Most online retail grew up focused on helping shoppers buy what they were already looking for, usually through relevant search results and complete and accurate product info.

Before the screens and connectivity speeds enabled richer experiences, it was considered too risky to stray too far from a purely functional online shopping experience.

But there are definitely emotionally-driven online marketing and merchandising approaches that are effective and more viable now than before.

In a store, helping shoppers discover and decide what to buy (including through a sensory experience) through merchandising and service is a key focus.

Educational and lifestyle content, rich product video, Q&A and live chat and customer-friendly trial and return policies are among the good ideas being borrowed and adapted from brick-and-mortar for online retail.

Not every picture is worth a 1,000 words! Some of the product photos on websites (including Amazon) are horrendous! Blurry, poor quality thumbnail photos do not engage consumers or sell products. In order to engage consumers emotionally, online needs to invest in “rich content.” Rich content not only accurately portrays the product (from all angles) but shows unique advantages of how consumers can use them in everyday life. Lenovo’s photos and video for their Yoga 2in1 computer are a great example. Ten examples of how online needs to invest in rich content: Product photos from many angles; Product photos in different settings (especially important for apparel); Better to have a 360 view of the product; Examples of real customers using the products in everyday life; Examples of products installed/placed in real homes; Short videos on how the product works, especially unique features; Short videos of customers using the product and describing how it feels; Online tools where consumers can plan (DIY room configurators); Online tools where consumers can visualize colors and styles; Online chat where… Read more »

I am thrilled to see an article like this — thanks Daphne for writing and RetailWire for publishing. My excitement is because this begins to take us beyond the world of the “seen” to the world of the “unseen.” From Newtonian physics to quantum physics. From phenomenon to Kant’s noumenon. The real source of any new reality is in this higher level of awareness. It’s where the magic happens. I’d expand the thinking beyond trying to “bring emotion to the online buying experience” to bringing intentional energy to the experience. The emotional response is not up to us, that totally belongs to the consumer. What makes one laugh can also make another cry. However, what we can do is come to understand the role of energy in the buying experience and actually give online retailing a pulse. A recent article on the magic of Disney used an interesting phrase: “Everything speaks.” Every life experience, including consumer experiences, is made up of uncountable points of energy. In the “real” world every look, touch, smell, taste and… Read more »

First of all, with all due respect, Ms. Margalit is dead wrong about e-tailing lacking the same irrational emotional component that leads to impulse purchases in physical stores as demonstrated by Home Shopping Network, QVC and anyone else whose survival depends on creating an “irrational” excitement around generally unneeded objects. Ditto with the color argument. At its height, Hot Topic, which clearly catered to a “punk crowd”, i.e., children not yet conceived when real Punk had ended, sold one boatload of pink products to lots of angry young mall rats — male and female. Pink, it turns out, contrasts well with goth black. “Within certain boundaries” we can indeed “be creative.” And one might opine that starts with a clear understanding that all creativity occurs in a boundaried environment. In retailing, digital or physical, he or she who manipulated those boundaries best wins. Why worry about online videos when today innovative mass retailers are creating immersive digital experiences using virtual and augmented reality technologies? We are approaching a period when digital storytelling will become personalized, custom… Read more »

I caution retailers on this subject. The key performance indicators for online shopping are speed, convenience and choice. Notice I didn’t mention price. If the online retailer can’t deliver speed, convenience or choice, price does not matter

With that in mind, adding “emotion” to the online world adds risk to the online retailer meeting those key performance indicators.

It’s too easy to click off of a merchant’s site versus being inside a physical store. Online retailers should tell a story similar to the examples in this article. Telling a compelling story generates a reason to stay on the site and investigate the brand further.

Well thought-out videos and outstanding clear photos in 3-D would help to let us see the product and enjoy a user-friendly video. There are some good instructional videos on how to operate a new camera or cell phone, and that stuff I like. Real emotion comes from interaction with people, and it is hard to duplicate it online but it can be done. Some of our brightest students leaving college can create some amazing stuff, so it will only get better for the companies that can find the right employees to make the magic happen.

I just wrote an article that described the type of customers retailers have. There was a question at the end of the article that asked, “What type of customer do you want to do business with?” The choices were customers who love low prices, bigger selection, location convenience, the loyalty program and the people who work at the company. The last choice is about the human connection. When they love the people they do business with it creates a connection, that makes price and other issues less relevant. How do you do bring that to online? Go to Amazon and Target to see examples of customized e-tailing. The customer must trust you and be willing to share their info. Trust is the key connection. That’s as much emotion as anything else. So prove your value as a business, add an emotional element, and watch your average customers become loyal customers.

At the risk of being too simple here, I would suggest going back to selling fundamentals (Selling 101): sell the benefits, NOT the features. How will the product enhance the buyer’s sense of self-worth, confidence, effectiveness, efficiency, etc.? Look for the testimonial/storytelling angle. Buyers are swayed by what others are saying and doing, so show them their “neighbors” or “peers” using/wearing/doing with the product. Include the praises from REAL users of the product.

Saying that something has a 600 thread count means little to many potential shoppers on an emotional/energy level. Showing someone luxuriating on sheets or sleeping dreamily conveys the message more effectively. I think we tend to over-think, over-technologize (if you allow me to make up a word), and over-complicate what works.

We live in a Hollywood world where we’ve come to expect video/film storytelling. Stories that connect with each of us on an emotional level. The challenge today is to tell those stories in seconds not minutes. Lowe’s is using Vine clips to convey tips and ideas.

Static is today’s black and white. Today’s shopper expects a sensory-rich experience.

We all travel with screens in the palm of our hands (or more recently on our wrists!) and expect brands and retailers to use them creatively. Stores will continue to have an advantage because of tactile senses — touch and smell. These are senses that retailers should take full advantage of when designing their shopper experiences.

Online shopping sites are at risk for the same type of error that often afflicts product advertisers: the assumption that our shoppers are very much like ourselves.

Since web developers (and their backers) tend to be technical/rational types, they tend to build technical/rational customer experiences. Even “relevant” merchandising is a tech solution without soul.

The answer may lie in putting the merchants in charge. Great images, crisp copy, clearly explained features and values are fundamental. Not to mention making the concerted effort to understand who your customers really are and what they want most.

For those of us who delve into the “customer experience” world, we know how important it is to engage multiple senses in order to achieve the right experience.

This article was great in pointing out some of the great ways to do just that. One of the techniques my friend Mike Wittenstein uses in CX is called “See What You Say.” When looking at a proposed journey, he has sketch artists sketch out the scenarios. Why? Because pictured stories help people imagine together. Did you know that?

Apply that type of thinking to online journeys and be ready to be surprised.

And that’s my 2 cents.

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This is a great topic for discussion and exchange of information. To date, e-tailers are able to draw customers with in-stock and price. After that, there is the problem of delivery and tangible experience from the customer perspective. As consumers search the net for needs the brick and mortar stores see fewer and fewer visits. This directly effects the whole market in many negative ways. New products and compatible alternatives are now confronted with a continual downturn in consumer visits and awareness. For the foreseeable future, touch, taste, try-it-out and smell are a thing out of information technology’s immediate range. What may be the solution is directly interfacing trained sales reps with all site visitors. An instant greeting from a live rep in place of an offer to assist or direct would lead to more sales from the technologically challenged that many times are too inept to find help. The sales rep could perform navigation chores with input for budgetary consideration and value added insight for needs the consumer may not have considered. If a… Read more »

First of all, it is true that retail’s physical location and customer experience can trip emotions in customers’ perceptions, but many of those emotions are related to frustration and anger. When a customer has a range of bad experiences in a store, then a neutral experience online doesn’t sound so bad.

It is true that online retailers can leverage the knowledge in their customer databases to segment customers and drive content to those customers about their particular interests and passions. They can do that on-site or through email newsletters and youtube videos.

Pleasure online is also derived from a simplified customer experience, where customers do not have to reenter their information over and over again and the products that they are interested in are up front and easy to purchase.