3 Strategies for Humanizing the Online Shopping Experience

Getting people today to interact with your brand is about more than just pushing advertising in their face and issuing calls-to-action; it is about humanizing your brand and making consumers see you as trustworthy. Consumers want to like brands, and given the chance, they will share their positive feelings with others. Hubspot’s marketing blog notes that more than half of people say they only speak positively of brands on Facebook, never giving negative or mixed reviews. Humanizing your brand will make you more than just a product or service. Here’s how you can change the way your brand is perceived so that consumers relate to you on a personal level.

Have Personality

Building brand personality is about helping people connect with your brand emotionally. It doesn’t matter what industry you are in, showing the human side of your business makes you more relatable to consumers. Savvy consumers can tell the difference between forced personality and genuine expression, so have fun and be real. For instance, Wistia’s “Take the Survey” campaign features a group of Wistia employees doing the Hustle as a request for feedback on their services, and its success can be attributed to the fact that everyone looks like they are really having fun. Offering a little flexibility in social media engagement gives your brand a personality that is unique and real to your followers.

Brag About Your Friends

When customers have something nice to say about your brand, you should shout it from the mountaintops. Nothing sells a product like a positive review from a real customer, and each and every testimonial is a trophy to your brand. For instance, jewelry retailer Ritani prominently displays customer testimonials on its website to build trust with potential consumers. Showing the positive experiences of customers makes potential consumers feel at home and eliminates the mistrust that consumers often feel when confronted with one slickly-designed marketing campaign after another. Share positive testimonials on your social media accounts and on your official website in a prominent way, making them one of the first things customers see when they are researching your product or service. Modern consumers are hip to soulless advertising campaigns and megaphone-style brand outreach, but a real person sharing their experiences with your brand is a priceless vote of confidence.

Relate to Customers

Sometimes, your emotional connection with customers comes from something as simple as a shared interest. Do a little market research to find out what is popular with your customers, and then find a way to connect with them over their other interests. Finding out what your customers are interested in is easier than you think. Simply search for a product in your industry on Amazon and see what other customers bought with it. Do a Google search to see what Google suggests as popular connected topics, or visit subreddits within reddits appropriate to your industry. Even if it’s not related to your business, see what else your customers like and connect with them over it.

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