SUMMARY
Digital-first brands no longer rely primarily on brick-and-mortar storefronts or other intermediaries to reach their target audience
Brands that prioritise customer experience are more likely to see revenue growth, whereas unhappy consumers may switch to a competitor brand
Build a cohesive, holistic consumer experience strategy with these tips for D2C brands to leave a good impact
Direct-to-customer (D2C) brands are evolving and carving out their market niche. One of the major reasons for their development is that businesses are betting on getting up close and personal with their customers, never like before. In recent years, this has become the golden rule for D2C brands, as they develop innovative strategies to boost engagement and improve the consumer experience.
In the post-covid era, 60% of shoppers prefer to shop directly with the brand over multi-brand retailers and like to visit brand websites for in-depth product information.
Digital-first brands no longer rely primarily on brick-and-mortar storefronts or other intermediaries to reach their target audience. Instead, they have started selling through their websites, coordinating all operations to ensure a smooth purchasing experience.
How Can D2C Brands Create A Favourable Customer Experience?
Customer experience is the cumulative outcome of all customer interactions with a brand, from website/app navigation to payments and post-purchase engagement. Organisations that prioritise customer experience are more likely to see revenue growth, whereas unhappy consumers may switch to a competitor brand.
D2C brands reflect distinctiveness, digital savviness, and environmental consciousness through their product offerings.
Although there are no hard and fast rules for providing the greatest possible customer experience, D2C brands can benefit from certain principles and guidelines. Here are some tips to achieve a cohesive, holistic consumer experience and a good impact:
Building Trust & A 360-degree Experience
Brands can gain people’s trust by collaborating with influencers who can talk about their products and share their reviews and testimonials. People trust other users’ reviews; if many people talk favourably about the brand, its goodwill may improve. It facilitates a stronger connection with the audience, and increased consumer trust in the brand can lead to increased sales conversions.
Additionally, creating a feedback mechanism where brands can record consumer voices at every touchpoint can be useful as it demonstrates that the brand values its customers’ opinions. Compassionate customer service is essential to the consumer experience and defines the brand’s DNA.
Focus On Personalisation & Optimisation
Before developing a personalised communication strategy to help create a positive customer experience; brands need to get to know their consumers. They can collect all relevant data across channels to get comprehensive consumer insights like context, persona, and preferences. If brands understand and cater to their customer’s needs, they have a positive brand recall and enhanced brand loyalty.
Consumers are more likely to respond when communications are tailored to their needs as they seek more personalised and meaningful interactions. Thriving in D2C ecommerce necessitates a customised strategy that provides a wholesome shopping experience. D2C brands have a significant advantage as they have access to first-hand consumer data, which can aid them in delivering a consistently optimised experience across all sales channels.
Brands should avoid unnecessary or repeated communication as it annoys consumers. For instance, if a consumer leaves some items in their shopping cart, the brand can send a couple of reminders and, most likely, a discount voucher as an incentive. However, repeatedly sending the same message to the individual through different channels seldom works.
Post-Purchase Services
D2C brands should strive to have a seamless checkout experience to reduce cart abandonment rates and increase revenues. Embedding security on checkout pages, reducing form fields so that more people will be willing to fill it out, and offering multiple payment options are all ways to reduce cart abandonment rates. Furthermore, emphasising features like free shipping, easy returns, and live chat assistance may help increase conversions.
To achieve a high-end user experience, brands should reduce friction in product selection, communication, convenience, speed, and digital payments. The smoother the checkout procedure, the better the buying experience.
With changing purchasing behaviour, D2C brands need to increase their D2C presence and focus on maximising the customer experience at all brand touchpoints and communicating what they stand for to existing and potential consumers. A compelling experience necessitates the implementation of the right technology, data and analytics, and an agile operating strategy.
D2C enables first-party connections that would not have been feasible otherwise. Moreover, it improves consumer profiling and micro-segmentation, contributing to personalising the customer experience. To grow and win in a competitive market, brands should reconsider how they communicate with consumers and control the realm of consumer relationships.
