From speaking with thought leaders, business owners, and key figures in Australian eCommerce, it’s clear that what brands knew to be true, even until quite recently, is no longer so. So we’re distilling takeaways from these conversations into bite-sized ‘truths’ that we will continue to share with eCommerce and D2C marketers. Let’s get stuck into this first edition.
1. Your customers are not who you think they are
When was the last time you checked that the data you have on your customers is still up to date? Just like businesses, customers are constantly adapting with the times too. This makes it important for brands to regularly assess things like buying behaviours, sentiment towards the brand, and more. Any significant changes need to then be incorporated into a brand’s marketing and CX strategies. Some of this data can be extracted from eCommerce and marketing platforms, but brands need to be proactive with getting regular feedback in the form of reviews and surveys – especially via owned channels like SMS and email.
Finding ways to stay in tune with customers allows brands to make adjustments to their strategy where needed so they can continue being relevant to customers – and continue to hold on to market share.
2. You’re not promoting the right products
As rising operating costs put pressure on brands to find efficiencies wherever possible, discounting strategies need to become much more targeted. Understanding your product holding, how aged it is, and looking at sell through rates can all help to make smart decisions in terms of what promotions to run and when. Storewide discounts still have their place and are especially helpful when brands want to avoid ending up with dead stock they can’t move.
On the flip side, this is a time when products can go viral overnight and attain cult status – brands should be factoring this into planning. Ensuring alignment between teams so that bestsellers and fast-moving products are never out of stock for too long is crucial, but it continues to be one of the challenges of running an eCommerce business today.
3. Your marketing strategy needs to be more holistic
Data-driven marketing is a good thing, but singular focus on isolated metrics like CTR and ROI isn’t always helpful.
Mal Chia is the Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at award-winning retail marketing agency, Ecom Nation. Here’s what he had to say on the topic. “Take ROAS for instance. Putting all your energy into this metric means you’re only focusing on shoppers already in the purchase cycle. But what about prospects who haven’t heard of you or are aware of your offerings. What are you doing to educate them? How are you measuring whether you’re even on their radar?”
Evaluating performance across different stages of the funnel is key. But the mission doesn’t end with successfully moving customers down the funnel. As the cost of acquiring new customers increases, brands need to be able to easily see their retention metrics in the one place. Prioritising retention allows them to identify customers at risk of churn and win them back with targeted messaging; on the flipside, it also allows brands to recognise frequent shoppers and reward them accordingly — fostering long term brand loyalty.
We will aim to bring you more such insights regularly. But in the meantime, you can always speak to one of our local team members here.