Creating a unique business image in the minds of the customers can remarkably boost sales. This power of branding can be seen in all the major brands across all sectors. Without strong brand identity, businesses can’t position themselves in the market and pitch themselves as industry stalwarts. This brand image must be kept coherent across the website, from the home page to the digital payment solution page.

A survey was conducted in September 2020 by Statista Research Department to study brand loyalty in India. The study aimed to understand if trust played a role in choosing the brands. The results weren’t shocking or unexpected. For 39% of the respondents, trust was a crucial factor. Trust can be easily associated with branding. The better the image of a business can be built through branding, the better the customers will trust it.

Nevertheless, some businesses go overboard with branding and commit mistakes that can make marketing pundits roll over in their graves!

Generally, small businesses miss out on framing proper brand guidelines and logos, settling for subpar average website designs, and failing to deliver the expected customer experience. As a result, they fail to build a loyal customer base and lose the opportunity to scale up their business. Here is a look at these cardinal branding sins online companies must avoid.

Not Having Brand Guidelines

Brand Guidelines refer to a set of regulations that define how the business would be branded. It restricts the business, its products, service, website, or any associated object to specific rules that align with the vision of the business. 

The guidelines ideally state the logo usage, color pallets, fonts and typeface, icons, and logos. It also provides copies of relevant files like logos, watermarks, etc. that can be used. It ensures that a similar design approach is used in all objects and materials related to the business. Not framing a strict brand guideline from the very beginning can lead to the brand getting diluted. 

This consistent but unique styling gets associated with the business and helps easily identify it. It subconsciously gets stuck in the customers’ minds, and they would be able to recognize the brand from the styling itself. Small businesses should avoid the mistake of not creating brand guidelines. They should also strictly enforce it across their business experience, even on the checkout page. The best payment gateway that offers seamless customization for small businesses is Zaakpay.

Underestimating the Importance of a Logo

Businesses are increasingly being identified by their logos. Customers might forget the name of a business but will never forget what its logo looks like, especially if it is extremely attractive and stands out of the ordinary. Many small businesses fail to realize how important the logo is. In the initial days, businesses don’t heed it, which may become a problem as the business scales. To avoid this, a unique and distinct logo should be created at the very beginning. 

It is important to note that a logo is not just a graphical illustration but a business representation. It should have some significance for the business. At the same time, it must be simple and something relatable. The key is to design a logo that is easy to remember. For example, the logo of Zaakpay is simply the name of the company, with the ‘Z’ indicating that it is moving at a fast pace. This signifies the quicker processing speed and reliability of the service.

Poor Website Design

A website is the most integral aspect of an online business. It is the interface through which the customers would interact with the business. A poorly designed website will lead to a bad customer experience. Small businesses usually settle for a poorly designed website to save money. This would prompt them to shift to another business that invests more in customer experience. In the long run, however, this leads to much more losses. 

Attributes of a poor website are:

• Slow response or loading time.
• Unpleasing fonts or colors.
• Lousy aesthetics.
• Lack of visual content.
• A confusing navigation panel.

Another dealbreaker is the mandatory registration requirement just before the digital payment solution gateway. A solution to this problem is to provide an option to register using a Google or Facebook account, preferably after making the online payment.

Publishing Wrong Content

‘To err is human’ – this is a common phrase we often come across. Indeed, mistakes do happen once in a while. However, it can become a problem if it happens too frequently. The content posted on the website or other social media handles is essential for customer engagement. It helps to reach more consumers while also providing them with a glimpse into the vision of the business. Errors in publishing content can bring down the business’s credibility while also attracting the wrong set of customers. 

Extra special care must be taken to ensure that the content is professionally written, free of grammatical errors, and easy to read. It must be proofread several times before finalizing. It must be ensured that the right content is posted on the right day at the right time. 

Neglecting Customer Experience

Customer experience refers to the overall experience that any consumer would have while purchasing from the business. This starts right from the virtual shopping cart to the digital payment solution to the after-sales customer support. It can be a grave mistake for the business to neglect the quality of their customer experience. Having a slow website, not supporting multiple payment modes, forcing customers to create accounts, and frequent transaction failures are a few situations that spoil a customer’s experience with the business.

The Takeaway 

With the correct branding, businesses can create a unique image for themselves. By signing up for a Zaakpay payment gateway, merchants can do away with the worry of implementing the brand on the gateway page. With its streamlined system, faster processing speed, support for multiple payment options, and several customization features, Zaakpay excels at maintaining the brand image of any business on the gateway page.