D2C Marketing Techniques for Skyrocketing Sales

Authored by Rajiv Kumar Aggarwal, Founder & CEO, StoreHippo

In a world driven by technologies, the rapidly evolving retail business ecosystem has compelled businesses to change the way they operate. The changing consumer behavior and expectations has made it imperative for modern-day enterprise brands to engage directly with their customers by adopting the Direct-to-Customer (D2C) approach.

While the D2C model has been in the market for quite some time, the growth in its adoption was accelerated by the global pandemic. At a time when most businesses were struggling to negate the pandemic-infused challenges, the D2C model offered the convenience and ease of doing business, coveted equally by brands and customers.

Even now, in the post-pandemic era, brands have moved away from the archaic practices of using distributors, investing in high-end brand showrooms and selling their products through intermediaries. Instead, they are increasingly adopting the D2C approach which reduces the selling price for customers, allows firms better control of the supply chain and opens up immense opportunities for brands in new markets. That's perhaps why a Statista report claims that the Indian D2C market will reach the $100-billion mark by 2025.

Marketing Techniques to Boost D2C Sales

Regardless of the industry, opting for the D2C business model is a great leap for any brand. Selling directly to the end customers has not only opened up new sales channels for brands but has also helped them understand their customers better. However, the D2C model will not bear fruit, let alone transform your business, if not bolstered by the right tech tools and marketing strategies.

Here's a look at a quick guide comprising actionable marketing strategies that remain vital to accelerating D2C sales:

Identify the right market-product-channel mixes

Irrespective of the product or service, it is essential for every brand to understand the market they intend to penetrate and know the customers they wish to target. In a bid to do that, you need to, first, gather consumer data and, then, carefully analyze it to understand customer behavior and preferences, and buying patterns. But, how does one do that?

Once the D2C brands have a data-driven understanding of the market, they need to focus on pushing the right products to the right markets using the right channels. Strategizing the market after understanding the value offered by your products to given markets has the potential to boost marketing ROI and spread word of mouth about your brand and its offerings.

On the other hand, integrating vital tools like social media pages, Google Analytics and CRM to a D2C brand can enable firms to acquire insightful data which remains critical in improving products, enhancing customer services and, thereon, boosting sales.

Use technology to improve user experience

With digitization driving the changes in customer behavior and expectations, brands must ensure their e-commerce is technologically advanced to improve user experience and helps in negating market challenges. Flexibility in an e-commerce platform prepares brands to facilitate extensive and fast customizations in accordance with changing market demands and business goals, ensuring you stay relevant for your customers. With a technologically-advanced platform at their disposal, brands can personalize product pricing, offer site content in multiple languages, give multiple payment options, create personalized promotions and buyer journeys to engage consumers.

When it comes to enhancing customer experience, a lack of a secure payment gateway can not only repel consumers but also affects the brand image. Thus, bolstering your e-commerce platforms with extensive security in terms of secure payment gateways and encrypted transactional details can help brands in gaining the trust of their customers. All these components play an integral role in enabling a seamless user experience which, in turn, remains vital for conversions. 

Leverage m-commerce to get more orders

Consumers nowadays use smartphones for every small or major task. It has also become their go-to channel for shopping. From a D2C brand perspective, this is a huge growth opportunity. By leveraging the power of mobile apps and PWA stores, brands can significantly improve their conversion rate while extending their customer base. But, in order to do that, you need to make sure your mobile apps are user-friendly to facilitate seamless consumer experience.

Making use of the mobile apps, you can track consumer data from the moment of product discovery all the way to purchase. Key insights like what entices the consumers, how responsive consumers are to a product page and the kind of products users like on the app can be garnered by tracking the buying pattern of customers. This, in turn, can be used to send relevant app notifications in a bid to nudge consumers towards conversion in real time.

There are 5.31 billion unique mobile phone users in the world and more than half of the internet traffic is driven from them. And, a staggering 79 percent of online buyers are choosing smartphones to make purchases digitally. The aforementioned stats hint at a great opportunity for brands to leverage m-commerce in a bid to target users who are known for impulse buying on mobile devices. For instance, a midnight sale can act as a stimulus for app users to make purchases on their impulse based on a feeling of getting a good deal. That's how D2C brands, by using m-commerce, can influence customer behavior and buying pattern to increase conversions.

Go omnichannel

Modern buyers want to shop at anytime, anywhere- websites, mobile apps, online stores, etc. Hence, as a D2C brand, it becomes imperative that you are present wherever your customers are. That’s probably why brands are now focusing on building an omnichannel presence to engage customers across multiple channels.

Knowing the customers' shopping interests, channels they use and motivating factors behind their purchase can have a significant impact for any brand. Thereon, brands can create a detailed plan on how they want the experience to flow across all the touchpoints. By inviting customer feedback and using social media tools, companies can identify the channels consumers use to access their content which, in turn, allows them to maximize their return on investment (ROI).

Data-driven marketing strategy 

Devising different marketing strategies for different target audience groups and channels is important so that you can effectively cater to the customers’ demands. For instance, imagine you are a skincare brand specifically catering to the young female population. For a particular campaign to promote your products, influencer marketing could work. However, if you are an electronic brand, then probably, social media ads along with organic marketing on social media might be the right mix for you.

Having a strong digital presence, you already have access to customer data. This data will help you take data-driven decisions that will further aid in generating marketing ROI.

Social media presence

Social media can be a sales magnet for your D2C brand. Consumers use social media platforms for multiple purposes- entertainment, researching products, shopping, etc. Promoting brands through social media ads, selling products through social commerce, and undertaking event-based marketing are some of the ways to promote your brand in the digital space. Furthermore, creating content with a compelling Call To Action as well as posting user-generated content will also help engage users with your brand on your social media channels. This will ensure greater conversions as well as lead generation.

Seamless checkout process

Your D2C brand should have a seamless checkout process so that the cart abandonment rates are reduced and sales are uplifted. Embedding security on checkout pages, reducing form fields, and offering multiple payment options are all ways to enable reduced cart abandonment rates. Adding to it, highlighting benefits such as free shipping and easy returns, along with providing live chat support will help ensure greater conversions by offering high-end user experiences. The more seamless the checkout process is and the more eased out is the buying experience; the higher will be your sales.

Building sales magnet product pages

With persuasive pages, you can highlight your product value on various channels. This will eventually convince the customers to add the item to the cart and checkout immediately. Posting high-quality images and videos as well as genuine reviews and ratings, ensuring transparency in price and delivery, and writing persuasive product descriptions, are some ways through which you can build appealing product pages and increase the add-to-cart rate. In fact, create product design and features in a manner that they address customers’ pain points and you will eventually see your sales skyrocketing!

Personalized and innovative offers

Innovative marketing such as providing offers and discounts is an age-old strategy to lure customers. However, it is a sure shot way of ensuring conversions. With the Direct-to-Consumer route, you can provide various attractive offers via different channels and capture customers’ interest. In the present times, complimentary products, lifetime membership, or value-added services like free shipping, discount on payment channels (like free shipping over $100, or 5% cashback on Paytm payments) are some of the ways through which you can persuade the customers to avail the offer and thereby generate leads. Apart from this, even responding to the customers’ queries in real-time would help strengthen your connection with them.

Summing Up

Owing to a surge in digitization and, more recently, the global pandemic, we're past that stage where D2C brands were referred to as niche consumer offerings. With the pandemic restricting access to brick-and-mortar stores, consumers moved to new and innovative channels to make purchases. In a bid to make things easier and more convenient for customers, brands are now seen making use of the D2C distribution model which has allowed them to turn the tide in their favor.

With the right techniques, D2C approach has made it possible for brands to grow their sales exponentially. With a better insight into customer channels, consumer buying pattern and purchase journey via priceless consumer data, D2C brands are gaining a competitive edge on the back of impactful marketing strategies. And, as the competition in the marketplace gets fierce, brands will continue to harness the power of the D2C model to enhance customer experience, improve products and subsequently boost sales.