Consumers Want Authenticity

“I think there’s an authentic nature of this word of mouth [from trusted friends and family]. I also love influencers because of the kind of ‘homegrown’ nature of photos and video shoots that are happening now instead of these big budget productions.” – Steve Hutt from Shopify

As influencer marketing grows this holiday season, the real challenge will be retaining the authenticity that has been the key to influencer marketing success for the last few years. Consumers are breaking away from social media accounts that only promote their favorite brands.

That’s why brand ambassadors and long-term brand-influencer relationships are so critical. When someone with an engaged online community genuinely loves your products and services, followers can tell. These authentic influencers can boost your brand awareness, drive sales, and instill brand loyalty.

Ecommerce brands choosing to partner with influencers should recruit carefully, aligning only with those individuals that have consumer trust and brand excitement. Additionally, brands must take extra steps to manage their influencer relationships toward stronger brand affinity and campaign collaboration. 

Quick Breakdown of Our Gets Real Episode #10

Steve Hutt is a brilliant ecommerce strategist with decades of online sales and customer service leadership experience. Before joining Shopify and launching the Fastline podcast, Steve was a serial entrepreneur with a passion for ecommerce.

In this week’s episode, Katya Allison (GRIN) and Steve Hutt broke down the challenges that online brands face going into 2020 holiday shopping. Not only has economic shutdowns impacted buyers’ ability to shop in person, but international shipping continues to face a major logistical crisis. And if that wasn’t enough, Amazon moved its epic Prime Day event to October, putting pressure on distributors and DTC brands everywhere to react to pent-up consumer demand.

Thankfully, consumer spending is strong, and many ecommerce brands are adjusting nicely. Tapping into his exclusive Shopify Merchant Success Management experience, Steve offered countless suggestions for how your brand can pivot to meet these unique challenges plaguing retail in 2020.

Marketing and sales tactics that worked for holiday sales events last year are unlikely to produce the same results. Brands have to fix holes in their UX design, improve their customer support, and use messaging that cuts through the increased ad spend from major retailers entering the ecommerce space.

“Number one – start early! So please, those listening today, if you’ve not already started your Black Friday, Cyber Monday holiday season campaigns, stop what you’re doing and start, because your customers are getting online early.” – Steve Hutt from Shopify

There are also new customers going online – people that formerly preferred to visit brick-and-mortar stores but are now worried about their health and safety. Major retailers are closing sooner and more often around the holidays to encourage social distancing and protect their employees. Online is now the chief marketplace for holiday shopping.

From ad spend to customer lifetime value to strategic discounts to shipping policies, Steve and Katya filled this podcast with amazing advice for ecommerce brands of all sizes in every industry. Listeners will walk away with high-level strategy ideas and actionable steps to improve their performance over the next critical months of holiday shopping. Check out the full podcast now.

Quotes from the episode

“Number one – start early!  If you’ve not already started your Black Friday, Cyber Monday holiday season campaigns, stop what you’re doing and start, because your customers are getting online early.”
 
“Influencer marketing is definitely a way of combating this [increased costs for paid ads] because now you have a platform, you can actually manage a group of influential people that are authentic, that appreciate your brand.”