How to Optimize Your Apparel eCommerce’s Product Pages

How to Optimize Your Apparel eCommerce’s Product Pages

by | May 26, 2021 | Apparel, SEO, Site Development

Your product pages hold all the relevant information about the garments you sell. Most product pages include the product description, cost, customer reviews, images and call to actions. While many consumers enjoy viewing high-quality pictures of the clothing, it is not enough to drive sales. Instead, you want the user experience on your product pages to persuade shoppers to add items to their cart that ultimately lead to a transaction. If your conversion rate could use that extra boost, here is a guide on the best ways to optimize your apparel webstore’s product pages.

Write Unique Product Descriptions

Product descriptions are where your apparel brand’s writer can get creative. Creative product descriptions add life and personality to a garment. This personality is a showcase of who your brand is. Showcasing your brand’s personality throughout all the elements on your website will help you gain credibility and trust from your shoppers. The Fawn Shoppe has fun product descriptions for their children’s clothing:

This section of your product page is where your brand will describe the piece of clothing — the material, the color, the design, the different elements and any other relevant information. Every description needs to answer obvious and frequently asked questions that shoppers may have about the product. Always remember to include enough details about each product, so the customer knows exactly what they are buying.  Product descriptions can also help with your SEO efforts. In general, your brand will rank higher in search engines if each product has a unique caption. No matter how tempting it is, do not copy and paste manufacturers’ descriptions or use description generators. Generic manufacturer description will actually drop your ranking due to the original caption already ranking for the first website. 

A company that InteractOne works with, Schuler Shoes, includes unique, structured product descriptions that not only provide details but more information and questions and answers sections:

Allow Customers to Write Reviews

Reviews can play a huge role in helping a customer decide if they buy the clothing you are selling. On average, companies that include customer reviews have converted 58% more customers, increased revenue by 62% and increased order value by 3% over other webstores. Simply put, social proof is more important than ever and many shoppers look for reviews to explain the quality, the sizing and FAQs around products. When it comes to apparel, consumers also like to see how the piece fits on another person similar to their body type. Reviews are important for every type of eCommerce; however, since you can get a real image to show how the apparel items look on an actual person, you have a higher chance of gaining more reviews and customers if you allow reviewers to post images along with their written opinion. Some brands also allow customers to choose the size they are commenting on and their location. 

Kabayare Fashion provides an excellent example of including customer reviews on their products:

Include a Clear Call to Action

An important element on your product pages that needs to be fully optimized is the call to action (CTA.) This is where users will click and add the item to their cart. On all your pages, you need to place your CTA front and center and not around any design or copy elements that would be distracting. Keep the copy inside the button simple and direct like Add to Cart, Buy Now or Reserve Now. If you are not sure if your CTA buttons are working, you can A/B test the design, placement and copy. You can spend hours A/B testing on your own, but a knowledgeable marketing firm can efficiently and quickly zero down onto the issue and fix it right away.

Use Unique, High-Quality Media

One of the first elements that customers will see once they enter your product page is its media. When we refer to media, we’re referring to any images, graphics or videos. All the media on your product pages need to be unique from each other and high-quality so shoppers can see everything. For product images, include different angles of the product, and for videos, show a 360 degree shot of the items. While working on your media, especially images, keep the dimensions and specifications as uniform as possible. This will help your user interaction and keep your brand looking professional. Customers, especially mobile users, prefer square photos and thumbnails. And, many companies like Amazon and Etsy use 1000X1000 pixels as their image requirement. Feel free to play around with image sizing on desktop and mobile before publishing the page live for shoppers to see. You can also add extra viewing tools like zoom controls so they can see even more details and embellishments up close.

Utilize SEO

As you already know, SEO is search engine optimization, which is the process of improving your website to increase its visibility on search engines like Google. Just like every other page or element on your website, product pages are an SEO-rich area. Optimized SEO on your apparel eCommerce’s product pages will help your brand rank higher in search engines. To have a fully optimized SEO, you will need to include all the SEO basics like unique title tags, meta descriptions, long-tail keywords, internal links, etc. If you want to dive deeper, we have an SEO checklist to help drive sales. Once you have the basics down, you can then include advanced SEO measures for better-optimized product pages. Since there are many elements, steps and requirements that go with setting up the perfect SEO, many companies prefer to work with a marketing team like InteractOne to help your brand’s SEO reach its fullest potential.

Include Social Media Proof

To not confuse social media with reviews, reviews are the content generated by customers that stays on your site, while social media is content created by your customers, influencers or even yourself that lives on the social media platform it was posted on. Social media is not for every apparel company but it can help out your product pages if your brand does use it. Just like how reviews help potential customers understand how others like the product, social media will help as well. People prefer seeing how the garment fits on another person similar to their size. The more social proof on product pages, the more potential customers you can reach. Social media proof on product pages also adds credibility and trust to your brand and clothing items. To learn more about how your brand can best utilize social media, we created a guide on the best social media tactics to use to increase traffic.

Stay on Brand

All the content on your product pages, whether it is images, videos, graphics, social media or copy, needs to reflect your brand. New and old customers should be able to recognize your brand instantly with every product. To stay on brand, follow the guidelines that your company created. Having a brand guide is vital in creating and implementing any designs, copy, graphics, videos and any other content you want to use. Essentially, how can you stay o brand and on message if your brand isn’t defined? That’s where you create a brand guideline that determines who and what your brand is. Once you understand the who and what about your brand, you can take that personality to the digital world. These guidelines need to include your brand’s copy and design elements, as well as your target audience.

There are many more ways to optimize your product pages. We even have a guide on the keys to a successful product page. To learn how InteractOne can help you increase traffic on your product pages and throughout your apparel webstore, contact us today.

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May 2021 Apparel Orange Report

May 2021 Apparel Orange Report

by | May 25, 2021 | Apparel, Past Newsletters, Technology

May 2021 ORANGE REPORT

The May 2021 Orange Report features our best & most recent blogs and guides on Magento, Big Commerce, eCommerce, and Digital Marketing.

UPDATED: Three Susceptible Demos to Target with Your Auto Aftermarket Campaign

This blog was a hit with our Automotive audience but it has some excellent research lessons that extend to other industries too. Check it out. 

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Fashion and the Art of the Cart Abandonment Email

Cart abandonment is the action of customers going through a portion of the purchase process and then leaving the website before completing checkout. Read about six tips for successful cart abandonment emails.

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Subject Line Tactics Proven to Get Your Emails Opened & Read

When sent to your existing audience, emails can increase exposure, brand loyalty and sales. But how can you ensure these emails actually get opened?

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Dropshipping Primer and How Shopify and BigCommerce Perform

Dropshipping is an order fulfillment method that uses a third-party supplier to ship goods sold by a retailer, avoiding the costs associated with a warehouse and a brick and mortar storefront. But how does it work on Shopify and Big Commerce?

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How Apparel & Accessories Brands Can Build Better Online Customer Relationships

How Apparel & Accessories Brands Can Build Better Online Customer Relationships

by | May 17, 2021 | Apparel, eCommerce, Technology

It’s always been crucial for fashion brands to build strong relationships with their customers in order to foster a sense of connection and forge an ongoing commitment. Given the limited nature of physical retail right now, and the ease with which we can disengage from an online store, many are saying that now more than ever it’s important to cultivate strong customer relationships through your online platforms. Here are seven tips on how to do just that.

Write product copy with a natural, conversational tone

Product descriptions are often-underutilized spaces for telling stories and engaging customers. Instead of writing short captions that simply describe what the customer is seeing in the product photos, why not add some humor or an interesting, relevant anecdote? You could tell the story of the product’s origin or inspiration, or share what the product means to you and your brand. Remember, though, that while creativity here is great, shorter is always better when it comes to copy online. Brevity is the soul of wit, especially in this case. 

Have a detailed, friendly FAQ page

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) pages help people at various stages of the customer journey, whether they’ve placed an order with you or are still considering shopping with you. Make it easy for them regardless of where they’re at in the purchase path by providing as much information up front as possible. Your FAQ page should address basic information on topics like “where your brand is based?”, “what are shipping times and costs?”, as well as address product sizes and materials, and any ongoing promotions. It should also be written in the same natural, conversational tone as your product copy. If you’re attempting to manage this internally then the odds are high that you’ve had a number of employees ‘work’ on the site at one time or another, leaving your tone to be wildly inconsistent from page to page. This is one instance where we recommend you partner with an established marketing firm that knows how to write consistent copy specifically for an apparel and accessories eCommerce site. Fashonova has a great FAQ page. 

Be widely and easily contactable

As an online brand, customers expect you to be available to them in a multitude of ways. You should have several channels set up for them to contact you through, including email and social media and direct phone. You must also set realistic expectations on when and how you will respond to inquiries via these channels and platforms. Encourage shoppers to contact you with any questions or concerns regarding sizes, shipping, returns and any other product-related queries. We all know the value of good customer service, so do your best to be available and live up to expectations.

Get creative with your loyalty program

It’s easy to love a brand when you feel like you’re getting consistently good deals with them. There are many creative options out there that you can utilize to create value for your customers and create a sense of loyalty. “Points per purchase” and “points per referral” has been proven to work, as does offering free limited items or services when customers spend a certain amount. You can also share discounts with partner businesses or organizations, for example, “Earn a percentage off when you shop with or donate to our friends!” The North Face does a great job of this. 

Make it easy for customers to trust you and your products

With the proliferation of eCommerce around the world, many websites have sprung up with unclear origins, around both their brands and their products. As consumers increasingly prioritize transparency, you can gain an advantage by being upfront and honest about where and how your products are made, and by backing up any claims you make about them. Providing easy returns and refunds will also promote positive relationships with customers and help them trust you and your brand.

Be receptive to feedback

Brands are increasingly expected to share everything from their processes to their philosophies, all while accepting evaluations and criticisms of these along the way. Whether you like it or not, you will get feedback, both positive and negative; private and public, so you may as well accept it gracefully. Yelp, Google and Facebook have made this a certainty. Create more channels for communication and feedback by encouraging reviews and testimonials on your webstore and social media pages. You could also set up a dedicated email address for feedback. Wherever and whenever you respond (sooner is better than later), do so without getting defensive. Try your best not to take criticisms personally, it’s just business. And every interaction, good or bad, is a chance to turn someone into a loyal customer and provides you the opportunity to use any valuable customer insights to grow your company.

Show that your values align with theirs

Almost two-thirds of shoppers make buying decisions based on a brand’s position on social or political issues, according to a study by Edelman. This means it’s important to show your customers exactly where you stand, through actions as well as words. This could mean partnering with organizations or donating proceeds of sales (or the products themselves) to causes that you and your brand care about. According to that same study, 53% of us believe that brands can do more to solve social problems than governments. Show what yours is doing to create the kind of world that your customers want to live in.

Conclusion

Strong customer relationships are key for any eCommerce brand attempting to establish longevity. Pay attention to these factors and keep them in mind as you build your brand, and you’ll be well on your way to gaining (and growing) a loyal following. If you’d like help growing your customer relationships, feel free to reach out to us; we’d be happy to help.

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7 Ways to Improve Your Apparel & Accessories Conversion Rates

7 Ways to Improve Your Apparel & Accessories Conversion Rates

by | May 4, 2021 | Apparel, eCommerce, Technology

Monitoring the performance of your apparel and accessories store is crucial to understanding the most and least successful elements of your website. You need to track the micro conversions of every feature on your site including page scrolling, detail-to-cart ratios, checkout steps, and other various engagement actions across your website. The goal is to have high pre-purchase conversion rates that ultimately lead to a purchase. Achieving higher conversion rates takes time, research and testing. To help, here are seven ways to improve your apparel and accessories eCommerce conversion rates.

Test Different Call to Action Variations

Call to action (CTA) buttons are crucial for a successful webstore. You can find CTAs throughout emails, social media, digital ads and the website. In most cases, the call to action is a simple button with written copy that describes an action like Buy Now or Add to Cart.  Testing these buttons are often overlooked, but they’re typically one of the first aspects to test in a new conversion optimization campaign because of the exponential results more engaging CTAs provide. These variations can include experimenting with design, copy and placement of CTA buttons. When it comes to design, don’t be afraid to test different colors, sizes and fonts. Customers do have a viewing preference when looking at the design of any element on your page. Your CTAs should stand out, be easy to read and display front and center. For example, the investment in changing the Add to Cart button in the example below paid for 6 months of CRO work in 2 weeks:

When changing the copy of your CTA, stick to verbiage that causes shoppers to complete an action like buy now, shop now, add to cart and reserve now. Creating a sense of urgency and having a clearly implied result of what will happen is better than catchy phrases trying to be unique.

Create a Sense of Urgency

A sense of urgency lets shoppers know they only have a limited amount of time to purchase whether the item is low in stock or if a sale is ending soon. By creating an action, you are allowing customers to complete it. Action verbs work well in CTAs, emails, advertisements, social media and discounts. Your copy should have a customer wanting the product or deal by using action verbs like buy now, shop now, reserve now and save now. Many apparel and accessories webstores also use countdown clocks for special discounts to encourage shoppers to purchase before the time runs out.

Upsell Other Products

For apparel and accessories webstores that want to see more conversions on product pages or even at check out, upselling and cross-selling your other merchandise is a great opportunity. Similar to that impulse buy that many brick-and-mortar retailers use at the ends of aisles and check out, upselling your other items can potentially keep shoppers engaged and possibly purchase more products. Many customers prefer to see products that fall under similar price ranges and style or combinations that complete the look. Instead of manually mapping related products within your catalog, there are search and personalization tools like Klevu and Nosto that add merchandising functionality to upsell and cross-sell products. Understanding and using tools like these can be complex and take loads of time, so it’s important to work with a knowledgeable marketing firm that can help keep your site merchandising running efficiently. Macy’s does a great job of this.

Offer Various Payment Options

The ultimate end goal of any eCommerce store is for the customer to make a purchase.  It is tremendously frustrating to succeed at all the tactics necessary to get customers to add products to the cart only to see them leave or abandon their carts. Every customer has their own reason for leaving, but in some cases, you can offer an easier path to purchase with different payment options.


The traditional payment gateways to pay with a credit card aren’t going anywhere any time soon, but there are more convenient options growing in popularity. Payment options like PayPal and Amazon Pay attract customers who prefer the 1-click type of payments since all their card information is already stored in one area, also making them more secure. Another rising payment option that popular stores use is payment installment apps or extensions like Klarna, AfterPay or Sezzle. These payment installment apps let customers pay for their purchases in equal parts over a specific period of time. Research has shown that 44% of users would have abandoned their cart if payment installments weren’t an option and 68% of shoppers increase their average order value if they can pay through installments. Adidas offers a wide range of payment options. 

Improve Your Page Load Speed

The more technology advances, the faster everyone wants websites to load. If your apparel and accessories site takes over a couple of seconds to load, you will be losing potential customers.  Increase the number of purchases and your conversion rate by improving your page’s load speed. Your company can accelerate your page’s loading time by reducing image sizes, eliminating unnecessary HTTP requests and using browser caching. Apparel sites are also very media heavy, so utilizing a CDN such as Fastly or Akamai has become standard practice to help with site performance. Newer options such as Magento’s PWA themes provide a lighter weight site for faster load times and also more mobile-friendly features to help increase customer lifetime value.

Optimize Your Mobile Site

If you don’t optimize your webstore to be mobile-friendly, not only will your conversions drop, but most likely your sales will as well. Mobile traffic now accounts for over 50% of traffic, so a site that renders great on mobile devices is vital. Responsive themes are the standard these days, but also consider additional mobile optimization, as Google now uses mobile-first indexing. Mobile-first indexing means that Google uses the content from the mobile version of websites for indexing and ranking. Having an optimized mobile site will help you rank higher and reach a larger, more diverse audience. For tips on how to help format a mobile-friendly webstore, keep reading here. ASOS is a great example of how to optimize your mobile site. 

Utilize Google Analytics

Even though we recommend working with a knowledgeable marketing team when it comes to reading, understanding and improving your conversion rates, there are free analytics tools that can help you learn more about your webstore’s traffic. Google Analytics lets you analyze your website’s data to help you make steps closer to smarter business decisions. This analytics tool helps you understand your site and its users to help evaluate the website’s performance. Once it has evaluated your webstore’s performance, it provides and connects insights to help improve your site. Even though Google Analytics has many tools to read your website’s data, it doesn’t have everything you need to optimize your website to its fullest potential. Marketing firms will have additional tools like heat mapping utilities to help you better understand your conversion rates and how to improve them.

Conclusion

These are just seven ways to improve your webstore’s conversion rate. There are many other ways you can increase your conversion rates like including customer reviews and playing around with your content. A good marketing firm (like InteractOne) and analytical tools or extensions can help you better understand and learn different tips on how to improve your conversions. To better understand what your apparel and accessories eCommerce needs to improve its conversion rates, contact us today.

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April 2021 Apparel Orange Report

April 2021 Apparel Orange Report

by | Apr 20, 2021 | Apparel, Past Newsletters

April 2021 Apparel ORANGE REPORT

The April 2021 Apparel Orange Report features our best & most recent blogs and guides on Magento, Big Commerce, eCommerce, and Digital Marketing.

SIGN UP FOR THE ORANGE REPORT

Everything you need to know about eCommerce, digital marketing, and Magento.

Open Source eCommerce: Weighing the Pros & Cons

In Part 2 of our Saas & Open Source series we examine Open Source Platforms and how they are unique built to power your eCommerce business.

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What Apparel and Accessories Brands Must Know About Establishing A Loyalty Program

Originally written for our Apparel and Accessories audience, this article has some great tips for building a customer loyalty program that any brand or business, regardless of product, can implement.

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Slipping Sales: Six Steps to Fix your Cart and Reduce Abandonment

First, identify why customers are abandoning their carts in the first place. Start by analyzing your web store’s checkout process…

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A Primer for a Successful Digital Marketing Campaign

Dropshipping is an order fulfillment method that uses a third-party supplier to ship goods sold by a retailer, avoiding the costs associated with a warehouse and a brick-and-mortar storefront. But how does it work on Shopify and Big Commerce?

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UPDATED How Digital Fashion Brands Can Create a Sense of Urgency and Increase Sales

UPDATED How Digital Fashion Brands Can Create a Sense of Urgency and Increase Sales

by | Apr 19, 2021 | Apparel, eCommerce, Site Development

Urgency can be a powerful tool when attempting to convert visitors to your fashion eCommerce store into customers. How many times have you talked yourself out of buying something? The longer a shopper spends mulling over a product, the more likely they are to abandon it. On the flipside, when there’s a sense of urgency, and a feeling that the deal is finite, the more likely the customer is to click “purchase.” 

This doesn’t simply mean putting “buy now” banners on your fashion webstore or doing a social post promoting a sale. In this guide you’ll learn seven tactics for increasing your conversion rate by creating urgency in your customers.

Cart abandonment emails

Shoppers abandon their carts for many different reasons—often it’s unexpected shipping costs, a faulty discount code or a slow-loading page. While you should try to mitigate all of these things in an attempt to decrease your cart abandonment numbers, you should also always follow up with customers who do abandon their carts. Because more often than not, they are still interested in your product. A well-crafted cart abandonment email can be the difference between closing the sale and having that incomplete order remain. Convey urgency in a short and friendly email, with a subject line like “Get your favorite top before it’s gone!” or “<Name>, you forgot something!” Avoid anything that pushes too hard or is too vague, like “Limited time only” or “Last chance.” You can also instill some curiosity in your subject line and email copy—“I think you left something…” is a good example. Shorter is better, and a little personalization goes a long way to developing great relationships with your customers. Levi’s does an excellent job with their simple, clean reminder emails. 

Limited-time sales and discount codes

Why do you think your inbox is constantly flooded with limited-time sales and discount codes? Because they work! These time-sensitive initiatives are a no-brainer for creating a sense of urgency in your customers, and almost seem to create a ticking clock in their minds. If someone is interested in your product or service and sees an end date or expiration date for a discount code, it’s a trigger that compels them to make up their mind on whether or not to purchase. A deadline is a powerful incentive to action. Help your customers make up their minds by giving them a time limit.

Timers or countdown clocks for deals or carts

While on the topic of time limits, let’s discuss countdown clocks. Provide a striking visual element that ties in nicely with your limited-time sales and discount codes by adding a timer to carts, or countdown clocks on your product pages. This reinforces your deadline, and provides a strong prompt for action. As time ticks by the sense of urgency to buy is only going to increase. Your timers or countdown clocks don’t have to indicate end of sale times, either. They could also be used to indicate cut-off times for next-day delivery, or a more personalized offer. Amazon has an excellent example of a countdown clock. 

Tap into shoppers’ FOMO

People assign more value to things that they perceive to be in short supply. Shoppers can be enticed into acting fast if they think there’s a chance they’ll miss out. Tap into this FOMO, or Fear Of Missing Out, by creating a sense of scarcity. High fashion naturally does this by producing smaller runs at higher price points, creating a limited range and therefore competitive market for their product. But brands with larger runs or less-limited ranges can still create urgency by releasing smaller batches at a time. A message on a product page conveying the limited nature of stock available can be enough to drive more conversions, as the sense of urgency to buy is increased. “I better buy it now, while my size is still in stock!” they’ll say. No one wants to be the one who missed out on a coveted item because they took too long to make their mind up. The same can apply to a service, as well, if you communicate that you can only take on a certain number of clients at a time.

Ensure your offer is relevant

Urgency will only work if the product or service in question is one that people want. If your customers are expressing demand for particular styles, sizes or products, be sure to highlight these on your homepage. Trying to repeatedly push old products that haven’t moved well will only make your brand look tired and defeated. Give your customers what they want and remind them why they were interested in you in the first place! The same applies to special offers—pay attention to what customers are saying in your reviews and social media. If there are requests for cheaper or easier shipping or bundle deals, consider offering that as a way of increasing urgency. Shipping costs being too high was shown to cause 63% of cart abandonment in a study by Statista. So give your customers what they want, because after all, urgency is about amplifying existing feelings of wanting something, not creating them out of nowhere.

Make returns easy

One of the number-one concerns for online shoppers is that they’ll be stuck with something that doesn’t fit or isn’t exactly what they were expecting. While you can’t always make everyone happy all of the time, you can certainly try by being as upfront and honest about your products as possible, and by providing an easy way for items to be returned for a refund or for store credit. Whichever of those options you choose, it’s imperative for you to make this clear before your customer well in advance of the checkout page. Get your customer on your side and have them quickly clicking “purchase” by making returns easy. JC Penny has an excellent example of a clean and straightforward return policy page. 

Use warm colors

Green doesn’t always equal go. Sometimes you need to opt for a different color scheme, and those times are when you need to increase urgency. Red, yellow and orange have all been said to help in this instance. A study by Hubspot found that a red call-to-action button performed 21% better than a green button. Of course it pays to test this theory with your own website and audience, and not all audiences are created equal—perhaps Hubspot’s audience had a personal preference for red. It should also be mentioned that customized colors are key. Work with your brand’s existing color scheme, and if red doesn’t suit it, try something else similar.

Conclusion

Ultimately, urgency is a tactic to be used in moderation. Don’t employ every trick in the book all at once, or you’ll risk driving your customers away. Help them take you and your offers seriously by employing a measured approach. Through trial and error you will find the urgency tactic that works best for you and your customers. To learn more about how to improve your onsite promotions and messaging and other eCommerce marketing tactics, contact us today.

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A Primer for a Successful Digital Marketing Campaign

A Primer for a Successful Digital Marketing Campaign

by | Apr 12, 2021 | Apparel, Digital Marketing

Whether you are a brick-and-mortar retail store or an eCommerce store — or have both, it is crucial to implement some form of a digital marketing campaign. As you know, a digital marketing campaign is an online marketing effort that companies use to increase engagement, conversions, traffic and revenue through one or more digital channels. Digital marketing campaigns usually tie in with the brand’s overarching goals and are extensions of and complementary to other more traditional marketing efforts. Given that eCommerce webstores indeed live on the internet, it is even more important to launch and optimize a successful digital marketing campaign to not only increase sales but to reach a larger, wider and more diverse audience. In this guide, we’ll provide several recommendations for you to get started with or add to a successful digital marketing campaign to increase sales for your apparel eCommerce store.

Engage in Email Marketing

Direct mail advertising decreases more and more every year with companies opting for the less expensive and fastest advertising route — email marketing. Email marketing is where your company sends emails of sales, information, and products to existing and potential customers. As an online brand, you are most likely to stick to digital advertising, so email marketing is one of the most effective ways to increase sales. By sending emails, you can efficiently inform your customers and prospects about your promotions, products, social media pages and any other relevant information. 

However, you want to be careful not to send too many emails. About 69% of users unsubscribe to companies that send what are considered to be too many emails. So how many emails are too many? Most companies send about two to eight emails a month. That’s a wide range — you’ll need to find out what works best for your business. But, as an apparel eCommerce store, you will most likely want to send about one or two emails a week to show customers a wide variety of products and promotions. Email marketing can be a long and tedious process. That’s why we recommend working with a marketing firm that understands the ins and outs of creating, sending and measuring the results of an ongoing email campaign. Finish Line is a great example of this. They have some great, bold, email designs. 

Post on Social Media

No need to limit your brand to just email marketing, you can also expand to social media marketing. On social media, you can promote current sales and products for customers to purchase. While utilizing social media, you are opening your brand to a potentially wider and more diverse audience. A few social media platforms to post your business on includes Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Posting on social media is not for every company, but we have a few social media tactics you can keep in mind if you do consider the notion of promoting on social media. To avoid the confusion of social media requirements and to make sure that you are posting the most appropriate type of content to each platform, we recommend partnering with an experienced marketing firm that is knowledgeable in social media rules and requirements.

Promote Sales & Deals

For most businesses to have a successful digital marketing campaign, there needs to be some type of promotion to tout; whether it is a sale, deal or event. Having one or more sales during your campaign can help gain customer traction and revenue. You can promote these sales or deals in emails, on your site’s homepage and on social media. These sales do not have to be huge, complicated or even happen every week. Many brands focus on a percentage off of a full purchase sale, a buy one get one (BOGO) event or a clearance event. Including sales and deals as components of your digital marketing campaign not only helps increase revenue but also helps you to understand and improve your webstore conversion rates. ACAIS does a great job of this:

Create Compelling & Memorable Content

In the digital marketing world, messaging is the main communication between the brand and potential customers. Since users only take a few seconds to lose interest and exit a website, it is critical to capture the user’s attention with compelling, memorable and efficient messaging. At first glance, you need to entice customers to stay on the page and continue shopping. This means you need to use messaging including pictures, videos and graphics that evoke emotion, creates a connection with your audience or encourages users to browse through the webstore. There are many ways to show a compelling story through incentives like free shipping, an additional percentage off purchase or short, memorable copy. And if that is not enough of a reason to focus on creating terrific content, here’s one more: Google and the other search engines reward sites with strong, meaningful, compelling content with higher search engine rankings.

Have a Cohesive Story

An aspect of digital marketing that many companies have a hard time achieving is keeping a cohesive story. You want all your creative and graphic assets including emails, verbal and photographic content, social media and ads to structurally and creatively coincide with each other. Whether it is your brand’s overall aesthetic or the specific campaign for the month, this effort to focus will help customers distinguish your brand from others. Creating assets that do not match your brand and the specific campaign can confuse users and cause you to lose potential sales. During your planning meetings, create the story or goal that you want your brand to achieve. For example, if it is a summer event include products, design, graphics and content whether it is video or written copy that customers can associate with summer while staying true to your brand guidelines.

Schuler Shoes provides an excellent example of keeping a cohesive story during their seasonal summer sale. All digital assets including graphic elements, written copy and images focus on giving the offering a summer feel:

Conclusion

As consumers transition more into online shopping, planning and implementing a digital marketing campaign is the best way to increase sales for your apparel eCommerce store. These are just a few tips on how to start and add to a successful digital marketing campaign. For more information on how InteractOne can help your brand create a successful digital marketing campaign, contact us today.

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What Apparel and Accessories Brands Must Know About Establishing A Loyalty Program

What Apparel and Accessories Brands Must Know About Establishing A Loyalty Program

by | Mar 19, 2021 | Apparel, Technology

If your apparel or accessories eCommerce website is missing a loyalty program, then you’re missing out. Loyalty programs provide a unique opportunity for eCommerce stores to form deeper, closer relationships with their customers by rewarding their regulars. 

Read on to learn all about loyalty programs, their best practices and more, so that your online store can start reaping the benefits today.

What is an eCommerce store loyalty program?

A loyalty program for an eCommerce store is a customer retention tool meant to keep customers engaged and loyal to your store. This leads to loyal customers shopping on your site more often and buying in higher quantities. 

Many loyalty programs offer points for every dollar spent. Once enough points are accumulated, customers can either use those points to save money on their next purchase or redeem the points for a reward. In physical stores, loyalty programs usually come via a card you scan during checkout. For eCommerce stores, however, the merchant typically asks customers to sign in, which then allows their loyalty information to populate and update based on any new purchases.

How popular are loyalty programs?

According to a poll by Synchrony Financial, 80% of American adults belong to a loyalty program, the most popular being grocery stores and drugstores. However, apparel and accessories brand loyalty is on the rise: 65% of shoppers surveyed in the above poll say they value apparel loyalty programs.

What are the best practices of a loyalty program?

As you build your pharma eCommerce store’s loyalty program, keep these five tips in mind:

Use personalization. Today’s customers don’t want generic content. They appreciate customization that makes them feel personally engaged with a brand. Developing a specific loyalty program that shows your customers the kind of apparel and accessories they like, and provides personalized, relevant advice and offers goes a long way. Madewell allows its Insider club members to track their purchases—and therefore their points—and offers them free personalization of their denim and leather products via stamping and embroidery.

Focus Your Loyalty Program on Your Existing Customers, Not on Recruiting New Customers. When it comes to loyalty programs, 80% of income comes from the top 20% of loyal customers. That’s why it’s important to keep your existing customers satisfied with your reward program. Look at your research and analytics to see what products and offers resonate with this audience, and then keep these rewards coming.

Introduce a Progressive Web App (PWA) Instead of a Plastic Loyalty Card. The days of plastic loyalty cards are gone, as people increasingly store information on their phones rather than in their wallets. As a result, it’s a good idea to have your eCommerce store’s loyalty program digitally accessible. That way, customers can see their notifications, rewards, and more all in a quick tap on their phone. For more information, check out our blog post about bypassing mobile limitations with PWAs. 

Provide Opportunities for Customers to Add More to Their Carts. A good loyalty program should incentivize its members to add more to their carts than they originally intended. To do this, offer “double-point campaigns” (such as: “Add this to your cart today and you’ll receive double the points on your entire purchase!”) and other targeted offers. Nordstrom’s loyalty program “The Nordy Club” offers a Personal Double Points Day for its shoppers who reach “Insider status.”

Host Social Media Contests. The most successful loyalty programs encourage their members to interact with their brand on social media. Give your members points if they link their Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. Then, offer rewards in the form of points and freebies for participating in social media contests.

What are the benefits of a loyalty program?

There are three main benefits of creating a loyalty program for your supplements eCommerce site:

Increased Brand Awareness. Loyalty programs are straightforward ways to increase shoppers’ awareness of your apparel or accessories brand and store. Naturally, this awareness leads to attachment and loyalty. This helps eCommerce stores maintain and build customer relationships for the long haul.

Tracked Buying Habits. With loyalty programs, it’s easy to keep track of what your customers buy. This helps you better manage inventory, offer relevant sales and specials and enhance your CRM database.

More Brand Advocates. As people come back to your store more often and engage more, they become brand advocates among their network of family and friends. This word-of-mouth marketing is invaluable—it is sometimes shown to be trusted even more than a doctor’s advice. But don’t forget: Once these brand advocates are vocal about their loyalty to your store, they must feel appreciated. You can do this by providing exclusive offers just for them—such as H&M’s Loyalty Program members-only “shop now, pay later” offer.

How has COVID-19 changed loyalty programs?

Even before the global pandemic, consumer shopping behavior was happening more and more online — but COVID-19 has only accelerated this change. People are beginning to engage differently. They want to feel connected to their favorite brands and they want value that they can’t find elsewhere. For many companies, the answer to this is a stand-out loyalty program. Giving customers access to personalized information, offers and rewards goes a long way.

Ready to start — or enhance — your online store’s loyalty program?

At InteractOne, this is one of our specialties. As a senior-level Magento partner, we know Magento loyalty functionality. Plus, we partner with leading eCommerce loyalty program companies, such as Nosto and Yotpo.

To see what we can do for your supplement or vitamin eCommerce store’s loyalty program, contact us today.

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Connect with one of our experts today to discuss your eCommerce needs!

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March 2021 Apparel Orange Report

March 2021 Apparel Orange Report

by | Mar 18, 2021 | Apparel

March 2021 Apparel ORANGE REPORT

The March 2021 Orange Report features our best & most recent blogs and guides on Magento, Big Commerce, eCommerce, and Digital Marketing from the world of Apparel and Accessories. 

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7 A/B Tests for Your Apparel & Accessories Site

7 A/B Tests for Your Apparel & Accessories Site

by | Feb 19, 2021 | Apparel

No matter how much time and resources you devote to building the most modern, most user-friendly apparel eCommerce website, there are always going to be features that can be improved upon. That’s where A/B testing comes in. 

 A/B testing comes down to making small adjustments to your website until you find the combination that resonates most with your audience. This means that there are few “ah-ha!” moments; with A/B testing it’s all about baby steps. But be patient, let the testing data inform you, and you will reap serious rewards. 

 Whether this is your first attempt at A/B testing or you’re already on a never-ending quest for ways to improve your eCommerce site and increase sales conversions, here are seven simple A/B tests to try for your apparel eCommerce site.

Show your product or show how it’s used?

Of course, you are going to feature your products with great, high-res images, but what’s the best way to display them? Do users want to see your clothes in action on a model, or simply against a solid background? There’s a good chance your shoppers will want to see your apparel in both types of images, as Patagonia demonstrates below, but A/B testing will tell you if one product image type resonates with your audience more strongly than the other.

Product Videos

Every single bit of research and data shows that video is the future. Even the most crisp, beautiful high-res images have limitations. Video is as close as apparel merchants can get to bring their product to life, short of having customers physically hold the clothing or footwear in their hands. If you haven’t yet fully committed to product videos, start with a few for some select products and see how they perform. If you already have product videos, test out an auto-play option and add captions to make it accessible and to catch the eye of customers surfing your site with their sound off.

List View vs Mosaic

It’s the job of your website to make it as easy as possible for customers to find the right product. But, what’s the best way to organize your products visually? For some products and industries a grid view is more successful. For others, a mosaic produces better results. Try A/B testing the visual layout of your product pages and compare the user engagement for a list view versus a mosaic view.

BIGGER calls to action

Customers should never have to search for what they’re looking for on your pages. It should always be fairly obvious where they should go for what they need. If they can’t find where to check out or add to cart then your site is failing. Those are the two most important elements of your store and when it comes to those CTAs, bigger is better. But what design, color scheme, and wording on your buttons work best? Test it out.

Feature Contact Information

It may seem like something small, but adding your contact information can have a big impact on your conversions. Relationships are built on trust, and customer/merchant relationships are no different. Customers want to know how to get in touch with you if something goes awry. Try prominently listing your email address, phone number and (if applicable) physical location across the top of your site and see if your conversions are boosted.

Static Image over Carousel

Carousels have fallen out of favor in recent years. Testing has shown they can often be distracting to customers, causing them to overlook details that merchants are often trying to get noticed, such as sales and new products. Apparel eCommerce shoppers also crave control, which auto-carousels remove. So if you’re using a carousel (banner slider) at the top of your pages, try swapping that out for a static hero image with a single, clear proposition, as Unif has done. You may find that one bold image and message resonates more than a flurry of images and options.

Highlight a Price Reduction

If you’ve recently reduced the price of an item, make sure your customers know about it by showing them visually. But what’s the most effective way to show them? That’s what you need to test. Perhaps it’s a ‘slashed’ price, different colored text like L.L. Bean uses on their website, or an icon on the product image. There’s only one way to find out which works best for your site: A/B test it.

What to Prioritize With A/B Testing

You can avoid costly mistakes with your A/B testing if you know what to prioritize. Here are some things to do and keep in mind as you begin.

Test Your Most Profitable Pages First 

Start where the money is. Begin testing on the pages that bring you the most traffic and the most money to build on that success.

 Assign A/B Testing to a Single Person 

Give one person on your team the responsibility of A/B testing management, implementation, monitoring, and reporting. The term “too many cooks in the kitchen” definitely applies to A/B testing. Keep things simple and empower a single person to handle these aspects.

Don’t Forget About Mobile 

Perform A/B tests on both mobile and desktop. Results for mobile can be 180 degrees from results you see on desktop. What works for one doesn’t necessarily work for the other.

Start Big 

Begin by testing the larger elements on your pages; hero images, purchase buttons, product descriptions. Don’t get bogged down with testing the smaller elements until you’ve tested the larger elements and improved those first.

Test a Single Element at a Time 

Select one element at a time to test, otherwise, your results are going to be skewed and you won’t be able to determine what elements that are being tested are affecting the page.

Our team has a lot of experience in A/B testing to determine the most profitable outcome for apparel eCommerce websites. If you’re ready to get the absolute most out of your apparel eCommerce website, contact us — we’ll be happy to assist you.

Get in Touch

Connect with one of our experts today to discuss your eCommerce needs!

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