Marketing Through the Crisis: What Does This Mean for DTC Brands?
AdWeek reported on a recent study showing 75% of consumers plan on spending the "same amount or more" as last month on goods and services over the next 30 days. However, the 2,500 respondents to the survey were split almost 50/50 on whether or not they feel safe returning to public retail outlets to do that shopping. This shows that while consumer confidence is rising, the return to brick and mortar retail shops still has a long way to go.
So what does that mean for you? It means that focusing on providing the best possible ecommerce experience for your customers will continue to be a key task for the remainder of 2020 and beyond.
Here are three tips to keep in mind when making sure your online store is open for business:
1. Make sure your customer has a clear path to checkout.
Another important tidbit AdWeek mentions: McKinsey reports that 1 in 5 shoppers have abandoned their primary grocer post-pandemic due to a poor ecommerce experience. If your business relied mainly on IRL foot traffic to keep the doors open, you will want to spend time making sure your site is easy to navigate for new and returning customers alike. The flow of figuring out which of your products to purchase, adding them to cart and checking out needs to be an almost subconscious process for most shoppers. If met with any bumps in the road here, you run a high risk of losing that customer to a competitor. Try approaching your site from the perspective of someone visiting for the first time and see if you notice any fixes you can implement to make for a better overall shopping experience. It's also worth asking a friend or colleague to take a look at your store to offer you feedback on their experience. There could be some obvious quick and easy changes that you are overlooking that will mean more customers completing purchases.
2. Update your site with all new COVID related news, products and offers.
If you are stocking new items on your site since the pandemic hit (we've seen a lot of hand sanitizer offers out there!) then you'll want to make sure those are highlighted in all the correct places, such as your homepage, any newsletters you are sending out and even as a potential add-on option during the checkout process. If you have products that are high in demand, think about tailoring your messaging for those in a way that will mitigate customer frustration. For instance, if you have an item that sells out often, make sure you add some text on the product page letting your customers know expected restock times. Setting up a way for your customers to be emailed or texted an alert for when those items are back in stock will help them feel like they are getting the best possible ecommerce experience from you. Also, if you are in an area that is allowing things like curbside pick-up, it makes sense to add detailed instructions on how that works so it appears seamless when the customer arrives at your store.
3. Tailor your digital marketing messaging for each specific area of your customers journey
This one is key. Not all marketing messaging is created equally. If you are prospecting for new customers, especially at a time like this, you want your first touch with that person to be informative, educational and conversational. Dropping someone off on a product page and expecting them to purchase the first time they are introduced to you as a brand isn't going to go so well in most cases. Middle and lower funnel retargeting strategies? That's where you want to deliver them to a page that has them a few steps closer to the checkout. There are tips and tricks to each layer of the marketing funnel and FieldTest can help you ensure your ads are sending the right message during a time when finding brand new customers can seem trickier than usual.