When I first heard the word ecommerce, I was young enough to have parents talking about attending meetings at the “Chamber of Commerce,” (which is what I confused it with) while I listened to out loud storytelling at the library.
At the time, ecommerce was happening but still young. I knew what eBay was, because we drove by it sometimes on the way to the grocery store, and I knew some of my books were purchased from Amazon, but ultimately a meeting about “commerce” sounded a lot less fun than a live magician telling stories as he performed magic tricks.
Virtually all circumstances have changed. I don’t drive by eBay anymore, Amazon sells…everything, and ecommerce I’ve discovered actually IS really fun.
To understand why, we have to examine what traditional brick and mortar selling and buying looked like. You open a store, deciding what products to carry and deciding there are people out there who want them. You advertise in newspapers, list yourself in the yellow pages, if you’re really proactive maybe you send out postcards, and when customers enter the door, you try your best to read and find out their needs and the corresponding product or products you sell that could satisfy them.
Don’t get me wrong, brick and mortar stores, especially of the small and quirky nature, entice me like a kid in front of a candy store. But there is a level of intelligence in ecommerce, that sometimes borders on mind-reading, that when done precisely I greatly admire.
I truly believe an ecommerce store has the ability to have all the charm and characteristics of a mom and pop downtown store, but on a national or international stage, like the brick and mortar store with the power to reach the exact newspapers with the exact readers that have already proven to be seeking your product and buying experience. It is all in the listening and watching, and finding where your customer looks and you can give customers all over the world the feeling of your hometown store they never would have experienced otherwise. I want to share a personal case study showing exactly what I mean.
Earlier this year my husband became interested in a diet we had heard about through family and friends. It had its controversial principles, like anything does, but we live in Los Angeles so we are used to quite a bit of controversy and wild ideas and being that it was a new year we decided to give it a month. The diet itself took quite a bit of research that led to many websites, social media accounts, and blogs we scoured and would not have discovered otherwise. It required finding recipes that didn’t taste horrible, others we would never try, and finally how to acclimate it to us to the point that we actually quite enjoyed it. Without dragging you through the description we gave every friend of ours for many-a dinner party afterwards, I will say there is a heavy focus on natural fats including grass-fed butter, and tallow and a heavy emphasis on the avoidance of many oils on the market. This piece in particular we saw the most difference in and it led to a lot more label reading of not just our food but also home and hygiene products, in everything from whether or not our cleaning supplies were actually nontoxic to if our deodorant could be hormone disruptive.
We wrapped up our month, decided what we’d keep doing and what we wouldn’t, and we were feeling proud, no longer researching but considering ourselves pretty experienced. Here is where the fun of ecommerce comes in.
I was doing the Saturday morning aimless social media scroll when suddenly I saw an ad offering me 10% off a natural skin and beauty line. If I see a good ad, the shopper in me has no issue continuing to the site, and the ecommerce lover in me is immediately interested. I always find myself curious as to what they are showing me? Why? And how did they know to do so?
I continued to the site and discovered it is a tallow based all natural skincare line, the main product being shown to me being a non toxic, tallow based deodorant.
I was fascinated as I had never visited this site before nor blatantly searched “tallow based non toxic deodorant,” but yet, I evidently had all the markers in my customer profile to be the ideal candidate. Somewhere in our new year’s diet research, analytics and audience builder tools had determined I would likely be on social media that Saturday morning, would click a video ad with neutral colors and an organic feel, and chances are, would be interested in a non-toxic tallow-based product. But taking it one step further, that I am among a large handful of others with the same or similar journey and customer profile who would ALSO be interested.
Right as I geeked out over this they did something else I love – offered me a discount code on my first purchase if I provided my email. I did so of course, and in my email found not only a discount code but also an offer to be part of their rewards program which offers free gifts for purchases but also following them on social media, sharing their site with friends and taking skincare quizzes.
I promptly completed every quiz, followed them across all social media platforms and found myself with a free gift along with my 10% off my first purchase. My only critique? Their discount code didn’t work – but don’t worry, as an ecommerce lover I let them know, and my order arrives soon 🙂
The whole point here is to show you, I was a customer who never would’ve found that company on my own, but now consider it a go-to for many items for myself and my family. They served me what I was looking for, where and when I was looking for it and incentivized me to try something I already had a lot of interest in! Providing a fun rewarding journey for the customer, and inevitably the fun for themselves of another repeat customer showing up in their Quickbooks.
If you have goals and ideas for ecommerce, want to broaden your business’s reach and strategize creating beautifully architectured ecommerce journeys to grow your business and enhance your own and your family’s lives, please schedule a call with me today. I truly love the strategizing of this journey and would love to help you with yours!
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