Proven Strategies For Digital Shelf Optimisation

Our Digital Shelf Optimisation Strategy

The benefit of being an agency means we’ve worked on a huge number of businesses in almost every industry and niche. 

We get to do this every day and have witnessed first-hand the evolution of the Digital Shelf. After running countless experiments and refining our strategy, we know this DSO strategy can get results. 

We’ll break down the main parts of our Digital Shelf strategy and how it can work for your company. 

Digital Shelf Audit

An audit is the first thing that we complete for clients as it will find a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. 

Once you do this you can make data-driven decisions and find the high-priority areas that need to be addressed first. 

Here’s the minimum a Digital Shelf audit should include. 

Technical SEO: Our team will follow a 100-point checklist to ensure a website is healthy in the eyes of search engines. It will analyse things like indexation, crawlability, internal link structure, schema, site maps, and so much more. Issues with technical SEO will hold your website back so you need to get them fixed.

Search Rankings: What keywords are you ranking for and where do they rank? A huge part of your visibility comes from your organic search results. If you’re lacking in this area then it would be considered high importance, high opportunity.

Customer Reviews: Analyse reviews across your website and independent review sites. Reviews play a big part in the purchase decision so find out as much information from your customers about your products and service as possible.

Brand Perception: Whether it’s social media or search engines; find all the places where your brand is being talked about. To future-proof this, brand-mention tools can notify you when you’re being talked about. Collect what’s being said as that can influence your future product and digital marketing strategy.

Competitor Research: Looking at the strategies of your competitors will provide you with a cheat sheet to succeed. Similarly, weaknesses will provide you with opportunities to beat your competitors.

Inventory Management: As you scale any problems with your stock management and distribution will only get worse. In an age where consumers have multiple options; running out of stock or a bad delivery experience will be a surefire way to gain a bad reputation.

After completing the audit, the areas in which you need to improve should become obvious. But, there are some other key areas that you need to focus on to make the most out of Digital Shelf optimisation. 

Search Engine Optimisation

SEO is one of the most important parts of Digital Shelf marketing. Not only can it bring in large amounts of traffic, but it also allows you to control the narrative about your brand and rise above your competitors. 

High-quality Digital Shelf SEO should ensure that your business is ranking for high commercial intent keywords. These keywords are typically the most competitive keywords so your strategy will need to be on point to rank. 

To get your business ranking, look at implementing the following:

• Expert written content
• Fast website speed
• Optimised product pages
• Positive user experience
• Link building

The authority of your site also plays a big part in your overall search results and performance. Look to boost this with a digital PR campaign. 

Digital PR

Digital PR is one of the best techniques our agency has found to build a brand’s authority. 

Digital PR will acquire high-quality links from relevant online media publications to increase awareness and traffic as well as authority. 

One way that our Digital Shelf Optimisation agency does this, is to create a Digital Shelf content asset that your audience will find useful or interesting. It could be an infographic or a free tool that lives on your website. 

We will then reach out to well-established businesses in your industry and have them link back to your site. The results of this have been impressive. 

Build brand awareness by embracing digital marketing as a key component of your Digital Shelf. 

Brand Image Management

The key to brand management lies in understanding your brand personality, which is essentially how your brand communicates with its audience. 

It can be playful, serious, or sophisticated; every interaction from logo evolution to brand colour plays a part in shaping this personality.

Remember that online reputation isn’t just about managing negative feedback but also promoting positive experiences that align with your brand personality.

Understanding market positioning is crucial too – where does your brand stand among competitors? 

This requires an honest assessment of not only what you do better but also areas where improvement is needed.

Analytics for Digital Shelf Optimisation

Multiple touchpoints across multiple platforms can make digital shelf analytics, and particularly attribution, tricky. 

However, to see what’s working effectively you need to have a solid understanding of analytics platforms and solutions to attribution problems. 

It’s preferable to create something that allows you to view your Digital Shelf data in one place. This means that you can pull reports quickly to make decisions with ease. Platforms such as Google Looker Studio could be a potential solution to this. 

When we work with brands we create custom solutions that integrate with their current setup.

How Does Digital Shelf Optimisation Work?

It can help to think of DSO as a four-part flywheel. When implemented successfully, improving one part of the flywheel will contribute to growing the others. 

It can be difficult to get going, but once it starts spinning, it quickly gains momentum and spins faster without as much input required.  

It’s similar to the snowball effect, with each roll it gets bigger and bigger. This could have the same effect for your company.

The four main parts of the flywheel that need to be in effect in order to win the Digital Shelf are as follows:

1. Discovery
2. Conversion
3. Experience
4. Remarketing

Discovery

Quite simply; how are consumers finding your products or services?

With how competitive the market is you have to be actively marketing to get any share of the market.

Getting a more prominent position on the Digital Shelf will allow you to funnel more traffic into your business.

Remember, traffic doesn’t mean much if it bounces as soon as it hits your store. That’s why optimisation should focus on targeted traffic. 

Conversion

More consumers finding your business gives you greater options to convert them. 

This is where your listing page, user experience and company values come into play. Trust factors such as reviews also help to convince them. 

The more consumers that convert, the more that you can remarket to and feed the flywheel. 

Experience

A positive customer experience will see your business earn sustained success. On the other hand, a bad experience will kill your ability to succeed. 

Things like delivery times, customer service and website useability all affect the customer experience. 

If you optimise these as part of your Digital Shelf strategy then it will only improve your overall business. 

Remarketing

One part of marketing that is often forgotten about is re-engagement or remarketing. 

You’ve put all that effort into getting customers, putting a fraction of the work into remarketing can be twice as effective. 

Repeat purchases reduce your customer acquisition cost and increase your discoverability. This feeds back into the flywheel growing your business further. 

Digital Shelf Marketing

Digital Shelf optimisation works hand in hand with your marketing strategy. In fact, good marketing campaigns help your Digital Shelf standing. 

The following strategies help with both visibility and converting potential customers. 

• Digital Shelf SEO
• Email Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Paid advertising

When we work with a client, we make sure that strategies are united across multiple channels and platforms. Regular strategy calls with your team can ensure that you’re working towards a common goal. 

What are the Benefits of Digital Shelf Optimisation?

Imagine how boosting your product’s visibility online could dramatically increase sales and brand recognition.

Optimising your digital shelf can do just that, while also enhancing the customer experience with better product information and accessibility.

Not only does it put you on the radar of potential customers, but it also heightens industry awareness of your brand’s visibility, making you a formidable player in online marketplaces.

Increased Visibility: Good DSO will place your product in front of the right audience.

Better Customer Experience: Systems will be streamlined and flow better meaning that customers will be more likely to buy again. It will also mean more word-of-mouth marketing which is highly valuable.

Better Industry Awareness: DSO will get the right kind of people talking about your brand by raising your awareness through collaborations and better positioning. 

What is Digital Shelf Analytics?

Digital Shelf analytics will help you to gain invaluable insights into product visibility, customer behaviour, and competition. 

It can help you map the customer purchase journey so that you can find any stumbling blocks and put improvements in place.

It’s important to have analytics set up correctly early on as when DSO gets into full flow, there will be traffic coming in from multiple sources. 

Establish KPIs so that you can quantify your team’s efforts on a monthly, quarterly and yearly basis. This will show you where you need to improve and where you’re doing well. 

Metrics for Digital Shelf Optimisation

You’re eager to optimise your digital shelf, but what key metrics should you be focusing on?

Let’s take a look at six performance indicators: 

1. Search Visibility
2. Conversion Rate
3. Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate
4. Click-Through Rate
5. Return Rate
6. Revenue

Understanding these key metrics will empower you to make strategic decisions that can boost your online sales and improve customer experience.

Best Practices for DSO

In your search for digital shelf space optimisation, consider implementing these few pointers that we’ve seen work for our clients:

• Optimise your listing pages.
• Incorporate visual elements.
• Embrace user-generated content.
• Don’t shy away from automating or outsourcing tasks when needed.

Optimised Listing Pages

The layout of your product pages should be designed in a way that highlights key information without overwhelming customers — simplicity is key here. 

Always remember that an intuitive user interface can significantly enhance the browsing experience and subsequently boost sales.

One of the most important parts of this is including the right keywords so that your listing page shows up on the Google search results page. An experienced SEO team can help with this. 

You mustn’t neglect mobile optimisation as most online shoppers use their smartphones for purchasing decisions these days. Make sure your product pages load quickly and look great on various screen sizes.

Page speed is another critical aspect of optimised listing pages; slow-loading websites often frustrate users and might lead them away from your site entirely. 

With these strategies in place, you’re well on your way towards a more effective digital shelf presence that drives conversions and enhances overall business performance.

Include Visual Elements

Don’t underestimate the power of visuals on your product listings; they can significantly increase engagement and conversion rates. 

Visual storytelling is a powerful tool that allows you to convey the features and benefits of your products in a compelling way.

Remember, the right blend of colours, high-quality images, engaging videos or animations will not only improve user experience but also enhance the overall perception of your brand leading to higher conversion rates.

User Generated Content

Consumers shopping online are becoming savvier about the possibility of fake and incentivised reviews. This will likely lead to decreasing levels of trust from traditional reviews. 

One of the best ways to get around this is to promote user-generated content and reviews of your products. 

Automate or Outsource Where Necessary

Consider turning to automation technology or outsourcing certain tasks for maximum efficiency and effectiveness. 

Outsourcing benefits are obvious, it frees up your time so you can focus on strategic decision-making and allows access to expert services and cutting-edge technology.

Also, remember that while some tasks might be more effective when outsourced, others might be better handled internally using automation technology.

When we work with clients on their Digital Shelf, we will use a mixture of our teams’ expertise and software. Really you need both to not only make a successful Digital Shelf strategy but also make it time-effective to implement. 

Always keep your eye out for what best suits your needs because ultimately good time management relates directly to successfully running an online business.

Digital Shelf Challenges

With an ever-changing landscape, balancing your presence across multiple platforms, and fierce competition, it’s certainly no walk in the park.

Having spoken to many companies about their struggles, we understand the Digital Shelf challenge that you face. Establishing what those challenges are will make sure that you don’t make the same mistakes.  

Everchanging

The digital space moves at a much quicker pace than the physical shelf. You have to contend with a multitude of challenges:

• Search engine algorithms
• Changes to best practices and regulations
• New competitors entering the market
• Turnover of company personal

It can be difficult for businesses to have the resources necessary to establish a Digital Shelf presence. If this is the case, you should consider outsourcing your Digital Shelf optimisation. 

Multiple Platforms

Consumer shopping and browsing habits are becoming more and more diverse. To make the most of the Digital Shelf you need to be showing up everywhere or risk missing out on customers. 

Amazon, Google Search, TikTok, the list grows and grows. Again, if you don’t have a team with the capabilities or time to handle these, then consider outsourcing to a company that does. 

High Competition

With market saturation being a constant issue, it’s imperative to keep up with e-commerce trends and differentiate your digital shelf from others. 

The online market is brimming with options, making customer loyalty harder to earn than ever before. 

Your business strategy needs to evolve beyond just offering quality products; you need to provide personalised experiences that make customers feel valued and understood.

No Physical Product Interaction

Consumers not being able to get their hands on the product is one major disadvantage when compared to physical stores.

This is why the visual and descriptive elements of your listing page are so important. Also, make sure to include accurate sizing guides and FAQs. 

Digital Shelf Tools

Digital Shelf Optimisation can’t be done without software to give you a helping hand. Third-party software allows you to work more efficiently and accurately. 

Traffic & Attribution Tools

Analytics tools offer invaluable insights into the online behaviour of your potential customers. They help you understand where your visitors are coming from and what they’re interacting with on your site. 

Yet another significant advantage these tools offer is conversion path insights. They highlight the customer journey from the first interaction through the final purchase. Understanding this pathway allows you to optimise all points of contact and ensure a seamless experience for shoppers.

These tools include:

• Google Analytics
• Google Search Console
• Google Tag Manager

Customer Relationship Management Software

The key to a successful online business is not just attracting customers but also nurturing those relationships for repeat purchases and loyalty. This is where effective CRM software steps in.

A CRM will allow you to store and tag all of your registrants, MQLs and SQLs. Once you know this information about your users the marketing possibilities become so much more valuable. 

Some examples:

• Hubspot
• Salesforce

Email Marketing Software

Target specific demographics in your subscriber segmentation with customised emails designed just for them. This not only increases engagement but also boosts deliverability rates.

The automation benefits of email marketing software go beyond simply saving time. It helps in creating a consistent brand voice across all communications and eliminating human error from the equation.

Your messages are sent out at optimal times for maximum open rates, ensuring that no opportunity is missed. Plus, the analytics provided by these platforms offer valuable insights into customer behaviour and preferences, allowing further refinements to your strategies.

Digital Shelf software for email:

• Klaviyo
• Mailchimp
• Autoresponder

Project Management Software

With the right software integration, you can centralize all your tasks and assignments, making it easier for everyone to stay on the same page. 

Moreover, project management software is instrumental in budget management. It allows you to track expenses in real time, compare actual costs against estimates, and get clear visibility into where your money is going. 

All these features not only improve efficiency but also enhance transparency within your organization. 

A few examples:

• Monday.com
• Asana
• Airtable

Review Management Software

This type of software helps you streamline and manage online reviews about your brand’s products, or services.

By leveraging review management software, you’re not just keeping tabs on your customer’s opinions; you’re proactively shaping the narrative around your brand. 

Its importance becomes even more apartment when implementing a strategic response to both positive and negative reviews.

Take a look at the following options:

• Trustpilot Business
• Birdeye

Order & Logistics Management Software

The ease of managing your inventory, order processing, and logistics increases exponentially with effective order and logistics management software. 

With features like inventory control, you can easily monitor stock levels in real time, preventing overstocking or running out of products unexpectedly. This way, you’re always ready to meet customer demands promptly. 

In addition to making inventory control seamless, this software dramatically improves supply chain efficiency by streamlining processes from procurement to delivery.