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If you understand what motivates prospects and existing customers online, it will mean that you can actively support this, by optimising your ecommerce platforms, which in turn can mean an increase in sales and revenue. So let’s take a look at the 3 biggest psychological triggers and buying patterns for customer purchasing to factor in to your planning and ecommerce development.

1. Impulse buying

In today’s consumerist world, where we live in a 24 hour society, expectations are tougher than ever. Consumers believe they can get whatever they want, whenever they want and this is especially true of impulse buying. This is when someone buys an item without first putting much thought or consideration into the item that they suddenly need it immediately.

This group of people tend be those who spend more time on social media, who are greatly influenced by what they see and are often trend followers, meaning low brand loyalty. A consumer who tends to impulse buy is more likely to be concerned with their image, their social status, and how they appear to others. In other words, they make purchases based on what they think will look good in the eyes of other people.

They are more often than not driven by promotions and sales and influenced by website design – the ‘nicer’ the website is, the more likely to encourage impulse purchase behaviour. We’ll come on later to talk about how colour impacts this too.

An Impulse buyer will not consider the consequences that their purchases may have in the future, they just know they want to have it and want it now!

It’s all about the product being seen in the right place and the right time. We’ve already mentioned that this group are heavily influenced by social media to anything with endorsement by a celeb, seeing pictures with a friend with the product.

This helps to create a connection with the item, where the buyer already imagines themselves owning the product.

In the UK, Mortar London on behalf of Finder.com found that 78.4% of Brits succumbed to impulse shopping and more than 22.9% were making impulse purchases on a weekly basis.

2. Urgency & Missing Out Buying

Whilst this isn’t quite panic buying loo rolls and pasta, the psychology is the same. It’s an overwhelming fear that something you want will run out, which leads to a regret that we didn’t act on it.

The big retailers having been playing this game for a while. That moment you go online to and the item you’ve had your eye on for a while now has ‘limited stock’ or ‘Only 2 left in stock”. Even better than this, is simply that it has gone into the sale or has a discount on it.

This has the immediate effect of getting this group of people to act fast and grab that deal before it’s too late.

Terrifyingly, it’s referred to as “purchase anxiety”, which is a psychological trigger based on urgency and scarcity that is so deeply rooted in our drive for survival.

Studies have found that online stores with countdown timers and stores that show a limited amount of items left in stock from their product page converted 9% better than stores that did not.

The effect that scarcity and urgency have on people psychologically is a natural phenomenon that retailers are known to build marketing tactics upon.

3. The impact of retail therapy

Good old fashioned retail therapy. Not something to be mocked as this is a real thing and proven to be a stress relief for many shoppers! It’s been found that people tend to turn to shopping as therapy during major life transitions, for instance, after a breakup, before getting married, or having a child. Shopping relieves anxiety and gives people a sense of control.

For many, the act of simply browsing online and putting it into your basket, often without purchasing immediately people improve their mental well being and this is a proven fact.  You are able to get the same sense of joy from browsing as having the product in your hands.

4. Colour

Colour within branding and marketing is not a new concept – big organisations such as Coke spent millions looking at the impact that red branding had over other colours and is a key factor in brand design today.

However, did you know that up to 87% of consumers make buying decisions based on colour, meaning it plays an important part in all decision making both on and offline.

Colour and appearance is something that your consumers give great importance to and it’s something you have to plan out very carefully based on the identity of your brand and your target audience. Here is a simple chart to give you an idea of how colour can affect people’s mood:

So, what does this mean for your business and specifically your ecommerce platforms?

Here are the top things to consider:

• Have you looked at your colour and how has this informed your website and broader marketing?
• Look at building a clear route for your visitors and an optimised user journey – site navigation has a huge impact on visitors, and can form part of their purchase intention.
• Make your store easy to access from any device, especially for the impulse buyers.
• Think about the design of your links – as a rule, they should help customers find relevant information in 3 clicks or less , especially for those who have a fear of missing out.
• Organise products into relevant categorises and clarify with examples.
• Get interactive. Customers like to interact with products to create a sensory experience a customer would have in store.
• Make their shopping experience more personalised.

To see our news & tips first, follow us on LinkedIn or call us on 03333 220022 for a friendly chat with the team.

2020, and more importantly the impact of Covid, has brought about a substantial change in consumer behaviour. With people staying at home and taking up new hobbies, the wonderful, whimsical web became a virtual lifeline to millions of people in the UK both socially and professionally.

The impact on the online shopping world has been monumental, and according to research, online purchasing increased by up to 30% last year alone.  

Whether it was for reasons of availability or simply exploring the options for best value, Covid gave consumers the space to find alternative suppliers and the traditional behaviours began to change, and it continues to do so.

Alongside this, we learnt that overall brand loyalty decreased during this period, and we no longer settled on our “go to” when it came to our regular suppliers and ways of shopping.  This is fascinating given 80% of brands do not have a loyalty programme in their marketing strategy despite droves of online shoppers switching between brands.

Customers Supported Local Small Businesses

As we were both forced and invited to shop around and try new things, customer also voted with their cash to support many local small businesses.  Despite the fact browsing in person in local shops wasn’t an option; research suggests that shoppers had a renewed desire to shop locally and support their own community before bigger corporate brands, such as Amazon.

OnBrand MD, Daniel Graham explains:

‘2020 saw a real customer trend with communities pulling together to support local businesses, like buying beer from a local brewery, honey from a local supplier and using the local store for smaller shops, rather than heading to large shops for a bigger monthly spend.  Campaigns generating local PR and social media activity supported the #shoplocal approach and it became a key driver for shoppers to stay home and think local, to support businesses that really needed their help to survive.’

In addition to this, those businesses that could clearly identify and communicate a clear social purpose actually helped grow positive brand awareness. Companies and organisations actively being seen to help the wider community and their employees resonated with consumers and brands got noticed for their altruistic behaviour.

Assessing our Own Shopping Habits

We spoke to some of our colleagues at OnBrand to get a personal view of how their shopping behaviours have changed post-Covid.

Jo, OnBrand’s social media creator said her #shoplocal patterns totally changed. She wanted to support friends with local food businesses and instead of buying meat from a large supermarket, she supported a community-based butcher who would personally deliver a week’s worth of meat at 6am on a Sunday!

Wendy, our marketing manager, talked first hand about the shift in her online food shopping experience.  Whilst she had always been loyal to one online supermarket, it became apparent that during the first couple of months of lockdown 1, the supplier’s website and fulfilment simply fell over based on the demand. Due to this, she started to shop around and look into other suppliers and ended up switching between an additional two providers. This remains the same today and supports the theme that brand loyalty has declined.

Emma, our marketing director mentioned that she made additional purchases online for kids clothing and DIY bits and bobs that previously she would have gone in store for. She used shop local click and collect for the first time; a trend that we now see has expanded from big to small businesses.

So What Does That Mean for Small Businesses in Lockdown 3?

What we know is that these trends remain the same in early 2021. Digital purchasing continues to increase amongst all age groups and it’s a key government pillar to have digital inclusion for the over 65’s. As one positive outcome, Covid has gone a long way to helping this digital transition, and in 2021 we are likely to see even more of the over 65’s becoming more comfortable with looking online . Thanks to being in lockdown, we are moving forward.

Here are our top tips for boosting sales in 2021:

1. Understand what your customers wants and needs are, and how that might have changed.
2. Be really clear what segment of your customer base is active online.
3. Optimise your online sales journey to factor in different audiences, perhaps more FAQs or assistance during the process for a non-savvy audience.
4. Plan a comprehensive social media strategy and content plan that engages your existing and new digital audience.
5. Consider a brand loyalty programme to ensure customers come back again.
6. Find a broader social purpose and communicate it so customers know your point of difference

For more help with business growth in 2021, visit www.onbrand.co.uk or call 03333 220022 for a friendly chat with the team.

References: Deloitte insights 2021 Global Marketing Trends, McKinsey’s UK reports, Centre for Ageing Better, October 2020 research from Dot digital

It’s fair to say, over the past year, we’ve produced a whole host of messages for over 200 of our Centre Radio clients, which we could never have imagined recording during the blissful ‘pre-pandemic’ era.

Feedback from Shopping Centre Management teams who have been sharing Covid-Comms over the airwaves has been consistent though; Centre Radio has been key to communicating with customers during such unprecedented times.

Why? We’ve summarised all feedback into a handy little summary.  Look no further than  our Top 10 Reasons Why Centre Radio is an a real ‘must-have’ for any Shopping Centre during Covid Times…  ~

1) Increase Compliance: A short friendly recording which reminds people to wear their masks increases compliance.

2) Happy NEW Tier! Let’s face it, we’re likely to be in and out of different tiers for the foreseeable future. Tier notices reinforce and remind customers of behaviour, restrictions and choices.

3) You’ve got this! Playing COVID messages make you relevant, appear thoughtful and on top your game.

4) Protect your Staff: Messages for 1 way systems increase compliance, reducing employee engagement and putting staff at risk.

5) Reassure Your Customers: Cleaning messages reassure shoppers your environment is safe.

6) Helping Customers to Shop Safely: COVID messaging helps your shoppers shop more efficiently and safely.

7) Understand the Needs of your Customers: Promotion of your website and click and collect services provides shoppers with other choices; showing that you have put thought into other ways to engage and shop with you.

8) Reinforce Government Messaging: Summarising the key messaging from Public Health Agencies shows your customers that you are committed to following government protocol.

9) Keep the music volume down: Whilst ambience is still an important way to help customers feel at ease whilst shopping with you, we’ve had feedback from some Centre Managers to say that turning the volume down on music has led to a calmer environment for those wanting to focus on shopping for their essentials.

10) Help Stop the Spread – Simple reminders asking customers to wash their hands and use sanitiser helps reinforce behaviour, protecting both your customers and staff.

Well there you have it, 10 very good reasons why Centre Radio is crucial right now. Ready to get yours switched on, or needing to update your current package? Get in touch with our super friendly audio team who will get you up and running in no time: audio@onbrand.co.uk

This year has been hugely turbulent for all retailers…. Whilst Black Friday often starts two weeks before, 2020 has seen an increase in promotional activity by retailers spread throughout the month, which means some deals have been available from as early as the end of October! According to The Drum, there is a predicted 22% decrease in overall Black Friday spend this year, and, due to lockdown, online retailers will be the big winners. On top of this, there is evidence of customer concern for retailers having possible backlogs and delays on December deliveries, leading to up to 60% of people “front spending” for Black Friday as well as Christmas before lockdown even started in early November.

Here at OnBrand, we’ve focused on the positive, with two keys areas aiming to support this unpredictable change in the market and enable our clients to plan more effectively:

Firstly, we are delighted to have been able to help several independent businesses make the move online – meaning small, high street shops have the ability to now offer either full e-commerce or  click and collect in store services. Not only is this a positive, longer term step forward for so many high street retailers, but in turn has increased their multi-channel customer experience offering and overall brand perception.

Secondly, we are creating informative and engaging content for the shopping centres that we work with. This is done through social media planning and ongoing conversations with their customers. We want to reassure customers that once the centres are up and running again there is plenty of fantastic shopping to be done and increase footfall for independent businesses as soon as lockdown eases.

There are many brands that have seen growth and have been positively affected during the pandemic, whether through offering new safety products, or leisure at home products. Lego, for example, had low stock availability on many lines due to early buying in March, throughout summer and then saw another surge as the new lockdown was announced.

Despite being the most challenging year in retail and a change to the normal Black Friday purchasing patterns, we are still very much here to help businesses either look forward to planning their 2021 activities, or simply get back on track after Lockdown 2.0. We would love to hear about how your business may have been positively impacted during this time, and how being online has enabled a new way of working. Get in touch on sayhello@onbrand.co.uk – we would love to hear from you!

‘I don’t need a brand, I already have a logo’

We often hear small businesses say these words and feel an inward ‘nooooooooooooh’

The question I’ve asked is “Tell us about your brand”

Not just their business. Not their growth trajectory and sales plans. This will come, of course it’s absolutely essential.  But their brand.

It’s the first question that we ask and in our opinion it’s the most important. So if you take nothing else from this post, it is this:

YOUR BRAND IS YOUR BUSINESS

Why?

Without a clear brand, there is no marketing. Marketing gives you the tools to deliver the message of your brand,but if you don’t know what your brand is then often your advertising will miss your target audience.

Put simply – banging out a load of Facebook ads is unlikely to give you the long term sales and growth that you need. Don’t get me wrong, you have to market through all channels but please think beyond the advertising.

And it’s not just marketing, branding is important because it increases business value, gives employees direction and motivation, and makes acquiring new customers easier – and we all know that last one is the biggie!

So now we’re all agreed that brand is everything how do you go about working out what your business brand is?

It’s worth looking at your own shopping habits and those of your friends to see why you buy the way you do.  Is  there some family loyalty to a certain department store or has your favourite celebrity endorsed a face cream or sometimes do you buy something without even thinking about it?  Research suggests up to 95% of purchasing decisions are subconscious.

Princeton scientists have also been researching the emotional impact of marketing and say that first impressions form in less than a second https://instapage.com/blog/emotional-marketing.  So no pressure!

It’s also worth looking at how some of the big businesses are doing it.  My favourite brand at the moment is Aldi. For those who’ve never been (or are hardcore Waitrose and will never switch!), it’s like the new, much better version of Morrison’s but the products are almost identical to the real deal.  However, outside of their business model and ability to reduce prices, the way they have created their brand values, tone of voice and therefore their marketing is what has cut through.  Their core beliefs are around: simplicity, reliability and responsibility. Their logo is a beautiful reflection of this but the values come directly from the business.

So what else do you think about when you hear the word ‘brand’. Perhaps a slogan?

Nike Just do it, Apple Think Differently and McDonalds are Lovin it.

Do you think Nike just did it?  No, absolutely not.  They spent years developing a brand personality for the business, identifying their audience and creating a unique point of view. As the brand has evolved, Nike associates its products with star athletes; hoping customers will transfer their emotional attachment from the athlete to the product. It’s not actually the trainers that sell; people are buying into a brand.

In this day and age we obviously can’t ignore social media – when a tweet from Kylie Jenner leads to snapchat losing 6% of its company value (equating to $1.3 billion) it shows you really can’t afford to.

But think about all the social media influencers there are – they only associate themselves with brands that resonate with them, who have the voice and values that they can connect with.  This is the fundamental of branding – big or small. Without this, it’s impossible to get a clear view on what your business is, who to market it to, how to market it and how to cut through the clutter and junk of the world of social media.

“So how does all this impact my small business?” I hear you say?

Take a minute to imagine your product is a beautiful red vase you are trying to sell. However, someone down the road is also selling a red vase; it’s not quite the same, but from the outside it looks similar.

Branding is about the need to differentiate you from them. How to get your vase to stand out. How to get people to love your vase and how to get people to therefore buy your vase.

A great brand creates trust, loyalty and an emotional connection. The more you know yourself, the more consistent you are, the greater the brand trust. Trusting a brand is at the heart of all of this. If you know your brand and are clear about what you value, this will in turn make it more likely to develop an emotional connection with customers.

So if we start meetings with a question it’s only apt that we finish this with a few more:

• Who is your ideal customer?
• If you are an existing brand, what do your customers and prospects already think of you?
• What is your company’s mission?
• What makes your brand unique?
• What is the personality of your brand/what words describe your brand?
• What are the greatest benefits of your products or services?