You’ve managed to build your e-commerce website and post a ton of double-tap-worthy photos on your socials — you get the likes and the followers, but what matters is the customers. How do you attract customers to visit your online store?
The answer is simple. Give them a reason to. Successful brands do more than just sell. They create a unique experience for their customers beyond the products. The most crucial question regarding a product or service is what customers think. Simply closing deals is not enough. Customer feedback is also important. Customer testimonials are a popular sales tactic.
A great brick-and-mortar example would be IKEA. The Swedish multinational is not only popular for its affordable products; customers just love walking into a store because of its layout and design. The store is designed like a maze for a reason. Customers who enter for one thing may come out with several other items with no regrets.
How do you recreate that same experience online? We’ve listed down three creative ways to get you started.
1. Contribute to forums or create your own
You’ve probably covered all the big leagues of social media marketing to promote your brand — Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and maybe even Pinterest. But the internet is a big place, and you could be missing an entire community of potential customers if you just stick to the main social channels.
Consider Reddit, a social news aggregation and discussion website where everyone can chime in on pretty much any topic or niche. The Reddit community is highly active and responsive. It’s the place to be for brands who want to engage with their audience, contribute valuable content, and find out what makes their customers tick.
American Luxury department store, Nordstrom, has proudly been on Reddit since 2014. While 809 members might seem small for such a big brand, that’s 800+ individuals dedicated to actively discussing all things Nordstrom for free!
Using Reddit as a marketing tool to sell to customers is extremely different from marketing on the usual channels. Hard sales talk on Reddit is frowned upon, you have to give value before you expect something in return. Another way is by creating an online store on a wholesale marketplace such as Alibaba, SeeBiz, or, DHgate. You don’t need to market your products to generate sales. These online marketplaces already have enough traffic to drive your product sales.
You can also create a forum section on your website design where customers can ask questions and share insights about your product. This way, you create a community within your space where customers and potential customers alike can learn from you and each other.
The more value you offer, the higher chances of repeat customers and referrals. You can use BigCommerce to customize and edit your website easily. Add the pages you need with a simple drag-and-drop solution and give your customers the experience they deserve.
2. Branded AR filters
You already know that Instagram Stories is one of the best platforms to get your brand discovered. On top of its many interactive features like poll and question stickers, brands and content creators can also create their own Augmented Reality (AR) filters and effects using Facebook’s Spark AR Studio.
Kylie Jenner’s Kylie Cosmetics was one of the first brands to jump on the AR trend. The makeup and skincare giant launched the Lip Kit filter to allow Instagram users to try on its top-selling Lip Kit shades. The filter also blurs all imperfections, contours your face, and darkens your lashes, giving you a sneak peek of what you might look like wearing a full face of Kylie Cosmetics products.
As for online business, using AR is an excellent way to let your customers experience and virtually try on your products. When there’s no other way to sample your products in-store, AR can fill that gap and encourage your customers to visit your website and add to the cart.
Experts from one branding agency in Phoenix stated that when there’s no other way to sample your products in-store, AR can fill that gap and encourage your customers to visit your website and add to the cart.
Instagram Stories AR filters also have a high potential of going viral as users can easily try it once they see someone on their feed using the filter. If your filter is creative enough, your brand can reach millions.
Don’t forget to announce the launch of your branded filter on Instagram Stories and your feed so no one misses out. On top of Instagram growth services to help you grow your account, you can also use platforms like Bulk.ly to schedule your social media posts so you can focus on producing out-of-the-box content that converts.
3. Product quizzes
Now that everyone’s stuck at home, we’re all guilty of passing the time with random online quizzes. Take advantage of your customer’s boredom by creating a quiz of your own!
People love online quizzes because the results give them more information about themselves. Help your customers decide on a product or service with an engaging questionnaire.
Take inspiration from cult-favorite skincare brand, Glossier. The brand has a special quiz section on its website that allows visitors to choose from product-matching quizzes to style discovery and skin type information.
You can even create seemingly unrelated quizzes that match customers with products only after they get their results. Think: Buzzfeed “Which (sitcom title) character are you?” quizzes, except with a subtle product push at the end.
Having an interactive portion of your online store will encourage engagement and, as a result, make visitors spend more time on your website. Having quizzes will also give you more information about your customers, helping you market your products better.
Another way to run product quizzes is to pop a poll or a quiz during your online webinar. The best webinar platforms have built-in polling tools for live and automated webinars. It’s especially useful if you’ve gathered highly relevant leads into your webinar session and want to get their expert opinion on your product.
You can use Woorise to help you build engaging online quizzes in minutes. The platform’s user-friendly quiz maker makes it easy to design, customize, and publish your quiz to your platform of choice.
Time to get creative
Getting creative doesn’t mean you should abandon the traditional ways of selling and promoting online. Always support your efforts with consistent social media posts, creative static, animated design ad placements, ad testing, and influencer partnerships.
Launching a quiz on your website? Announce it on social media. Want customers to contribute to an interesting thread? Have your followers swipe up on stories. Always make sure everyone knows what you’re up to. Be consistent and results will follow
