What makes online stores click? Great design, niche products, massive offers? These help, but it’s the personality of the store that leaves a lasting impression and makes an audience come back. In this loud, chaotic world where everyone else is trying hard to bring themselves to everyone’s attention, it’s subtlety and soft-spoken words that make your customers feel right at home. A body needs a soul, and your online store needs to have a gravitating personality that makes your customers want a relationship with your brand.

According to Statista, more than 1.66 billion people across the world use eCommerce stores to make online purchases. Thanks to this growing trend, there has been a tremendous rise in the establishment of online businesses. Marketplace giants like Amazon, eBay, Alibaba, and other eCommerce stores didn’t get their enormous clientele by just their looks and offers. They went above and beyond to showcase their sense of personality to make strong connections with their customers. However, when looking closely, you realize that major marketplaces have an autocracy that maintains their own image while downplaying that of the merchants’ branding. This is exactly why numerous merchants are no longer using Amazon or eBay and are instead building their own online stores. In the case of the latter arrangement, online store owners have complete control over the purchase and viewing experience. It is exactly in these times that store owners need guidance to begin curating their shop to keep up with marketplace trends.

The following pointers will help you revamp your online store to gain more attention:

1. Put Your USP to the Front

Every brand needs to have a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) that should be front and center. Take any leading organization, entrepreneurs or even the product—the one thing that strikes the most is the story behind it. The USP of your brand and your products set the tone for your brand story and builds the perception around it. Just being ‘unique’ isn’t enough these days to create a strong brand presence.

Competitive prices for commercial products aren’t enough. Anyone can sell sugar cubes, and some can offer competitive pricing, but in the long run, these businesses lose against major retailers. Why, you ask? Simply because their business lacked insight and most importantly, a niche audience. If one was to sell flavored sugar cubes for horses, the story would have been entirely different.

From telling your brand story to creating a YouTube channel featuring tutorials, product reviews to sharing customer stories, the possibilities for your brand are endless. Videos can deliver a higher level of engagement compared to text. According to studies, the human brain processes video 60,000 times faster than text and when this huge source of creativity is used well, the result is an increase in sales. 

That’s what the USP of your brand is and why it matters so.

Here’s some tried and tested pointers to help you through such sticky spots every time you want to create a strong brand identity:

Business Case Preparation: Build your brand a stronghold in the market. Take things to a place where your brand has a stronger stance against the most competitive products in the market.

Customers at the Core: The USP you create needs to put your customers problem at its center. Right from the pain points to shopping experience; everything should alleviate your customers, nothing else.

Self-Sufficient One-Liner: The USP of your brand must come with a compelling one-liner that encompasses what your store does best. This creates a lasting impression on your target audience.

Offers are not what you think they are: Free shipping, 24/7 customer service or easy return policies aren’t perks anymore. They are basics! Identify the areas where you can doll out exclusive offers that set you apart from your competition.

Until you come out and take control of your brand, you cannot have the opportunity to stand out in the market!   

2. Get ’em Talking

A social media presence has become a prerequisite for eCommerce business success, even if it is Amazon itself. Social media presence and attention now stand as a credibility standard that constantly reaches for new audiences. Here’s some ways you can promote your brand on social media:

• Deliver Product Ratings
• Present the best of Reviews
• Curating user-generated content
• Using influencers or local celebrities
• Use chatbots to answer more customer queries

Once your customers share their purchase experiences, you organically gain a lot of relevant social content. You can also take examples from several significant brands like MAC makeup studio with their own hashtags #HaveWeMatte. This breaks all the barriers between the brand and the customers as well as taking it into their daily lives.

Recent research shows that people who followed Starbucks on Facebook or even had a friend that follows Starbucks on Facebook had a comparative number of transactions by the month, almost by over 11% more than others who weren’t. It’s a chain reaction that takes place when a friend or someone you came across shares their past order on social media and others get inspired to check it for themselves. This promotes more breeding ground for free advertising and organic shares.

3. Set Smart Goals

Goals are what decides whether the vision for your brand is achievable or not. That doesn’t mean being overly ambitious, setting unachievable goals will do more harm than good. Just like any other decision, these goals would chart the course for your brand’s progress throughout each week, month and year.

If you’re wondering which goals will help you get started, here’s some that experts believe to work consistently:

Smart Goal#1: Generating a traffic volume of 500 visits in 30 days, or selling 15 products in the time span of a month.

Smart Goal#2: Creating social media communities and actively interacting with at least one customer a day.

When creating successful eCommerce brands, the time you invest in your audience is what makes loyal customers.

4. Ace Customer Service

Your customers are also your critics, aceing customer service doesn’t just mean being nice to customers and being helpful. The customer service that every good eCommerce store needs is customer service that goes to all lengths to communicate with and break through all barriers between your audience and brand. This may sound easy but it takes a tremendous amount of time and effort.

Good customer service is about responsibility and pointing the customer in their most valuable direction. Point a customer towards a more affordable option (if there is one). From the multitude of accessories, you need to point out the right thing not the most profitable for your business.

Your customers pay you back in trust, loyalty and purchase history. This is what matters long-term!

5. Preferred Payment methods: The More, The Merrier

According to Wikipedia reports, an average of 67.91% of people abandon their cart . This isn’t just a coincidence or a matter of money restraints. It’s more about not finding the right payment method to make a successful transaction or rather a quick one. Therefore in order to make the cart experience quicker, easier and mobile friendlier, you need to incorporate payment methods like Venmo, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, PayPal and more. Modern customers value speed, quick and smooth payment methods will lower cart abandonment.

6. The ‘One Stop Shop’ Phenomenon:

The unique one-stop-shop strategy can help you to set yourself apart from the rest of your competitors. This strategy means choosing a specific category of products to focus on and aiming to become the most comprehensive seller in the niche. Customers are more likely to buy from stores that have a specific area of expertise.

Conclusion:

It can be overwhelming with so many online businesses, all looking for creative ways to rise above the competition. In 2020, marketplaces will become trickier, and you need to take advantage of everything you can. Be creative, use organic/free marketing or curating quirky niche products.

If you’re looking for a place that can help you create a functional, aesthetically pleasing, and modern online store, we’d suggest looking at the web development experts at CodeClouds. They are a global development company that has experienced developers in Indiana (US) and Kolkata (India). Their insights, execution and cost-effective solutions have proven extremely rewarding for businesses across the world.