The democratic nature of the Internet has leveled the e-commerce playing field to the point that Joe Merchant from anywhere can quickly establish a Web site and retail virtually any type of product to prospective customers in every corner of the globe. In the sea of e-commerce sites, the public has more choices than ever before to buy from the big names and the independent start-ups. What will make your site stand out in the competitive arena and drive customers to choose you above others? Branding.
Branding Marks the Web Spot
Whether you''re an e-tailer with an established brand name or a no-name online merchandiser hawking brand-name products, branding is an important strategy to consider. While the debate concerning the effectiveness of branding on the Net rages on, some methods have already emerged that effectively build identity, reputation and loyalty among Web users.
While the burgeoning Internet medium doesn''t compare to traditional media counterparts as far as branding ability, recent metrics indicate it is an up-and-coming force. Consider a December, 1998 report from Cyber Dialogue, which noted several branding trends,
such as "brand impressionable" users more likely to shop on and off-line as a result of using the Internet. The study also noted that 36 percent of Internet users said their opinions of one of more product brands changed because of the Internet.
"We found that the Internet is color, gender and age blind, helping neutralize obstacles some shoppers experience in the conventional marketplace," said Thomas E. Miller, the report''s author and vice president of Cyber Dialogue.
"Women and ethnic minorities, while still under-represented online are among those most likely to say the Internet helps them form brand options because they can get unbiased answers to their product questions," Miller said.
The recent Second Annual Internet Shopping Study from Ernst & Young measured the leaders and laggards of online retailing and noted that 79 percent of the leaders, that is, the e-tailers reporting the greatest success, said they stressed a strong company brand or offered well-known products and considered that to be a critical factor to selling to Web clients.
Confidence=Trust=Completed Transactions
The issue of branding also comes into play when attempting to win enough consumer confidence so that shoppers complete transactions online. A recent study revealed a whopping 67 percent of e-consumers abandon virtual shopping carts before closing purchases.
According to Sean Carton, managing partner at Internet services provider Carton Donofrio Interactive, the reasons point to lack of consumer confidence in revealing information such as credit card information and phone numbers.
Carton wrote in a recent article that e-commerce sites need confidence cues, things that reassure shoppers a site is trustworthy. Among the top cues is branding.
"Brand is huge," Carton said. "Not surprisingly most consumers trusted sites that were associated with well-known brands."
Old Guard Marries New Guard
Not surprisingly, since many consumers view the Net as an unpredictable, ever-evolving vehicle, marketing analysts feel that blending more traditional media with new media will garner better marketing results.
Ken Cassar, e-commerce analyst with Jupiter Communications echoes the fact that the Internet is still in its infancy and is viewed by many online consumers as a "Wild West."
"I''m increasingly hearing from people that there is a need to use traditional media in building branding," Cassar said.
"The problem is that most marketers are allocating all of their budgets to online branding. An ideal marketing campaign would be brand education and awareness created in an online component," said Cassar. "Companies should use typical branding techniques and hope people remember URLs and banners."
Cassar recommends using targeted offline branding techniques geared towards the Internet, which does not include television and mass media.Leveraging the User Experience
Rob McEwen, president of Austin, TX-based Web marketers M2K
notes that in the past marketers didn''t have much control over branding experience, while now they are able to create their environments.
"Branding experience is going to be created by building Web sites. There is an opportunity in actually experiencing people interact with Web sites," McEwen said.
Indeed, many marketing people feel that since the Internet is interactive rather than passive as other media is, customers can bond more intensely with brands online than elsewhere.
Since the Web is so highly interactive, one branding initiative is through consumers themselves, via the testimonial. Witness the proliferation of e-mail lists, digests, chat areas and newsletters. Someone queries the audience with a question, asking for recommendations and user experience...voila! There is sure to be a participant out there who has had a positive experience with a product or company and is happy to pass that information along. It''s an unsolicited recommendation and the power of word-of-mouth can travel far in the potential reach of millions in cyberspace.
A survey conducted last month by The Concours Group found that the average Internet shopper tells 12 family members, friends, relatives, co-workers and
others about their online shopping experiences, while the average U.S.
adult tells 8.6 other people about their favorite movie and 6.1 other people about their favorite
restaurant.
"The word-of-mouth statistics on Internet shopping are among the highest we''ve ever seen for
any type of product or service," said James Ware, vice president of research for consulting
firm The Concours Group. Be Responsive to Customers
These trends relate back to the concept that companies doing business online must be committed to the consumer experience, constantly interface with customers and remain attentive to questions, concerns and solutions. Excellent customer service is crucial for repeat sales.
With old media, it is much easier for companies to distance themselves from their clients, hiding behind form letters, brochures and a whole lot of red-tape. While this may buy companies some detachment, the frustration level customers face surge.
The immediacy of the Internet should compel companies to address customer concerns front and center. Again, the power of e-mails, chat threads etc., spreading rapidly to millions worldwide is a powerful tool, which can aid in building a strong client base or destroying it.
Everyone Loves Something for Nothing
Customers love getting something for nothing when purchasing a product or service. Your hotel''s overbooked? You''re so valuable to us we''ll upgrade you to our luxury suit, at no extra charge!
M2K''s Rob McEwen carries this idea one step further, with what he terms "structured surprises." The e-commerce company that he cites as an excellent example of offering customer service is Amazon, who offers many of these surprise, and as McEwen said, "they do so many things right."
Structured surprises gives customers various rewards for shopping with the company, and is given to the customer in an effort to provide a pleasant shopping experience and inspire brand loyalty.
Amazon offers several structured surprises such as not charging for gift-wrapping as a thank-you for a purchase, offering absent customers a $5.00 coupon to come back and shop online, and upgrade shipping purchases from one week to a few days.
Amazon also provides the little surprises in delivered goods, such as free bookmarks and notepads; items that don''t cost a lot, but provide a nicety while entrenching the brand name on someone''s desk.
Where Everybody Knows Your Name
Say you''re an unknown upstart...how can you create a brand? McEwen and Jupiter''s Cassar both recommend devising a memorable URL, something that sticks in the customer''s mind and will increase the likeliness of them revisiting your site again and again.
Recently The Mining Company employed this tactic, with a name and URL change to About.com, something the company''s chairman and CEO, Scott Kurnit, said would position it to extend its audience reach.
"We feel the About.com name better underscores the unique and highly targeted media
platform to advertisers and commerce partners, which we feel is the most efficient platform for
reaching relevant consumers," Kurnit said.Unknowns Get Launched by Knowns
Another idea is to co-brand with a better-known site or even a celebrity or personality. Think about Priceline. The once-fledgling discount travel site used traditional media, with radio spots using pitchman Captain Kirk, er, William Shatner, advising listeners that "this is going to be really big." Recent metrics released by the company are proving this to be true.
M2K''s McEwen said his company needed to come up with a way to launch Austin, TX-based start-up iDOT, which bills itself as the first PC company built for the Web, in that it only sells PCs via its virtual storefront. McEwen said M2K was looking to provide the company with credibility and give customers confidence.
To create branding, M2K had iDOT co-brand its site with PC-denizen Dilbert, the cartoon character that millions of office-workers identify and relate to. The marketing alliance tapped iDOT.com as the exclusive hardware partner of The Dilbert Zone and provided a customized icon link in the Dilbert Zone home page, a
computer-related comic strip for The Dilbert Store and created a microsite within The
Dilbert Zone.
The microsite featured a co-branded HTML page containing iDOT.com products and direct links to iDOT.com''s e-commerce storefront. The deal also included 17 million co-branded banners presented on The Dilbert Zone, which gets 5 million page views a week and 5 million international visitors a month.
So when you think of branding and the Internet, remember all roads lead back to customer confidence, trust, and reliability, as it does in the offline world. On The Web companies might have to work a little harder to establish the all-important branding, and go the extra mile, but the pay-offs mean the difference between being known and inspiring sales or going no where fast.
Related Resources:
ChannelSeven
ClickZ Network
BrandWeek Magazine
Nua E-Commerce Surveys
SellItOntheWeb
Info Scavenger
Web Marketing Today
IE 7
Firefox 2.0
