How to Effectively Communicate Your Brand’s USP Through Your Website

A Unique Selling Proposition (USP) differentiates your brand, product or service from the competition. Having a USP to stand out within a saturated online landscape is fundamental. Defining your unique position within the market, it is the essence of your business, the value you offer and the solution you provide. Finding an authentic point of difference is tough, to be effective, the selling point should be different for every brand, examples could include an extended warranty, a reward system, free engraving services or 0% finance options.

In the ultra-competitive eCommerce world, communicating your USP clearly and quickly can be the difference between a conversion for you and a conversion for your competitors. Yes, it’s important to get the message right, but it’s also important to communicate it effectively too.

Five ways to effectively communicate USPs

Add a USP bar

Your unique selling proposition should be made visible on every page possible to reinforce your brand’s offering. A USP bar could be added either at the top of your header or just underneath it for maximum exposure. Keep in mind, it needs to be effectively designed for desktop and mobile separately, don’t just transfer your desktop version to your mobile version as it may lose impact. There’s more space available to play with on desktop, so your mobile messaging needs to be punchier. Opumo feature their USP bar above their header, using wording that fits readily into both their mobile and desktop versions effectively. If you’ve got more than one USP that needs promoting across your site, a rotating bar could be used.

Henchmen have chosen to display their USPs under the header but through careful design consideration, the effect remains the same. On the desktop view, four separate selling points are visible while on mobile, maximum impact is ensured by a rotating USP bar.

Maximise your product detail page

Throughout their journey, customers need constantly reminding why they should buy from you, reinforcing confidence in their purchase decision. Adding a dedicated USP block on the product detail page is an effective way to do this. These USPs could be specific to the displayed product or you could use this space to entice purchase by promoting free next day delivery, free returns or finance options. Beerhawk do this well, showcasing their delivery timescales, robust packaging and order updates directly below the section where products are added to the cart.

Optimise your mini basket

If your brand offers a strong delivery or finance proposition, keep this front of mind during your customers’ purchase journey. Topshop are a great example of this, they’ve added multiple messaging features to their mini basket, promoting one of Europe’s largest banks and payment solutions, Klarna as well as free shipping.

Henchmen has also done this effectively, promoting delivery options within the shopping bag. Although you may think the user is coming to the end of their purchase journey, a staggering 69 percent of consumers abandon their cart at the checkout, making it an important time to reinforce why they should purchase from you.

Get creative with your tagline

Creating an engaging tagline is an effective way of succinctly communicating your USP to potential consumers. Associating a tagline to your brand’s logo is a great way of increasing brand recognition, attaching to all your marketing material including email signatures, brochures, signage, website, social media and business cards.

It’s difficult to create a tagline that honestly and effectively represents
your brand as an entirety, but when done effectively, it can be a memorable way of promoting your USP. Displaying this at different points on the website or incorporated into your company logo will only further enhance your brand recognition.

Reinforce with email

Adding a USP block within your confirmation, marketing or automated emails is an effective way of cementing why the customer bought from your brand and reminding them why they should return to you in the future. This USP block could be added into the header or footer and used to promote relevant USPs such as free next day delivery or student discount.

The example below has been implemented by Supercuts covering USPs including opening times, geographical spread, student discount and available payment options, along with a relevant website link for each.

By researching and testing which methods resonate best with your target market, you could further improve the positive impact on consumer buying behaviour. Many eCommerce retailers sit within an overcrowded marketplace and it’s therefore essential to not only provide a standout reason to shop with you, but to shout about it too!

Communicating your USPs in an effective, impactful and highly visible way gives consumers a reason to choose you over your competitors from the first point of interaction with your brand. Interested in learning how to communicate your USPs? Our in-house eCommerce Strategist has the expertise and experience to help your business, contact the team to find out how.