The One-Minute Luxury Digital Content Health Assessment

FSW discusses why regular content health assessments are critical for the current and future states of luxury digital and e-commerce.

When you’re sick, you never question the utility of going to a doctor.

You’re just concerned about getting better as soon as possible.

Luxury e-commerce is arguably sick and grappling with reliable service models to drive ROI, meet consumer needs, and bring innovation at scale.

The marketplace model of platforms like Farfetch and Matchesfashion failed to deliver upon expectations, even though outliers like MyTheresa continue to thrive. Luxury brands that choose to go the independent path of brand-site e-commerce face a bevy of challenges at scale, including competition with e-commerce giants like Amazon and Walmart, social-first and DTC brands, and, of course, luxury resellers and vintage sites, never mind the vicissitudes of CRM and the creator economy.

As we noted in our white paper, “Luxury E-Commerce’s Big Opportunity,” earlier this year, there are many reasons for the current state of luxury digital. Yet, one thing is clear: many luxury brands struggle to differentiate themselves and connect with consumers in the face of the new luxury brand-consumer paradigm where authentic content and storytelling direct commerce and consumers are in the driver’s seat.

Of course, knowing you’re sick and taking action to find the right cure are two different things.

Tackling the future of luxury e-commerce is a large-scale problem of digital transformation that is by its nature overwhelming. Like the prospect of omnichannel content strategy, starting small is a sensible way to approach what’s next for luxury e-commerce.

To get started with thinking about how to improve digital experience and to begin diving into the world of content strategy, one essential tool luxury brand teams can use is a quick content health assessment checklist or a “one-minute content audit.”

What is a one-minute luxury content audit?

A “one-minute content audit” is a tool luxury brands can use to get a real-time, brief snapshot of brand content on a specific touchpoint at a discrete moment in time. This type of checklist is by its nature summative but can provide important insights into how consumers experience content on a specific channel, never mind any gaps, errors, or other performance issues that may exist. It is high level but provides a quick sanity check to get a sense of glaring gaps in the way your content engages with your target audience.

Our team at FSW has designed a sample template for “Luxury E-Commerce One Minute Content Audit” that brands can adapt to their needs. Our checklist is intended as a brief content health assessment of a brand’s e-commerce website and includes the following questions:

1. Is the brand identifiable from the content and product visuals alone?

2. Are the brand’s story and value proposition unique and clearly stated on the homepage?

3. Does on-page content like headlines, product descriptions, and buttons (calls-to-action) help or hinder finding products easily?

4. Is customer support easy to find if you need it?

Why does luxury content health matter?

The “health” of a brand’s content is a register of current state “content wellness,” a brand-specific combination of content performance and ROI, along with UX and content best practices. Luxury content health matters because it is a real-time gauge of consumer sentiment and applied brand strategy through the brand’s own communications and marketing outputs.

A content health assessment or audit is a handy template many content strategists use as part of standard operating procedures for managing and overseeing brand content. In addition to monitoring social media analytics and conducting social listening, a standard part of luxury brand content operations should include regular checkups or audits of brand content within and across channels as part of ongoing content management and oversight to assess ongoing content performance, gaps, opportunities, and challenges.

It is key to note that luxury “content” in this context can be either digital or IRL, inclusive of our definition of:

Content is any touchpoint where your audiences encounter your brand messaging.

Luxury brand content includes digital content, including a brand’s website, social channels, and digital marketing, as well as in-store advertising, products, branded events and experiences, etc.

The scope and depth of a luxury content health assessment depend on the brand’s needs. It can comprise either a brief checklist audit of a single channel or a comprehensive, multi-channel content audit.

While a luxury content health assessment by itself cannot fix what’s wrong with luxury e-commerce, taking control of brand content and investing in a holistic, integrated content strategy will benefit luxury brands in the long run and help them create content experiences more closely targeted to consumer needs and brand vision.