Warby Parker eCommerce Success Case (2)
Miguel Nicolás
03/12/2024
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In this second part of Warby Parker's eCommerce success story, we are going to analyze their content strategy.
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As you may have already discovered by reading the first post of this series, Warby Parker is an online optical store.We can say they have achieved much more than just revolutionizing a market: they have managed to carve out their own niche based on a need that even the market itself was not aware could be met online.
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Warby Parker's Marketing Strategy
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Now let's focus on how they accomplished something much harder than it seems: bringing their vision to the right audience. In other words, what is Warby Parker's marketing strategy?As I mentioned before, this is one of the most interesting eCommerce success cases, due to:
- How they effectively use digital channels for communication, especially social media and email marketing (stay tuned, as we’ll dedicate a full article to this).
- A multichannel business development where eCommerce and retail coexist and complement each other.
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INSIGHT: Warby Parker relies on the offline channel, but instead of seeing it as a weakness, they have made physical stores part of the experience and “sell” it to their audience.
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Warby Parker: Content Creators with Vision
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Of course, although the term “content creator” is often associated with influencers who use their profiles to showcase lifestyles or discuss various topics, brands can also be content creators.Interestingly, much like other content creators, their communications rarely involve campaigns directly aimed at sales or promotions, which is unusual for brands.
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INSIGHT: Warby Parker invests resources and creativity into small content pieces that build brand awareness while helping position and define their tone.
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Let’s break down the strategy by highlighting the main types of content found on Warby Parker’s social media.
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#1 – Lifestyle
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Selling glasses as a solution to a visual problem might be functional but is not “sexy.” However, associating glasses with a lifestyle, as seen on Instagram, transforms them from something optional into an object that helps us read wonderful books, watch sunsets, or enjoy movies at the cinema. This creates an aspirational connection with the potential customer; they are not patients but people enjoying life.
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Warby Parker’s connection with literature is especially strong. Their name comes from two characters in a Jack Kerouac novel, and this theme extends beyond digital, as their stores are inspired by libraries and bookshops.Moreover, since Warby Parker also makes the frames, the aesthetic component adds a fashion-forward feel, making it seem more like a fashion eCommerce than a conventional optical store.
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INSIGHT: Warby Parker focuses on the benefits of the product rather than technical features, appealing emotionally to customers.
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#2 – Influencers and Collaborations
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In their strategy, inspiration and style are important. In terms of online marketing, this means influencer marketing.They frequently collaborate with Internet celebrities who have large followings but ensure these influencers align with their brand philosophy and appeal to their target audience.A prime example is their collaboration with podcaster Emma Chamberlain (who has over 14 million Instagram followers). Instead of simply featuring her as a model, they created an entire collection with her.
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They even extended this collaboration with illustrator Isabella Cotier, who contributed her artistic vision of Emma wearing the glasses.
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INSIGHT: Influence without engagement is not as effective. Creating a product and universe around it amplifies the effect. The influencer becomes a brand ambassador.
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#3 – Memes, Lots of Memes
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Let me ask you a question: Why do people go on social media? Sure; to kill the time and, if possible, have a little fun. Putting creative effort into developing your own memes shows a clear understanding of how the platform works.Warby Parker creates, they do not just grab a trending GIF (or one that was trending five years ago) and slap their brand on it with varying degrees of humor. No, no... they pay close attention to the image and video editing. It is fantastic to see how they create their own versions of scenes from series and movies, always adding a twist related to glasses.This version of an iconic scene from the equally iconic The Office is a masterful example of product placement and branding, seemingly coming out of nowhere.
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But they have thousands of ideas, their profiles are an oasis of creativity and wit, something hard to find. We could provide thousands more examples, but it is better if you check out their social media profiles to get fresh ideas.
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INSIGHT: If your brand has a casual tone, do not be afraid to laugh at yourself. Engage customers by being relatable.
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#4 – Product
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Let’s not lose sight of what’s important. It is great to make our brand memorable and stay in the user’s mind, but the final goal is still converting to sales.That is why, from time to time, it is important to showcase the product clearly and without distractions. Warby Parker publishes their spring, summer, winter, and fall collections seasonally, as well as special editions they release periodically. Although we can find images and videos on their profile timelines, they also use Instagram Highlights to ensure these are always accessible.
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INSIGHT: Alternating between inspirational and transactional content is the way to keep your audience’s attention and ensure they come back to visit your profiles again in the future.
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#5 – Retail Channel and Physical Stores
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We have already mentioned that for Warby Parker, their stores are an important brand asset. That’s why they don’t hesitate to "show them off" on their social media.It is very easy to come across images of their storefronts, their counters, and their employees. They have found in the digital channel a platform to present their establishments to the public, especially the new ones.
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On some occasions, as part of their collaboration strategy or for a seasonal reason, they open pop-up stores. Because of their ephemeral nature, social media is perfect for quickly ensuring reach and segmenting locally.
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INSIGHT: The marketing of your business should be transversal, and when you have physical stores, it is highly advisable to make everything work in coordination, creating a 360º experience for the customer.
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Warby Parker on Social Media
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We have just seen how this company handles content creation very well, everything they do makes sense and is aimed at impacting or converting. By analyzing their content marketing, you surely have discovered many ideas that you can apply to your own eCommerce.However, and this is important, the use they make of the platforms themselves, you will see that it is not the most efficient, even though they have hundreds of thousands of followers. Therefore, we are going to extract insights also, about what should not be done.
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INSIGHT: Having good content helps significantly, but a strategy that is not adequately optimized will make the reach fall short of the brand's potential. Warby Parker could get much more out of their effort.
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Surely they have a very clear idea of how they should manage their networks, but at first glance, there are two things they are not doing well.The first is that, having almost perfect content, they use all platforms to distribute it simultaneously. The same video is on Instagram Reels, Facebook, TikTok, or YouTube Shorts. This is a strategic mistake because each network has a language and a target audience.
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INSIGHT: Why would someone follow us on more than one network if they are going to be seeing the same content repeatedly?
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On the other hand, it seems that they have opened accounts on all possible platforms, but they only appear to have a real interest in Instagram and TikTok.On Facebook, they continue posting because of the large number of followers they have, but on “Twitter” (still linked as X from their homepage), they have let some of their customer support accounts die off, where they have not posted content since April 2023.
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INSIGHT: Being present just to be present is a wrong decision. Create your mix of social networks based on what, objectively, you can keep updated. For the rest of the networks, register them to avoid reputational issues, but do not take on more than you can handle.
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What do you think about the role that social media plays in Warby Parker’s eCommerce success? Well, get ready for the third post and their email marketing.