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Find answers to online merchandisers' common questions about using AI integrations to improve the customer's shopping experience. From smart collections to personalized recommendations, these expert insights will boost customer engagement, sales, AOV, and your bottom line.
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How to Elevate Your Branding in eCommerce Merchandising
While you may not immediately see the connection, branding and eCommerce merchandising go hand-in-hand. Applying branding to your merchandising strategies helps establish and reinforce who you are and what you can offer customers. Your brand identity has likely been defined already, so today, we'll focus on letting it shine through your merchandising. » Step up your eCommerce game with these merchandising dos and don'ts Reinforce Your Brand Through Visual Merchandising Imagery and visual elements are critical pieces of the puzzle when it comes to reinforcing your brand through visual merchandising. These include elements like your brand's logo, color palette, font styles, and images like photography and illustrations. For example, you can use specific filters, image styles, or graphical elements consistently in your product photography, social media posts, and advertisements. LARQ, maker of the self-cleaning water bottle, uses consistent branding and visuals across their website: bright, cheerful colors with a modern font and decorative-yet-minimalist image backgrounds. Personalize Your Customers' Interactions With Your Brand In today's eCommerce landscape, personalization is more of a necessity than a "nice-to-have" feature. You should be tailoring your communication based on the behaviors and preferences of your customers. For example, you can segment your email marketing campaigns to send specific emails to specific groups. You can send customers personalized recommendations, offers, and discounts based on their past purchases or most recent shopping cart. Clothing manufacturer and retailer American Giant is a great example of how email personalization can help merchandising. Here, they send a follow-up email to help re-engage a customer who abandoned their cart. » Get inspired with these 5 email remarketing campaign ideas Foster Brand Advocacy and Loyalty We've all heard that it costs more to find new customers than to retain existing ones. We've also heard that word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful motivators. That's why brand advocacy and loyalty are so important—both of which you can strengthen with a strong merchandising strategy. Here are a few ways you can foster them: Encourage and showcase customer reviews and testimonials, as this user-generated content increases brand loyaltyImplement a loyalty program to reward and retain customersLeverage referral programs to build brand ambassadors Skin- and self-care company Blume attracts and retains customers with its loyalty program, using its brand identity to drive home the perks of joining the program. » Check out these practical solutions to obstacles hindering your brand loyalty Fast-Track Your Merchandising With Effective Branding When you implement solid branding tactics into your broader merchandising strategy, you're setting your eCommerce store up for success. Remember to elevate your branding strategy through visual merchandising, personalized customer interactions, and fostering brand advocacy and loyalty. It's also essential that you continuously evaluate and improve your branding efforts. This will ensure you build a strong and resilient brand presence that resonates with your target audience and drives success in the dynamic eCommerce landscape. » Discover how to optimize your merchandising with A/B testing
Asked 2 months ago
Improve Your E-Commerce Merchandising With an Effective Product Grid
E-commerce merchandising, particularly product layout, plays an important role in shaping the overall experience of your e-commerce store. A well-designed and intuitive layout can improve the navigation and visual appeal of your website. But where do you start? By implementing an effective product grid suited to your products and customers' behavior. Choosing an Effective Product Grid A product grid in e-commerce merchandising refers to how you present your product listings to your customers in your online store. The most effective grid will depend on the nature of your featured products. Its main goal is to showcase your products as efficiently as possible and help your customers compare different products. 1. Column Product Grid A column product grid is exactly what it sounds like: presenting your products in a column layout. This divides your customers' screens into equal blocks and creates uniformity in your store, making browsing so much easier because your customers aren't overwhelmed or distracted by other elements. Tip: Don't try to squeeze too many columns into your product grid. Keeping between 3-4 columns is the sweet spot. Spiceology: Spice Up Your Product Layout Spiceology sells various blends of seasonings. A column product grid is best suited for their store because the most important feature they need to showcase is the color-coded label. The product packaging is so straightforward that it effortlessly creates uniformity in the product grid and makes finding the ideal spice a breeze. Plus, any marketing banners like "Top Seller" and "Spicy" stand out immediately to persuade shoppers. 2. Modular Product Grid Modular product grids are versatile. They can span the entire width of your store, whether with one image or populating the space with different-sized images (or modules). This product layout offers a balance between product density and visual clarity. Zachys: Find the Best Blend Zachys sells various wines and liquors, meaning Zachys doesn't just sell a product but also an experience. Therefore, a modular product grid is a flexible option to best showcase their products with custom images and text to catch a shopper's attention, whether the hook is a product debut, seasonality, or price. 3. Hierarchical Product Grid A hierarchical product grid can be a combination of columns, rows, and modules. But your most important elements should either be placed at the top or take up the grid's biggest pieces. This product layout can present products more dynamically and highlight your most essential information. Tip: Use A/B testing to optimize your e-commerce merchandising based on data. Tonerbuzz: Set the Right Tone Tonerbuzz sells various toner brands for different types of printers. Their hierarchy is based on customer behavior. The biggest module on the product grid is the search bar, because it's the quickest way to lead the customers directly to their desired product. Also, instead of bombarding the customers with endless lists of toner and ink, they can search by brand in a simple column grid. Make Fast Changes to Your E-commerce Merchandising Choosing an effective product grid can be a powerful way to boost your e-commerce merchandising efforts. A well-designed product grid can improve customer experience, increase customer retention, and generate more sales. Investing time and resources into selecting the right product grid can pay off significantly in the long run, making it a critical element of any successful e-commerce website. » Discover how AI-driven merchandising can boost conversions
Asked 2 months ago
Using Color Psychology on Your E-Commerce Site: Expert Tips + Examples
Using color psychology on your e-commerce site is a visual merchandising method that impacts user behavior. A study shows that up to 90% of a consumer's initial assessment before making a purchase is based on color. Using color to ignite certain emotions and associations in the user can be a powerful tool for guiding user behavior. Follow these expert tips and examples to add some color to your e-commerce site. Consider Your Industry & Target Audience Certain colors can be used to attract target consumers. For example, red on fashion and retail websites creates a sense of urgency and excitement. This can help encourage conversions, which can increase profits. Additionally, personality types can also play a role. A research journal reveals that green can inspire creativity and is more associated with less urgent calls for action. For example, The Woolery uses green and appeals to those interested in the knitting craft. » Find out how visual merchandising can create an engaging e-commerce experience How Color Can Help Achieve Your Desired Effect With well-considered color choices, you optimize customer experience, communicate your brand's message, and even sway customers' actions. 1. Prompt Action With Red Red is known to be an attention-grabbing color. HubSpot ran an A/B testing study, which depicts how red is a suitable choice for CTAs, achieving a 21% conversion rate. Fragrance Buy: Red-y, Set, Buy Fragrance Buy, a brand-name fragrance wholesaler, encourages actions such as subscriptions and draws attention to sales, which can drive conversions. Additionally, pulling focus to a "Perfume Advisor" option can incite trust in the business, which can help boost sales. 2. Establish Trust With Blue Adobe notes that blue can evoke security, trustworthiness, and calmness. It can be a useful color to assign credibility, which can create customer loyalty. Mastermind Toys: Keep Your Peace of Mind Mastermind Toys is a toy and children's book store. By using blue throughout their site, parents—undoubtedly a large part of the target audience—can feel reassured and secure in purchasing products for their children. Pairing blue with red for the online shopping cart draws attention to the idea of completing a purchase. 3. Spark Enthusiasm With Yellow ColorPsychology.org points out that yellow typically expresses optimism, confidence, and problem-solving. Its boldness and warmth can be effective if your products or services focus on accessibility. Postmark: Say Yellow to Great Service Postmark's use of yellow and their reassuring copy can inspire confidence in their service. Because yellow is bright, using a less urgent color than red for the CTAs can encourage permission for action and prevent users from feeling overwhelmed. Also, blue is complementary to yellow, which can connote strong brand cohesion and polish. » Need help? Discover critical online visual merchandising strategies to drive sales now Using Color for Fast Engagement Leveraging color psychology in your e-commerce site design lets you choose the right color pairings based on your industry, demographic, and product offerings. This way, you can communicate your brand message clearly and drive desired user engagement, customer loyalty, and conversions.
Asked 2 months ago
Visual Hierarchy: How to Create a Stunning E-Commerce UI (+ Examples)
How your website is designed, including how you merchandise your products, greatly impacts customer behavior and sales. By implementing visual hierarchy, you can create a stunning e-commerce UI (user interface) for your customers that can ultimately help you enhance their experience, increase conversions, and drive sales. Boosting Your E-Commerce UI Through Visual Hierarchy 1. Pull Focus With Size and Scale Size and scale are powerful tools for creating a visual hierarchy because they can help certain features stand out. Based on customers' reading behavior, they'll view the biggest visual element first. But size is still relative—without scale, your important sections may lose their impact. For example, while Targus's merchandising of this product splits customers' screens into two equal parts, their eye is immediately drawn to the main product image on the left. The image itself is large but appears more prominent because of the smaller scale of the other merchandising elements, like the smaller product images at the bottom of the screen. 2. Use Color and Contrast for Emphasis The effective use of color and contrast can help guide your customers' attention to the most important elements, such as calls-to-action, product images, and pricing. By limiting your color palette and using contrasting colors, you can easily improve your visual merchandising and e-commerce UI. For example, Staghead Designs makes an immediate impact with monochrome product pages. The black background of the main product image instantly makes it the focal point while simultaneously letting the blue pendant shine. Additionally, the bold, black "Add to Cart" button also draws attention, encouraging conversions. » Follow these e-commerce merchandising best practices to improve the UI more 3. Guide the User With Spacing Spacing, or the use of whitespace, can be a powerful tool for establishing a clear visual hierarchy and improving your overall e-commerce merchandising. By increasing the amount of whitespace around important elements (such as headings or call-to-action buttons), you can guide your customers' attention to those elements and create a more intuitive e-commerce UI. For example, Spiceology uses ample whitespace to place their product merchandising at the top of their visual hierarchy. The equal spacing between the product images also creates balance. Interestingly, the product images are placed in an inverted pyramid shape, which naturally draws the customers' eyes to the "All Ingredients" button, encouraging them to shop further. » Need to fine-tune your product layout? Use a product grid to improve your e-commerce merchandising Drive Your E-Commerce UI Upwards Visual hierarchy principles are essential for creating refined e-commerce UIs that prioritize your customers' experience and drive conversions. At the same time, these principles can also help you improve your merchandising techniques, thereby simplifying your customers' overall journey and making it easier for them to find what they're looking for. » Explore further how visual merchandising creates an engaging e-commerce experience
Asked 2 months ago
5 Best Font Styles for Your E-Commerce Store
It can be overwhelming to choose the right font style for your e-commerce store from the thousands of options online. But we've narrowed the list down to five: Lato, Merriweather, Montserrat, Raleway, and Roboto. All of these font styles are versatile enough that you can implement them to suit your brand identity, plus they maintain their readability on different screen sizes. Explore our list of the five best font styles for your e-commerce store, with examples for inspiration. 1. Lato Lato is a sans-serif font designed in 2010. It showcases a modern, clean, and inviting look that conveys professionalism. Lato is a popular choice for e-commerce stores that want to appear approachable yet trustworthy, so it's often seen in body text. For example, Homecamp sells camping equipment and accessories. It uses Lato for product descriptions, making any product information easy to read and digest (especially when it becomes lengthy). This helps boost their visual merchandising and e-commerce UI. » Implement these additional e-commerce merchandising best practices 2. Merriweather Merriweather is a serif font designed in 2011. Known for maintaining its readability even in small sizes, this font adds class and style to any e-commerce store. Merriweather is best suited for e-commerce websites that sell high-end products and need to present luxurious and sophisticated merchandising. For example, The Good Batch sells baked goods. Merriweather easily adapts to all font sizes, from bigger headings to smaller social media text, creating a natural visual hierarchy and uniformity in the e-commerce store. 3. Montserrat Montserrat is a modern sans-serif font designed in 2011. Its clean and legible features make it an excellent choice for headings and titles on e-commerce websites. Montserrat is best suited for creative e-commerce sites due to its contemporary appearance. For example, Jo to the World sells crochet gift ideas, including various patterns. The store uses Montserrat in its headings, product names, and call-to-action buttons. The readability of this font is particularly effective on the buttons because customers clearly understand what action they're encouraged to take next. This can help boost conversions and keep customers on the site longer. 4. Raleway Raleway is a versatile and elegant sans-serif font designed in 2010. Its sleek appearance makes it an ideal choice for both body text and headings on an e-commerce website. Raleway is best suited for conveying dependability while retaining a user-friendly visual appeal. For example, Le Régal sells wooden cutting boards. The site uses Raleway only, thereby showcasing the diversity of one font. Headings and prices are bigger and bolded; body text is standard; stock levels and lead times are a different color; and call-to-action buttons are inverted. Using a single font creatively also results in cohesive visual merchandising and brand identity. » Find out what other e-commerce hiccups bust brand loyalty besides ineffective fonts 5. Roboto Roboto is a minimalist sans-serif font designed in 2011. While its features can be described as geometric, it can still give an e-commerce store a friendly typography. Appropriate for both headings and body text, Roboto is best suited for tech-related sites aiming to optimize their merchandising. For example, Discount Store sells a range of electronics. It uses Roboto as its main font for merchandising in "New Arrivals" and "Hot Sale" banners, headings, and descriptions. The font remains easy to read regardless of its size or background color. Let the Right Font Take You Forward Choosing the right font for your e-commerce store can be a stressful yet essential step to striking the right brand tone with your users. Selecting a font that's easy to read and aligns with your brand message can be extremely beneficial for your overall merchandising efforts and lead to a more positive and engaged experience for your customers. » Continue improving your merchandising with this ultimate guide
Asked 2 months ago