Social commerce tools such as ratings and reviews pave the way for three-way communication allowing brands to interact with consumers and vice-versa and also allowing consumers to share info with each other. If implemented and executed properly, the results are astounding, but failure to do things right in the first place can leave you wondering where your investment has gone.
The lines may be blurred when it comes to measuring the success of social commerce campaigns – but that doens't meant that measurement isn't possible, or social commerce isn't successful. In fact, out of the 50% of marketers who do measure the ROI of social commerce (according to their answers in a recent survey), 33% reported good or excellent ROI.
With 90% of purchases subject to some sort of social influence, it’s no surprise that social commerce is a top priority for businesses both now and heading into the new year. However, a new survey of marketers from Marketing Magazine reveals that the majority are missing out on the full potential of social commerce.
The obvious benefit of hosting Q&As on your site is that it removes doubts from the minds of consumers and helps them make a purchasing decision, giving businesses a healthy bump to their conversion. But how can this user generated content contribute to your SEO strategy?
One of the biggest recent trends in social commerce is the increased consumer demand for ratings of retailer and brand customer service. 86% of UK shoppers now rely on reviews from their peers to confirm their choice of retailer and brand, according to American Express research. This shift in consumer behaviour offers retailers and brands the chance to make their customer service a real sales driver.
Earlier this month, Richard Anson spoke to the IMRG Communications Channel Summit on the crucial importance for brands of controlling their online reputation.
He certainly didn't mean silencing your critics by censoring negative feedback. This tactic is a hangover from the pre-digital era and anyone trying it today will fail and will suffer a terrible consumer backlash.
Social commerce content has the potential to be a powerful tool to improve SEO for ecommerce. But not all social commerce tools are created equal and not all have the features necessary to help you with traffic and search engine rankings.
Here are the 3 key considerations when adding social content (like user reviews or consumer Q&A) to your site.
How would you expect an entry-level product to score in customer reviews compared to a high-end product?
According to Forrester Research’s latest report, social media rarely leads to purchases online. We have a huge amount of respect for Forrester’s expertise, but this conclusion is seriously flawed. By failing to examine the most effective aspects of social commerce, including reviews and ratings, recommendations and community building, they have misinterpreted the role social media really plays in the shopping process.
More and more companies are waking up to the business benefits of transparency. Honesty is frequently a legal requirement, but transparency takes being honest with your customers one step further, sharing more information with them than is legally necessary.
This may seem like a big risk in an ever more competitive marketplace, but there are some surprising business benefits to transparency.