This presentation was created and delivered by Nate Archer, Content Strategy Specialist at Myplanet Digital.

2. Learning
from the
Shopkeep
er
Content Strategy for Ecommerce

4. Learning From The Shopkeeper
• Technology continues to evolve
and expand the scope of
Ecommerce
• We can learn a lot from the
fundamentals of sales
• Translate their wisdom to the
world of content and user
experience in Ecommerce
• 8 learning lessons

5. 1. Start With A
Purpose
Shopkeepers have a clearly
defined mission and
understand how to deliver on
it.

6. Case Study:
Mjolk

7. 1. Start With A Purpose
• Define a clear vision that can
guide content and design
decisions
• Core Strategy (coming up…)
• Focus on users and define
yourself in their terms
• Use your content to
demonstrate this vision to
customers

8. 1. Start With A Purpose
• Core Strategy
• Central idea for using content to fulfill
user goals and achieve business
objectives
• Guide content creation and governance
• Focused audience, approach and niche
• Examples
• Curating and promoting high quality
Japanese and Scandinavian
housewares for young professionals
settling down in Toronto

9. 2. Be More
Than Just A
Store
Shopkeepers understand that
successful shops become
more than a place to buy
things.

10. Case Study:
Threadless

11. 2. Be More Than Just A Store
• What separates you from the
rest?
• Think about ways to add
value to user’s beyond being
a retailer
• Editorial strategy
• Engage customers with
relevant, educational, and
entertaining content across
channels

12. 2. Be More Than Just A Store
• Editorial strategy
• Creating relevant content for your
audience that retains their attention and
enriches your brand
• Let’s your voice shine through
• Supports business goals

13. 3. Talk With
Customers
Shopkeepers understand that
making conversation builds
relationships and gives you
deep insight into your
customers.

14. Case Study:
Zappos

15. 3. Talk With Customers
• Engage your customers and
learn from them
• Find out their interests, lifestyle and
opinion
• User research
• Evolve: put insight into action
• Never underestimate the
power of asking “how are you
doing?”
• Personalize and connect

16. 3. Talk With Customers
• User Research
• Online retailers can’t talk directly to
every customer, but pick a few and
begin
• Surveys, one-on-one interviews,
metrics, usability tests all provide
tremendous insights
• Examples
• What are their interests and how can
you support these?
• How do they use your store and how
can you improve the experience?

17. 4. Have A
Passionate
Personality
Shopkeepers are passionate
about what they do and aren’t
afraid to let their big
personalities shine through.

18. Case Study:
Mailchimp

19. 4. Have A Passionate Personality
• Content is your voice online
• Images, text, communications,
messaging
• Use content to communicate
a consistent and unique
voice
• Think back to your core strategy!
• Let your customers know
how passionate you are

20. 5. Be A Part Of The
Community
Shopkeepers weave
themselves into the fabric of
their neighbourhood, learning
from competitors and also
making friends

21. Case Study:
Tattly

22. 5. Be A Part Of The Community
• Leverage knowledge of your
users
• “Be” where they “live” (where it makes
sense)
• Learn from competitors
• Analyze what they’re doing right and
wrong
• Learn how to improve and differentiate
• Partner up to build strength
• Curate content from others
• Share resources

23. 6. Have A Good
Memory
Shopkeepers never forget a
face and utilize their memory
to deliver personalized and
relevant service

24. Case Study:
Etsy

25. 6. Have A Good Memory
• Demonstrate your
understanding of customer
goals, interests and attributes
• Build the experience around them
• Tailor content to them
• Reach out when it matters to
them
• Pull vs. push
• Tailor messaging and communications
to match the customer

26. 7. Know Your
Products
Shopkeepers build trust by
believing in and being
knowledgeable about the
products they sell and
showing them off to
customers.

27. Case Study:
Toyls of Labur

28. 7. Know Your Products
• Choose products you believe
in and fulfill your vision
• Do inventory to be sure
everything is up to date and
on point
• Content Audit (more to come)
• Evolve your stock over time
to ensure your offering is
meeting user needs

29. 7. Know Your Products
• Content Audit
• Inventory and assessment tool to help
manage and maintain content, ensuring
it meets stakeholder and user goals
• Assess each piece of content against a
series of criteria, determine if it’s
acceptable, needs improvement or no
longer necessary and take action
• Repeat on schedule to ensure content
is current, effective and properly
maintained

30. 8. Structure Your
Environment
Shopkeepers know how to set
the stage to show off their
products, from window
displays and merchandising to
tagging and packaging.

31. Case Study:
Amazon

32. 8. Structure Your Environment
• Graphic design and
interactive elements are key,
but so is structure
• Arrange shop furniture to
fulfill user behaviours and
business needs
• Information Architecture
• Group products together
artfully to paint the picture for
customers

33. 8. Structure Your Environment
• Information Architecture
• The art and science of organizing
information, merging content, context
and users into a cohesive structure
• Content Modeling
• Information Architecture for a single
type of content, what goes where and
why.
• Well structured content can be easily
adjusted to suit changing contexts, and
re-used for other purposes

34. 8. Structure Your Environment
• Don’t forget to label and tag
items
• Taxonomy
• Build relationships between products
to provide relevant referrals
• Example
• If you liked that, you might like this

35. Learning From The Shopkeeper
1. Start With A Purpose
2. Be More Than Just A Store
3. Talk With Customers
4. Have A Passionate Personality
5. Be A Part Of The Community
6. Have A Good Memory
7. Know Your Products
8. Structure Your Environment

36. Thanks!