People are spending more time online than ever before.
Globally, people average a whopping 6 hours and 58 minutes of screen time per day and the number continues to grow. Online shopping is becoming second nature and it’s therefore key for retailers to optimize their e-commerce strategies.
Unlike your friendly storefront, it’s harder to build a relationship with online shoppers. How do we earn their trust and win their online purchase?
It’s all about psychology: In a crowded space, how do customers choose between multiple brands? They often go with what’s the most familiar because it makes them feel comfortable. This is the essence of the “Familiarity Principle” also called the “Mere Exposure Effect”.
The theory behind it is this: In a busy and uncertain world, our brains are looking to reduce cognitive load. We don’t want to have to think about new risks, so we tend to gravitate towards the things that feel the most normal. In our minds Familiar = Safe.
The familiarity principle is an important part of marketing. Research shows that becoming a familiar brand is the key to building a loyal following and being top of mind when purchasing decisions are being made. This is particularly important for your online customers as they have more options at their fingertips.
The familiarity principle is an important part of marketing. Research shows that becoming a familiar brand is the key to building a loyal following and being top of mind when purchasing decisions are being made. This is particularly important for your online customers as they have more options at their fingertips.
This is why brands will just stick their logo on a billboard, and it’s why Coca-cola sponsors everything from sports to convenience store signs. You want to be part of the consumers’ daily lives; there for the morning coffee, make an appearance during a lunchtime social scroll, be there again at the end of the day when they are shopping online. So how can we do this in a digital space without the Coca-Cola budget?
There are several ways to do this such as getting out there on social media, earned media and brand partnerships. These are great but they do take time and effort.
If you want to boost online sales and familiarity fast, one approach to consider is targeted
Programmatic Marketing.
Smart marketers use online behavior data to target your best fit customers. This data includes where they are located, what platforms they use and what they engage with online.
Hitting up existing customers is key. They are the most familiar with your brand and are the most likely to buy again, that’s why remarketing is such an important strategy. You already have a relationship so there is a very high ROI on reinforcing it.
All of this is done “programmatically”, meaning it’s done using algorithms to monitor and evaluate customer behavior, watching what’s working and constantly refining the process to ensure that your sales funnel is tuned to your particular customers, using those that have successfully completed a purchase as the model.
Good programmatic marketing can drive very significant increases to online orders and overall sales. We wrote another article on it – you can check it out here.
How high-tech is your online marketing? If you’re interested to learn more about how Programmatic Marketing can boost sales while building lasting brand familiarity with online customers you can get a free evaluation through our partners at Alibi.
