Marketing & Spare Parts
Part 1 of 5 of our most important insights for spare parts Web shops
We all know spare parts are not suitable for marketing on a product level. They’re functionally designed, have names like ‘100-160/2-A-F-B BQQE 3×400’ and most important: your clients don’t need them.
Until they need them.
At which time the 2 main questions are:
1 – Will they find your Webshop?
2 – Will they choose your Webshop?
Online pull marketing strategies like SEO, content marketing, Google AdWords, seem to be the first answer to question 1.
But to choose your Webshop will depend on a variety of things. The most important: brand awareness – is your Webshop known amongst your potential customers? Do they trust you? Are you an authority? Do you have the reviews? Do they like you? Are you service oriented and friendly?
In interviews with our clients we found that – in relation to being trusted and liked – the most important thing to realize is that your B2B customers (e.g. service engineers, mechanics) order their parts mostly during some sort of ‘stressful’ situation.
Something is broken, time is money, service contracts are under pressure. They need to be absolutely SURE they are ordering the RIGHT part ASAP, as any mistake will take extra time and add to theirs, or their customers’, problems.
In a Webshop, this translates to an easy-to-find-product navigation, maximum certainty of ordering the right product and a speedy delivery.
Notice that ‘price’ is not mentioned above. Generally speaking, searching for a cheaper part in another Webshop in a stressful situation does not outweigh certainty and speed.