It's not enough for your brand to simply sell products online; you also have to navigate a web of consumer interactions across mobile and desktop experiences, social media platforms, marketplaces, and more. Is your brand able to pivot as the rules constantly change? Our DTC team has identified some of these new rules – use this list to reassess and reimagine your DTC strategy in the second half of 2024.
1. You're not in control of the customer journey.
With consumers buying and reselling products on different marketplaces and discussing your brand across various platforms, control has become an illusion. Instead, focus on gaining true visibility of the customer journey by partnering with an agency that specializes in customer journey research and mapping. Aiming for visibility over control is more proactive than reactive, allowing for a deeper understanding of consumer behavior and preferences, which leads to more informed decision-making.
Elly Snow, Senior Director, Client Services, shares how important in-depth customer journey research is to a brand's strategic success:
"While data provides the metrics, research offers the context, enabling a more comprehensive understanding of the customer shopping and purchase journey, ultimately leading to a more effective and meaningful marketing strategy."
2. There's no such thing as "digitally native."
"Direct-to consumer" and "digitally native" were once synonymous. But with today's omnichannel consumer, digital selling is often just the starting point for many brands. The goal now is to be everywhere your customer is – that includes online, on social media, on marketplaces, in retail, and potentially other places, too.
You can't just be there, though. You also need to be consistent and engaged in your brand experience. Icon's SYNC Assessment helps you evaluate how your brand experience stacks up against your competition across channels and throughout the customer journey. You can find out if you have SYNC here. You'll get a free competitive assessment and actionable recommendations.
3. You have to win Amazon PPC.
Winning on Amazon requires more than optimized listing pages for conversion and organic search. As on many platforms, Amazon sellers must pay to play if you want traffic.
Brad Turner, Associate Director, Media, breaks it down:
"More so than any other online marketplace, Amazon prioritizes Sponsored listings. Nearly all search results start with two sponsored product listings, pushing organic results below the scroll across all screens—with the added likelihood of Sponsored brand ads on the desktop experience."
Yes, you should bid on branded keywords. But the difference between sellers that win on Amazon and those that don't is a strategic PPC strategy that both creates brand and product visibility to people already looking for you and drives brand discovery through non-branded search terms. When you start winning Amazon PPC and get more traffic to your listings, you'll have more data to inform key optimizations that also boost organic rankings and conversions.
4. Checkout is king.
Marketers have heard "content is king" for years, and while we won't diminish the importance of content to your marketing strategy, your DTC strategy has a new ruler. With cart abandonment rates of 84% on mobile and 72% on desktop, you can have the best content in the world, but if your checkout experience is lacking, you're going to lose the sale.
Ryan Johnson, our lead Shopify developer, puts it like this:
"A smooth and trustworthy checkout experience leaves less room for doubt or 'buyer's remorse,' decreasing the likelihood of customers abandoning their purchase in the crucial final stages of purchase."
Invest in a secure, user-friendly checkout design that ensures seamless functionality. By simplifying the process and minimizing friction points, you'll increase your ability to convert first-time customers into long-term buyers.
5. Differentiation = Personalization
Unless you're the biggest brand in your industry, there's very likely always going to be another brand with a larger budget that's the "loudest" in the market. To your customers, standing out isn't necessarily about who can shout the loudest, it's about who's saying and doing something different.
Focusing on personalization is one of the simplest ways to differentiate. Icon Director, Strategy, Bill Mason believes:
"Creating unique, customized experiences, tailoring products to the individuals purchasing them, allowing customers to co-create...drive to the heart of what consumers crave: A personalized experience from a brand that knows them, gets them, and values them."
In the DTC landscape, adaptability to constantly changing standards is what keeps brands winning, and leaves other forgotten. Make sure you have visibility into your customers journey and are present and engaged in all the places your customer may be looking for you. Rethink your Amazon strategy to include a full-funnel approach. Ensure your check-out process is as fail-proof and customer-friendly as possible. And always be seeking ways to personalize the customer experience.
