In today’s always-on, infinitely inter-connected world, shorter is always sweeter. Simplicity is always genius. And fast is always fantastic. Both online…and off. But especially online.
If you don’t deliver a multi-channel, silky-smooth experience to each one of your consumers, at every touchpoint…well, you could find yourself losing touch all across the board. And especially online.
What does your digital presence look and feel like? What are you doing today to present a truly customer-focused website? Maybe even more importantly, are you prepared for the inevitable shifts, habits, and trends as we all continue to move deeper into the always-on, online world?
Let’s take a closer look at some best practices for jewelry store and jewelry brand websites.
Establish Clear Goals—and Build from There
First thing’s first: you should have a clear vision regarding the nature and purpose of your jewelry store or jewelry brand website. Is the primary purpose of your site to raise awareness of your brand or product offerings? Or is it mainly oriented towards converting visitors into sales online—in other words, what’s known as eCommerce.
You’ll also want to establish a set of benchmark metrics. What data points and sets will you use to gauge the success of your site and its functional components? Is it the number of unique visitors? Overall impressions? Click-through rates? Conversions? Sales revenue? Wherever and whenever possible, you should outline a crystal-clear picture of the goals, functions, and measurement metrics related to your website. This way, you can be quicker to pivot, adapt, build, or maybe even “tear down” as the prevailing jewelry market and customer dictates. Remember, you’re in the business of making your customers happy. The best way to do that? Make their shopping and purchasing experience as simple, clear, and headache-free as possible.
Function Over Form. Substance Over Style.
Part of that process involves creating a “cool” site, of course. More than anything, you want your site to look and feel like both thought and money went into its development. This is true of any site for any company in any industry. But it’s especially true when it comes to a brilliant, high-priced, literally dazzling product like diamond engagement rings.
That being said, it’s simply not enough to have a shiny, glossy, engaging design—or even compelling and evocative language. If your customer can’t easily and intuitively navigate your site and avail him or herself of its capabilities, they’re likely to leave pretty quick—and no online “eTailer” wants to see abandoned or empty “shopping carts” as part of their analytics report.
Of course, if and when customers do abandon your site before conversions can take place, there’s always the opportunity to send them “re-marketing” emails or text messages. As we all know, persistence can pay big dividends in life and in business. But wouldn’t you rather dazzle, satisfy, and sell to them—on the first try? Make your site every bit as easy (and maybe even fun) to navigate as possible, and you’ll likely see your success rates soar.
Make Your Site “Sticky”
When you think of a successful website, the word “sticky” probably doesn’t come to mind. In fact, it might sound like a “bad” thing upon first blush. But what this term means in the world of online marketing and sales is a highly positive thing. The more opportunities you provide your customer to engage, interact, and explore with and on your site, the longer they’ll stick around in your virtual space—and the greater your chances of a sale, either online or in-store.
So build your site with informative yet engaging components like an online blog or resource library, links to your social media channels (Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Tumblr, Snapchat, etc.), e-newsletter or email update signup forms, and customer testimonials and reviews. Encourage and empower them to share content or products they like with social sharing buttons and tools. Get them engaged, excited, turned on, and tuned in. Go the extra mile here…and you’ll likely uncover whole new roads along the customer journey, including beautiful bubbling revenue streams for you.
Exciting Development: Embedded Insurance
When it comes to ensuring simplicity, speed, and ease-of-use, “insurance” is not normally a word that comes to mind. But with the rise of “embedded insurance,” that’s changing. And if you deliver a remarkable customer experience that also includes easy-to-understand and easier-to-implement insurance, your customers could start to love and appreciate you even more.
Recent surveys reveal that 60% of consumers prefer to purchase risk protection/insurance policies from their favorite online retailers. A hot topic in the ever-evolving world of Insurance Technology, or “InsurTech,” embedded insurance is a smart, simple pivot from traditional insurance. It works by bundling coverage within a product, service, or platform. So instead of being sold as a single, standalone product, the insurance policy is provided as an integrated component. This typically occurs at the point of sale or signup, either as an add-on to an underlying item in the “customer journey” or an inclusion upon joining or partnering.
Here at Zillion, we specialize in a specific type of insurance: jewelry insurance. We also understand (and implement) embedded insurance. Through the use of our embedded insurance platform and smart integration with our partner retailers’ point-of-sale and eCommerce systems, we embed insurance directly and efficiently at the point of sale, via a simple text message to your customer. This way, insurance can be activated with just a simple click—right at the point of purchase. We get everything we need directly from our jeweler partners, meaning your customer gets to avoid confusing, time-consuming forms.
This easy, one-click insurance activation also helps you streamline your overall insurance experience, better manage risks, and control costs. It all adds up to jewelry insurance the way it should be: better rates, full transparency, and ultimate ease. Check us out now to learn how we can help you provide your valued customers with peace of mind — at an affordable cost!
