How to Leverage your Products Online with Visual Merchandising
First impressions matter. So much so that people form a first impression of a business in only 7 seconds in person, and 50 milliseconds online. That is why it’s important to learn how to leverage your products by creating the best visual merchandising experience.
Continue reading to understand the importance of this practice and receive 4 important tips on how to leverage Paperturns digital publishing solutions that will inspire you to carry out effective online visual merchandising.
What Is Visual Merchandising?
Leverage your Products Online with Visual Merchandising- Store Front
Have you ever walked past a store where you didn’t really need anything, but the products that were showcased were so attractive and pleasing that you thought to yourself: “I’ll just go in and have a look.”, and end up leaving with two bags? Well, you can thank the store’s visual merchandiser for that!
Visual merchandising is a marketing practice that uses sensory elements - sight, sound and smell, for example - to create an attractive aesthetic, and prompt customers to show interest in your products.
Having a well-thought-out window design, and visuals inside your store creates a positive customer experience from the get-go, making it possible to increase sales, gain a competitive advantage, and even increase the possibility of customer retention.
Online Visual Merchandising
Online or digital merchandising, just like in-store visual merchandising, is all about enhancing the user experience with an aesthetic design, digital storytelling, innovation, user-generated content, etc. The biggest challenge is that, because of the intense competition online, marketers and online retailers need to aim for a faster buyer journey experience, so the customer can go through all stages and purchase the product before hopping onto another website. This user behavior is easily trackable by analyzing app churn.
However, if done right, online visual merchandising can increase your engagement and conversion rates, time on website, and create customer loyalty.
Leverage your Products Online with Visual Merchandising - Online Selling
Tips on How to Design a Creative Visual Merchandising Strategy for your eCommerce Business
#1 Create an Appealing Homepage
Think of your website’s homepage as your storefront window. It’s the first thing your customers see when they access your website, therefore, you have to make sure you have an effective landing page.
Showcase new products, best sellers and highlight promotions… Your mission is to build an exciting, interesting, and aesthetically pleasing page that engages users and encourages them to browse.
Personalization through some segmentation also plays a big role here. You can design your landing page based on campaigns, or even for a particular audience you aim to reach. Remember to keep your audience interested, and be true to your brand identity. You want to create a memorable customer experience and ensure that your customers will remember you.
#2 Design an Optimal Website Navigation
Think of IKEA stores. The maze-like way of organizing the products guarantees that every customer is exposed to every product they have to offer, boosting their chances of getting impulse purchases. The average shopper will make an average of 3 unplanned purchases in 4 out of every 10 stores they visit.
When designing your website, you’ll want to create an intuitive and persuasive layout, which will create a better customer experience, and increase the chances of boosting your sales.
There are many ways to design your website’s pages, but what’s super important is that you create something that’s easy to navigate, clear, attractive and engaging.
Here are some tips to take into consideration:
Use sharp and clear dynamic product visuals;
Present related products and give product recommendations;
Organize products by category;
Add videos or GIFs of the products so customers can get a real feel of them;
Add a real-life reviews page where your customers can share pictures and videos of acquired products to stimulate possible buyers.
Leverage your Products Online with Visual Merchandising - Social Media Presence Is Vital
#3 Your Social Media Presence is Vital
Whether you have an eCommerce store or you’re social selling - leveraging the power of social media is key to driving your sales up and building relationships with your audience.
Being active on social media humanizes your brand, and gives a sense of honesty and truthfulness. It also provides you with a much bigger reach, which can lead to new leads and a higher conversion rate. Take these statistics for example - 54% of social browsers use social media to research products.
You can use these platforms to showcase your brand, products and services, reviews and to communicate with clients… The possibilities are endless when it comes to social media marketing.
#4 Innovate
As we mentioned above, visual merchandising, be it for physical or online stores, is all about the customer experience. Although there is an oversaturation of content online, the fact that new trends are constantly emerging gives you an opportunity to innovate and stand out.
An interesting trend coming up is the growth of AR (augmented reality) and interactivity in the consumer market.
For example, let’s say you sell make-up. A good idea could be for you to create a filter that adds a make-up design to a face. This would allow your customers to try out, for example, a specific eyeshadow color, lipstick, blush, etc.
Another idea is to create an online magazine. These allow you to add a number of interactive features like videos, GIFs, sounds, and even a shopping cart! In addition, it’s possible to share it on your social media platforms without any download time, or embed it onto your website. And as a great bonus, they are 100% accessible for users with disabilities. Introducing flipbooks to your business can make you stand out from the competition, provide an inclusive customer experience, and increase your engagement rates.
Are you interested? You can learn more here.
Wrap Up
Visual merchandising is as much of an art as it is science. There’s a lot to gain from a well-planned design, both in physical and online stores. The key to a successful visual merchandising is to constantly try to improve the customer journey, aiming for more engagement and creation of value. This way you’ll be able to create a memorable customer experience that your customers will keep wanting to relieve. Book a 1-1 session with Paperturn and learn how to make your digital publishing appealing to your customers.
