How Any Brand Can Replicate “D2C-Style” Customer Experience With On-Site Search

D2C e-commerce brands are known to enjoy epic retention, conversion and approval ratings. Their secret? A focus on top notch customer experience. This article will show you how on-site search can help ecommerce retailers of all kinds replicate some of their tactics. Get ready to enjoy all the benefits that a happy, engaged and loyal following can bring.

When it comes to customer experience, D2C brands knock it out of the park. Ready to get in on the action?

D2C brands are having something of a moment. Even before the impact of the global pandemic, these disruptive retailers (who cut out the middlemen to offer a typically small, specialized product range direct to consumer) were experiencing double-digit growth, year on year.

The secret of their success? A laser-like focus on customer experience.

With even established household names cashing in on the popularity of this retail model, it’s safe to say most retailers would like to sprinkle some D2C pixie dust on their operations.

In this article we explore three aspects of customer experience where D2C brands excel, and explore how on-site search can help you achieve similar results.

 1. The Experience of a Brand That Really “Sees” You

The Tactic 

One of the main reasons that D2C brands enjoy such high approval from their customer base is the very niche nature of their offering. From Dollar Shave Club through to AllBirds, these brands tend to focus on doing one thing really well. The outcome? A very well-defined audience and customer experience that feels made to measure. From brand voice to viral marketing campaigns, customers feel recognized and represented.

How to Replicate it

As an online retailer with a broader offering that’s looking to cater to multiple customer profiles and personas, how can you replicate some of the same magic? The answer lies in creating a subtly different experience for each and every customer that shops with you. Personalization is the key to ensuring individual shoppers feel seen and appreciated.

The Tool You’ll Need

Personalized on-site search is your friend here. Highly motivated shoppers use your site’s on-site search capabilities to help them close the net on products they’re already showing interest in. By providing personalized product recommendations, factoring in their past interactions with your brand, their session browsing your store becomes a highly curated experience. Your customers sense that your brand appreciates and acknowledges them and the time they’ve invested in shopping with you.

2. The Experience of “Buying From the Experts”

The Tactic 

Another area where D2C brands often excel is the supplementary content that they weave to establish themselves as specialists in their field — be that the very best breathable mattresses, or the most advanced new skincare products. While a niche audience is easier to satisfy, a niche product facilitates the impression of being real experts. DTC brands are able to build up a collection of educational and inspirational content that says “these guys know exactly what they’re doing”. It’s a fantastic way of building up buyer trust (and increasing the amount of time they spend exploring your brand).

How to Replicate it

This is a tactic that any retailer can jump on. By creating content that supports your customers in their quest for knowledge in your specific vertical, you’re providing them with a great reason to stick around, trust, and choose you over competitors. This content could take the form of buying guides, tutorials, interviews or in-depth breakdowns. Be led by your own product range — the possibilities are endless.

The Tool You’ll Need

With Klevu, non-product content like your blog posts, buying guides and more can be displayed directly within search results. Inserting insightful content at the point of product discovery is a smart move — you’re ensuring that your customers recognize and benefit from your expertise when it counts the most. 

3. The Experience of Clean, Clear Pathways to Purchase

The Tactic 

By keeping their offerings incredibly well-defined, D2C brands give their customers a break from complex decision making. Shopping is targeted and the experience is slick. Brands such as Glossier offer a fraction of the range that other makeup retailers present, and position their products as gold standard. “If they only sell one mascara, it must be the only mascara I need.” Inbound interest is already going to be well-targeted — if you’re navigating to Modibodi, you’re after one thing. By keeping things simple with regard to the curation of products, the pathway to purchase is streamlined.

How to Replicate it

Retailers with a broader offering can replicate the same kind of psychology on a macro level. Even if your store offers a larger and more complex catalog, dynamic landing pages offer the chance to present a smaller range of highly curated, targeted items. What’s more, as specifically-targeted traffic is directly towards them, landing pages benefit from the custom of a highly motivated, well-defined audience, just as D2C brands do.

The Tool You’ll Need

Klevu’s new landing page builder offers a great opportunity to capitalize on this tactic. Great looking landing pages are easy to create and able to pull products in dynamically, leveraging AI to ensure that the perfect selection of items lands in front of the right audience. Pages can also be linked with Google AdWords to create tactical campaigns with real conversion power.

Take Your Customer Experience to the Next Level With On-Site Search

In the fast-moving world of today’s e-commerce market, it’s essential to stay abreast of all new tactics and strategies for success.

Even if a retail model feels directly at odds to your own, you can still learn lessons from customer experience approaches that clearly get results.

As this article has shown, Klevu offers up a range of powerful features, enabling savvy retailers to replicate the sophisticated customer experiences that D2C brands enjoy.

Ready to supercharge your customer experience through sophisticated on-site search? Book your demo today.