p style=”text-align: center;”>
It’s not enough to think of online retail sites as simply online catalogues anymore. More and more brands are moving towards adopting an experience-driven ecommerce site that will help increase conversions and build a stronger brand engagement.
With increasing customer expectations, constantly evolving devices and ever-changing markets, there is an urgent need for brands to offer differentiated online experiences that offer value beyond the product itself. This is where content marketing comes in.
In a research conducted by Econsultancy, content marketing is the priority for budget spend in 2015. This shows that companies see the value of creating high quality content for driving eCommerce sales and growth.
By high quality content, I mean content that builds relationships with your customers. Your content is what helps you get found online, build trust with your audience, educate and inform them as a pathway to conversions, and sustain ongoing and profitable relationships with loyal customers. By investing more in your customers, you are setting up your brand for returning buyers rather than one time customers.
So how are ecommerce sites employing this critical part of their digital marketing strategy?
Take a look at seven examples of online retailer brands and see how you can use creative content marketing for your ecommerce site.
1. Huckberry: Blog
Huckberry is an independent online retailer and magazine for adventurous guys. Millions of young and active young professionals consider Huckberry as a leading resource for emerging brands, gear, and lifestyle inspiration.
Sure, any ecommerce site could feature a blog, but there’s something special about Huckberry’s blog, The Journal. Aside from offering unique products, you’ll find stories behind those products along with original and exceptional content that stays true to their company’s mission of inspiring more active, adventurous and stylish lives through exclusive sales, original storytelling and authentic experiences. Now, that’s one sure way to get your ecommerce blog noticed.
2. Reebok: Interactivity
Content has evolved into something that your viewers can interact with in a multitude of different ways. One of these ways is through interactivity.
Rebook’s ‘Be More Human’ campaign is focused on encouraging customers to challenge themselves and achieve their fullest potential. The site’s interactive features include: calculating your ‘human score’, discovering how fitness feeds the brain and uploading in instagram post-workout selfies in the ‘break your selfie’ gallery. An impressive way of engaging customers, Reebook manages to smoothly channel visitors from content to commerce.
3. Glassons: User-generated content
These days, it’s all about user-generated content. Anyone who visits a site want to see real customers of the brand who uses the products. In the same way, existing customers want a way to share their experiences and love for the products. You can easily close the loop between online and offline by encouraging your customers to socially share their offline experiences.
A New Zealand based women’s fashion retailer, Glassons takes advantage of this with their inclusion of real-life Instagram photos from happy customers. Now, isn’t that a fun and better way of showing your products in a real setting on real people?
4. Hallenstein Brothers: Product video
According to a survey, video can help persuade 73% of customers to buy from you. Findings show that videos play an important role in decision-making process during all stages of the buyer’s journey.
Housed under the Hallenstein Glasson Holdings Limited together with Glassons, Hallenstein Brothers is a New Zealand retailer of men’s wear. It includes videos in the product page of some of its offered products. This allows potential customers to know more about the product apart from reading the text descriptions through videos that show a 360 view of the product on the models.
5. Apolis: Value proposition – Social advocacy
According to a study by Nielsen, a brand’s social advocacy is one of the factors that influence purchase decisions. The study pointed out that online consumers are willing to pay more for products made by companies that are committed to positive social and environmental impact.
Apolis, which translates to ‘global citizen’, is more than just a lifestyle brand catering to the trendy wanderer who likes his pieces both functional and refined. It’s a social enterprise with a business model that bridges commerce and economic development. In the content it creates, Apolis always stresses ethical, human stories behind all of their pieces.
6. Woot: Product descriptions
An online retailer that offers daily deals for homeware, electronics, clothing, sporting goods, wine and other various items, Woot injects humor in its product descriptions. By being creative with something as simple as product descriptions, Woot becomes not your typical run-of-the-mill ecommerce site. It gets visitors excited and keeps them coming back to the site for something new and different.
7. Onnit: Education
If you really think about it, most customers don’t care about the products as much as they care about themselves. This simply means that majority of the information on your site should not just be about yourself – your brand. You need to produce content that fulfills the needs and caters to the interests of your customers. In that way, you build a trusted and emotional connection with them.
More than selling health and nutrition related products online which includes supplements, foods and fitness equipment, Onnit offers its customers an online database called Onnit Academy. It’s a comprehensive collection of information related to Unconventional Training, a unique new form of fitness methodology that focuses on functional strength, conditioning, and agility. The online database includes articles, videos, tutorials, and workouts. Additionally, Onnit has it’s own podcast that features interviews with experts in the health and fitness industry.
Conclusion
Content is what makes your site stand out from the crowd. It’s the material you produce to inspire existing customers and the audience you hope to reach. Provide your online users with content that helps solve their problems to position your company as a valued partner rather than simply as an online catalogue store. The more information you provide, the easier it is for them to validate that they are getting exactly what they need.
The ecommerce sites mentioned above are taking advantage of the power of content. They’re killing it – and you can, too. Boost your search results, build your brand, inspire your audience, and become an authority – all with the help of great content.
Harness the power of content marketing and get the results that matter to your bottom line. Give us a call today at +64 9 920 1740, send a message or email us. We’d be happy to chat about your specific needs.