally with customers and is the basis on which relationships can be formed? Here are four things customers are looking for a brand promise to be:
Important – Customers have expectations regarding the fair exchange of value. In exchange for their money and time, they rightfully expect something meaningful in return. The brand promise must convey what matters most to your customers.
Credible – Customers must believe that what you are promising is possible and deliverable. It has never been good policy to “over-promise” and “under-deliver.”
Exclusive – No organization can be successful at trying to be everything for everybody. Find your niche, and carve out a unique space to “own” in the mind of your customer.
Differentiating – The brand promise must truly set you apart from your competitors and be based on legitimate differentiators.
The ultimate reward for making andkeeping an effective brand promise is deep attachment between your brand and your customer. The key will be delivering consistently on your promise…over, and over, and over again. This will require everyone in the organization to become brand ambassadors and brand managers who understand and apply the brand promise to their daily decisions and actions.
April’s list of widely recognized holidays is a good source of content marketing. Add to this the power of publishing a lookbook, and you have five compelling ideas for ecommerce content marketing.
Content marketing is the art and science, if you will, of creating, publishing, and distributing content like blog posts, photographs, videos, or similar, with the aim of attracting, engaging, converting, and retaining customers.
What follows are five ideas for your ecommerce content marketing.
1. April Fool’s Day: April 1
In much of the Western world, the first day of April is set aside for practical jokes, pranks, and harmless hoaxes. It is a day when even the most conservative of brands can have some fun with marketing.
In fact, April Fool’s Day marketing can be some of the most inventive and creative content a company produces all year.
Thinkgeek releases several fake products each April Fool’s Day.
One of the best examples of ecommerce-related April Fool’s content marketing comes from specialty retailer Thinkgeek, which has published a list of “fake” products each April Fool’s day since 2001.
In 2014, Thinkgeek’s April specials include the following.
For April Fool’s Day 2015, try to come up with one product related to your industry that will leave folks laughing. Publish the product like any other on your site — although you may want to put it in a special category; Thinkgeek uses “looflirpa,” which is “april fool” backwards. Finally, feature that product on your home page, in an email campaign, and on social media.
2. Easter: April 5
In the United States and much of the Western world, Easter will be celebrated on Sunday, April 5, 2015. The holiday has something of a split personality.
On the one hand, it is a secular holiday featuring egg hunting, the Easter Bunny, and Easter parades intended to celebrate the changing seasons. While on the other hand, it is a high Christian holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus.
From a content marketer’s perspective, the holiday merits attention in either situation. Here are some ideas for industry segments.
Craft retailer. How-to articles for making anything from Easter baskets to plastic Easter egg bunnies — Michael’s did the latter.
Kitchen supply retailers. Include recipes and articles demonstrating how to make your own Easter candy.
Lawn and garden retailer. Publish an article like “10 Secrets for a Better Easter Egg Hunt” or “5 Steps to Prepare Your Yard for Easter.”
Clothing retailer. What about a video that takes an historical look at Easter fashion for the last 100 years?
Book retailer. An article reviewing the ten best Easter books for children.
Michael’s includes how-to projects for Easter on its site. Consumers can also shop the project.
3. U.S. Tax Day: April 15
For Americans, Wednesday, April 15, 2015 is this year’s deadline for filing tax returns. The day might seem like an odd topic for ecommerce content marketing, but, in fact, there may be an opportunity to be useful to some customers.
Perhaps the most direct approach is to produce articles, videos, or tools that help customers prepare for tax day this year or next.
Tax day is Wednesday, April 15, 2015 in the U.S.
For example, in December 2014 the U.S. Congress renewed the state sales tax deduction for 2014 returns. This means that folks itemizing their taxes may choose to deduct either the state income taxes or state sales taxes they paid, whichever amount is larger. This deduction could include online purchases, if the seller collected sales tax for the their customers’ home states.
Here are some tax-day-related article ideas.
“How to Deduct Online Sales Tax from Your 2014 Return”
“18 Resources for Tracking Out-of-pocket Charitable Donations”
“The Philanthropist’s Guide to Online Shopping and Donations”
“Your Business Casual Wardrobe Might be a Business Deduction”
“8 Unexpected Uses for Your Tax Return”
Another idea would be to include a new tool on site that allowed shoppers to look at all of their orders for the year. The tool might allow business customers to select products they intend to deduct and print a receipt of sorts that only included those products.
4. Earth Day: April 22
First celebrated in 1970, Earth Day is meant to demonstrate support for the environment and environmental protection. It is also a good opportunity for content marketing. For 2015, Earth Day occurs on Wednesday, April 22.
Even a coffee tumbler could be an important product to promote on Earth Day.
As an example, imagine a company that sells coffee tumblers online. The seller could create an article or video about how a reusable coffee tumbler saves paper cups and, thereby, benefits the environment.
Once the article or video is complete, promote it on social media using the hashtag #earthday. Be certain to mention facts and statistics from your content.
Creative agency David&Goliath did exactly this campaign with its Defiance Club Movement, telling folks on Twitter that 6.5 million trees could be saved annually if they would use a coffee mug instead of a paper cup.
The hypothetical coffee tumbler example is not really that hypothetical. In fact, creative agency David&Goliath actually did it with coffee mugs.
5. Publish a Lookbook
The only suggestion on this month’s list not tied to a specific date is to publish a lookbook for your ecommerce business.
In its 2015 Eshopper Index published March 18, 2015, iVentures Consulting reported that 65 percent of the 111 sites it had reviewed used photography, like lookbooks, to encourage sales. Lookbooks are essential mini-catalogs that use lifestyle or product in-action photography to get an emotional response from the shopper.
Lookbooks can be used to promote almost any product, but are probably the most common on sites selling apparel, cosmetic, and luxury products.
