Your ecommerce website is a
commodity.
In the 90’s, simply having
a website may have been a competitive advantage in your industry. Today it’s
table stakes. Even with a full catalog of products, robust features and
lightning page load speed, your website is really nothing more than a pile of
code. And everybody’s got one.
Of course, some websites
are more successful than others – and branding is a major part of this. Whether
you’re a brand selling direct-to-consumer, a marketplace, a content publisher,
or a retail operation, your competition is a click away. As a digital marketer,
your challenge is to differentiate your commodity web presence from the rest of
the pack.
The good news is
commodities can be differentiated. Water is a perfect example. What’s readily
available for free in the Western world is also a multi-billion dollar industry.
Driving
brand insistence
How can you make customers insist
on your business’ brand, and consistently choose your website as the place
to purchase amongst your competitors?
The Blake Project has
determined there are 5 key
drivers to brand insistence.
Awareness Are consumers aware of your business’
website as a shopping destination amongst your competitors, and is your
business brand top-of-mind?
Accessibility Does your business’ brand and digital
presence reach the consumption channels where consumers are (including mobile
and social, if relevant)?
Value Do consumers believe your website is
worth the “price”? (In context of your website, does your website and purchase
experience live up to the time and dollar investment in transacting with you?)
Relevant Differentiation Does your brand own consumer-relevant,
consumer-compelling benefits that are unique and believable?
Emotional Connection Does the consumer know your brand, like
your brand, trust and feel an emotional connection to it (and does your website
reinforce this connection)?
What
makes a strong brand differentiator on an ecommerce site?
Amazon.com is a perfect
example of an ecommerce site that effectively pulls all five levers. But not
all businesses competing with Amazon enjoys its scale, operational
efficiencies, selection or community content.
Let your brand character
shine through
Brad mentions Patagonia as
an example of strong brand character. It’s apparent from their charitable
involvement and its team of ambassadors that the company is committed to
outdoor life, a story that’s far stronger than its competitors.
Capture a niche
Amazon disrupted the book
selling industry, and many brick-and-mortar shops have not survived. Those that
have survived tend to cater to a specific genre, or demonstrate superior
product knowledge and customer service to deliver value missing from
competitors.
Ecommerce sites can also
win when they understand how to capitalize on gaps in experience.
Support the buying
process
Tools like the former
Garden.com’s product finder tool solves customer problems.
Branding
direct to consumer
Manufacturers selling
direct are in the position where brand awareness and preference drives traffic,
but the website competes against channel partners for the sale.
Branding
commodity services
Mobile network operators
don’t just compete for device sales, but also on commodity services. Creative
plans and bundling with and without physical product help differentiate. For
example, free calls within the network, family plans, value-added services and
triple/quad-play bundling.
Don’t
fix what’s not broken?
A brand’s web design is
important. But one of ecommerce’s favorite make-work projects is website
redesign, often in the name of a keeping things fresh. What’s the branding
expert’s take on web design overhaul?
Brad says, speaking himself
as a “creative type:”
Companies with strong creative presence have product designers
and marketing departments that love to create new things, including the brand’s
look and feel. The problem with branding is consistency in presentation. I roll
my eyes every time a new marketing VP comes in and wants to update the logo,
change the colors and so on. When US Air rebranded to US Airways, all its
planes had to be repainted, but there was no real difference to the brand or
its services.
In my days at Hallmark, I oversaw product placement in grocery
stores. Grocery stores will deliberately change the location of products to
shake things up. If they go in specifically for milk and cheese, they don’t pay
attention to what’s in other aisles. This can be frustrating to customers, but
pays off in this industry.
Does this work on a website? There’s no need to overhaul look
and feel unless you find the store isn’t working or there is some functionality
to correct.
I asked Brad about his
thoughts on Overstock’s domain rebranding, from Overstock.com to O.co – a
$350,000 strategy intended to distance the pure-play from just overstocked
items but failed to resonate with customers. Brad advises against veering from
the very obvious (conventional .com and country-level TLDs) to unconventional
extensions like .co, .net and .info (sorry ICANN). Web users simply think in
terms of dot-coms, it’s very difficult to establish domain recognition with any
other extension.
Don’t
be a commodity
Your website is just one way to conduct
commerce, and just one way to present your brand to the consumer, but it’s
critical that it does a good job representing your business. To stand out,
determine what makes you different, what values you have and what benefits you
deliver, and communicate it strongly on your website.
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