Tips, best practices and tangible recommendations to help you effectively promote and launch your new eCommerce offering

10-Step Guide to a Successful Grocery eCommerce Launch

The eCommerce Launch Guide

G U I D E

Introduction

Step 1 Devise Your Launch Strategy

Step 2 Define Your Budget

Step 3 Create Your Hub

Step 4 Generate Pre-Launch Awareness

Step 5 Establish Channels and Touch Points

Step 6 Brand Your Launch

Step 7 Create Supporting Content

Step 8 Set Up a Help Desk

Step 9 Encourage Feedback

Step 10 Maintain Momentum

Questionnaire

Key Takeaways

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

13

6

20

18

23

26

11

3

19

15

9

22

24

3INTRODUCTION

Technology has revolutionized the way in which consumers purchase goods and services, and as they become more accustomed to these benefits in other digital settings, they’re beginning to expect them to be incorporated into the grocery experience as well. To meet this growing demand, many retailers are leveraging new technologies to meet consumers’ evolving needs.

However, no matter how “ready” today’s consumers may be, getting them to embrace change, abandon previous behaviours and create completely new ones isn’t always easy.

Just a few years ago, products and services that we now take for granted—like the iPhone and Netflix—didn’t exist. It was advances in technology that made these innovations possible, but it was consumer understanding and readiness that made them so popular.

Communicating Change to Your Customers

INTRODUCTION

This guide offers tips, best practices and tangible recommendations to help you effectively promote and launch your new e-commerce offering. Its purpose is to provide direction in helping you prepare your customers for changes in your service in the near future.

The two overarching goals of this guide are to help you:

Summary and Goals

Successfully communicating change is all about clarity—you need to ensure that your customers understand exactly what it is you’re trying to achieve. When done well, communication can help people feel positive about change and lessen the impact of resistance. However, the reverse can also be true—poorly-planned communication could heighten resistance.

In order to accept change, people need to learn why it’s in their best interest to embrace the new and forget the old. You want to help them get great service out of your brand at every interaction, and that involves continuously innovating to create a better product and service, and then helping your customers understand how these changes are designed to make their lives better.

An integral part of your e-commerce launch strategy should be about demonstrating the “why” behind the change. It’s important to make customers aware of why change is happening, and let them know how they will benefit from it. What new features does the new offering provide that will make their lives easier—what’s in it for them?

An integral part of your e-commerce launch strategy should be about demonstrating the “why” behind the change. It’s important to make customers aware of why change is happening, and let them know how they will benefit from it. What new features does the new offering provide that will make their lives easier—what’s in it for them?

Lay the Foundations of Your Launch StrategyONE

5INTRODUCTION

To support you in achieving these goals, we’ve created this 10-step implementation plan to help you effectively communicate upcoming service changes to your customers, and guide them seamlessly through the transition phase.

The next piece of the puzzle should be establishing the goals and messaging you want to convey throughout the launch campaign. There will likely be several stakeholders involved, so it’s important for your team to be aligned and aware of how the change should be positioned throughout all your communications.

Craft Your Campaign MessageTWO

STEP

Devise Your Launch Strategy

A launch strategy can be seen as an organized, purposeful effort to create change, and it should be guided by thoughtful planning.

Before taking action, it’s important to learn as much as possible about the existing situation: who will be affected by the change—both positively and negatively? What initiatives could improve the situation? What resources, tactics and tools are available to implement a campaign that will address these issues?

This knowledge can then be used to form the basis of your strategy, which guides you in planning, implementing, marketing, monitoring, improving and evaluating your e-commerce launch.

Your launch strategy should answer the following questions:

Who are you trying to reach?

What is the problem you are confronting?

Who will be affected by the change?

What change(s) are required?

What is your ultimate vision?

Create a Communication StrategyT IP

Address the biggest changes that are relevant to your audience simply and clearly.

Always reinforce the “why” and the benefits your users will enjoy as a result of the change.

Stagger your messages—timing and repeated reminders are important.

Early messages should be light, subtle and matter of fact, with an emphasis on the values and benefits.

Tone is key. Begin with subtle notifications — don’t make your messages seem alarming or urgent.

Answering these key questions repeatedly, and at each and every stage of your campaign, will help develop your campaign strategy. Your strategy will then guide what you do going forward and should be updated regularly as the campaign is implemented and the situation changes.

The underlying goal of your strategy is to communicate that change is coming, while also letting your customers know that they will be given enough time and the appropriate training to learn how to use your new service effectively.

4

3

2

1

What are the campaign’s strategic elements?

Who are the stakeholders?

How will the campaign help bring the change?

What needs to change?

Detail specific objectives and activities for the communication of the specific change initiative.

Outline what will be done to build commitmentto the change, reduce resistance, and ensure implementation occurs.

Your communications strategy should:

The target audience (i.e. the people the campaign needs to influence to attain its goal, and how these customers will be reached).

Prospective parties likely to join the campaign, and their potential roles in the campaign.

Your strategy must define:

A theory of change that explains how the campaign will contribute to the desired outcome.

The solutions or pathways of change promoted by the campaign. In this instance, the goal of the campaign would be to promote a change in customer behavior.

The approach or types of actions to be carried out by whom, how and when.

Your strategy needs:

A purpose that drives the campaign strategy.

An analysis of the situation and the specific problem the campaign will address.

A vision for the future the campaign is intended to contribute to.

To answer this question, it takes:

Begin building an effective campaign strategy by addressing the following questions:

Building Your Campaign Strategy

9DEFINE THE BUDGET

Define the Budget

STEP

The short answer is that it depends on the size and scope of the campaign, and how much additional paid advertising you decide to build into it. The costs in any marketing budget are typically allocated according to the campaign and the media to be utilized. Because of this, some prior research will be necessary in order for your cost estimates to be as realistic as possible.

Other information that can guide your spending plan can be found in your internal records—what advertising expenditures have proven successful for your company? For example, you can review internal records and determine the return on investment of your advertising dollars from previous initiatives. An assessment of previous campaign performance records may lead you to drop media that hasn’t been as fruitful.

Your budget should outline the media you intend to use (e.g. email, social, print, telemarketing, trade shows, publicity, etc.) and the tools, technologies or resources you’ll be leveraging (e.g. new software or email service provider).

How much of your budget should be put towards promoting your e-commerce launch?

6DEVISE YOUR L AUNCH STRATEGY

10DEFINE THE BUDGET

Budgeting can be a challenging process, but if you’ve defined your needs and core campaign components, you’ll be in a position to create more accurate estimates.

Now that you’ve finished your plan and budget, the fun part can begin: it’s time to start executing your launch strategy.

Which of your company’s channels are active and which do you see the most engagement from? Analyze the efficacy of your previous initiatives to determine which channels to invest in for your e-commerce launch campaign.

Possible media channels to include in your budget:

BUDGET

EventsPublic Relations

Web Development

Direct Marketing

Advertising

Print Collateral

Create Your Hub

STEP

A hub is essential for many reasons. It will be home to everything related to your launch until your full e-commerce site goes live, and will give you the chance to tease your audience as to what’s to come. Most importantly, it’s a place to start building alist of people that are interested in what you have to say and want to learn more about your launch. You can start building a hub for your e-commerce launch using your Mercatus Commerce Solution.

Your next step is to build a hub or landing page for your e-commerce launch.

— Lisa B., Some City

“Ever since I started ordering groceries online, my weekly grocery shopping has never been easier!”

Our friendly associates will choose your items with care and carry your order out to your car when you pull up at your reserved pickup time.

QUALITY SERVICE

Pick up your items without even having to leave your vehicle

4. PICK-UP

Simply use your credit or debit card and you’ll be on your way

3. PAY

Confirm your order and select a time and date for pick-up

2. RESERVE

Choose from over 100,000 items, including fresh meat and produce

1. SHOP

HOW DOES IT WORK?

NEW

Shop online and pick up your order at your store. Order using your shopping list and favorites so shopping is even easier!

Online Grocery Shopping

Testimonials

Easy Pick-Up

Reserve Your Order Online

Product Selection

Payment Details

Trust Factor

Brief Overview

Key Messaging for Your Hub

Generate Pre-Launch Awareness

STEP

This will not only build curiosity and interest, but it will also prepare customers who may not embrace change as much as you do. An improvement for you might be an inconvenient adjustment for them—initially, at least.

There are many ways you can start to generate buzz, excitement and awareness prior to your launch date, including:

It’s important to communicate that change is coming with your customers long before your launch date.

Offers and promotionsAs you're preparing to launch, you'll want to consider the launch itself. How do you plan on promoting your new service? Will you kick off with any exclusives offers, discounts or sweepstakes to generate awareness?

Talk to your customersMany businesses have become heavily reliant on written communication—something which goes directly against the human need for dialogue. We all respond to two-waycommunication, so finding a way to open up conversation

People come from very different backgrounds, have varied interests and have their own unique experiences—and it’s your job to speak to those differences in all your communications. You need to connect with your customers on all levels to have the opportunity to get your message across. To do this, you’ll need to tailor your message to fit the individual. When crafting all your communications, it’s important to keep in mind the different types of people you’ll be talking to, and consider how you can adapt the information to resonate with them and best suit their needs. Leverage your brand’s buyer personas if you have them.

Tailor messages to the recipient

is a crucial step to powerful engagement processes. Useface-to-face, two-way communication wherever possible, whether that happens in store, on the street or at events.

People value dialogue and conversation. It might take longer than email or other channels, but in many cases it can be considerably more effective.

Reinforce Your Key MessagingT IP

Once your key messages have been developed, there are many creative ways you can use to communicate them both before and after your launch. These key messages should form the framework for all communications efforts with your customers going forward, allowing media releases, events, and articles to be crafted around them.

Establish Channels and Touchpoints

STEP

Email

Email marketing has been proven time and again to be one of the most effective marketing channels, providing consistently high returns. For this reason, you should make sure you get things ready by creating your templates, preparing your email marketing campaigns and setting up your automated messages.

However, there are several factors that need to be taken into consideration in order to create an effective email marketing campaign to promote your launch—one of which is mobile optimization. 48 percent of all emails are opened on mobile devices, which means that if your emails don’t translate well to mobile, you’re ineffectively reaching nearly half of your list.

And then of course there’s segmentation of your database. It’s no secret that segmenting your email-marketing lists helps you get better open and click rates.

By narrowing your focus and sending messages to targeted groups within your lists, your recipients will find your campaigns more relevant—and more relevant campaigns get better results. After all, no two customers are the same.

15ESTABLISH CHANNELS AND TOUCHPOINTS

SHARE

Hi Jimmy,

LOGO

5 Super Bowl Meal Dealsyourlocalgrocer@online.comFROM

SUBJECT

MAIL BOX

Split-Test Subject Lines

Personalize Emails

Add Visual Elements

Incorporate Social-Sharing Icons

Email Marketing Best Practices

1 7ESTABLISH CHANNELS AND TOUCHPOINTS

Social media can be a powerful tool for unpaid content distribution and as a means of driving traffic to your launch hub. With this in mind, here are some tips to help you promote your e-commerce launch across your social channels:

Launch a contestIncentivize your followers to share your event with their networks by holding a contest. It could be a gift certificate, a discount offer, or anything else you think your audience (and by extension, their audience) might be interested in.

Consider hosting a live chatDepending on how you leverage social media and how large your following is, Twitter chats are a great way to promote your brand and grow your community. Consider hosting a live chat or Q&A session on a specific date at a specific time, where customers can publicly ask questions regarding your e-commerce launch. You can then promote the event with another unique hashtag.

Create a unique hashtagUnique hashtags allow you to monitor discussions surrounding your content, and give you the chance to start conversations with your readers.

Customize your accountsConsider customizing your company’s cover photo and branding it to promote your new e-commerce launch. Similarly, you can customize your cover photo on Twitter to feature your latest offering, and pin the original tweet announcing the content to the top of your page.

Social Media

1 8ESTABLISH CHANNELS AND TOUCHPOINTS

Once you know how your campaign performed overall, and then how well each individual channel performed in promoting your content, you’ll be able to take this information and leverage it going forward.

Paid Digital AdsPaid advertising is a great way to kick-start your awareness campaign and drive traffic to your launch hub. Consider using pay-per-click advertising models, such as Google AdWords, or paid social media advertising campaigns. In the long-term, pursuing SEO and other organic marketing efforts will also yield a strong return on your investment and, ultimately, more sustainable traffic.

Bag inserts and flyers Package inserts can be a cost-effective and versatile medium for building a solid relationship with your customers. These should be designed to reflect the look of the new e-commerce site, display your web address prominently, and provide a list of the new features the site offers.

Direct MailWhile digital forms of advertising might offer more immediate and targeted access to consumers, physical direct mail marketing still has a role in driving awareness, engagement and action in consumers. Direct mail may also be kept anywhere from a few days to over a month, depending on the format.

Press Release Develop an announcement to be distributed amongst media outlets to generate publicity. Emphasize the new features the site offers, and how they will benefit customers. Be sure to include any groundbreaking services you’re offering and any “firsts” within your industry that your site might include.

19BRAND YOUR L AUNCH

Brand Your Launch

STEP

This helps generate initial enthusiasm amongst customers and associates as it symbolizes a break with the past.

By giving your “change” a name, you’ll make communicating about it easier, and you’ll also be able to create branded merchandise that reflects the look and feel of your new site. This branding can then be replicated both in-store and outside.

By creating a distinctive brand for your launch, you can craft a unique identity for your new e-commerce offering.

LOGOLOGO

LOGO

LOGO LOGO

Create Supporting Content

STEP

One of the latest trends in content marketing involves companies using either text, video, or both, to answer customer questions they anticipate receiving. When done well, this type of content can ultimately reduce customer service workload, and not to mention costs.

What’s more, this type of customer service content could eventually evolve and grow as additional questions and responses that had not come up previously get added to the list. The goal is to teach and empower your customers to get the most out of their online shopping experience with your brand.

By not effectively teaching your customers how to use a new product or service, you risk jeopardizing their experience.

NEW

Shopping for Groceries Online

SEARCH

How can we help?

C U S T O M E R S U P P O R T

2 1SET UP A HELP DESK

Set Up a Help Desk

STEP

The aim of multichannel customer service is to provide customers with options for how they would like to communicate with a brand if they have a query or need help. It’s also about providing a seamless experience to the customer—regardless of which channel they decide to use.

When operating your business in both the online and brick-and-mortar worlds, it’s important to offer a multichannel customer service approach.

By taking advantage of different tools, you can make sure that you’re able to cover all of your bases through multiple channels. You can take advantage of inbound phone support, email, social media and many other channels to do this, and simply ensure that your customer service representatives are equipped with knowledge concerning when certain changes will be going live, and how to support customers with those changes along the way.

Offering Multichannel Support

Having an online helpdesk where your customers can go to see frequently asked questions can be extremely helpful. Not only will it answer customer questions quickly and efficiently, but it will also help to mitigate support debt.

There are several online helpdesks available to businesses nowadays (such as ZenDesk and Zoho), so it’s simply a matter of finding which one suits your needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

LOGO

CHECK-OUT

REFUNDS &RETURNS

PAYMENTS

GENERAL

LOYALTY

ORDERING

Pick a Topic1. Do I need an account to shop online?

2. How do I add an item to my shopping bag?

3. Are in-store promotions applicable online?

Create an FAQ Page

23ENCOURAGE FEEDBACK

Encourage Feedback

STEP

Bear in mind that initial feedback may not be all positive, but don’t take that to mean that your changes haven’t been well-received.

Many people resist change, but it’s important to remember that growth and evolution are necessary, and it’s natural (and expected) that websites and digital services will become more specialized as businesses grow and demand becomes greater.

As an online business, you'll hear from your customers the very day you launch. This doesn't mean that you should act on everything they say, but you should take all feedback into consideration, as your customers may point out things about your offering that you may have never thought of.

After evaluating their suggestions, react quickly to build something even better. When customers see that you're listening and valuing their opinions, you'll create much deeper ties and foster brand loyalty.

Encourage feedback by telling customers exactly how and where they can provide it.

Maintain Momentum

STEP

It could include online marketing through paid or non-paid channels; print media like direct mail and newspaper advertising; email campaign communications direct to your mailing list; or content promotion from inside your site. No matter what you do, it should be varied, regular and ongoing.

More than anything else, committing to an ongoing marketing program to educate your customers on your new service and drive regular traffic to your site should be a priority.

1

23

4

1

2345

25DEVISE YOUR L AUNCH STRATEGY

Are user passwords changing?

Before preparing your e-commerce launch strategy, here are some questions you should be asking:

Yes No

Yes No

Yes No

Are user shopping lists changing?

Will users’ order histories be transferred?

What’s changing and what’s staying the same?

CHANGING STAYING

Questionnaire

What is your promotional budget? $

26DEVISE YOUR L AUNCH STRATEGY

Yes NoDo you have a documented strategy, implementation plan and timeline?

Yes NoDo you have a centralized hub to house all content related to the launch?

Yes NoDo you have existing resources to create a customer “helpdesk”?

What content do you need to create and what formats do you want to use?

How can the launch be branded online and in-store?

Which channels and touch points do you want to use to promote the launch?

What else is or isn’t being migrated to the new platform?

7

8

10

9

11

12

6

Your goal is to create a transition and onboarding plan.

Start thinking about your plan for change early on.

Early planning allows you to isolate potential customer service issues and gives you time to find solutions.

Throughout your communications, continue to address the “who, what, where, when, why and how”.

Think about your customers as people—not just as shoppers or consumers.

Don’t leave it to the last minute. Things could change quickly and it’s valuable to start thinking about the change process, the onboarding process, and the overall consequences of the platform switch during the early planning stages.

It also gives you the best chance to get your message across to the highest amount of your audience, and avoids customers missing the change.

Thinking about them as people allows you to understand their needs and goals and communicate with them more effectively.

This can help contextualize the shift, and helps get customers onboard before change happens.

CONCLUSION

Key Takeaways

CONTACT US

If you have a vision for your eCommerce launch, we can help make it a reality. Enquire about our marketing services today.

Need a hand?We’re here to help.

Now that you’ve completed this 10-step launch plan, it's time to launch your new e-commerce offering to an excited and expecting audience.

If you've done everything on this list, you should have a healthy following of people ready to line-up and purchase from your newly-launched e-commerce store.

Visit our hub for industry insights and additional resources at WWW.MERCATUS.COM/HUB