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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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Today is Monday. On Wednesday I have an long-haul flight to São Paulo and I just realized my traveling sneakers are done. I need my sneakers to be comfortable, because with my luck, the gates for connecting flights are always on the other side of the airport.
I need to find a new pair ASAP.
With everything I have to do to prepare, there isn’t enough time for a trip to the mall. In-between thoughts of the presentation I'm preparing, I browse different online stores and I find what I’m looking for.
But there’s a problem - I need my sneakers delivered overnight or I risk not having them in time for my trip. That’s not a risk I’m willing to take.
I look around the product page of the first store - there’s no information on shipping on that page, none.
I end up buying from my second choice simply because they clearly state next-day shipping is available.
Later I find out that first store also provided free next-day shipping, but that information was provided on the last page of the check-out flow. What a waste.
Have you noticed something that is extremely important in all ecommerce, but that I didn’t care about at all? Something that is the cornerstone of every site that is selling online, but in this instance, didn’t play any role whatsoever?
That all-so-important thing is the “Add To Cart” button.
It didn’t play any role in me passing on my first choice and buying from somewhere else. That button is extremely important, we have written about it before here and I personally have written a whole mega article just about that button here.
While the “Add to Cart” button is important and it’s one of the defining features of an ecommerce site, it does not carry the entire burden of of getting itself clicked.
You can have the most “optimized” button in the world but if it doesn’t work with the rest of your site or you’re just plain sloppy and forget to mention next-day shipping (for example) on your product pages... you are still going to lose business.
This article will try to give you a more holistic picture on what else you need to pay attention to when selling stuff online besides that damn button.
So let’s get started.
How Do We Discover Why People Aren't Clicking "Add To Cart"?
So imagine that we’re online tea sellers, specifically we’re selling Matcha green tea online. The above picture is of our product pages.
We have high-quality product photography, psychological pricing, prominent “Add To Cart” button, some shipping info, instructions about making the tea, brief intro into Matcha teas and so on. Everything seems to be in place.
Additionally our Google Analytics data which tells us how many people land on this page (and how they got here) and we can see how many people clicked our buy button.
This is pretty good, but we also see that only .56% of our traffic is clicking "Add To Cart". That's not enough.
What we really want to know is what we should change about this product page to make even more people take steps towards buying.
User testing is one of the tools that can help us with accomplishing this goal.
User Testing Helps You See The Page Through Your Customer's Eyes
Your shop is online, you have your customers and because you are a smart marketer you have set up email list segmentation which allows you to email different segments (repeat, biggest spending etc) of your customers.
Before we go forward with changing things around based on “best practices” we must first get an understanding on what the buying experience is like for our customers.
You’ve looked at your product pages hundreds of times and you know by heart where everything is situated and it all makes sense... to you - very often, this is the exact opposite scenario for the majority of your visitors.
To solve this, use remote user testing to see first hand how visitors are using your site.
Remote testing works by recording audio & video of what’s happening on your visitor’s screen via screen capture software.
The facilitation is done either through pre-loaded prompts that appear over the top of the website being tested (when using professional user testing software) or simply in the form of activities do be done sent to the testers email.
In the end you will get a video recording where you can see and hear exactly what was going on.
As questions go, our goal is to understand what information is lacking from the buyer's perspective that makes them hesitate clicking "Add to Cart" and if the information they need to feel comfortable purchasing is easily accessible.
If I’m the owner of an online shoe shop, a customer would most likely want to know if they have my size, shipping info, materials used etc.
Possible tasks for user testers would include:
Browse around the site, what kind of shoes is X selling?
Find a pair of men’s loafers that you like.
Do they have your size in stock?
Add a pair of loafers to the shopping cart, then open the shopping cart and change the size of the shoe one size down.
Find another pair of shoes you like and add that to the cart.
Are the shipping options clear? How much are they, and what is estimated delivery time?
Etc..
You get the picture. Try to imagine yourself in your customers shoes and what they would need to know to buy from you. Then derive tasks from that and use them.
Once you have gone through the process once with your current setup, it’s time to analyze and improve based on that feedback and then go again for another round.
The question of who should to the testing is an easy one - your own customers!
Like I said earlier, you are a smart marketer and you have set up your list segmentation already. The only thing left is contacting those segments and asking for help with improving your site - you can offer discounts, free shipping etc to get customers to be more willing to join you.
As segments go start with your best customers, since they have bought from you numerous times already they trust you and are more willing to help you out. Be aware though, that you shouldn’t only rely on them - they have used your site extensively so try to include customers from all segments to get a fuller picture.
Additional segments you can test might be:
New users
Email visitors
Social Media visitors
Referral visitors
High spenders
Etc
Displaying different messaging to these kinds of visitors can be configured with an optimization tool such as Optimizely.
If you need to make a case before investing in these tools, you can use any screen capture software, and instructing users to follow the think aloud protocol as they perform a set of tasks given to them in an email. Windows 10, for example, has screen capture build right into it, so your users don’t need to install any additional software at all.
Using Session Replays And Heatmaps To Watch How Visitors Interact
User testing on it's own can lead to some serious bias however. Because people know they're being watched, it can influence the answers they give.
Session replays are similar to user testing in that it enables you to see customers interacting with your site - where they click, what drives attention, which form fields they hesitate on etc. - without having a test administrator standing over their shoulder.
With the session replay, you're viewing videos of users screens as they use your site - there is no possibility to make them complete tasks or ask questions afterwards.
It’s biggest strength and weakness is that it records everything that everyone does - so depending on what you're trying to find, you may need to watch a lot of replays to get what you need.
Let's say you're wondering why more people aren't clicking "Add to Cart" and you watch through some session replays. In the replays for one of your more popular items you see that a significant portion of people are clicking the "size" dropdown, but one of the sizes is out of stock.
After which they either 1.) Leave or 2.) try to find another item in a similar size. If they leave, it's an easy assumption that they had no reason to click "Add to Cart" because you just didn't have what they wanted.
Using Heatmaps to Find Where Your Visitor's Attention Does And Doesn't Go
Moving on from session replays, heatmaps are the next step to find out how to get more people clicking "Add to Cart".
Strictly speaking heatmaps are divided into 2 categories - click-tracking heatmaps (see where the user is clicking and moving with his/her mouse) and eyetracking heatmaps (tracking users eye movement). By far the more popular is the clicktracking variety simply because it’s way more cost effective.
Another big difference between them is that click-tracking is used in real-time while eye-tracking requires specialized equipment and is usually done in focus groups and in a lab environment.
Then there is the debate if mouse-tracking has a high or low correlation with eye movement.
Meaning that, depending on who you listen, my mouse is either always around the area I’m reading or my mouse is in a random place while I’m reading. There really is no right or wrong answer here, so just use it with caution.
As a word of advice, use heatmaps that show actual clicks and disregard everything else.
With either tool however, the point is to see where the "hotspots" are on the page, or if the right elements are getting attention at all.
It's not uncommon to discover when viewing heatmaps for the first time, that important areas of the page aren't grabbing the visitor's attention, and therefore might as well be invisible.
Click-Tracking Heatmaps
Click-tracking heatmaps enables you to get progressively more data. With user testing realistically you’re getting data from 20 - 25 people, with session replays around 150 - 200 (you don’t really want or need to look through all the thousands of sessions).
And finally with heatmaps it combines clicking data from all your store's visitors and overlays them graphically over your website with easy to understand “hot” and “cold” areas - with the hottest ones getting the most clicks and vice versa.
Popular Click-Tracking Tools
As far as tools go, most of the popular ones include both session replay and heatmapping capability along with a host of other features like form analytics and scroll maps.
Tools also different on the definition of what a heatmap even is - some include mouse movement (hover) data while others count only clicks.
CrazyEgg, for example, has click-maps that show different traffic sources in different colors - great for visually seeing how behaviour differs between traffic sources.
On the other hand, it doesn’t include session replays which more advanced tools have. So your best bet is to read up on a couple of tools and their use cases, what they can and can’t do and decide then depending on your needs and budget.
When it comes to analyzing, go and read “Analyzing Survey Responses” section in this article to get started. It talks about user surveys, but same principles hold true here.
To see heatmapping in action, let’s look at an eyetracking study that Nielsen Norman Group ran on ecommerce category pages from Pottery Barn and Amazon.com:
In the case of Pottery Barn (left picture) thumbnails of bookcases were studied intensively, while descriptions were mostly left alone. The opposite was true for an Amazon page which featured TVs (right picture) - only 18% was spent on photos, while over 80% was spent on the text.
In the case of the TVs, pictures were of no help whatsoever when deciding. Are you really going to choose your TV based on what’s on the display? So because you like football and there’s a picture of a football player on one of the TVs I’m going to buy that one? Of course not.
Still, be very careful when making these sweeping generalizations. Just because it works for Amazon doesn’t mean that it will work for you and vice versa.
There is no substitute for running tests yourself on your products with your audience. This is just to exemplify that different things work in different product categories and surprising results can be found.
Using Exit Surveys And Live Chat To Discover Why Visitors Leave Without Buying
Remember the story at the beginning of the article when I chose another vendor because I wasn’t sure that they provided overnight shipping?
If the store owner looked at their data, all they would have seen was that I was looking for sneakers, landed on a product page and then left without clicking "Add to Cart".
Fortunately there are ways for marketers to get more context on why I left and thus make changes to make me stay longer on my next visit and possibly buy. I’m talking about exit surveys and live chat.
Exit surveys pop up usually on the right side of the screen just as you’re about to leave the site. They can either provide text based answers where you choose the correct one or a free form field. In the shipping example the exit survey could have looked like something like this:
While this wouldn't have persuaded me to buy, it would give me the opportunity to let them know why. But for me as an business owner it gives me an answer to why people are leaving which I can then use to improve my store.
Another way to achieve the same goal is to use live chat where customers and potential customers can get answers to their questions and continue shopping with the piece of mind that what they were searching for is either available or not.
And that is exactly what your customers are doing - already back in 2012 customers said that they liked live chat because they get their questions answered quickly (79% of responders) and 46% agreed it was the most efficient communication method. We'll be going more in-depth on Live Chat later this week (subscribe to the blog to get notified).
Now I understand that all this feedback and mountains of data can be overwhelming.
User tests, session replays, heatmaps, live chat etc all produces a lot of data and it takes a lot of time to go through it all. But here’s the thing - you don’t need to go through every single piece of data and analyze it like a mad person.
The idea is to “triangulate the truth” by watching and learning, and to develop a well-informed hypothesis, which will be the basis of a testing plan focused on getting more people to click the “Add to Cart” button.
Use Personalized Content To Tailor Messaging To Specific Traffic Sources
It’s no secret that traffic from different sources converts at different levels.
You can’t reasonably expect that traffic coming from your newsletter and traffic coming from organic Google search will convert at the same level. That’s never going to happen.
Different traffic sources want different things and their behavior and clicking patterns are different. People that know you (like your newsletter subs) have bought from you and they trust you already, while people coming from other sources may have never heard of you and so you must work harder on earning their trust.
One of the easiest things you can to do earn great trust right away is to make sure the messages you're promoting outwards on your social channels, ads and the like match what is happening on your actual pages.
They are using the same words and call to actions (not to mention graphics) on both the ad and the actual landing page. That’s the way all clickable ads should be done.
Personalization
Getting messages to match on ads and their respective landing pages is relatively easy but what if we could personalize pages for all the different traffic sources you are likely to encounter?
Now that would be awesome, and luckily for you it’s doable.
We already have all this data that we gathered through Google Analytics, user testing, watching session replays and exit surveys and live chat and heatmaps and more.
So why not put this into good use and instead of simply visually seeing how different sources interact differently with our pages but also change the pages depending on their browsing behaviour?
This is where personalization and behavioural targeting software comes into play. There are a multitude of different companies that offers these services starting with your favourite A/B testing software like VWO or Optimizely and a bunch of companies like Personyze, Monoloop, Monetate and more that offer these services.
Essentially what they offer is an interface that allows you to choose your variables and then what kind of content they should be greeted with.
You can segment by traffic source, previous purchases, their location and more. This is where all the research that you have done before comes in handy - you are creating different experiences for different customers based on what works best for them.
This is the holy grail of ecommerce - customer sees only the things that interest them in a way that is personally unique to them.
Conclusion
"Add to Cart" - these 3 simple words are the most important words in ecommerce, although you might be mistaken seeing as I have only mention the actual button once or twice throughout this article.
It is unquestionably a very important piece of the ecommerce puzzle.
All these small things play a huge and important role in your success. Just remember,it doesn’t live in a vacuum and to be truly successful you need to look at the whole picture and work on all the different parts of the puzzle.
It’s not going to be quick, it will take time and hard work but I promise you it will pay off in the end.
To view the original article please visit: Shopify
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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.
Photo Credit: Provided by Social Monsters with permission to use.
To view the original article please visit: Retail Minded
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As the lines between our virtual and physical worlds continue to blur, the brick-and-mortar retail experience is changing. And there’s a common trend among those retailers leading the way: A movement toward greater personalization.
But while in-store technology like beacons and interactive product displays are becoming more commonplace, large-scale adoption remains a work in progress, creating a less-than-ideal customer experience. A recent report from Google found that 79% of shoppers seek information essential to their purchasing decisions while in a retail store, but only two out of every three actually find the answers they need.
The study also found that personalizing the customer experience is a crucial step in winning back the hearts and wallets of frustrated shoppers who aren’t finding the merchandise or the environment they prefer.
Consumers have more options than ever, both from Internet retailers and brick-and-mortar stores. Having the best product selection doesn’t cut it anymore. (And frankly, the definition of an ideal product selection differs from shopper to shopper, anyway.) Stores need to embrace digital tools in a way that makes millions of shoppers feel like they’re being catered to individually, at least if they want to remain competitive.
Creating a truly personalized shopping experience doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a multi-step process, but one that’s vital for any retailer looking to remain competitive in an increasingly digitally driven world. Here are five steps brick and mortar stores can take to adopt the right technology and target customers with customized, memorable experiences.
Step 1: Understand Your Demographic
Example: In today’s tech-dominated landscape, the market rewards those who know their demographic best. In the case of Toys “R” Us, that audience is parents — and those parents are undeniably busy and always on-the-go.
The toy store understands this reality; parents are not looking to spend hours upon hours browsing aisles, reading descriptions for each toy they encounter. So they created a suite of mobile apps that make it easier and faster to get through the store and back to playtime.
Scanning the Internet for deals is replaced by text and email alerts; in-store barcode scanning allows shoppers to pull up product details in seconds; and shareable wish lists make avoiding duplicates in the playroom effortless. And when it’s time to pay, the store welcomes mobile payments from shoppers, a convenient choice that also allows the retailer to build a relationship with their customers even after they’ve left the store.
The takeaway: While tailoring the shopping experience to your target demographic is only the first step to personalization, it’s a crucial one. The best technology solutions take into account what real consumers’ lives look like. Understanding whether your customer base enjoys spending hours browsing or prefers to get what they need quickly is an essential step in determining where to invest your technology budget.
Step 2: Use Location To Your Advantage
Example: Location-aware technology can help retailers make shoppers feel less like one in a million and more like a shop’s number-one priority. It’s a great second step on the road to personalizing the experience that consumers have with your brand. Retailers large and small are leveraging these technologies to better target and engage consumers not just at the store, but also at specific locations within the store.
Lord & Taylor, for example, has capitalized on this opportunity in several ways, integrating third-party apps like mystery coupon-generator SnipSnap that pings users’ phones with a deal that can only be revealed when inside the walls of a store. This rewards customers for coming to the brick and mortar location and makes them feel like the retailer cares about their visit.
Shopkick’s “shopBeacon” program is another star in the burgeoning area of hyper-local. Currently active at two Macy’s department stores, one in San Francisco and one in New York City, the beacons turn customer phones into personal shoppers, guiding them through the in-store experience from the moment they step inside to the purchase-decision process. In addition to promoting deals and product suggestions, shopBeacon also channels previous in-app behavior to aid in buying decisions. For example, if a shopper indicated interest in a dress while browsing through products on the app, she might get a sale notification when she enters the formalwear department.
The takeaway: Context- and location-aware technology can be very powerful tools for retailers to give customers what they want at the right time and in the right place and truly enrich their local shopping experience. Moreover, with the right technology, major pain points of the brick and mortar retail experience — like crowds and hard-to-navigate stores — can be mitigated, making the entire retail experience more enjoyable and personal.
Step 3: Use Tools To Empower Associates
Example: Dealing with limited inventory and returns from unhappy customers has always been a part of the sales associate’s day — until now. To truly cater to each customer’s specific preferences, more and more stores are bridging the gap between physical stock and the digital world.
How are they doing this? One example is three-dimensional scanning app Shoefitr, a service blurring the lines between shoppers’ digital and actual worlds, bringing its ability to scan customers’ feet and determine ideal shoe size to over 1,000 footwear brands like Cole Haan and Puma. Sales associates equipped with this technology can help customers make more informed purchases, which ultimately leads to fewer returns.
Another player helping make this happen is eBay. The site now offers a selection of retail tools called the Retail Associate Platform, with early adopters including Aeropostale, DSW and Nine West. When a shopper has their sights set on an out-of-stock item, eBay’s platform simplifies the process of getting it to them. Its “Endless Aisle” app provides browsing access to a store’s full stock at all locations and allows associates to process purchases directly via the app. These retailers are now using the platform in 1,500 stores, making virtually any merchandise request easy to fulfill.
The takeaway: When shoppers have trouble finding the item they need, they may decide they don’t need it that bad after all, move on to a different store or go online, eliminating the retailer from the equation altogether. Now, technology like the services offered by Shoefitr and eBay connects shoppers to the items they want and need—no matter where they’re located. Suddenly, the store’s square footage doesn’t have to be so limiting, and sales associates have more ways to connect customers with the products they want and need.
Step 4: Democratize The Personal Shopper Experience
Example: Chico’s has made headlines for its omnichannel success — and rightfully so. The retailer’s tech tool belt includes everything from RFID technology to tablets that enable associates to enter customer information gathered during a visit and continue providing item recommendations once that shopper has left the store.
It was a hefty up-front investment, but it’s paying off in spades. Customer engagement is a top priority for the brand, and now sales associates can communicate with shoppers in a multitude of ways, even scheduling one-on-one styling sessions.
They also feature “tech tables,” touchscreen stations that allow shoppers to interact with the brand in a more in-depth way, not only browsing a greater range of apparel than a single store could stock, but also accessing content that helps them make buying decisions. While consumers are interacting with Chicos’ in-store technology, they’re also providing valuable information that can help the retailer make more informed shopping suggestions.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Chico’s isn’t done with the high-tech advancements; future in-store offerings could include digital signs that sense a shopper’s presence and make customized shopping suggestions.
The takeaway: In order to democratize the personal shopping experience, Chico’s has used technology to offer one-on-one styling, personalized recommendations and access to a wider range of stock than a single store could carry on its own. In doing this, they’ve taken an experience that was once limited to the wealthiest customers and made it available to everyone, making shopping more personal and enjoyable.
Step 5: Use Data To Keep Shoppers Loyal
Example: While the first four steps will help create a memorable shopping experience and put you on the path toward personalization, there’s one final step to ensuring that your efforts don’t ultimately go to waste: fostering loyalty.
Successful loyalty programs go well beyond paper punch cards, bridging the gap between online and in-store experiences. The best programs motivate shoppers to make that first purchase, come back to your store again and again and ultimately develop a preference for your brand. Staying connected to consumers and understanding their shopping habits is the best way to develop loyalty, and the right technology can make this process much easier.
The good news is that today's advanced payment and customer relationship management systems make it possible to learn more than ever about your customers. With this data, you can offer loyalty programs that are tailored to their specific interests and that foster customer lifetime value. This is where the rubber meets the road.
Take the Loyallist program from Bloomingdale’s. Not only are frequent shoppers rewarded with extra points they can redeem for gift cards and complimentary shipping, but the retailer also offers apps that make the shopping experience more personal and memorable.
Downloaders of the Big Brown Bag app, which integrates with the Loyallist program, get the royal shopping treatment with the ability to sync local in-store events with their calendars, manage registries and even settle up their accounts. They can also redeem rewards points right from their phones. By giving customers the tools to personalize their experience and build their ideal interaction with the store, Bloomingdales has taken an important step in fostering loyalty.
Takeaway: Using technology to power your loyalty program is a great way to make shoppers feel like they have exclusive access to a retailer’s best offerings. With services like the Loyallist program that create a more personal relationship between consumer and brand, everyone wins.
The options for bringing personalization into the retail world are vast, so it may feel overwhelming to keep up with the changing times. While we’re still in the early stages of adoption, the technology used by a select group of companies today will soon become mainstream. By following the five steps outlined above, retailers can build an attainable strategy and work to bring the most effective solutions into their stores.
As you work towards choosing which technologies to integrate, keep in mind that the best retail tech allows stores to better connect with shoppers and revolutionize the way they interact with products, long before they step into the store and long after they’ve left. To remain ahead of the pack, retailers need to create and continually refine the shopping experience so it’s easier to navigate, more convenient and better personalized to each individual shopper.
Personalization is a hot topic in retail today, and retailers are paying close attention, rolling out beacon technology to track shoppers’ actions, focusing marketing materials to capture their attention and encouraging customer service training. But a recent study from Cisco Consulting Services finds that today’s consumers are really seeking a hyper-relevant experience even more than a hyper-personalized one.
Technology has allowed consumers to reach out to brands at any time and from any place, and this has resulted in customers looking for more personalized interactions from retailers, as people want their patronage to be valued and appreciated.
That means that shoppers want to find what they came for and pay in a streamlined fashion. Some might want to be addressed by name, but it seems that’s not a deal breaker. What is important is getting the basics right consistently. For example, the Cisco study found 39 percent of respondents said that greater efficiency in the shopping process (e.g., ensuring items are in stock, speeding checkout times) as the top area retailers need to improve. Compare that with the 13 percent who said a more personalized shopping experience was the #1 concern.
Concentrating on efficiency has two benefits. One, retailers cut costs be eliminating waste and superfluous practices. And customers get the benefit of quicker, more responsive service. Customers end up happier, and, as a result, more loyal to those stores that make shopping easier. Retailers that build agile business processes to turn these insights into value can capture a profit improvement of 15.6 percent, according to Cisco Consulting Services.
Combining mobile technology with the in-store experience is no longer just for early adopters — it is mainstream. The next step is integrating mobile with the technology powering the Internet of things. IoT lets shoppers connect to retail in ways that makes their shopping experiences more enjoyable, and helps retailers create relevant customer experiences.
Shoppers typically want to engage a technology solution if there is a benefit for them attached. Those benefits might be in terms of cost, efficiency or engagement. To meet those needs, for example, a retailer might:
use digital signage to inform shoppers of a “flash” sale. The “smart sign” is notified by an IoT powered backend system about a stock situation. Preprogrammed parameters cause the promotion to launch, helping retailers clear out inventory, and can guide customers directly to the merchandise;
implement a buy-online-pickup-in-store solution that provides current inventory information to shoppers beginning their journey online, but opting to finish it in store;
provide interactive mirrors for trying on clothes, capturing the image and sharing on social media.
By investing in Internet of Things technologies, some retailers are attempting to engage consumers, attract them to stores, and attempt to cross-sell and up-sell. It’s yet another tool in a box that can never be too full.
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