Lesson #4 - Maintaining the Love

I love David’s Bridal so much that this week’s post is dedicated to that socially savvy and totally trendy Bride loving brand all over again!

Visiting David’s Bridal’s website is a fun, enjoyable, and informative experience for Brides of all kinds. It’s updated constantly with the latest additions to their various collections including bridal gowns, bridesmaid’s dresses, shoes, accessories and much more. With daily deals and online promotions, sometimes the website is more effective than an in-person stop at a David’s Bridal store!

There are several sections of the website that take a Bride far past just browsing for her gown or her bridal party dresses and introduce fresh and new content. The “Dress Your Wedding” link takes her to a virtual world where she can create her entire bridal party and actually put them in their outfits. She can even change the background to fit something closer to her actual wedding atmosphere. This option gives her the ability to “see” what her wedding party will look like when they are standing next to her.

The “Color &Style Inspiration” link brings her to a place where she can do just that…get inspired. There are links to the David’s Bridal catalog and look book, to the latest bridal trends, to real life wedding stories, and of course, to their blog and social media sites. One of the neatest features in this section is the “Find Your Figure” tool. It allows her to click on the body figure that most resembles her own and then gives her ideas for the types of dress that will look most faltering on her.

There is also a “WeddingSolutions” link that offers her advice on various parts of the wedding planning process, apart from dress and shoe buying. This section of the site shows viewers that David’s Bridal is more than just a wedding dress retailer, but that they are also true industry professionals with a great knowledge for their product and beyond. With links to local vendors, tips and advice articles, photographers, reception services and much more, it shows that David’s Bridal is a true expert when it comes to helping you plan your special day.

One of the best features of the David’s Bridal website is their “My Event” section. This is a great way to get Brides hooked on their site and coming back for more than just dresses and shoes and really plays to that “industry professional” piece we just talked about. The My Event site provides her with all of the tools needed to plan her special day. From a budget calculator to a shopping list, this is her virtual filing cabinet and will help keep her on task with the planning process. The best part – it’s completely mobile friendly! 

As you can see, David’s Bridal’s website is a fun and interactive place for Brides to play, dream, create, and be inspired. With “share” and “like” buttons on every buyable item’s page, it’s easy for users to share their findings with friends and followers alike. The best part about their website though is that you can continue dreaming and creating on your smart phone as well! Their mobile website is user friendly and easy to navigate, just like their online version, so the planning doesn’t have to stop when you leave your computer.

In visiting the David’s Bridal website, you will encounter some “push marketing” tactics like a pop up chat window that allows you to speak directly with a David’s Bridal representative, emails that offer promotions and insider tips on the latest trends in the wedding industry, and pop up ad windows showing off their exclusive wedding invitation collection. They also make great use of “pull marketing” techniques by giving you the opportunity to sign up for email newsletters, being the first link when “wedding dresses” is searched on Google, an opportunity to sign up for text messages alerts on promotions and trends,  and offer great real-life advice and stories on their official blog site.

Throughout all of David’s Bridal’s multiple online outlets, consistent branding and theming is seen on every platform. From Facebook to Twitter and Instagram to banner ads and websites, the use of their logo and similar colors (depending on the fashion season of course) makes it easy to navigate between each site and never feel lost or confused.

There isn’t a lot about the David’s Bridal website, or brand in general, that I would change. However, there is always room for improvement. I think that marketing their My Event tool more could prove quite useful. I had never even heard of their event tools until pretty recently, I thought that only brands with planning tools were The Knot and Wedding Wire. These two brands also off their planning tools in an app, something David's Bridal could benefit from greatly. It’s also pretty difficult to find their blog on their website and social media platforms. In fact, I’m not entirely sure how I happened upon in the first place. The only way I could find the link to it on their website, was at the VERY bottom of the site in a “Connect With Us” section that houses links to their Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube accounts. They obviously have a great presence in social media, but I feel like they could do a better job of sharing that with their website visitors.

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