Brand consistency is the golden key of online marketing. It helps find solutions to convert more, and ultimately increase sales. According to Lucidpress research, creating a consistent brand can increase revenue by 33%. Consistency in message, visual identity, and tone of voice accounts for a strong customer experience, and helps understand what they should expect, how to interact with a product, while encouraging them to come back and purchase some more.
No matter the channel they operate on, brands should aim at providing a unified experience in line with their branding elements, including core values, visual elements and messaging. This helps brands create a strong bond with their audience, leading to long-term benefits for the company’s success.
But why is it so important? Nowadays, should brands pay more attention to creating excellent products or delivering the best-in-class services that clients need and want to buy? Why should brands invest time and effort in creating “consistent” customer experiences? Here are a few reasons:
- First impression counts
When looking to attract new users, consider the impression they get when they approach a brand website or app for the first time. According to research, it takes only 0.05 seconds for users to get a first impression of a brand website or product, even before navigating or interacting. Brand marketers or user designers should make sure they provide an impactful and consistent experience across all the channels – from social media ads to website presentation or in-app purchases. This means creating a user journey with a unique experience – from colors to visuals and messaging. Imagine a brand that advertises a product as fun and trendy, but the actual user journey is boring and serious! It would lead potential customers to confusion and they might leave without purchasing what they were looking for!
- Consumers trust brands they recognize.
Many marketers invest time and energy to create a solid brand that users will remember, but brand recognition is not just about getting your name, claims or colors out there, it’s about creating a set of elements that users can find everywhere, with which they can connect on a personal level. Starbucks is a great example of that: customers can enjoy the exact same experience no matter where they are located – the menu is the same, the waiters make the same spelling mistakes when they write your name on a cup! Apply that rule to digital touchpoints, customers will be more likely to come back to e-commerce websites where each page includes the same information, with a consistent layout and visual options, making it easy to browse and click on “check out”!
Brand consistency is not just important to help users remember a brand or company, it is also useful to help create what is known as “Aha moments” – feelings of delight that reveal the product’s true value as remembered by the human brain. Research has long shown that purchases are more often driven by emotions than logic. In fact, according to Harvard Professor Gerald Zaltman, 95% of purchase decision-making takes place in the subconscious mind, driven by emotions and past positive experiences.
- Visuals enhance brand consistency
By now, we know that consistency is fundamental to guarantee a brand’s success, including getting consistent visual content, but it is often challenging, especially for international companies dealing with different corporate branches or different external agencies, each with their own view of what the brand’s look and feel should be like.
BOOM comes into the game to help companies scale up visual production and keep consistent results everywhere, regardless of location, thanks to the standard guidelines created with the brands and our proprietary Visual Production Platformthat standardizes the management and production of visuals.
Interested in finding out more about keeping your brand consistent with visuals? Get in touch with us now!