Impressions - Build Your Business 2024 - 13

Include closeups of product details to help customers get a better idea of exactly
what your company has on offer. Image courtesy of Erich Campbell
Selling online was once a secondary sales channel
for decorators. However, it has long since
become an expected part of doing business in
many segments.
Certain customers find online purchasing or
" research " preferable to in-person interactions.
Rather than relegating it to an afterthought,
we decorators should be planning for a future
in which customers can self-serve at all stages
of the ordering process. This in turn means
mastering the art of e-commerce.
By examining the " why " behind e-commerce
solutions, discussing common online store types,
laying out some " best practices, " briefly discussing
how best to display embroidery and
other types of decorating online, and defining
what we should look for as we evaluate online
stores for customer friendliness, we will
build a foundational understanding of how we
can be our best beyond the brick and mortar.
Pursuing Purpose
Planning any site build requires knowing who
you intend to serve and what problems your site
intends to solve. Start by describing your ideal
customer. Define their problems and propose
solutions using the tools your site can provide.
This reasoning will help you narrow down your
choices when evaluating the umpteen online
solutions available. What features can a tool
provide that solve problems for your particular
customers or your particular shop?
It may seem dramatic, but at the end of the
day the underlying question should be, " How
Planning any site build requires
knowing who you intend to serve
and what problems your site
intends to solve
will using my site improve my customer's life? "
Though it may be only the part of their life spent
ordering decorated goods, that's the real effect
you're after if you want to capture interest and
command customer loyalty.
Invariably, customers are purchasing for a
reason: to come through for an event; to bring
together or reward an important group of people;
to help build and maintain the image of
their company. In all cases, they are hoping to
use your product to achieve their goals. How
can your site make this both possible and pleasurable?
How can you leverage the available
tools and products you have on hand to make
your customer a hero to those for whom they
are purchasing?
Building Trust
Online stores must engender trust and drive
interest without the benefit of any kind of faceto-face
interaction in a showroom or over a
countertop. That said, online stores offer unique
opportunities to create trust and provide utility
independent of personal rapport, thereby
enhancing customer opinion and product
confidence in any number of ways including
the following.
Allowing for Enhanced Branding: Styling
your store, assets or products in ways that
promote and reinforce your shop's branding
or reinforce a cohesive brand image for your
customers can increase their sense of identification
and partnership with your company:
either through affinity with who you are or
gratitude for your intent to know and protect
who they are.
Providing Catered Tools/Experiences: Particularly
for company stores and single-customer
offerings, you can provide experiences that address
the needs of an individual customer or the
market segment they represent that might not
fit with your overarching custom-decoration
model. Moreover, you can enhance trust by
" fencing " customers into branded, controlled
online spaces that cater to their particular needs.
Think removing the confusion of multiple offerings,
images or other distractions that don't
apply to them and might detract from their
decision-making process.
Maintaining Currency: Regularly updated
online content lets you look vital and current,
A Special Supplement to impr essions
13
Impressions - Build Your Business 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Impressions - Build Your Business 2024
