If you own a regular day-to-day market store, you might not need to be known for anything to flourish. You just need people to trust your brand, and that can be achieved without a lot of complexities.
In the case of an e-commerce store, things are quite different. Building trust relies greatly on your brand identity, as people need to be convinced about why you’re just as good, or even better, than what they are already used to.
How do you make your brand identity convincing? How does a solid brand identity inspire people to trust your brand? We’ll solve these puzzles in this blog post.
What Is Brand Identity?
Brand identity comprises of brand identifiers. Brand identifiers encompass the visual and verbal elements that a brand uses to represent itself and communicate its values, personality, and message to its audience.
This includes your brand story and theme, as both play crucial roles in connecting with your audience and building trust. When creating a brand identity for your e-commerce store, you should make sure that it communicates your brand vision clearly to your audience and at the same time evoking emotions from them.
Use Brand Identifiers That Align with Human Needs
As previously established, brand identifiers are the visual and verbal elements that people immediately associate with your brand. They include:
- Brand Name
- Logo
- Tagline or Slogan
However, having these brand identifiers are not enough to attract customers to your e-commerce store—it goes beyond that.
Your brand identifiers must align with human needs. They should be elements that, once your audience sees or hears them, immediately connect with a specific aspect of their lives.
These areas include:
- Self-Interest
Your brand identifier should immediately solve the problems of your audience. Whether it’s the brand name, logo, or slogan, each should be crafted in a way that, once your audience sees or hears them, it offers a solution to a problem they might be facing.
For instance, a restaurant with the brand name “Affordable Delicacies” solves two key problems for its target audience: they can enjoy a variety of delicacies at an affordable price.
- Social Interest
When crafting brand identifiers, consider all types of people who might be paying attention. Although you can’t speak to everyone personally, your brand identifiers should resonate with a wide range of people at the same time.
They should communicate what your audience wants to hear or see, making them feel recognized and belonging to a community.
- Spirituality Interest
Spirituality doesn’t necessarily mean being religious. It can be ethical, purpose-driven, sustainable or belief-oriented. When your brand identifier communicates something beyond material things and speaks to a bigger cause, customers are more likely to become loyal.
For instance, a clothing line that has the tagline “Wear Your Purpose” has gone past fashion, giving the target audience a deeper reason to support the brand.
Craft an Authentic Brand Story
A brand story is the narrative behind your business. It should cover why your e-commerce store exists, how you first started, and what you stand for.
A good brand story goes beyond just telling a story to creating an emotional connection with your target audience which helps in building trust.
An important point to note down when crafting a brand story is that it should be authentic. Nowadays, customers can tell when a brand story is fake from miles away, and you definitely don’t want to shoot yourself in the foot with that.
The key to connecting to the emotions of your audience through your brand story is sharing your real experiences, struggles and purpose.
You have to be honest about how you started, what your driving force was, and be clear about the change you’re set to make. It’s okay to be vulnerable while at it —it’s all part of being authentic.
Include How You’re Targeting the Three Levels of Return
The three levels of return refer to what customers get in exchange for interacting with your brand. They include:
- Self Return
Self return highlights the value your customers get when buying from your brand.
What extra advantage does shopping at your e-commerce store give them? An example of this could be “Our clothes last 10X longer than fast fashion.”
- Social Return
This level of return answers the question of how the thought of your store makes customers feel. Your e-commerce store can leverage this to help customers connect with your brand on an emotional level.
An example is “Shopping with us guarantees confidence and consciousness”
- Spiritual Return
This addresses what other values your product brings to your customers. It should highlight what other purpose your e-commerce store fulfils asides its primary purpose. An example is “we foster the girl child education by donating to the cause”
Maintain a Consistent Brand Theme Across Platforms
While using brand identifiers that effectively reflect your brand is important, ensuring they sync across all platforms is essential.
Make sure that the tone, messaging, visuals and experiences across all marketing channels are uniform and consistent. This makes it easier for your audience to trust you, as consistency and uniformity naturally builds trust.
We’re Here to Help
Since the online market is crowded, a brand identity goes beyond just looking good—it’s about being memorable, meaningful, and consistent while communicating your brand’s core values.
When you build your brand identity around what truly resonates with your audience—self-interest, social status, and spirituality—you go beyond aesthetics. You build trust, loyalty, and create a brand that people believe in.
At After Branding, we specialize in helping e-commerce stores develop authentic and impactful brand identifiers that leave a lasting impression on customers—and you shouldn’t be the exception. Let us help you drive sales with brand identifiers tailored to meet the unique needs of your e-commerce store.
Schedule a call with us today and take the first step in crafting compelling brand identifiers for your e-commerce store!
