The cost per click for paid search ads increased by 15% between the second and third quarters of 2021 alone. With advertising costs rising around x5 times higher than what they used to be to drive the same amount of traffic, it’s important to diversify your advertising channels in order to lower the cost of acquisition.
It’s time for merchants to turn inward and take a deeper look at their brand identity and their ‘why’. Highlight uniquely who you are, what you stand for and what makes you stand out at every customer touch point.
Prioritise long-term profit drivers over short-term wins and ask those core questions, like “what are our unique selling propositions?”, “why should customers purchase from us over other merchants?” and “what do we stand for and want to communicate to customers that resonates with them?”. Long-term brand building is key to sustainable growth, which is why Shopify recommends aiming for a 60/40 split between brand building and short-term performance marketing to achieve an increased return on investment from your performance-based advertising in the long term.
The death of third-party cookies calls for a need to prioritise first party data collection. We’re moving into an era of online retailers humanising and developing their brand through communities, transparency and shared values.
This means merchants need to develop clear strategies on how community building links to success metrics. Consumers want to be part of an exclusive, transparent and intentional community that aligns with their lifestyle and values. Creating this personalised experience and developing your brand story will be key to fostering customer retention and loyalty.
Social media platforms are constantly evolving and becoming more shoppable and customer/community centric. This in turn means consumers will also expect to interact with brands in the same way they chat with their friends: through social apps.
Which means incorporating more video and live chat functionalities into your strategy is an absolute must. Find the right platform and format that works for you and collaborate with like-minded, on-brand creators.
With platforms such as Instagram, announcing new features that monetise creator profiles, the time is now to get ahead of the game and forge these meaningful brand relationships to complement your long-term brand building strategy.
Whilst the future of Ecommerce can be a daunting and challenging one, rest assured we’re here to take any trepidation and confusion off your hands, focus on what we can control and leverage to ensure success in this ever-changing landscape. We briefly touched on some of the key trends Shopify’s 2022 Future of Ecommerce Report in our last blog post, but wanted to take more of a deep dive into what this means for merchants and how to combat some of the issues at hand.
