Ecommerce Branding: Crushing the Competition

Ecommerce Branding is essential for any online brand

Ecommerce Branding will help you stand out from the rest of the crowd. Have you ever heard of Harry’s razors? Casper beds?

Making a brand stand out in 2019 and beyond is no easy task.

There are estimated to be between 12-24 million ecommerce stores selling products on the web, but only a small amount — around 650,000 stores — are selling more than 1,000 dollars annually.

So how can you ensure that your ecommerce store is one of the few people who know, trust, and return to again and again? One way: is by creating a great brand through ecommerce branding.

It’s easy to set up an online shop or buy a ready-made website, but if you don’t pay attention to ecommerce branding, you’re unlikely to create any revenue. You need to know here to ensure your brand is the best.

What is a brand? The Basics of Ecommerce Branding

Ecommerce branding touches everything your business does: product design, packaging, customer service, web presence, social media, and advertising. You want to package up your business and present it to customers in a format they can relate to.

People often purchase products because of an emotional connection they develop with your brand — it’s certainly the key to repeat customers and sales. Before the web, successful branding was usually the preserve of large companies.

But the internet is an equalizer, and small stores can sell themselves cheaply and effectively. The most important thing that goes into building a successful brand is consistency. Think carefully about the following:

• The tone of voice. The tone of voice you use across all your communication channels, from product descriptions to social media, must be consistent. Many brands like Cards Against Humanity have made a distinctive voice in their commercial calling card.
• Typography is hugely important. Every typeface has a personality, so pick yours wisely! Especially in the luxury product niche, a good typeface can make all the difference.
• Color palette. The choice of color is a method of communicating your brand values without using words. Research has found that 60 percent of people will decide whether or not they’re attracted to a message based on color alone.

Canva’s color palette generator is a handy design tool.

• A good logo allows people to recognize your brand instantly and should be simple, distinctive, relevant, and adaptable, as you’ll need to use it both online and offline.

The Design & Brand Essentials You Need to Get Right

1. Website design. Your website must instantly communicate what you want your customers to know about your brand. If you’ve bought a ready-made ecommerce website rather than built your store and branding from scratch, you must make design changes to reflect your brand message. Think about how to crystallize your USPs (unique selling points) into a few core messages and hero images to keep your homepage design simple and compelling.
2. Content. Creating great content will position you as a trusted voice within your field and keep customers returning to your site. The best ecommerce blogs are genuine community hubs that put out lookbooks and other forms of engaging visual content. Because it’s a blog, don’t restrict yourself to the written word. 
3. Social media & social design. Connecting with your customers via social media is an excellent way to speak to them directly and establish a relationship between your brand and your target audience. Creating a good impression will define how they think of you in the future. But you can also use social media to help guide design decisions on your site. An Instagram-style product gallery or a Messenger chatbot can help bring your online brand up-to-date.
4. Go mobile. 62% of smartphone users have purchased mobile devices online in the last six months. In 2018, your ecommerce branding strategy must include a functional and well-designed mobile platform.
5. Use SEO tactics to drive more web traffic. Then, look at your conversions. Matrix Marketing Group helps e-commerce websites get found. Let’s see how they are doing.

Ecommerce Branding Through Social Media

As mentioned above, social media is one of the best ways to communicate directly with your customers.

Not every social channel is right for every brand, and it’s hard to maintain an effective presence on all of them simultaneously. 

Start by creating high-quality imagery to help wow your social media followers and develop loose brand guidelines for your social media interactions. In today’s world of social commerce, it’s important to sculpt a compelling social profile for your brand.

• With 1.2 billion users and counting, Facebook represents a potentially huge audience for your brand. For new ecommerce brands, Facebook advertising is an absolute no-brainer. It’s one of the cheapest and fastest ways to seed your brand with potential advocates.
• Communicating in bite-sized chunks in real-time allows for personable and casual interactions – a great way to demonstrate your brand persona. Some brands have leveraged Twitter incredibly successfully to build relationships and brand awareness.
• Visual content is critical, and Instagram offers a unique opportunity to showcase your brand’s personality. Instagram has, on average, 58% more engagements per follower than Facebook, so it offers a huge opportunity for any rising ecommerce stars who want to capitalize on their visual content strategy.
• YouTube might not seem as important for an ecommerce site, but it can be a great tool for driving engagements and sales. Sell gadgets? Make some ‘how to use’ videos. Run an online clothing store?
• Create videos with accessory advice. Videos can be cheap and simple to make whilst offering unique and valuable content to your customers that’s easy to break down and share on other social media sites and embed on your website.

Ecommerce branding services will boost sales online. What research did you do to create your branding?

Measuring your brand’s success and branding for ecommerce

Once you have built your brand, you must know how well it performs. As well as one-on-one feedback and customer interviews, get to grips with some core metrics that will help you adjust and tweak your strategy. Here are a few core data sets to focus on when it comes to your online store:

1. The success of your referral programs — Is this a brand people are happy to share with friends & family? Your NPS (Net Promoter Score) should also help here.
2. Affiliate sign-ups — Are other people happy to sell your products online?
3. Subscriber growth rate — Is your email marketing helping to grow your brand community?
4. Repeat purchase rate — Are people coming back to you? Look at your churn rate (the % of customers who only ever buy once).
5. Reviews — both quantity and quality. Are you failing customers somewhere along the line?
6. High bounce rates and low dwell times could indicate poor brand design. Revisit problematic web pages and features to ensure you’re refining your user experience.

Many tools will be available in 2023 to help you create a popular brand, but you still have to work on the strategy and design side.

Great ecommerce branding is your new company’s greatest competitive advantage, so it’s crucial to dedicate time and effort to building your brand.

Recently updated for 2023 information.

Victoria Greene is a writer and brand consultant. Her blog, VictoriaEcommerce, is packed with tips for small business owners looking to turn over a new leaf for 2020.  She’s also a huge fan of low-cost guerrilla marketing.

Are you not getting the results you had hoped for with your current marketing agency? Let the experts at this Denver, Colorado, marketing agency help you create a better brand, generate more web traffic, convert more leads, and close more sales.

Our branding team knows what it takes to build and maintain a proven brand strategy that motivates people to sit up, take notice, and do something. For more information, check out our branding marketing services or contact us to schedule a free consultation to discuss your needs and our services.

Branding for e-commerce is an omnichannel ecosystem, and it matters.

General FAQs and e-commerce branding