Take a moment to step into the shopper’s shoes when they’re shopping. Consider all the different brand messages they are receiving — good and bad. Have you ever clicked on a beautiful ad that led to an outdated, terrible-looking ecommerce site? Or have you seen an ad for a product you were initially interested in that was so poorly designed that you decided to look elsewhere? Brands unable to meet their customers’ branding expectations are missing the mark in creating a cohesive experience that drives revenue.
The stream of brand messages is endless. There are unlimited marketplaces and DTC sites, promotional newsletters keep hitting our inboxes, and Instagram is looking more like a shopping center than a social media platform. With shopping options galore, a lot must go right in the ecommerce experience to create a satisfied repeat customer. Especially when it comes to creative.
To win in a crowded online marketplace, step one is meeting expectations and building trust, by showcasing your brand’s carefully crafted identity and voice across every digital touch point. With 75% of ecommerce credibility stemming from design, creative cannot be overlooked for retailers building their brand across the channels where their customers frequent.
According to a recent Celtra survey, branding impacts sales, with more than half (52%) of consumers reporting they have been deterred from purchasing a product they might have considered buying otherwise because of a poorly designed ad. The same is true for branding consistency: 74% of consumers are more likely to be loyal to a company with consistent, high-quality branding in creative content.
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Meeting these expectations while mass-producing creative assets successfully is a feat on its own. Yet in-house creative teams need to be able to scale in an agile manner to meet campaign launch days and respond to cultural moments — Bernie Sanders at the inauguration, anyone? The mindset of “done is better than perfect” is harmful to a brand in the short and long term, especially as retailers try to sell more online and rely on digital channels to survive.
Retailers that push out simplistic or generic templated solutions due to lack of technology and workflows are giving up the fight before it begins. To achieve pixel perfection and protect your brand online, retailers must overcome the following:
1. Regional and central teams, different languages, and multiple markets
Marketers in one central office are often kicking off campaigns in different languages and across multiple markets, fine-tuning messaging for each target segment — and rightfully so. According to our recent Celtra survey, 54% of consumers are more likely to purchase goods from brands that use models/themes in creative content that look like them. Additionally, the survey shows that diversity and inclusion are paramount, as 60% of consumers are more likely to purchase goods from brands that use diverse models and themes in creative content. But for a team of marketers, this is tricky.
Ensuring that creative content represents consumers in full can mean spinning out hundreds or thousands of creative assets. And with regional marketing teams and central marketing teams both in the mix, it can be a challenge to streamline consistent content. Retailers must give 100% to each market they serve, while still maintaining a creative, efficient and cost-effective workflow.
2. Busy designers, making perfection feel far away
The marketing team has spent hours and hours finalizing campaign decisions with precision and intention. But with 1,300 scaled assets, the design looks nothing like the original and now the entire campaign lacks cohesion. It’s imperative retailers overcome this challenge by empowering designers with design tools that are an extension of their work, simultaneously fueling productivity and creativity. This will help lofty ideas go from ideation to actuality with ease, no matter how busy the designers are or how many assets need to be completed each day.
3.Visual compromises — the bigger the campaign, the more quality takes the backseat
Creative teams have a lot on their plate as it is, so when a large campaign comes around, it can be easy to sacrifice quality in the name of volume and reach. However, when scaled assets look generic or simplistic, consumers take notice and the retailer’s image is slowly altered in their mindshare. Retailers that allow creative teams to take back time so that they can focus on craftsmanship and eliminate repetitive tasks, like adjusting layouts or resizing, can churn out quality content in less time than before.
So How can Retailers Reach Pixel Perfection?
Consumers are shopping online, and retailers that fail to match the ad to the ecommerce experience will severely damage their brand reputation over time. Retailers automating their creative tasks and letting their designers focus on intention and artistry are experiencing a lift in sales. This allows them to reach pixel perfection with ease. By finding a trusted partner to help streamline creative automation, retailers can confidently check the boxes for reaching consumers in the right ways.
Brands spend time and money to perfect and carefully protect their voice across every digital touch point. This is crucial: Without it, retailers risk losing the voice and visual language that they have worked so hard to create.
Miha Mikek is the CEO and Founder of Celtra, a Creative Automation company that serves some of the best brands in the world, like adidas, Spotify, YETI, Unilever, Lululemon, CNN and NBCU. Under his guidance, Celtra has been nominated for several industry awards including The Best Martech Company at Festival of Media Global Awards, American Business Award, and AlwaysOn Top 100 Mobile.
