What's Branding Got To Do With It ?
October 19, 2009
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Caroline Zenss
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If you are thinking about creating or renewing your e-commerce presence, what comes to your mind ? Features or user experience ? Robust e-commerce or nice branding ? If you are a business owner, a merchandiser or an IT guy/gal, you may pick technology. If you are UX person like me, you may think that creativity should always come first.
Branding covers your company's logo, key messaging, imagery and graphics, even your domain names. They all convey the company's unique personality, e-commerce included.
Establishing a strong brand for your online shoppers will ultimately drive sales (assuming that you have a nice working shopping cart to back it all up).
Consistency is necessary if you want to establish a strong presence on the Web. And it's not that hard to achieve. Use a color scheme that matches your logo and your print material, and most importantly, stick to it. Use the same fonts as in your last brochure. I recommend you put your logo in the top left corner on all pages; it's nice to have it in the footer as well, and if you can add it to a map, a flash animation or a feature, go for it.
Repeated exposure to your brand is crucial, and for an e-commerce presence, it is no exception. But keep in mind that good branding should never happen at the expense of the shopping experience itself. Take Old Navy for example. If you watch North-American TV and like shopping for clothes, you have probably encountered their SuperModelquins in a commercial or at a mall near you. Go to their website, unless there is a 'mix and match' campaign running, there are no SuperModelquins in sight.Yet, the logo, the colorful pages and their easy shopping tools will make you feel at ease. You're hooked and start shopping, just as you would do in a real store.
The UX team's mission is to maintain our customers' consistent branding across channels. Finding a balance between your brand, features and content that are relevant to your shoppers is key to a great user experience.
When looking for an e-commerce presence, keep in mind that you don't need to reinvent the wheel.
Think about branding early in the process, strike for consistency and you will do great.