As an e-commerce brand owner or marketer, your goal is to scale profitably while building a sustainable, long-term business. Yet, despite the best intentions and significant investments in marketing, some brands find themselves plateauing or even failing altogether. Often, these setbacks boil down to three critical mistakes:
- A bad product.
- A weak brand story.
- Poor targeting strategy.
Let’s break down each of these pitfalls, how they can derail your business, and the beste strategies to overcome them.
Mistake #1: Selling a Bad Product
No amount of advertising spend can save a bad product. If your product doesn’t deliver on its promise or fails to meet customer expectations, negative reviews, high return rates, and poor retention will sabotage your growth.
Signs You Have a Product Problem
- High Return Rates: A return rate above 20% often signals a mismatch between product expectations and reality.
- Negative Reviews: A review average below four stars (on platforms like Amazon or your website) is a red flag.
- Low Repeat Purchase Rates: A customer return rate of less than 20% may indicate dissatisfaction.
Solutions
- Conduct User Testing: Get your product into the hands of unbiased testers. Platforms like UserTesting or in-house focus groups can provide valuable feedback.
- Analyze Competitor Reviews: Identify what competitors are doing right and wrong by analyzing their reviews. Use these insights to improve your own offerings.
- Refine Your Manufacturing Process: Partner with suppliers to enhance quality and reliability. Share customer feedback directly with your production team.
Mistake #2: Telling a Weak Story
In a crowded e-commerce landscape, customers don’t just buy products—they buy into stories. If your brand story is generic, disjointed, or fails to resonate emotionally, you’ll struggle to create loyal customers.
What Makes a Strong Brand Story?
There are a few improtant elements that help make up a strong brand story:
- Authenticity: Share your “why.” What drove you to create your brand?
- Relatability: Connect with your target audience’s values and struggles.
- Consistency: Ensure your story is reflected across your website, social media, ads, and packaging.
Strategies to Build a Compelling Brand Story
- Define Your Mission and Vision: What change are you trying to make in your industry or customers’ lives?
- Leverage Video Content: Share behind-the-scenes videos, founder stories, or testimonials.
- Use Real Customer Stories: Testimonials and UGC (user-generated content) amplify authenticity.
Example: Warby Parker
Warby Parker revolutionized eyewear by telling a story about affordability, style, and social impact. By committing to donate a pair of glasses for every purchase, they built an emotional connection with customers while highlighting their brand’s mission.
Mistake #3: Targeting the Wrong Audience
Even with a stellar product and a compelling story, you won’t succeed if you’re talking to the wrong people. By not catering to your actual target audience, you’ll end up with wasted ad spend, poor conversion rates, and frustration for both you and potential customers.
Common Targeting Mistakes
- Overly Broad Audience: Trying to appeal to everyone dilutes your message.
- Outdated Buyer Personas: Consumer behavior shifts quickly, especially post-pandemic.
- Ignoring Analytics: Failing to analyze demographic and behavioral data from existing customers.
How to Fix Your Targeting Strategy
- Audit Your Customer Data: Use tools like Shopify, Klaviyo, or Google Analytics to identify your best customers. Look for patterns in age, location, interests, and purchasing behavior.
- Test Niche Segments: Instead of targeting “women aged 25-54,” refine it to “women aged 25-34 interested in eco-friendly baby products.”
- Invest in Retargeting Ads: 96% of website visitors leave without purchasing. Retargeting on platforms like Meta or Google Ads can bring them back.
Stats to Consider
- Retargeting ads are 76% more likely to get clicks than regular display ads. (source)
- Brands with detailed customer segmentation see 14.6% higher revenue than those without.
Key Takeaways
To sum up, in order to build a sustainable and scalable e-commerce brand, you need to do the following:
- Focus on Product Excellence: Continuously iterate on your product based on customer feedback.
- Craft a Memorable Brand Story: Use storytelling to build emotional connections with your audience.
- Master Targeting: Regularly update your audience profiles and refine ad strategies.
By addressing these areas proactively, you’ll set your brand up for growth and resilience in the competitive e-commerce landscape.
Greg is the founder and CEO of Stryde and a seasoned digital marketer who has worked with thousands of businesses, large and small, to generate more revenue via online marketing strategy and execution. Greg has written hundreds of blog posts as well as spoken at many events about online marketing strategy. You can follow Greg on Twitter and connect with him on LinkedIn.
