The Importance of Brand Identity to Encourage Repeat Customers

With thousands of eCommerce stores, it’s harder than ever to stand out from the crowd.

That’s why defining your brand identity is essential in such a saturated market.

Below we’ll be discussing the importance of clear brand personality, identity and values to attract loyal customers, build strong relationships and increase your customer retention rate.

Why you should focus on customer retention

There’s no hiding the fact that acquiring a new customer costs much more than retaining one, which is exactly why customer loyalty matters.

In a world where younger generations have increased spending power but reduced brand loyalty, eCommerce businesses need to pull out all the stops to retain these customers.

Increasing your customer retention rate pays off as existing customers are more likely to be engaged and spend more on your eCommerce site.

The stats are there to back it up. 65% of a company’s business comes from existing customers and 43% of consumers spend more on brands they’re loyal to.

Ensuring you provide excellent service to give your customers the best experience is set to help you increase conversions and attract loyal customers.

Related: Customer experience optimisation tips to boost loyalty.

Enhance your brand identity to attract loyal customers

Your business’ branding is more important than you may think.

It’s not just your logo or pretty colours, it’s your company’s entire identity and personality and is what directly links customers to your brand.

That’s not to say visuals aren’t important, as having some stand out features like a specific logo or a signature colour can increase brand recognition by 80%. 

Implementing a successful brand strategy that develops the visual elements associated with your brand increases trust, loyalty, and awareness.

Defining your branding will allow consumers to distinguish and easily identify your company from your competitors through the likes of social platforms or ads.

Nowadays, the rise of social media means consumers get exposed to new brands day-in-day-out making it harder for your business to stand out from the crowd.

But once you nail your company branding, you will be able to easily identify your target audience and distribute your marketing strategies more effectively.

From here, you will be able to focus on retaining the right people.

Focusing on customer experience both during and after they visit your site is one of the first steps you can take to increase your customer loyalty.

Related: Attract loyal customers with an optimised post-purchase experience.

Your brand values and personality

Your brand is more than the products or services that you sell. It’s what you stand for.

While your company logo, website or marketing campaigns may change over time, your brand values are something that always remains the same.

Your brand’s values are a series of principles that shape your business as it grows, such as respect, passion, accountability and diversity to name a few.

Consumers are constantly looking for connections with brands, they want to engage with companies who do good or make them feel good about themselves, for example, a company that pledges to produce organic materials and make eco-conscious decisions.

No matter your values, you will create a sense of community and trust that allows you to build a rapport with your shoppers – the key to customer loyalty.

This ties in closely with your brand personality which is essentially how your customers view your products, service or mission.

It particularly shines through your messaging or marketing campaigns and is what allows customers to relate to your brand.

Ultimately, when a customer’s values align with a brand’s values, this improves their experience and reduces the likelihood of them going with a competitor.

Use your brand personality to build social communities

Social media can be every eCommerce business’s best friend. 

As it stands, over half of the world now use social media platforms – over 4.6 billion.

With the vast amounts of information available on a company in just a few clicks, consumers will have total transparency of each and every business they decide to shop with.

This transparency can work in favour of brands through social proof or user-generated content.

If a company connects with its target audience through content, shared values, and stories, happy clients and customers could become loyal customers who share their experience with your brand.

But most important of all, consistency is vital.

Your company has the potential to have a real impact on your consumers, and it’s easily achievable by delivering consistent and authentic content that your customers truly want.

In fact, consistent branding across all platforms, from your eCommerce site to your social media platforms, can increase revenue by up to 33%.

Conclusions

By now it’s clear your branding, from personality, identity and values, can’t be overlooked.

It can be the deciding factor for many customers to shop with you, or to return to your eCommerce site to complete a purchase.

Consumers are constantly looking for brands to connect with, so having a clear brand personality will allow you to build relationships with your customers and increase your customer retention rates.