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common barriers to ecommerce growth.

get ready for peak trading.

Customer Acquisition and DTC Success.

what to read next.

Social media has made its mark on the digital world with social channels fast becoming a massive part of customer acquisition.

social commerce market will grow worldwide to over $3 trillion in the next eight years

. Although this is a staggering figure, given that social ads are already one of the main areas of marketing investment, it’s not entirely surprising.

Hugely important for creating brand awareness, supporting the discovery stage of the shopping journey and increasing your reach, social is cemented as essential to the brand-building landscape.

In response, social platforms have looked to exploit a growing opportunity to meet the “see it, click, buy it” mindset. The very definition of social commerce, this offers their audience the ability to immediately purchase the items they want through social channels.

the different channels social commerce applies to

how to know if social commerce is right for your business

social commerce is not a new commerce concept

While social commerce has begun to take the retail industry by storm, it’s not actually a new concept. There has been significant chatter about social commerce for a number of years but the first iterations didn’t quite hit the mark and the concept fell short.

For example, Twitter once tried adding a ‘shop’ button. However, it was an unsuccessful attempt at social commerce with the overriding consensus that Twitter was not the right platform for it, and instead, thrives as a conversational channel.

In the last year, however, there has been an evolution. With the rise of live shopping and video, unlike previous attempts, this time feels like a more natural opportunity for social commerce to prosper.

A lot of new functionality has since launched and social platforms have made it easy for people to shop by streamlining the experience. One moment you’re scrolling through your feed, admiring posts from your favourite brands, friends and loved ones. Before you know it, you’ve been drawn into a post and within minutes you’ve made a purchase without even leaving the app.

With all these conversion opportunities, what functionality can you expect from popular social channels today?

 is arguably the top contender when it comes to social commerce platforms. With shops, product tags, collections and an in-app checkout feature, the platform has created a tailored shopping experience in the pocket of every user.

Even product pages are as detailed as those found on eCommerce sites while the platform also offers review functionalities from influencers, product demos using the live functionality and shopping curations through the use of collections and ‘Shops’.

Facebook’s approach to social commerce is through the use of its 

. This is a seller/buyer marketplace that offers Shops, similar to what Instagram offers, allowing users to easily engage with retailers and digital storefronts.

As Facebook and Instagram have the same ownership, one doesn’t exist without the other which is why their approach to social commerce is so similar.

Once just an app for filters and sharing photos between friends that disappear in 24 hours, Snapchat is evolving into something bigger. Edging its way into social commerce through augmented reality (AR), Snapchat is aiming to position itself as a forward-thinking channel to engage the open-minded Gen Z.

Influencers using the app will soon be part of the Creator Marketplace, allowing them to create product-centric AR content on the platform so they can ‘try’ items before purchasing.

Snapchat have also acquired Screenshop, which refers users to the retailers of products posted within the app. It’s worth noting these plans are still in the early days for Snapchat.

While still in its infancy, TikTok has boomed, becoming a hugely successful and entertaining social platform.

 in a bid to turn content creators into brands and launch successful businesses. Products can now be purchased on TikTok and influencers can use the space to talk about the products they’re interested in.

Pinterest is best known for its inspirational visuals and engaging mood boards. From home to wedding to fashion and everything in between, Pinterest making the move to social commerce was quite intuitive.

 that allow browsers to pin items before going back to the list and purchasing items they save. It also features user reviews and adds transparency to additional costs such as shipping to create a streamlined experience.

The challenge for Pinterest is that it’s primarily known for idea generation and product discovery before a user moves onto other channels, such as a website, to make the purchase. It may be difficult to change this perception, although not impossible.

Last but not least, live shopping needs a separate mention. Many of the platforms mentioned above offer live shopping functionalities as a way for brands, influencers and shoppers to participate in the shopping experience together.

Facebook and Instagram are the main adopters of live shopping but platforms such as Pinterest are already expressing in the addition of this functionality. Taking the concept one step further, there’s already a live shopping app, aptly named 

, that’s dedicated to live online shopping presented by influencers and brands.

where has live shopping come from and what’s next

In some ways, live shopping via social media closely resembles more traditional TV shopping channels such as QVC TV and High Street TV. The age-old formula of limited stock, one-off prices, and a focus on the product benefits have certainly driven a lot of success.

Today, live shopping supercharges this approach giving brands the opportunity to tap into influencers with millions of followers through collaborations. Tuning into an influencer’s live stream shopping event on social media, viewers are bought into that individual and their lifestyle - and they want a taste of it.

An extremely engaged and expansive audience combined with the desirability of influencers promoting products has the potential to transform social commerce. We’re certainly interested to see the impact of brand collaborations with influencers and content creators this peak.

Whether it’s a live Christmas shopping hour featuring special offers for those that watch or the countdown to the launch of a new product or range, social commerce has limitless opportunities for brands.

Speaking to forward-thinking merchants every day, there’s a noticeable thread to recent conversations: they’re all planning to experiment with social commerce.

But how do you know if social commerce is right for your business?

 – this could be as simple as a product launch, offer or collaboration

 if it didn’t, you could try again at a later point

As with many things, success with social commerce is likely dependent on the careful balance of certain conditions. For example, say you’re a cosmetic brand that has collaborated with an influencer. You choose to set up a demo via live stream which features an influencer promoting products with limited availability. Combine this with pre-event marketing campaigns that promote the live demo through email, paid media or YouTube advertising, and you probably have a good chance of the product selling out thanks to:

a live demo on the right channel at the right time

Shopify has offered the tools required to implement social integration with ease for some time. Until now, these social tools have always been more of a nice to have than a must-have for our merchants. But, by enabling social commerce through the Shopify platform, the risk and cost to merchants to experiment with social commerce are low.

Shopify has long positioned itself as the platform for creators. Their philosophy - retail is about innovation – supports merchants spending more time innovating and less time on maintenance. The ability for merchants to get up and running with social commerce fast is true to the Shopify way.

Want to find out more about how the Shopify platform support social commerce? 

Get in touch with our team of eCommerce experts

social commerce: why you should care.

Going DTC – The Stresses and Successes: An Interview With Dan Conboy.

prestige

Selling DTC: How Can Your Brand Do It? 

There are numerous benefits that come with 

 beyond driving sales -brand profile, brand equity, competitive edge, building a direct connection with your audience. And that’s just the start.

, customer acquisition should be a top priority. But for those manufacturers whose brands have – until now – remained behind the scenes, how do you pivot to create a consumer-facing business?

Take a read to find out what you need to consider for DTC success.

What's one of the main DTC challenges facing manufacturers? Building a brand.

As a manufacturer, you hold the crucial and core expertise of making the products. But you may lack in-house expertise in other areas simply because you've never needed to consider them before. To build a successful DTC brand, you have a new challenge on your hands – how to tell your story, build interest in your brand and drive traffic to your eCommerce store.

To do this, you’ll need to formulate a good old fashioned consumer marketing plan. The reality of this is not without its challenges, it's likely to take some time and money. Customers are not without choice these days. To be a success, you need the vision and determination to create something compelling.

With the right vision and the right people, it can be done. Recognising the future of the business needs to change requires bold leadership. 

 that can deliver this vision is the first step to DTC success.

Do you have the right people in-house? If all you've ever done is deal with retailers, probably not. Are you willing to bring onboard new people, new ideas and new ways of thinking to help build your consumer-facing brand? If your ambition is to build a successful consumer brand, you have to be open to change. It's important to recognise where there are expertise deficiencies so you can plug these gaps. After all, competition is intense, and your team needs to be strong.

You either need to supplement your in-house team, outsource to agencies or, more commonly, use a hybrid approach. Providing your in-house team with the support of a knowledgeable agency is often a winning formula.

To acquire customers, your brand needs to connect with your target audience. This starts with an understanding of who your audience is, what matters to them and how to reach them.

If you're a brand moving into DTC for the first time, it's important to create momentum around what you do.

Many eCommerce sites will perform poorly in the first few weeks and months because they fail to build curiosity. The aim is to get people talking about you before you launch. You either need to create this hype yourself by doing something different or attach yourself to someone who's doing it already.

A great place for this is social media. Collaborating with relevant influencers creates a community and a connection with your audience. Assembling a team of influential individuals will help build interest, likes, followers and your email list. Growing this following before your site goes live means you'll have warmed up potential customers ready for launch.

Although influencer marketing has recently reached dizzying heights, brand collaboration has been around for some time. Even during the 40s and 50s famous film stars were endorsed to wear products while the likes of Michael Jordan began collaborating with Nike in the 80s.

It's human behaviour to follow the activities of others. While the channels you reach customers on may have evolved, this concept is still very much the same. If someone is on that waiting list, this makes others want a piece of the pie which, in turn, builds interest.

After putting all that effort into crafting the perfect user experience, it's time to turn your attention to your digital marketing strategy.

For your eCommerce store to perform, you need to drive users to your site. If no one knows your site exists, how will you generate revenue? Your marketing strategy should consider where you will find them, what they will be searching for and 

how you can reach them at different stages of the shopping journey

An effective place to start is by understanding who you’re competing against. This insight can help you achieve a competitive edge, increase your bottom line and identify growth opportunities. If you want to find out who your competition is, our connected agency, WMG, offer a 

When piecing your digital marketing strategy together, channels could include:

 SEO helps search engines crawl, index, rank and ultimately serve your site to relevant searches. However, there's more to those high rankings than you may think - from technical SEO to content to building up your domain authority with outreach and digital PR. You may want to consider how a specialist agency or dedicated in-house expert could help grow your organic presence to drive more users to your store.

 Providing more immediate visibility than SEO, PPC is an essential tactic while your organic presence grows and beyond. This could include prospecting and remarketing to lost visitors to encourage them back to your site. Allowing you to compete with more established brands faster, PPC boosts your visibility in the SERPs and can be used to maximise traffic to your site from brand searches too as your DTC presence grows.

 Social platforms have become the place for building brand communities. These channels are a good way of showing who you are, what you stand for and what you offer in a more visual and engaging way. Using paid social advertising enables you to reach more of your target audience, grows your following and encourages communication by offering another touchpoint with consumers.

 A steadfast marketing method, as your database grows, email is a way to connect directly with your audience. Use it to support customer service, request social proof such as reviews, promote new products, shout about promotions and support customer loyalty.

Going beyond acquisition, how do you get those customers to return again and again?

, it's about putting them at the core of your proposition. You may have heard the term 'customer centricity' before, but what does it mean in practice?

As a starting point, it involves offering a brilliant product. However, this doesn't mean it has to be unique - it just has to be good. For example, 

 didn't create sports clothing. In fact, they're in an increasingly competitive market. But they design products that are in tune with the needs, wants and desires of their audience.

While it's crucial to create momentum before launching your store, when you go live, it's equally as important to deliver a great customer experience. Is it easy to place an order? Does the product arrive when expected? Am I paying a reasonable price? Is the return process simple? Can I get in touch easily? Have they given me a reason to come back? Creating this positive first impression is fundamental to getting shoppers to return.

The first thing many consumers do today is check reviews to see if your brand offers high-quality products and service. At this point, it's time to start building credibility, trust and confidence through 

The exciting part of building a brand is often creating that all-important interest we've discussed. But it's extremely important that your teams are close to this process too. Asking questions such as the below will help you get on the right tracks:

Is the user experience spot on? Has it been tested?

Is the process of getting the product from you to the customer smooth and efficient?

Is your warehouse team prepped to manage a high influx of orders?

Is your customer service team equipped to handle a high volume of questions? Do they know the answers to these questions?

If you're going DTC for the first time, this is your chance to do it properly. Create a compelling narrative around your brand, build interest and deliver a great customer experience. Capture and display your customers' delight with reviews, testimonials and social proof.

These end-to-end considerations will empower you to get your DTC brand off the ground, acquire customers, retain customers and build confidence in future customers.

, we’ve supported many businesses in building a DTC presence and driving sales in the competitive world of eCommerce. As a premier Shopify Plus partner, when it comes to DTC, we can help you with more than just building a website. We can help you build your brand.

Get in touch with our eCommerce specialists

 and we can chat to you about your next steps.

slendertone

Going DTC – The Stresses and Successes: An Interview With Dan

If you’ve dipped your toes into the direct to consumer (DTC) waters, you’ll already know there’s a whole new eCommerce world just waiting to be explored. Whether your 

 is underway or you’re considering this selling model, there’s more to it than simply building an eCommerce website.

Speaking to Statement’s managing director and all-around retail specialist, Dan Conboy, he shared his invaluable advice on navigating the challenges and opportunities that DTC presents so you can make your project a success from start to go live and beyond.

How has direct to consumer evolved in eCommerce?

Where to start! eCommerce was historically made up of retailers who sold other brand’s products such as an online department store, for example. Typically, a lot of eCommerce in the early days was just a way for retailers to extend their reach and sell branded products.

Then an evolution occurred where retailers shifted from selling other people's brands and onto developing their own - think of ASOS for example. But they were in a difficult position because they weren't eCommerce specialists themselves and they had long-standing relationship with the traditional distribution channel. The challenge became where do these brands sit in that relationship with their customers?

We know year on year that eCommerce has been growing and we also know the effects of COVID have accelerated that trend. In the last year, we’ve seen many brands, especially FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) brands, who have suddenly reimagined how they use eCommerce as a channel. They’re now using it to reach customers in a completely different way than they would have done two years ago.

 as an example. They launched an eCommerce store very early into COVID allowing customers to buy their favourite Heinz products direct from them. You can still get Heinz products through supermarkets, but the DTC site provides them with an opportunity to engage with their customers in a different way.

What other opportunities does direct to consumer present to brands?

I think the first is there's a need for customers to be able to access a product. When demand for certain products were higher and restrictions were put in place due to the pandemic, people's shopping habits changed. Whether it was through stock shortages or for whatever reason, there were certain products that the customer was struggling to get a hold of at their local Sainsbury's.

A brand having their own eCommerce website allowed that brand to provide the product to any customer, anywhere. Firstly, this means they’re not disappointing their customers, but secondly, it also reduces the risk of that customer switching to a rival brand. That's one major opportunity, which is very functional.

On the other hand, there are more interesting and exciting opportunities too. So, think about brand collaborations, limited edition, launching products which you wouldn't necessarily have the business case to put through the usual channels. A brand might only be able to produce ten thousand units of a particular product. Logistically, they don't have enough supply to get it into the normal channels anyway and they might not have the demand to do it either. But by having a website, it gives them a channel to offer customers something a bit different and they have a very reliable means of being able to supply that.

There are loads of secondary benefits that come with this too such as brand profile, brand equity, generating a talking point – essentially allowing the brand to elevate themselves above the competition and be more memorable. It also gives the creative teams and the product development teams a chance to come together to not only create a product, but to create conversations.

You've also got great opportunities for market research. So, through a DTC website, you could actually launch a limited-edition product and use this as a chance to see if people actually like it before taking it to the wider market.

The key thing with DTC is that it allows a direct consumer connection for brands when historically they've missed out on that because they've always had the retailer as the conduit. Now, I don't think anyone thinks that the Heinz website is going to become their primary sales channel, but it provides them with a tool to test, learn, innovate and differentiate in a crowded, competitive market. It's gone beyond the business case of ‘how many tins of beans can we sell?’ to ‘what can direct to consumer provide our business from a holistic point of view?’.

DTC for brands is never going to be based upon a pure unit sales model. Yes, you should still aim for that venture to be profitable and commercially successful, but it has to be seen in terms of what value can this bring to the table beyond just sales.

What advice would you give to brands trying to create a successful direct to consumer go to market strategy?

At the moment, I'm having a few conversations with brand managers who are saying I've seen other brands doing eCommerce - would it work for us? Who would this project involve? How do I get feedback and information from the stakeholders? Once you've got buy-in and once you've got stakeholders saying, yes, we want to do this, how do you then run that operation?

You've got to remember that many of these brands are used to manufacturing pallets of products, putting them on a lorry, sending it to a distribution hub and invoicing it. That’s essentially their business model. But sending a product to a customer, dealing with the shipment, handling the customer service - that's different. It's about taking it back to the start and questioning, is there an opportunity here? For all the reasons we've just discussed, brands are increasingly recognising that there is in fact an opportunity.

In terms of who's involved, there's a marketing element because DTC is a compelling vehicle for marketing teams to use. There's a product development angle such as what innovations could eCommerce help to support? There’s also an IT element - if you're using an eCommerce platform, what type of eCommerce platform should you use, and will the IT team approve a new software solution? In terms of operationally, how would you go about fulfilling orders when you’re used to sending pallets? Do you have a team within the business that can do that? Then there’s 

 - if you send individual orders to customers, how will you deal with customer enquiries? You might find there's already a team within the business who could help with this, but they would probably need additional resource.

I think it's important to map out all parts of what an 

 and operation would look like. While you might have some pioneering organisations that want to get everything up and running in a matter of weeks, many businesses have more structures in place to consider. No one wants to be seen as anti-progressive but in reality, big organisations are risk averse. As such, the challenge isn’t always technology, it's cultural. Yes, we can spin up a Shopify store pretty quickly, but getting the IT team, the legal team, the ops team to sign it off, they're the bits that can slow it down if you don't have everyone on board.

To then actually craft a go to market strategy, it’s asking the question of what’s the purpose of going DTC? Is it to serve a functional purpose by providing customers with a different distribution channel? Is it about product innovation and releasing limited edition products that get people talking? Or is it for market research, building a community and a connection with your customers to capture really great feedback that can inform future product development?

Really, there are two angles to DTC. You have DTC for established brands and then there’s those organisations that aren’t a consumer brand at all, the manufacturers who work behind the scenes and solely supply to the consumer facing brands. How do 

 create a consumer facing part of their business?

A lot of the logistics and the foundational elements we’ve just discussed are exactly the same. What's different is that the risk profile for a consumer brand going DTC is actually quite low because people are probably going to talk about it or buy it or both, so they've not got much to lose.

For a manufacturing brand like a food manufacturer or a furniture manufacturer, if no one has ever heard of you before, you’re starting from scratch. The challenge for these businesses is they have to build a brand, tell stories and drive traffic. While they have all the core expertise of making the products, they don't have the rest. Essentially what these businesses need to do is formulate a good old fashioned consumer marketing campaign.

The reality of this is that it's not without its challenges, it's likely to be expensive and it's likely to take some time. It requires a significant investment in leadership for someone to say the future of our business has to change - we have to be more diversified, we can no longer rely upon the trade customers that have fuelled us for generations, we need to take a bold step to transform the business from B2B to B2C. But if you've got the right vision, the right driver and the right people leading it, it can definitely be done.

In terms of how that would be executed, firstly, it requires a genuine commitment. Competition is intense. Customers are not without choice these days. To be successful, you need a clear vision and the determination to create something compelling because today's consumers don't settle for mediocre.

Then it's about building a team who can actually deliver. Do you have the people in-house? If all you've ever done is deal with trade, probably not. Are you willing and able to bring in new people to develop teams who can actually build a consumer brand? You either need to build your own team internally, outsource it to agencies, or, more commonly, take a hybrid approach where you have a blend of agency expertise alongside a really good in-house team who can develop the strategy.

How can direct to consumer brands acquire loyal customers?

Loyal customers are formed from offering something that is extremely in tune with the needs and desires of the customer. If you're already a well-loved, respected consumer brand then you've already got loyal customers - DTC is just a way of leveraging that loyalty.

Whether you’re a known or new consumer brand, it’s about creating a compelling proposition and putting the customer at the centre of that. We all see this customer centricity approach being talked about but what does that mean in practice? For starters, it’s having an absolutely brilliant product. It doesn't have to be a unique product it just needs to be a good product but sell it in a way that's more compelling to the customer than your competition.

 for example, they didn't invent sports clothing. They've had plenty of competition, but they created products which were designed around the needs, wants and desires of the customer and really thought about the customer journey from start to finish.

Your aim should be to become a brand that people want to buy into, a brand that people feel a connection with. Bring the customer into your conversations so they can be part of that journey - they’ll be more likely to buy into it if it’s a product they’ve had the opportunity to shape.

So, how do direct to consumer brands ‘create hype’ around their offering?

You either need to create it yourself by doing something bold and different or you need to attach yourself to someone who's doing it already. If you have a specific target audience, then why not collaborate with influencers to create a community and ultimately hype around your brand?

A key thing for a brand that’s becoming DTC for the first time is to create pace around their offering. A lot of eCommerce sites perform terribly in the first few weeks and months after launch because they haven’t built any momentum. You want people to be talking about you before your website launches. It’s human nature to follow the activities of others around us so if you can get people talking, more and more will want in. It’s about creating anticipation, curiosity and even capturing data before you go live so that when you do launch, you already have warm customers.

Following on from this, when you go live, it’s super important to deliver a great customer experience and make a good first impression so they'll keep coming back. The exciting part of building a brand is often around the glamorous bit of building interest but it's so important that your operational team get close to the experience too. Test the user experience with prospects to make sure that it’s spot on. Make sure the dispatch and the operational process of getting the product to the customer is just right. Ensure the customer service team is tested and can handle a high volume of questions, particularly if you're doing a prelaunch.

Create a compelling narrative around the brand, build interest, deliver a great customer experience and then capture that customer delight through reviews, testimonials, social media, and 

 to build confidence with more customers. And finally, give them a reason to keep coming back.

When it comes to DTC, we can help you with every stage of your project – not just building a website. As a Shopify Plus partner, we don’t just build websites, we build brands. Working with the likes of 

, we’ve helped many brands build a DTC presence and thrive in the competitive online world. If you’re questioning whether a DTC business model could be the right strategy for you, 

NEOM

Social Proof In eCommerce: What Is It and Why Do You Need It?

How to meet user expectations with your eCommerce website. 

The global pandemic has undoubtedly created challenges for brands of all shapes and sizes to stand out in an increasingly competitive market. In a world where customer shopping behaviour continues to evolve at a rapid pace and the 

future of the high street faces huge innovation

, the importance of customer loyalty has never been so prevalent.

We chatted with Fiona Stevens, Head of Marketing at 

, who shared first-hand insight into how customer loyalty has shifted in the last year, how to overcome common loyalty challenges and advice on how to create an integrated loyalty programme that makes a real difference to your business.

How has customer loyalty changed in the last 12 months?

We’re definitely seeing a shift when it comes to loyalty. Although more consumers are shopping online due to the pandemic and there have been challenges around stock availability which have made people switch brands more often, we’re actually seeing loyalty become more prevalent in the past 12 months.

Today, shoppers are actively choosing to shop with brands that they know and trust rather than searching for new ones. We did some consumer research at the end of 2020 which found that 68 percent of consumers were more likely to shop with brands that they knew and trusted than they had been a year previously. While 52 percent said they would prioritise shopping with brands where they had points or rewards they’d collected.

It was also interesting during Black Friday and Cyber Monday - which is a time we usually associate with shopping around to get the best deal and reduced brand loyalty - we saw a 29 percent uplift in loyalty programme sign ups. People were actually wanting to create that relationship with the brand. We also saw a 13 percent jump in member orders and 48 percent more rewards claimed than over a normal weekend. Shoppers were coming back to the brands that they know and love.

Last year we were already talking about the conscious consumer and the fact that more customers are prioritising whether or not brands share their beliefs and values – whether that’s sustainability or looking for vegan products because you’re vegan – people are wanting to shop in a way that remains true to them. But this does also mean the way consumers shop is changing which presents a really big opportunity for brands to secure customer loyalty by being authentic and focusing on those values and those connections rather than just transactions.

What challenges has this created for eCommerce brands to capitalise on the changes in customer loyalty?

First of all, stores have had to work really hard to stand out and continue acquiring new customers as the market has become more and more crowded. You need to actively build those customer relationships in order to maintain and retain them long term.

Secondly, they have to make sure they’re connecting with customers in between transactions far more than before. Otherwise, A) those customers become a one hit wonder and B) customers aren’t always looking to make a purchase there and then, they actually want to connect with a brand in a more meaningful way, even if they don’t have the extra pennies to spend in that moment.

But we’ve also seen brands rise to these challenges. For example, clothing brands have had to close all their physical stores, but many have chosen to run virtual styling sessions instead. Although these businesses aren’t able to maintain those physical relationships, they’ve found a way to replicate the connection online.

Then you have other brands who’ve created an entire community hub full of content such as podcasts for a day in the pandemic, playlists to keep listeners focused and interviews with founders. Content can be created that really reflects your brand values and keeps you in touch with your customers between transactions, encouraging them to come back and connect, even if they’re not making a purchase right away.

And finally, you’ve got brands who have taken the time to communicate their values to build these long-term relationships. For example, a dog food brand we work with allow their customers to redeem loyalty points in the form of a donation to a dog shelter or to plant a tree instead. So, it’s really clear to their customers from the get-go what they value and if this aligns with their beliefs, it helps to drive a connection.

It’s definitely a challenge to find way to keep customers from looking elsewhere or being distracted by convenience and discounts or the first brand that pops up in a Google search, but we are seeing brands do it really well.

How is LoyaltyLion helping brands build and retain loyalty?

There’s still a tendency to see a loyalty programme as an additional thing on your to do list, another thing to manage. Because of this, it can end up in silo, gets forgotten about and doesn’t drive the results you want.

We really want to help brands build and retain that loyalty by making your loyalty programme an integral part of your marketing strategy. Rather than it being a separate channel, it should work alongside all of the activities you’re already doing. For example, if your focus is on email marketing, make sure you’re putting your loyalty data into those emails and messaging to improve performance. If your focus is on generating more 

, make sure you’re incentivising reviews and rewarding people when they do mention you on social media. If you’re looking to improve customer experience, you could integrate your loyalty data into a helpdesk to sweeten those slightly sour situations.

We really want brands to stop seeing loyalty and retention as a standalone tactic and start seeing how it’s something that could be built into everyday marketing activity. We’re building more integrations to make this easier for merchants as well. We’re also helping brands build long term relationships by making sure their programmes are completely customisable. For example, the Integrated Loyalty page lets you build your loyalty programme as a natural part of your customer journey while customer rewards can be designed around a specific charity that you support. It’s about making sure that your loyalty programme is a part of your whole customer experience and your whole brand.

We also want to help brands move past the simple points and rewards programmes. I think there’s an inherited problem where we have all been part of a Tesco Clubcard or Nectar or Boots Advantage points scheme. Now we just see loyalty programmes as equalling points that are usually quite difficult to get any kind of value from. So instead of just offering discounts and special offers, we want to see brands start to think about aspirational rewards, things like early access to sales, double points event or the opportunity to be part of a product tester panel. This will also help to create brand advocates and allows customers to be part of a community, as you’re rewarding them in a way that enhances the brand experience as well.

Is there any advice you’d share with brands when they’re looking to get started with loyalty?

I think the key thing is to start on a small, focused scale. You can segment your customer base according to your most valuable customers and when you start your programme, there’s absolutely no harm in focusing your attention on the most valuable segment.

Take time to figure out who your VIPs are, the ones that are spending the most and the most regularly. This can sometimes be tricky because often you'll find that the shoppers who seemingly have the highest lifetime value actually don't because they return 90 percent of the things that they buy from you or they only shop with you during a sale. So, you do have to go a little bit deeper than surface level. But if you can figure out who your most valuable customers are and focus your programme on rewarding them, they will have the higher average order value. If you can get them to come back and spend, that will deliver a faster ROI. They're the ones who will act as advocates too. You can then encourage them to make referrals and reviews - all the good stuff that will help your loyalty programme drive acquisition.

The other piece of advice is just to start simple. You can add things on at any point, all you really need to know at the start is how you want it to align to your brand. To begin, you can start by rewarding purchases and account creations. Then you can add rewarding of reviews, incentivising social and build out as you go. But it’s never too early to get started with something simple. As soon as you have a customer, you have a customer that could be making a repeat purchase.

Partnering with only the best, we work closely with LoyaltyLion to implement bespoke loyalty programmes for premium, fast growing brands including 

. If you want to know more about what a loyalty programme could do for your business, don’t hesitate to 

get in touch with our team of retail experts

Tackling The Challenges of Customer Loyalty: An Interview with Fiona Stevens, LoyaltyLion.

The subscription era is well and truly upon us. Originally starting as an effective business model for those that offer a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) – think Netflix, Amazon Prime and Spotify – subscription services have since broadened to other industries including food, fashion, beauty and fitness.

You might be wondering what this business model could do for you. To help you decide, we’ve taken a deep dive into eCommerce subscription services.

What is a subscription-based eCommerce business model?

A subscription-based eCommerce business model is one that charges customers a recurring fee, usually on a monthly or annual basis, to receive a product or service in return.

Popular examples include food subscription box 

 which allows customers to select recipes on a rolling subscription basis for weekly delivery. In the beauty world, 

 has made a lasting subscription impression with their monthly beauty box guaranteed to feature six products worth a minimum of £50. While 

 offer a flower subscription allowing shoppers to enjoy fresh flowers on a regular basis.

These eCommerce subscription services offer a convenient, often personal and sometimes cost-saving way for shoppers to buy what they want. Common subscription delivery frequencies include weekly, fortnightly, monthly or quarterly, while many brands also offer a ‘skip’ functionality to give customers more control with the chance to miss a delivery if they so wish.

However, this is just scraping the surface of an eCommerce subscription service. At a deeper level, these services support strong, lasting and loyal customer relationships. Subscriptions provide the ability to turn shoppers into reliable sources of consistent revenue and since you don’t have to win the custom every time, these repeat purchases are high value to a business.

Typically, to encourage sign up to a subscription service you may have seen specific call to actions such as:

There’s no denying the eCommerce subscription market has grown enormously. Over the last few years, it was found that nearly 

15 percent of online shoppers have subscribed

 to some form of eCommerce subscription service. In line with this, the market is forecasted to grow at an annual rate of 

As consumer buying behaviour leans towards increasingly hassle-free shopping experiences, a subscription-based eCommerce business model can provide this with minimal effort.Throwing COVID into the mix has only caused subscription services to surge in an attempt to secure goods while panic buying has been rife and shops have been closed. The predictable revenue of an eCommerce subscription service can act as a lifeline for businesses through the peaks and troughs of retail while also allowing brands to manage inventory more effectively.

To understand the opportunities brands face in the subscription space, we have to consider both sides of the coin with some notable downsides including:

A high turnover of customers due to cancellations

Being aware of and realistic about demand fluctuations

Savvy shoppers misusing offers by signing up with multiple email addresses

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