Description: Online brands are reinventing the ecommerce business by introducing experiential ecommerce to focus on the human connection.
As we know, developments occur over time. The same happened with commerce and ecommerce, and it is impossible to find the difference between the two now. The human connection has become vital in ecommerce, just like commerce.
Recently, the consumers’ tilt towards online shopping has made it essential for online businesses to prioritize human connection to which only commerce had this privilege earlier. Therefore, companies are struggling hard to secure a strong position in developing a better human connection from other competitors.
A new approach has developed in e-commerce that is reconceptualizing the online shopping experience called “experiential ecommcerce.” This online shopping approach works on the consumer-centric ideology and focuses on the consumer experience.
Specifically, experiential ecommerce has transformed ecommerce by introducing a humanistic touch to virtual spaces. Fortunately, its results are impressive, and ecommerce is thriving day by day.
Experiences evolve overtime
The digital world needs innovation, and user experiences are its most fundamental element. We can say this central element is also the same for experiential ecommerce websites. Consequently, an important question arises: Why are experiences important, and how can they fill the gap of human connection?
As experiential ecommerce prioritizes consumers, therefore, their needs become the foremost online-shopping determining factor for online shoppers for a better shopping experience. Here lies the competition, i.e., brand conversion rates depend on what most consumer needs and only those companies do well in online shopping that fully meets their needs.
Well-established e-commerce businesses are developing many subtle and significant ways to move the consumer at the front of the line.
Experiential is dimensional
Previously, e-commerce was developed to present online shopping products in a twodimensional space. Whereas, experiential ecommerce has developed a three-dimensional visual product try-on that enhances the consumer experience and makes it possible to bring human connection in the digital design. Online shopping brands have evolved to introduce custom element configurations that further add to the augmented shopping experience.
Surely, it was not possible back then that online interactive experience could focus on human connection, but e-commerce brands have turned this into a reality. Online shopping is advancing towards human connection through technological advancements in the industry.
Today, technological advancements have made it a possible real-world experience to easily try products from your home before purchasing them. Consumer convenience is prioritized with innovation, even through nostalgic technological advancements, for eliminating travel costs which lead to prioritizing the consumer’s time, effort and money
Experiential: Social Media
The most influential example of experiential ecommerce can be social media. All its platforms, such as Facebook Marketplace and Instagram Shop, have developed a consumer interactive marketplace that is based upon user’s interactions, i.e., likes and followings.
Social media has gone one step farther to building human connection by using catered ads and influencer’s sponsored recommendations for brands to grow their reach. It is an underlying feel of human connection that is highly interactive and experiential. Social media uses specific ads based on data and analytics to further grow sales by targeting the appropriate audience. Moreover, ads seeming casual are also experiential ecommerce tactics. For instance, live streaming of a new product, a brand’s announced interactions with users on social media, or giveaways, are all clever marketing strategies.
Furthermore, targeted product recommendations and incentives drive an experiential feel. Social media ecommerce works as a casual form of sales by simply recommending the demanding or user need-based products through ads, which is based on in-depth data and analytics. Brands use another casual form of marketing to include influencers that encourage relatability with the targeted audience through their sponsored ads. It also seems a casual approach because giveaways or use promo codes feel a friendly recommendation rather than a traditional ad compelling targeted audience, and it also makes incentives interactive.
All these experiential ecommerce approaches reconceptualize the human connection that is consumers feel seen and valued by the brand through their interactive engagement. These strategic tactics of experiential ecommerce build on subtle human interaction with a primary focus on reinventing engagement. Interestingly, these strategic ecommerce engagements enable consumers to easily engage with a brand based on their well-researched interactions with incentives, further building a strong conversion and brand loyalty.
Tailor-made experiences
Digital design lacked in developing a tailor-made experience for consumers during online shopping. However, technological advancements made this possible. Brands thrive on the success of products or services that consumers feel best and tailor-made for them. All the online brands have used an experiential approach to create personalized products/services, thus, developing the human connection. Specifically, the personalized quizzes approach develops human connection because it is based on data that may feel solely made for a particular user.
Tailor-made experience solely depends on the provided data, and analysts use it for further projections that later works as a casual form advertisement for the end-user. Consequently, it builds a human connection. Tailor-made ads whether they are an online shampoo subscription, prompt users to answer in-depth questions related to their hair type, or any vitamins service that is focusing on consumers’ health needs, every answer reflects a personalized user experience.
This approach is new to experiential ecommerce which makes consumers think brands are center-focusing them in the online shopping experience. Personalized online shopping quizzes build consumer confidence much like a brick-and-mortar store where a salesperson recommends products that work well on an individualistic level.
All the e-commerce brands, including design or branding, incorporate experiential ecommerce to complete their goals regarding the targeted audience. Commerce delivers a consumer-centric experience. Therefore, experiential ecommerce introduces new ways to develop clever marketing strategies that propel users at the center. Importantly, human connection is the core behind these immersive approaches that hold a successful connection between the consumer and the experience.
Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/416380