Ecommerce Brands Forgot the “E” in Ecommerce
The marketing industry’s obsession with creative isn’t wrong. (and currently: the existential, exponential, all-consuming volume of it)
It’s just incomplete.
It’s worth obsessing over. But it ignores the fact that nearly every meaningful improvement in creative can be amplified by improving what happens after the click.
And this is where most brands go wrong.
Let’s start with the problem.
A founder starts a brand around a product they believe in.
Then they spend months (or years) sending every ad to the exact same website.
This is the fundamental issue with how most ecommerce brands are operating.
This works to a degree, or at a certain level of scale, but objectively means you’re optimizing the click, not the buying journey.
If this is you, that’s okay. By the end of this article, you’ll have a game plan to break the cycle.
On to the solution.
In prehistoric times (a few decades ago), you would probably have to buy or lease a building in order to create a new experience for your customers.
The beauty of ecommerce is that everything you’re doing is digital.
If you want to launch an entirely new shopping experience, you can do that in a couple of hours or days.
But it seems like the majority of brands have either forgotten, or have never thought about the fact that they can do this.
Examples
Let’s dig into different ways to think about this based on your brand. There are four examples that should cover most (if not all) niches/industries where products are sold on the innanet.
1) Hollow Socks (Link-To)
Hollow Socks runs a very simple 2-Step Funnel, that can be iterated on quickly.
When you click an ad, you land on a “10 Reasons Why” Presell Page that is tailored to be congruent with the ad angle/persona you clicked.
At the bottom of that page, they have a button that takes you to the PDP to close the deal once you’ve read through all the reasons why you should buy.
Now, whenever Hollow wants to go after a new audience, or learns something new from ad creatives, they can quickly duplicate, rewrite, and ship a net new experience for a different type of customer.
Founder Zach Stuck on a podcast episode:
"We are not going to launch an ad… if we do not have a landing page that also talks about that.” in reference to the pain point, persona, or angle addressed in the ad. He was discussing another brand where he uses the exact same playbook.
Source: The Scalability School Podcast
The lesson: tailor education to the problem.
2) IM8 (Link-To)
IM8 runs a listicle system like Hollow, but they also run Creator-Specific Landing Pages.
The hero is tailored around experts/reputable creators with a ton of copy positioning IM8 as something they love.
The same messaging carries through to the CTA, which is a subscription-focused offer.
Now, when they run ads from new creators or authorities, they have a system for building a net new experience that resonates more with customers who are sold by the ad they got from that specific creator.
The lesson: tailor the experience to the messenger.
3) dbrand (Link-To)
If you run an aesthetic brand, dbrand is the benchmark.
They go to an insanely high level of custom PDP/Collection Pages for their large activations, that truly feel (from a consumer POV) like an entirely different website.
The screenshots don’t do the pages justice, here are a few favorites to check out:
The lesson: tailor the experience to the moment.
4) 100 Thieves (Link-To)
100 Thieves is a great example for any brand that has drops as a core part of their sales calendar.
They simply showcase:
What is this drop?
Why should I care about it?
What are the main SKUs I should check out?
All before you can even click into a PDP of an individual product.
The lesson: tailor the experience to the drop.
For Beauty Brands, check out this Ilia Beauty Collection Page, an even simpler edition of this concept.
All of these brands build more relevant experiences for the customer after the click.
Shoutout to WWWs everywhere for this opportunity.
So how do you start?
First of all, pat yourself on the back, you probably have a cool business if you’ve even cared to read this far.
Second, there are two main “Landing Page Builders” that most folks use: Replo and Pagedeck. Both are super easy to learn.
Lastly, decide how any of the examples apply to your business.
If you have a SKU, Collection, or Ad(s) that are doing well right now, can you build an experience tailored for them? (See Hollow and IM8 examples)
If you have a new release coming, how can you be intentional about making it feel like a “big thing” to customers who land on that PDP or Collection Page? (See dbrand and 100 Thieves examples)
If you’re having an existential crisis figuring out how to systemize this, I’ve been there, but I wrote a whole article about how the top marketers think about it. (click here)
More generally, ask yourself: “What can I build a better buying experience around?” If you’ve read this far, I guarantee you can figure out the rest.