5 ways to enhance your eCommerce store’s brand value (and retain customers)

What are some of the ways to acquire new customers? Heavy discounts, sales promotions, online ads, first-purchase benefits, social media push, et al. These are effective ways to drive new traffic to the website, however, there’s no guarantee that the users will end up making a purchase. The reason being, a new user will only invest their money in your brand if they are confident that they are engaging with a trustworthy entity. Your domain name plays a big role in the establishment of trust.

Some of the ways users judge your eCommerce store and make a first impression are:

· Is there enough variety under each category?
· Are there enough reviews under each product?
· Is the UI /UX intuitive?
· Is the blog updated?
· Is it active on social media?
Well, you already know most of these touch points and are probably doing your best to give your first-time users an excellent brand experience. Guess what? Your competitors are focusing on the exact same aspects, which means you need to up your game! You need to think out of the box and engage your customers with your brand in a way that keeps them hooked right from the start! And how will you do that? Through simple brand-building techniques that we will discuss right here:

1) Use smart deep-linking

A deep link is a link to a particular product or product category on your online store. For instance, https://www.formula1.com/ is a website while
http://f1store.formula1.com/stores/F1/en?portal=CHMHGTFG&CMP=PSC-CHMHGTFG is a deep-link to its official store.
Now, imagine if the brand had to tell its customers to visit the store using that complicated and awkward link. Even if the link is shortened to http://f1store.formula1.com/stores/f1/en, it’s still not memorable and easy to type in the browser. More importantly, it’s prone to mistakes even while backlinking. On the other hand, consider a sleek alternative: www.f1.store! That is a smart deep-link which is memorable, pronounceable, and brandable. Bet you will remember it long after you are done reading this article!
Use smart deep-linking such as this for each product category or even seasonal sales promotions. For instance, all your discounts can be updated periodically on www.brand.store/discounts. The content of the page can keep changing but customers will know where to find the latest offers. What’s more, even if you are doing offline marketing, you can simply promote a deep link that customers can remember and visit when they get online.

2) Choose a domain name that stays etched in the memory

It’s essential that you choose your domain name wisely because once it’s yours, it becomes your identity. But, what makes a domain name a good domain name?
A good domain name is one that is:
· As short as possible but contains your brand name or the product category you deal in
· Descriptive of what you do, without using unnecessary digits or alphabets
· Free of copyrighted names
· Creative and memorable
A domain name that checks out on these criteria is www.magazine.store. It is short, memorable, descriptive and, as the insiders would call it, a category killer. How does this help your business? Firstly, it makes you stand out and helps you position your brand aptly from the start. What’s more, it adds a layer of credibility to your online store because the domain name is more than just a name, it’s a message!

Did you know that every link that you share online is a branding opportunity? Let’s understand this in the context of content marketing. If you are promoting a new blog post or an informational article with your followers, the typical link would look like this:
You obviously shorten it on, say, Google, and make it look like this:
https://goo.gl/ugqYqU
However, a customer would never be able to guess where they are being taken with that link or what it entails. Also, look how complicated these links are. Compare that to:
get.store/brandedlinks
Now that’s a pronounceable, branded link that tells users where they are headed if they click on it! Over time, your customers will see your brand name more often on their social feeds and other forms of communication. The result? They will associate your brand name with credibility and recall your website more easily. This goes a long way in building trust and brand engagement with your customers.

4) Take measures to avoid brand jacking

Be proactive and stay a step ahead in your game when it comes to protecting your brand online. Every online store is exposed to the dangers of brandjacking, which essentially means that someone can acquire or assume your brand’s online identity through phishing, bogus domain names, and social media accounts. Here are some precautions you can take to avoid getting brandjacked:
· File trademarks for your brand name
· Secure pages for your brand name on popular social media websites even if you won’t be using them immediately
· Invest in an SSL certificate for your website to secure your client data and your transactions
· Buy multiple domain names that resemble your brand name
These steps will ensure that you are not absolutely vulnerable to brandjacking and that your customers can trust you with personal information and credit card details.

5) Get a domain name for your social store

If you are selling on Facebook, Instagram or any other social media platform, you should get a domain name that helps you build your brand identity. If, in future, you decide to move to your own online store, your users can still use the same domain name and reach you. For example, a social media store URL looks like this:
www. facebook.com/yourstore or www. instagram.com/yourstore.
Such web addresses aren’t attractive and are hard to remember. Even when you are doing offline promotions, it’s much better to give a website address that users will instantly remember and recall. For example,
www. facebook.com/mystationerystore can be www. mystationery.store
www. instagram.com/happypajamas can be www. happypajama.store
These domain names will create a personal identity for your brand and go a long way in ensuring that your customers always know where to find you, even if the social media website is long gone.

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These are some of the ways in which you can enhance the brand value of your online store and get an edge over your competitors early on. Securing your place in the minds of your customers is a slow process and the sooner you get on that journey, the better it is for the success of your online business.
What would be your preferred domain name? Share it with us below in the comments or tweet us!
 

Image credit : Fedrunovan