HEALTHY FOOD ECOMMERCE COMMUNICATIONS

Selling healthy food and beverages in the e-commerce space demands nutritionally sound, consistent and relevant communication. Right pre and post-sale communication that links the product with customer, can help you succeed in the e-commerce space. The key is to listen to your consumer from concept through to the purchase and re-purchase stage. Build nutritionally sound, regulatory-approved messages that resonate with your consumer. If your consumer speaks, listen. Edit your messages if you must.

The key is to listen to your consumer and learn what resonates best with them.  Edit your content to match consumer needs.

Your ecommerce interaction begins with the website or an online advertisement. Lets take a closer look at how best to leverage the website and its different components, for healthy food product promotion.

Healthy Food E-commerce Promotion On The Website

The website should not just speak about the organization and the brand, but it should also host extensive product-linked information. This will boost consumer confidence in the product, and  help consumers make an informed purchase decision. And for this, it would be beneficial to include the following information on the website:

• the nutrition information panel
• the ingredient list
• key product benefits*
• tips on how to use the product
• tips on how the product can support a healthy diet
• healthy recipes*
• clinical research results
• consumer testimonials.

* Visit the winning concept and results of the consumer market research you conducted pre-product development. Use this information to identify key attributes linked with both health and nutrition, that resonated with consumers. Among these benefits, select nutrition benefits that can be  substantiated and are in sync with local regulations. Use this information, to compile a claim dossier for all approved claims, as regulators today are reviewing online content too.

To promote health food sales, include nutritionally-sound, regulatory-approved claims on your website. 

In terms of recipes*, you could work with a chef or get consumers to contribute recipes. All recipes must be healthy recipes cooked with lower fat, salt and sugar levels and healthier ingredients. Healthy recipes help ensure that the integrity of a healthy diet will be maintained, with the inclusion of the health food product.

Healthy product recipes, must include only healthy ingredients and less sugar, salt or fat, as the overall goal with a healthy food product inclusion, is to support healthy eating habits. 

The website is a good place to show case the positive results of a clinical study, once the paper has been published. Consumer testimonials which showcase successful product usage, are a must-include on the website. Testimonials help boost consumer confidence in the product.

Use the website to provide consumers all the information they need to make informed product purchase decisions with confidence. 

Blog 

Build a blog site on your website and blog consistently. Blog about product attributes and benefits,  how the product can be used and its inclusion in a healthy diet. This information will motivate consumers who are leading healthy lifestyles or aspiring to adopt healthy eating habits, to try your healthy food product. Also, allow readers to leave comments and monitor and revert on consumer comments regularly.

Blog about product benefits, how it can be used and its inclusion in a healthy diet. This will motivate consumers interested in adopting healthy eating habits, to try your healthy food product. 

Product Testimonials

Positive product testimonials can give consumers the confidence to purchase a healthy food product. Negative product stories should not be published. But, they can be leveraged to address myths about the product; or to revisit product formulation, especially if taste or overall quality is an issue.

Live Chat

A live chat feature is recommended on the website, as it helps consumers get an immediate response to product-linked queries. And pre-training of all individuals in charge of the live chat is of essence, so that they can provide accurate responses to consumers. SEO optimization of product information on the website is important, as it is likely to lead consumers to the website.

FAQs, Emails and Phone Service

If a live chat is costly, an extensive list of product FAQs with appropriate responses and an opportunity to submit email queries or use a phone service is of essence, so that consumers get appropriate responses to their queries. With this, they can make informed product decisions quickly. This helps build consumer confidence in the product and the brand, and the consumer will be more likely to revisit the site for a repeat purchase.

Post-sales Monitoring

Even after a product has been sold, it is important to continue to engage with consumers, to support future product sales. Following are some key post-sales considerations to support re-purchase of your healthy food product.

Post on a range of social media platforms

Traditional and social media advertisements e.g., TVCs, google or Facebook advertisements are important, but they are expensive. To limit cost, you  may want to look at the basic message in the advertisement and consider publicising the messages via posts on a range of platforms e.g. blogs, Instagram, Facebook or YouTube. This can help you effectively promote the message and your healthy food product to consumers.

Traditional & social media advertising can be costly. Identify your key promotion messages, and publicise them via posts on different social media platforms. 

Blog

Continue the roll out of blogs to motivate consumers to consume the product and adopt a healthy diet; as when it comes to healthy eating, consumers need constant reminders. Also, give users an opportunity to voice their point of view in the comments section. This will help you determine blog efficacy and message resonance with consumers.

Consumer Content 

Give consumers an opportunity to create something unique e.g. a set of recipes or dietary tips, or share testimonials about their healthy lifestyle with the adoption of the product, with their picture (only if they approve!) on the website. When this content is published online, consumers will be more likely to send their friends and family members to the website, and this could mean additional sales for you!

Finally, remember that whatever platform you decide to use, it is important that a standard set of messages are used in all modes of communication. Message consistency is important. Also, keep listening to your consumer and tweaking your messages as you go, so that you only use messaging that resonates with your consumer. This is super important, as its right messaging that helps sell a product and build consumer confidence in the product, in the ecommerce world. Good luck with your healthy food product promotion!

For An Additional Read:

For more information on Ecommerce Communication you read the following articles:

1. Doing Ecommerce Communication Right. By Ajeet Kurana. Aug 16, 2019. You can find the article here.
2. Why Communication Is Essential In Ecommerce. By Catalin Zorzini. Nov 5, 2015. You can find the article here.