How to Create an eCommerce Brand Experience that Attracts Customers for Life

It can be hard to think about creating great experiences for our clients or customers when we often don’t see them face-to-face and their interactions with our brand are entirely digital. The good news is that guest blogger Alexandra Greiner is on the case to remind us that focusing on creating awesome brand experiences for your online business doesn’t need to be super complicated or even that expensive. Alexandra is the Founder and Creative Director of Zagga Creative, a one-stop-shop for your biggest + baddest branding dreams, and I’m so excited to share this post with you that features tons of examples you can implement right now to start attracting customers for life. Her take on creating user-friendly experiences reminds me a lot of this post of mine all about building a more empathetic brand + human-centered design. It’s just really that extra step that’s so many brands fail to take but can really pay off when done right. - Kristine

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Close your eyes and think back to the best shopping experience you’ve ever had. Was it online or in-person? My guess is, it was in person. We tend to have more memorable experiences shopping in person because it’s well, more personal. Companies can train their employees to interact with their customers in a way that aligns with their brand and what they stand for. 

For example, lululemon is all about innovation so their retail associates educate customers on all the features in each product and how it can help them in their workouts. lululemon associates are literally called “educators”. 

When we move online we lose that human to human interaction but that doesn’t mean you have to lose out on the opportunity to create a stand out brand experience.

What do I mean when I say “brand experience”? 

Look at your customer journey, list every single touch point and stage of the journey. For a physical product e-commerce site the customer journey might look something like this…

1. Alexandra comes across your profile on Instagram

2. She clicks the link in bio and is taken to the homepage of your website

3. From their she searches for the item she saw in the post that she liked

4. When she finds what she’s looking for she goes to the product page to read the details and reviews

5. She clicks ‘add to cart’ and continues to the checkout page to fill in her personal information

6. After she hits ‘purchase’ she receives an emailed receipt

7. The next day she receives the shipping notification via email

8. A few days later and her package is delivered to her door

9. She starts using the product and a few weeks later gets an email checking in to make sure everything is going smoothly and that she loves the product.

Then put on your customer hat and see each touch point from the customers perspective. What’s the experience like? 

Is it unique? Do you feel taken care of? Is there something you’re left wanting? 

Anything on that list that is less than amazing is an opportunity to elevate your brand experience and create customers for life. And I’m not talking about just slapping your logo everywhere. Be intentional about each moment. 

Now for the fun part! You get to be creative and take each of those moments from your customer journey that are less than stellar and turn them into something unforgettable. And it doesn’t have to be hard. 

Let’s say you sell digital products and you’re looking for a way to make the delivery of those products more memorable. You can surprise and delight with a digital freebie. People LOVE free stuff. Seriously. LOVE it. 

You could even do one better and have a few freebies that they get to choose from. The only thing better than a freebie is a freebie you get to pick out. My favorite supplement brand, Hum Nutrition, does this on their site every time you order. It makes me super happy and excited to order AND it gets me to try new products so I’ll buy more of their stuff. 

When you’re deciding how to elevate your brand experience, always look at it through the lens of your core values. If you’re a company that stands for reducing climate change including a freebie in the box, like let’s say a sheet of branded stickers, that increases waste would not be a good idea. On the other hand investing in dope, environmentally friendly packaging would greatly enhance the experience and convey your brand’s core values. 

If you’re still scratching your head, wondering exactly what you should do for your brand experience there’s a simple solution...ASK YOUR CUSTOMERS. There is an unlimited fountain of knowledge right at your fingertips and all you have to do is send a survey. This is also a brand experience opportunity! You’re engaging with your customers and asking their opinion and then (hopefully) you’ll take action based on the feedback. 

The ways that you can create a stand out brand experience for your e-Commerce store are endless. Here are some more ideas based on the customer journey…

Find you on social media

1. Respond to their DMs with more than just an emoji

2. Ask a question in posts so your customers can engage in the comments

3. Show some behind the scenes action

4. Make it SUPER easy to shop your products from posts

5. Create a hashtag customers can use when posting about your products so potential customers can see them IRL

Clicks a link and is taken to the homepage of your website

1. Site navigation is super clear and makes it easy to find what they’re looking for

2. Pop-up that offers them a discount on their first order so they can try your products without a big investment

3. Use eye-catching branded photos and graphics so they know exactly who you are and can imagine themselves using your products

Searches for the product they saw in an ad and liked

1. Search bar is easy to find

2. They don’t have to have the exact wording to find what they’re looking for

3. Create a quiz customers can take to direct them to the right products

Navigates to the product page

1. Upload lot’s of high quality, cohesively styled product photos so they know exactly what they’re buying

2. Add videos to the product page, showing how to use the products

3. Organize the product information in a way that is easily digestible making the most important features and info jump off the page

Clicks add to cart and checks out

1. Give back to a charity or non-profit that aligns with your core values with every purchase

2. Make it easy to enter their discount codes and payment information

3. You know that loading message when they submit their order? Why not use some branded graphics instead of the standard loading bar?

Emails

1. Make sure they get great email communication every step of the way i.e. receipt, shipping notification, delivery notification.

2. Brand your emails with your brand colors, fonts and logo

3. Make it easy for them to reach out with questions

Delivery

1. Surprise and delight with a handwritten note in their box

2. Send a check in email after they’ve been using their purchase for a few weeks to make sure everything is going well and answer any questions they may have

You don’t need to do all of them. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars. You just need to know what you stand for and what your customers want so you can be intentional in creating the best possible brand experience. 

And have fun with it for God’s sake! That energy is contagious and your customers will keep coming back and then tell all of their friends about it and they’ll also keep coming back and pretty soon you’ll have so many customers you won’t know what to do with all of them.