The pandemic has ushered in a whole new set of consumer expectations for brands’ ecommerce capabilities. We review three ways businesses can enhance customers’ online experiences, according to a column in Multichannel Merchant, through optimizing performance, content and SEO.

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Investing in ecommerce channels to boost sales by marketing to consumers directly has a particularly useful byproduct: first-party data. Take Nestle as an example, which announced this week that it plans to take ecommerce sales from 13 percent to 25 percent by 2025, a move that will significantly enhance its analytics capabilities. Here are four ways that brands investing in ecommerce can leverage new automation technologies to drive conversions, according to a piece in Multichannel Merchant.

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By Laura Apel, SVP of Marketing, Mitto

Today’s consumers are more connected than ever; the average U.S. household has 25 connected devices. They’re also more impatient than ever. With such tech ubiquity, we’ve lost any remaining patience with inefficiency. Nearly two bakers’ dozens worth of connected devices in our homes and a growing number of channels through which we can communicate has greatly heightened our desire for efficiency. From the palm of our hand—and likely on the same device—we can order food, check our finances, communicate with friends and family and, increasingly, foster meaningful conversations with brands. With so much tech at our fingertips, why go into a store to check if an item is in stock or dial a number for an order status when your favorite brand is already right there on your device on your preferred social media app?

A new survey by Mitto found that 70 percent of adult U.S. consumers have increased their overall social media use since the pandemic began, with 58 percent reporting their messaging with brands via social media has also increased. Today, 87 percent of consumers use social media apps to message with brands. What is it that consumers like so much about social media messaging with brands? Convenience (72 percent), speed (61 percent) and personalization (50 percent) topped the list of benefits.

With brand-consumer social media messaging on the rise, brands have yet another valuable communications channel for effective customer engagement. Let’s take a closer look at the research insights to learn how consumers are using social media messaging to interact with their favorite brands.

Influencing Purchasing Decisions

Social media messaging with brands influences purchasing decisions, with 55 percent of people reporting a brand’s social media messaging had influenced a purchase via the website, followed by 42 percent directly in the social media app and 39 percent in store. With a direct impact on sales, brands will want to ensure social media messaging is part of their omnichannel consumer engagement strategy.

Delivering Customer Support

People are using social media as a way to get help and answers from brands over other communications channels. Seventy-seven percent have used social media to contact a brand’s customer support with 79 percent reporting a positive experience. Further, 58 percent mentioned they prefer that brands use social media to communicate versus other methods, such as email, call or text. Enabling two-way communication on a variety of channels is a great way to enhance the digital experience of a brand’s customers.

Facebook: Preferred Social Media Messaging App

With over 2 billion monthly active users, when it comes to social media app preference it’s no surprise that 78 percnt reported using Facebook regularly to message with brands, followed by Instagram (57 percent) and Twitter (45 percent). Looking at which social media apps consumers prefer for engaging with companies from different verticals, Facebook remained the top app of choice consistently, with 68 percent preferring it for messaging retail/ecommerce, 55 percent for finance/banking, 61 percent for travel and 61 percent for food/delivery service and 58 percent for gaming.

Preferred Message Types

The types of messages consumers would like to see from brands via social media include promo codes (70 percent), sales (61 percent), customer support (54 percent) and order updates (52 percent). When crafting these types of social media messages, brands should consider adding personalization, a call to action or a sense of urgency to enhance consumer engagement.

How brands can integrate social media messaging into their omnichannel communications mix today:

While there are a wide variety of communications channels available, it is important that brands adapt their messaging strategy to meet consumers where they’re at. Clearly social media messaging is a critical channel to enable brands to reach consumers (and vice versa), increase engagement and impact purchasing decisions.

Working with a company like Mitto, a leading provider of global omnichannel communications, brands can implement an integrated omnichannel experience across a variety of communications channels all within one platform, which is critical in providing one holistic voice of the brand and personalized messages no matter which channel the customer is using. This enables marketing teams to increase the chances their marketing messages get read and land well, and customer support and experience teams to immediately reach or respond to customers in a natural, personalized two-way conversation.

Social media has come a long way from simple life updates and photo sharing among consumers, now serving as a strong place of engagement between brands and consumers. Brands that evolve their digital customer experiences to meet consumers where they’re at will be more successful in winning over customers.

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Online spending accounted for more than a fifth of total retail sales in 2020, according to a piece in Multichannel Merchant, up from 15.8 percent in 2019. So, if you haven’t perfected your ecommerce marketing strategy yet, here are a few tips for creating a compelling digital shelf through mobile optimization, image selection, positive reviews and more.

Use Keyword-Rich Copy

Brand copy should contain search term keywords that shoppers would use to find your product. This applies to the title, feature bullets, product descriptions and metadata—all key elements of proper search engine optimization.

Make it Mobile-First

Optimize your copy for mobile by ensuring that four components—brand recognition, product type recognition, variant recognition and size recognition—are applied to your hero image. This will allow consumers to find your product more easily, reduce accidental adds to shopping carts, create incremental sales across platforms and improve mobile conversions.

Savvy Image Selection

Product images should be up-to-date, accurate and high-quality, with your digital shelf featuring an average of 3-4 images. Your product’s primary image should be the most compelling, but the supporting gallery of imagery can include real-life moments and use cases.

For more tips on how marketers can enhance their digital presence—through reviews and rich media forms, among others—read on in Multichannel Merchant.

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By Niki McMorrough / Commercial Director at Relevance

Many of the world’s high-value goods and service providers, such as yachts, cars and real estate, have had an overwhelmingly male client base because, until 2014, men represented more than 93% of all Ultra-High-Net-Worth-Individuals. But this is now changing, and pinnacle luxury companies and brands need to adapt their luxury marketing strategies to appeal to UHNW women. However, it’s not as easy as simply adding UHNW women to a brand’s target audience. Relevance has found key differences in how these women think, feel, behave, and make purchase decisions compared to their male counterparts.

UHNW women require luxury brands to have a fundamentally different approach to doing business, one that is more altruistic, empathetic, and philanthropic. And, this needs to be reflected in their luxury brand marketing. So, it’s not enough to invent a new product or service – companies need to look at their brand ethos, corporate social responsibility, sustainability, diversity, and equality practices to appeal to them.

The team at Relevance has been marketing to UHNW audiences for more than 12 years and specialize in using data-driven insights to drive creative luxury digital marketing strategies that get results.

Luxury Marketing to UHNW Women

Who is a UHNWI in luxury marketing?

A UHNWI is a person with a net worth of more than $30 million in luxury marketing. Net worth is the value of all assets minus the total of all liabilities. Put another way; net worth is what is owned minus what is owed.

UHNWIs represent the second-highest wealth tier on the planet, with around 290,000 of these individuals, surpassed only in wealth by the world’s 2,800 billionaires.

Infographic 1*: Global audience size by Wealth segment

Infographic 2: WealthX UHNW audiences by gender.

UHNW women are rare. There are only 29,300 UHNW women in the entire world. This is just 9.9% of the UHNWI population compared to 263,700 UHNW men.

Ultra-luxury brand marketing needs to be laser-sharp, and, as such, brands need to be seen to move in the right circles and appear in the right places to reach this elite audience.

Closed groups, personalized direct marketing, events and partnerships with other UHNW focused companies are top of the list in the UHNW women luxury marketing mix.

Multi-layered paid media needs to include precise postcode targeting, such as the Cayman Islands, Monte Carlo, and elite U.S. and Dubai postcodes such as Fisher Island, Atherton, Jumeirah Islands, and Al Barera. Relevance has seen great success with multi-layering interest, in-market and personality targeting on top of location to pinpoint audiences even further.

Since 2016, the proportion of UHNW women has increased by some 52%, from 6.5% to 9.9%. The number of UHNW women is rising, and luxury brands should not ignore their presence.

Elite brands should train dealers, brokers, and representatives to notice UHNW women (even if a wealthy man accompanies them) and understand what makes this elite audience tick. They should also seek to employ people that UHNW women will feel comfortable with to handle their inquiries. Initiatives to embrace and encourage gender diversity, such as Rolls Royce’s 25 by 2025 gender diversity campaign, help convince UHNW women that these efforts are sincere.

It seems obvious, but this is still a significant issue for many of the world’s most elite brands, where traditional and sometimes outdated behaviours still preside. Moreover, it can be exacerbated further by regional social customs in some countries.

In Relevance’s data sample, we have found a higher proportion of UHNW women aged under 50 than over 50 (see chart below) and that the disparity is more pronounced than it is with their male counterparts. Wealth-X further backs this up by saying that the mean UHNWI age is 63, but in the under 50’s group, women make up a higher proportion of around 13%, compared to 9.9% overall.

As a result, companies selling to UHNW women need to develop their product offering and luxury brand marketing strategy clearly for both UHNW women under 50 and over 50.

Infographic 3*: Relevance Sample UHNW audiences by age and gender.

How do UHNW women describe themselves?

UHNW women balance business, family, pleasure, and philanthropy. They use keywords such as CEO, mother, founder, wife, entrepreneur, mom, fitness, mental health, foundation, and author to describe themselves, and often found and front charitable foundations, such as Beyone’s Beygood, and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way foundation.

Unlike luxury marketing to UHNW men, where business and sports analogies work in almost any situation, UHNW women need a more balanced tone of voice that puts the person before the role or status.

Companies that target ultra-wealthy women should focus on the emotional benefits that their products can provide. For example, this may include allowing UHNW women opportunities to spend time with friends and family, to have the latest new experiences or to support their philanthropic cause. Ultra-luxury brands should highlight what they are doing to give back to the community.

Don’t focus only on rational attributes alone, such as the engineering, speed, power and build of the product, as this is a very male-oriented way of appreciating things, missing the real emotional reasons why a UHNW woman engages with a product or service.

Infographic 4*: Relevance Sample UHNW women audience bio keyword tag cloud.

Who are UHNW women influenced by?

Very simply, UHNW women are influenced by other women who are like them. Pioneering businesswomen, environmental activists, work/life role models, and philanthropists like Melinda Gates, Arianna Huffington, Reshma Saujani, Susan Wojcicki, and Ann Marie Slaughter.

Pinnacle brands should avoid using ‘influencers’ who ‘look like’ luxury role models in their luxury marketing strategies as they are considered fake, one-dimensional pretenders. UHNW women aren’t interested in achieving ‘the look’ of a successful person. They are only influenced by other genuinely successful people. At Relevance, we call these “Genuinfluencers.”

The first place to look for authentic “Genuinfluencers” is in a brand’s existing customer base. Relevance can help luxury brands identify their genuinfluencers and develop collaboration ideas to reach out to influential customers and advocates.

Infographic 5*: Genuine influencers for Relevance sample UHNW women.

What digital platforms are UHNW women using?

Our sample audience of UHNW women shows that they are 20 times more likely than the average global consumer to use LinkedIn. They also have a high propensity to use Medium (x13.04), Snapchat (x9.52), Spotify (x7.69), Whatsapp (x2.38) and Twitter (x2.35). Because of this, companies like Fly Victor realize it is essential to utilize LinkedIn, and companies like Blacklane have used Medium’s business-focused environment to showcase their working ethics, humanitarian business practices, sustainability, corporate social responsibility and philanthropic endeavors when looking to attract UHNW, rather than simply focusing on the service.

UHNW women are less likely than the global average person to be using Facebook and less than half as likely to be using Instagram and Youtube. So, while elite brands can still find and target UHNW women on these platforms as part of their luxury brand marketing strategy, it’s not a ‘habitat’ that feels ‘just for them’ and therefore requires paid targeting and an extremely audience-centric creative approach to ensure their content reaches the right individuals – Patek Phillippe’s episodic approach to Instagram helps to create a befitting environment.

Infographic 6*: Propensity to use platforms for Relevance sample UHNW women.

What media are UHNW women consuming?

Relevance’s UHNW women sample are reading the New York Times (19%), Wall Street Journal (16%) and The Economist (14%) as well as The New Yorker (11%), Politico (10%), Forbes (11%) and Time (11%), Fortune (8%), Fast Company (8%), and Vogue (9%).

What places and events are UHNW women attending?

UHNW women profiled by Relevance are attending and consuming content from Vogue Runway (6%), Ted Talks (6%), Local Scale (3%), Whitney Museum (4%), Moma (4%) and Guggenheim (3%).

Unsurprisingly, according to Wealth-X, many of these places and publications are centered around New York, which has the second-highest concentration of UHNWIs after Hong Kong.

What are the interests and passions of UHNW women?

According to WealthX, UHNW women are different from their male cohorts because philanthropy ranks as the top interest for UHNW women, at least half of UHNW women are involved in philanthropic causes, whereas UHNW men are more interested in sports. At work, 20% of UHNWI heirs/heiresses work in the not-for-profit sector, compared to only 6% of self-made UHNWI. This Charities Aids Foundation article explains how UHNW women are driving a move towards more sustainable, diverse and collaborative philanthropy than ever before and how this is made possible by gender equality in entrepreneurship and inheritance laws.

The next most important interests of UHNW women include art, education, health, wellness and animals instead of the male preference for technology, aviation, and politics, and these interests are often reflected in their charitable work, such as Emma Watson’s HeForShe project and Shakira’s Barefoot foundation.

What are the personality traits of UHNW women compared to UHNW men?

Relevance have analyzed the personality traits of UHNW women to find that they are vastly more emotionally aware, loving, appreciative of art and self-transcendent than UHNW men. Therefore, UHNW women will resonate with companies who value EQ as much as IQ, such as Adoreum, an international members club for UHNWIs, philanthropists, investors and creative visionaries, who bring like-minded UHNW women together at networking events. Ultra-Luxury brands will need to double down on their art and creative collaborations, as ‘The Londoner’ West End hotel and Rolls Royce have done with their ‘Muse’ program. Since UHNW women can appreciate and resonate with the plight of others (and have the power to do something about it), the messaging for a luxury brand should focus on the collective social gain of a product or service, rather than purely the personal benefits. This might mean pledging to plant trees for every carbon-neutral private jet charter, telling the story of a hybrid, solar-powered yacht such as Nobiskrug’s Artefact, or indeed, pitching a socially responsible business idea for investment by an UHNW woman investor.

What are the personality traits of UHNW women compared to the general population?

UHNW women are more altruistic, energetic yet calm, confident, and driven than the general population. Therefore, like their male counterparts, they will appreciate luxury brands who make the celebration of good causes their number one priority, like Olivela, as well as those who curate bespoke itineraries just for them, such as Ten Group and Quintessentially. If an UHNW focused brand shows appreciation for women who like to constantly challenge themselves to learn new things, try new experiences, travel and soak up culture, as personified in this Patek Phillippe video, this will be appealing to UHNW women.

What are the top personality traits of UHNW women?

UHNW women are highly empathetic, uncompromising, sociable and outgoing, meaning they feel what others feel and are compassionate towards them, they think it is wrong to take advantage of others to try and get ahead and they enjoy the company of others and make friends easily.

As a result, Maari’s brand pillars of Consciousness, community and culture feel spot on for this audience who will reject brands called out for unfair or exploitative working practices. UHNW women may look for brands with Positive Luxury’s butterfly mark, signifying a commitment to making a difference in creating a sustainable and circular economy, and brands who support the philanthropic causes which are close to their hearts.

UHNW women: a growing minority that cannot be ignored.

UHNW women may be in the minority, but their proportion has doubled in the last few years. This fraction of the world’s population (0.0000039%) have the immense power to change the world for the better with their empathetic, altruistic, philanthropic, loving, diplomatic, and culturally appreciative approach to the world. Indeed, they expect ultra-luxury brands to be using their own power for the greater good, and not solely for commerce.

Elite luxury brands should therefore focus not only on what they produce but the way that they produce it to gain the respect and patronism of UHNW women.

Only then should luxury brands look to target and communicate with UHNW women through their platforms, media, and events of choice by using multi-layered targeting that includes postcode, demographics and triple interest targeting, engaging the right “genuinfluencers”, reviewing their luxury marketing, branding and design, and partnering up with other UHNW companies.

If you think your brand has the credentials and ethos to appeal to UHNWIs, then contact us to find out how our ultra-luxury digital marketing, advertising, and design specialists can help you reach and resonate with your UHNW audiences.

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*Sources for Infographics: World wealth report, Knight Frank, Wealth X, Global Wealth Migration Review, IPSOS, Insead, Forbes, Fortune. Discrepancies are due to rounding and mixed sources.

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Godiva is putting $5 million behind the campaign, which coincides with its 95th anniversary. In the assets, the brand’s signature gold hue is offset by bright blues, pinks and magentas that will help it compete for attention on crowded supermarket shelves. Likewise, the voiceover for the 30-second spots references both “magnificent artistry” and “at a chocolate aisle near you.”

“We want them putting Godiva on their shopping list,” says Godiva CMO John Galloway. “To understand that you can buy us, you need to know we’re on the chocolate aisle.”

Now that Godiva is readily available at Costco and Target, Kroger and CVS, could the brand lose its premium cachet? Galloway doesn’t think so. “Some believe in the notion that scarcity drives premium. That’s not a notion I believe in.”

Galloway cites approachability, desirability and accessibility as the cornerstones of the campaign’s message. “One thing we got dinged on in the past was that we weren’t accessible to people,” he explains. “Now we’re saying, Hey, we’re a brand where you might not have thought you could walk into our boutiques, but we want to hang out with you, and you want to hang out with us.”

In fact, Godiva announced in January 2021 the closure of its 128 North American boutiques and cafés, whose pristine, precisely curated interiors had nurtured the brand’s aura of exclusivity. COVID-19 restrictions played a role in that decision, but even before the pandemic, “we as an organization had already started to pivot to refocus on CPG and ecommerce,” Galloway says. “The CPG business is where we continue to double down.”

While overall CPG chocolate sales since the beginning of 2021 are up 7 percent year-over-year, with premium CPG chocolate up 17 percent, Godiva has enjoyed a 22 percent lift in CPG sales. What’s more, Godiva’s ecommerce sales were up 77 percent last year, and year-to-date sales have increased another 22 percent.

The pandemic contributed to some of that increase, of course, and not just because grocery stores, drugstores and ecommerce channels were for many the sole sources for chocolates and other goods. “I think during challenging times, people want to go get a little bright spot in their day, a little bit of premium indulgence, and that’s why they turned to Godiva,” Galloway says. The campaign plays into that, with spots referencing “celebrations, every day or night” alongside imagery of Godiva candies certain to instill a craving for chocolate in viewers.

“At the real center of this is to open people’s eyes to a more wonderful world, one that chocolate is a part of,” Galloway says. The campaign will deliver that message via ads on BuzzFeed, Hulu, YouTube and Amazon, among other media properties and publishers, supported by social media. There will also be “a nice holiday promotion,” Galloway says. And in New York City in June, the team will be dish out samples from a branded pink truck to celebrate its 95th anniversary and “bring a little bit of happiness as New York comes back to life.”

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Mobile Optimization

According to data from Namagoo, the 2020 holiday shopping season saw mobile purchases surpass desktop for the first time. Brands should therefore optimize their mobile experience, starting with user-friendly account creation and an accessible and clearly visible search function.

Real-Time Intent

Tap technology to develop individualized promotions based on location, device, time of day and more. Use relevant, tailored promotions, such as buy-one-get-one-free or free shipping, to keep customers engaged.

For additional ways in which brands can increase engagement and conversions through ecommerce, including by preventing customer journey hijacking and offering flexible payment options, read more in Multichannel Merchant.

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Retail Store Closures

The pandemic caused widespread shutdowns of major brick and mortar retailers and accelerated the pace of bankruptcy filings. The closures led to names like Macy’s, Forever 21, J Crew and Brooks Brothers having to file court papers to protect against creditors in the midst of massive financial losses.

Ecommerce Flourishes

Digital sales increased massively in the retail space. Macy’s ecommerce grew 53 percent, for instance, as it relied on its years of omnichannel preparation to offset in-store losses. But the latter amounted to a decrease of 61 percent. Meanwhile, categories like home improvement, lawn and garden supplies and physical fitness experienced a huge boost in popularity. Social media platforms got into the ecommerce game as well, with Facebook Shops and Pinterest’s “shopping spotlights” adding tools for small businesses to sell goods on social.

Fulfillment Shifts

Trends like “buy online pickup in store” (BOPIS), curbside pickup and the use of QR codes became a way for brands to provide goods to consumers in a safe, contactless fashion. Thanks to their added convenience, these trends are expected to continue into 2021.

E-Grocery Growth

The demand for grocery shopping online exploded in 2020—and as a result, technological solutions like micro-fulfillment center (MFC) systems and order processing software helped companies fulfill orders in all-digital environments.

For more retail marketing trends in 2020, read more in Multichannel Merchant.

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AI Personalization

AI-powered recommendations, writes Jan Soerensen, General Manager, North America at Nosto, will become more transparent to consumers by providing clearer explanations for why certain products are suggested to shoppers. For instance, the consumer might be told that the item is in their size or it has a similar color to a previous purchase. Such explanations will serve to make AI recommendations less intimidating and ultimately more successful.

Image Recognition

Shoppers will soon be able to search for products within images and videos, and online personalization engines will be able to recognize specific colors and patterns. While this “shop the look” capability exists now to some degree, the capability will gain more traction, particularly in verticals like fashion and interiors.

Psychographic Personalization

Demographics that are commonly used in ecommerce personalization include age, gender, geography and online behavior. But new types of personalization, such as personality types (i.e. trusting, confident, adventurous) could be applied to the user experience in the future and inform product recommendations.

For more ways in which personalization could evolve in 2021, including recognizing long-term consumption habits and pinpointing the most profitable visitor segments to target, read more in Multichannel Merchant.

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