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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nJuliana Jackson<\/a>, The “CLV” Lady, omniconvert.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Brands should invest in building communities. Products are heavily commoditized and barriers to entry are extremely low in the D2C game these days but building a community takes time, effort and great quality content, which are more evergreen assets customers can’t simply find elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adam Kitchen<\/a>, Email Marketing expert for eCommerce brands, magnetmonster.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ecomm business need to invest in touching their customers where they are. This could be direct mail, it could be a Spotify playlist, it could be a private community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This won’t be free, but given how much cheaper it is to retain a customer, put 10% of your CAC toward retention, and start warming up your customers for BFCM now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Loyal happy customers won’t require a 40% discount to spend in the holidays<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lucas<\/a>, Serial entrepreneur, Ex Gorgias marketing manager<\/p>\n\n\n\n The key trends of 2021 for me are making Influencers your brand partners and putting more focus on videos People are spending hours scrolling through tiktok and Instagram feeds. Video is the perfect channel for reaching the curious young target audience. The new generation can make buying decisions literally from their social media feed, and videos let them shop straight away. Making those videos with influencers will further improve your conversion rate and give you a better bang for your buck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Umar<\/a>, Co-Founder, Export Left Overs<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Customer experience is the key as always. But the new normal forced merchants to think from a different perspective. Ecommerce businesses should start investing on customer retention, scalable ecommerce platforms and post purchase experience tools to improve the NPS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n I believe conversational commerce will play an even bigger role in 2021. I see merchants investing in providing online virtual consultations and personalised live chat experiences. You will stand out if you are offering a chance of personal connection and conversation like an in-store commerce transaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n –Adam Finan<\/a>, Merchant Success Manager, Shopify Plus <\/p>\n\n\n\n With 2020 being an unexpected boom for ecommerce brands<\/a>, most were forced to quickly mature their customer experience overnight. In 2021, ecommerce brands who wish to differentiate themselves will need to continue to level up that ecommerce customer experience, and be sure to take full advantage of the additional traffic coming to their site. The process of conversion rate optimization<\/a> will ensure that visitor’s actions are taken into account, data drives website decisions, and the customer experience is always improving through an iterative process. No company is too small \u2013 you can optimize for conversions at any stage of your ecommerce business<\/a> \u2013 so there is nothing holding brands back from seizing all the opportunity available to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jon MacDonald, thegood.com<\/a> \u2013 Founder & President<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think the biggest thing eCommerce brands (just to differentiate from Commerce businesses generally – digital native brands) need to provide are unique customer experiences and personality. While we can talk about CRO (which we specialise in), page load speeds (thanks PWA’s\/Headless Commerce) and fixations on buzz words (marketing cloud, omni-channel, headless, the list goes on) I think the most important thing to do in 2021 is to stand out from the crowd. So I think brands should invest in being “different”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As “simple” as that may sound, standing out could mean everything from unique customer service and unboxing experiences, through to novel on site browsing, thought provoking and challenging marketing campaigns and brave business decisions. Obviously, any time a brand is making an investment they need to have clear, measurable outcomes and to be accountable to the bottomline. In this instance, I would say they adopt change but with a test & learn, MVP methodology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sean Clanchy, Director –Swankyagency.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve worked with several brands that crush their competition<\/a> because they are built around a purpose that is deeply held by their founders. For these brands, their purpose drives product development, accelerates their marketing and deepens the connection with their customers. And don’t forget Google favors strong brands. Finding and expressing your brand\u2019s purpose will help you become Google\u2019s preferred brand<\/a> in your category. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nDifferentiate your brand through community<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/shippingchimp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-23.png\")
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\n\n\n\nBuild multiple customer touch points<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/shippingchimp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-24.png\")
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\n\n\n\n Say it with video<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/shippingchimp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-25.png\")
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\n\n\n\nInvest in customer retention<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/shippingchimp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-29.png\")
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\n\n\n\nSay hello to conversational commerce<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/shippingchimp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Adam-Finan.jpeg\")
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\n\n\n\nOptimize for Conversions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/shippingchimp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Jon.jpeg\")
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\n\n\n\nKeep experimenting to standout<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/shippingchimp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-27.png\")
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\n\n\n\nLeverage the power of brand narrative<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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