Are you effectively branding your ecommerce business? Ecommerce marketing is an essential part of selling online, yet for some people, the concept of ecommerce branding—or just “branding” in general—can be difficult to grasp. If you have a favorite store, think about what you associate with it when you hear its name. For example, what does the Apple brand make you think of? What about Amazon? These names probably elicit an immediate impression, which is the entire point of building an ecommerce brand.
What is an ecommerce brand, beyond just the logo you choose or the color palette of your website? Think of it this way: your brand—and the experience you create across all your sales channels—forms the backbone for your business. Even in the face of ongoing uncertainties, supply chain disruption, and shifting consumer preferences, your brand can help you connect with customers and drive growth for your business.
In this article, we discuss the importance of ecommerce branding and share tried-and-true tactics for how to brand your ecommerce store.
Why Ecommerce Branding is Key to Success
In today’s increasingly crowded marketplace, good ecommerce branding helps your business stand out from the competition and make it memorable for customers.
Ecommerce branding also helps to provide a direction for your digital marketing strategy, from the product lines you sell to the initiatives you develop to promote your business. Strong ecommerce branding also unites your team and ensures everyone is on the same page with bringing the business in the right direction and enabling it to grow.
Examples of Excellent Ecommerce Branding
In today’s increasingly crowded marketplace, good ecommerce branding helps your business stand out from the competition and make it memorable for customers.
Think of bulk warehouse stores like Costco or Sam’s Club, and you’ll likely think of the phrase “bulk shopping at wholesale prices”. What you see is what you get when you visit these stores—from the large quantities of the items to the warehouse-like atmosphere. On the other hand, a store like The House Of Bijan Boutique (dubbed “the most expensive store in the world”) that contains pricey goods available for perusal by exclusive appointment only, conjures up some very different images and associations in the minds of the average consumer.
Both types of stores sell and promote products online with effective offline and ecommerce branding strategies. The strongest ecommerce businesses understand that their offerings are a byproduct of their brand—their ability to communicate values, personality, culture, and a lifestyle around their products or services gives them a clear advantage over similar businesses and allows them to create lasting emotional bonds with their customers. A brand strengthens a customer’s perception of your business, leading to greater chances of becoming lifelong repeat buyers.
Components of a Successful Ecommerce Brand
Regardless of the size of your business, developing a strong ecommerce branding strategy is crucial to your long-term success in the ecommerce space. A strong brand consists of three components: a memorable name, a clear identity, and compelling messaging. These three components allow you to command attention, tell your target customers who you are and make it clear to them what to expect when they come into contact with you.
Compelling ecommerce branding conveys several key things, including:
Personality
Is your company perceived as friendly and outgoing, sleek and fashionable, elegant and luxurious, or reserved and austere? No matter which personality you choose for your brand, your attitude towards customer service plays a big part in this perception. A unique, social personality that engages directly with customers will generate a more receptive customer base than a bland, inaccessible personality. This is the practical goal of having a “brand voice,” and is an important theme when thinking about how to brand your ecommerce store.
Loyalty
Your ecommerce branding should convey loyalty to your customers, while also encouraging their loyalty to you at the same time. Building an ecommerce brand with a strong identity leads to brand recognition, and reinforces the purchasing choices that a consumer makes.
Relevance
Is your product or service relevant? Your ecommerce branding should reinforce the idea that it is very relevant to the lives of your target customers. Identifying your target demographic is one of the best ways to market the products in your ecommerce store effectively, while building brand recognition at the same time.
Values
Good ecommerce branding also communicates values, vision, and goals. This allows your business to connect with like-minded customers and create a sense of unity within your business as it grows.
Trust
Do your customers trust you? Do the attitudes of your company convey trust? If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” it is time to re-evaluate your ecommerce branding strategies. In the ecommerce industry where shoppers don’t have the ability to try out products by hand, consumer trust is crucial. You’ll need to craft a strong brand that inspires emotion and instills trust and confidence with potential customers that are looking for what you have to offer.
Ecommerce brand protection is all about putting these core elements front and center for customers to experience, in a unique way that can’t be duplicated by anyone else in the market.
How to Build a Compelling Ecommerce Brand
The first step in building a compelling brand is crafting one core message that will guide your efforts, both online and offline. Once you determine your core message, you can leverage every advantage to strengthen your ecommerce branding and pull shoppers away from the other options. Creativity goes a long way when marketing online, and you’ll need to be creative in marketing your business and delivering messaging from every angle. Here are some tips for creating a memorable ecommerce brand:
1. Tell your story and sell your style.
Today’s shoppers appreciate real, authentic brands. To show customers that you care about your values and the people you serve, start by sharing your origin story. Your origin story communicates the greater reason why you started your company and how you plan to improve your customers’ lives.
Once you have your origin story dialed in, you’ll want to share it with your customers. Building an ecommerce brand requires being creative in all aspects of your marketing, like leveraging user-generated content to showcase your community to creating memorable social-media content that sparks attention and drives sales. Communicate a clear aesthetic style that reflects the focus of your business and have it infused in every aspect of your ecommerce branding and online identity, from the colors and photos on your site to your messaging and mood on social media. Of course, every shopper’s first impression of your brand’s style will come from your brand name itself. Not only does your brand’s name need to be catchy and memorable, it also should convey the essential identity of your brand in a way that is instantly understandable when shoppers see it online.
2. Focus on your product value.
What is an ecommerce brand if not the sum of all the specific benefits and solutions your products bring to the table? Let’s take that further—the unique value of your products is the best way to differentiate your ecommerce branding—it serves as the ultimate foundation for standing out in a sea of similar offerings. Having a well-defined, memorable product value proposition enables you to maintain the integrity of your offerings and compete with sellers who might be undermining product value with discounts and price cuts. It’s a great formula: simply let your products guide how to brand your ecommerce store.
Next, communicate how you address customer pain points. Although there may be many similar offerings on the market, you can still highlight how you address customer needs in a way that your competitors do not. Also, think about the ways your product can bring additional value to your customers’ lives and find a way to communicate those in your unique selling proposition. This is another important element of ecommerce brand protection. What unique value are you offering that simply cannot be copied by competitors?
3. Develop branding around your ideal customer attributes.
Dialing in your understanding of exactly who your ideal customer is can greatly enhance your ability to create an ecommerce brand. Understanding your ideal buyer persona can be an invaluable tool for shaping your brand identity. Sales teams use these profiles to determine where and how to direct resources most effectively, and similarly, you can think about how brand elements like logo, mission, visual identity, and even domain name will be received by these potential customers.
4. Build close relationships with your customers.
Customer loyalty is the key to lasting ecommerce success. One fundamental way to build loyalty is by getting up close and personal with your audience. Knowing how to build an ecommerce brand really requires understanding the unique needs of your customers, and why they have come to you for a solution. Modern shoppers aren’t satisfied with being treated with a one-size fits all approach. Sellers who can acknowledge the needs of each customer will be able to form meaningful connections and build a strong base of fans, ambassadors, and influencers.
To form a meaningful relationship with your customers, you’ll want to create hyper-relevant content. Conduct research into the current questions, pain points, and needs of your target audience and produce blogs, guides, videos, and other media that appeal to each customer type. By providing them with this value, your ecommerce branding builds customers’ trust in your name.
This trust relationship can be greatly enhanced is potential shoppers find social proof online about your brand. Social proof in ecommerce refers to the positive brand impression created by other customers. These impressions might be expressed in social media posts, testimonials, or via word of mouth. When prospective shoppers learn that your ecommerce brand is valued by others, it can inspire greater willingness to explore and purchase from that brand. This is evidenced by the effect of social media posts upon purchasing behavior - brands that are positively reviewed on social platform lead to much higher conversion rates. The best way to generate social proof is to ask for it—offer rewards for social media posts which are tagged with your brand name, solicit ecommerce product reviews on site, and consider interviewing satisfied customers for testimonial content in blogs and advertising.
5. Deliver an unbeatable online experience.
Your website is the face of your ecommerce business. It shapes your customer’s first impressions, guides a customer’s journey with your brand, and influences whether or not shoppers engage with your brand.
As ecommerce becomes more saturated, you’ll need more than a functional, bare-bones ecommerce site and basic ecommerce branding to succeed. Your online store must deliver a top-notch experience from merchandising and site design to the checkout process and overall customer experience. A strong website and unique ecommerce branding helps to sharpen your competitive edge and feed into the story that you are telling.
6. Join a cause or be a force for change.
Today’s customers are more likely to spend their money on purpose-driven brands that are committed to justice, equality, sustainability, and doing good. In an age when companies cannot expect customers to automatically return to their business, focusing your ecommerce branding around a cause or purpose can help businesses to stand out and appeal to customers. Brands that make an effort to align their values with those of their customers can gain a crucial advantage over their competitors—and brand awareness ecommerce can be greatly enhanced with sincere messaging and actions which shoppers might discover in a completely different context, leading them to explore your store.
Consider the Entire Ecommerce Brand Experience
While a brand is foundational to your success, it’s important to think of it as just one piece of the puzzle. Strong ecommerce branding should also be supported by a great online experience, effective email marketing, and engaging social media interaction along with customer support teams that provide personalized service. All these elements combine to either delight or frustrate customers—a strong brand can help you guide these elements into one unified, consistent, and compelling ecommerce experience.
“Impactful customer engagement goes beyond formulaic interactions...retailers who aptly use a mix of social, email, SMS, and website content to speak to potential (and existing) customers in their preferred medium, in their preferred tone, and then continue that dialogue throughout and after their buying journey will find success in a commoditized, convenience-driven online world.”
(via Forbes)
- Megan Stillerman, Chief Customer Officer, Miva
The Value of Ecommerce Branding
Your business should prioritize your brand as much as you prioritize your website. What is an ecommerce brand if not the leading edge of your total sales journey? Your customers’ first interaction with your brand happens before they view even a single product. While a strong ecommerce brand won’t directly impact how your customers navigate your site, add products, or perform any other action, it will influence how a customer chooses to interact with your business. If a customer does experience a problem on your site and becomes frustrated, a strong brand can instill consumer confidence that the problem will be resolved, prevent them from clicking away to your competitors, and inspire them to continue engaging with you.
By maintaining consistent ecommerce branding across all aspects of your business from your domain name and social media presence to influencers and customer service, your business will develop a long-lasting relationship with customers and help them remember you for the years to come. That’s the heart of brand awareness ecommerce--when shoppers hear your brand name, not only will they know what you sell, they will also have a clear picture of your company’s style, value, goals, history, and so much more. Most importantly, they will feel personally connected to your brand, which is a powerful asset for any seller.
Understanding how to build an ecommerce brand is only the beginning. Once you have established a brand, you’ll need to promote it with an effective marketing strategy. Some of the most successful businesses use marketing to become leading brands in their industry.
This blog was originally published on April 21, 2011 and updated on January 10, 2023.
