EcommerceMarketing – Page 7

Category: EcommerceMarketing

EcommerceMarketing

Is Facebook More Effective Than Pinterest For Ecommerce?

According to a new study, the answer is yes. There’s some interesting research out from commerce data provider Jirafe looking at the impact of Pinterest and Facebook across 80,000 profitable ecommerce sites. While Pinterest has certainly become an ecommerce darling, and will only continue that trend with Buyable Pins, it shouldn’t come as a huge shock that the study found Facebook to be the dominant source of social traffic and revenue for brands.

Have you had more success with Facebook or Pinterest? Either? Both? Let us know in the comments.

“Pinterest just announced its buy button, and Facebook is working on theirs and they added buy functionality to Instagram. Our merchants have been asking us where they even start with implementing it,” said Jirafe CEO Amit Shah. “They all review their Customer Lifetime Value data by channel data, and their marketing channel profitability data in Jirafe and it contradicts what industry experts are saying with regard to whether Pinterest drives more traffic than Facebook. For example, some studies cite Facebook as the most popular site, but that shoppers that are referred by Pinterest are more likely to buy and spend more.”

“We work with more than 80,000 brands, and we wanted to validate what moves the needle for them right now, so they can start planning their strategy for the future,” Shah added. “Hands down Facebook was the clear winner in terms of traffic, revenue, and orders.”

According to the study, Facebook visitors spend 3.5X more than the average visitors from Pinterest, and Facebook traffic converts 17% higher, though the conversion rates for both sources are still less than 1%. Facebook drives much greater traffic at a ratio of 8:1.

The study also found that Facebook drove 23X more orders than Pinterest for merchants over the first five months of the year. Across Jirafe’s merchant base Facebook also drove $32 in revenue for every $1 that Pinterest generated.

“The new wave of buy buttons from Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, etc. is meant to remove friction from merchants’ purchase funnels – and make the buying process about the customer,” said Shah. “The most important thing for merchants to know is which channel will pack the biggest punch for their brand.”

There has been recent research indicating that Pinterest is still an effective channel for ecommerce, and that’s even before the Buyable Pins announcement:

There are plenty in the industry that will dispute Facebook being a better source of ecommerce traffic than Pinterest. For example, eMarketer has a new article out quoting an ecommerce exec:

“Pinterest is already serving as more of a proven driver for ecommerce sales than Facebook and Twitter have to date,” said David Rekuc, marketing director at Ripen eCommerce. “While FB and Twitter are definitely sending traffic to online retailers, Pinterest is sending more-qualified traffic.”

That’s because many users of Pinterest are there to create what Rekuc describes as, essentially, “socially curated glorified wish lists.”

He goes on to make the case that you might be able to reach the right people on Facebook, but at the wrong time, which is where Pinterest shines.

Still, there’s no disputing that sheer size of Facebook and the ability it has to send traffic to webistes. It has long been the leading referrer of social media traffic, and while Pinterest has held the number two spot for a while, it’s really not even close.

Do you expect Buyable Pins to make a big difference in Pinterest-based sales as they become available? Discuss.

Images via Facebook, Pinterest, Shopify

June 8, 2015
Is Social Media Very Good For Ecommerce Conversions?

Social media might not be all that great for ecommerce. At least not yet. Sure, it’s wonderful for branding and general marketing, but as far as getting actual conversions, the channel is severely lacking, according to some sources.

Do you see significant conversions from social media referrals? How does it stack up to other channels like search and email? Let us know in the comments.

Bounce Exchange conducted a survey, and found that 83% of online marketers believe social media marketing is important for their businesses, but after analyzing over $1 billion U.S. ecommerce transactions, it found that social media marketing efforts only account for about 1.2% of total site conversions.

Among its other findings:
53% of social media marketers do not measure the success of their investments in social
Social conversion rates are 51% lower than sites’ overall average rates
Followers are often engaging in content that is not directly related to the ultimate product
Click rates on follow and share buttons are very low and often distract shoppers which cause shopping cart abandonment

Bounce Exchange also brings up the fact that Facebook has all but killed the organic reach of Page post (but you already know all about that), though according to Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook “still overall a very good, organic and free way to reach and communicate with your customers.”

He didn’t actually say it was a very good way to “sell to customers”.

While the success of ecommerce conversions through social media channels will obviously vary greatly by business, it could trend towards the more positive in the months and years to come. This is starting to become an actual focus of social platforms.

As you may know, Facebook and Twitter are both testing buy buttons, which enable brands to give customers direct calls to action in their News Feeds and timelines. See something cool that you really want to own as you’re doing your daily browsing (which let’s be honest, occurs multiple times throughout the day)? Just click buy and get it without jumping through extra hoops. Both buttons should be significant in improving conversions from mobile devices.

In fact, we had a pretty good conversation about that with ChannelAdvisor CEO Scot Wingo a while back. Facebook’s in particular could be just what mobile commerce is looking for. This is the kind of thing you’re inevitably going to start seeing more of in your News Feed:

Here’s an example of a tweet with the button.

Even Tumblr has launched its own buy button and other similar call to action buttons that it is showing for content from a few select sites:

It’s early days for the social media buy button, so it’s hard to say just how successful it’ll be (and even that could vary by platform), but the major players seem to agree that there’s some real potential with it. Even if it means paid social media marketing, buttons like Twitter’s and Facebook’s (and maybe Tumblr’s eventually as it expands) could help in the social ROI department. It’s going to be very interesting to watch how consumers interact with them.

It could be that while these features will help social conversions, they could end up doing little to help social compete with other channels overall. People aren’t typically looking to shop when they hop on Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr. They’re looking for content to consume. It’s not like search where they’re seeking products out.

Do you consider social media to be a good channel for ecommerce conversions today? Do you think these buy buttons will make for significant improvements? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Google Gives Ecommerce Analytics A Revamp

Google announced the beta release of a “complete revamp” of its ecommerce analytics, which it says will provide richer insights into pre-purchase shopping behavior and product performance.

It will let you analyze how far shoppers get into the shopping funnel, and where you lose them, and help you understand what products are viewed the most, which are frequently abandoned in cart, and of course, those that convert well. Users can upload rich metadata and create rich user segments.

“Enhanced Ecommerce is designed to keep pace with the remarkable rise of online retail, which grew another 30% year over year in 2013,” says product manager Marcia Jung. “Digital data has played an essential role in that growth, offering deep insights into shopper behavior and letting retailers make smarter decisions. But needs are rapidly increasing and retailers are requiring more sophisticated and comprehensive analysis tools to understand shoppers and product-level performance. With the launch of Enhanced Ecommerce, we’re providing these tools.”

“Enhanced Ecommerce is built on top of the powerful Universal Analytics foundation,” says Jung. “It includes tracking code updates (including full support for Google Tag Manager), data model changes, and new end-user reports that address ecommerce-specific use cases. Together they help online retailers see farther and understand customers better than ever before. ”

The product will let you create product lists for onsite merchandising rules and product landing pages so you can see lists and products that are performing best. It will let you analyze how internal promotions impact sales, and import user segments based on ecommerce activity for targeting in remarketing campaigns. It also has refund support.

Image via Google

Google Analytics Gets ‘Smart Lists’ For Remarketing

Google announced the launch of a new type of remarketing list in Google Analytics: smart lists. These are built using machine learning across websites that have opted to share conversion data, and make use of “dozens” of signals like visit duration, page depth, location, device, referrer, and browser.

The lists predict which users are most likely to convert during a later visit.

Based on their on-site actions, Analytics is able to calibrate your remarketing campaigns to align with each user’s value, according to the company.

“If you use use eCommerce transaction tracking and have enough traffic and conversions, your Smart List will be automatically upgraded,” Google explains in a blog post. “Marked as [My Smart List], your list will be customized based on the unique characteristics that cause your visitors to convert. Only you will have access to this list, and no new data will be shared whether you use this feature or not.”

“For best results, make sure your Google Analytics goals and transactions are being imported into AdWords, then combine your Smart List with Conversion Optimizer using Target CPA or ROAS in AdWords,” it adds. “If you’re new to remarketing, the Smart List is a great way to get started with strong performance results. As you get comfortable with remarketing you can tailor your creatives and apply a variety of remarketing best practices.”

Google says it will extend the signal directly to marketers’ current lists as an optimization signal used in AdWords bidding for those already using sophisticated list strategies. It’s also working on surfacing signals elsewhere in reports and in the Google Analytics.

Image via Google

Desktop Holiday Ecommerce Spending Up 14% From Last Year So Far

A report out from comScore says $18.9 billion has been spent online during the first 24 days of the November-December 2013 holiday season, using desktop computers. This is up 14% from the same time period last year ($16.6 billion).

Ahead of the report, Tuesday, November 19th was the heaviest online spending day of the season, reaching $963 million. Both the 14th and 24th also saw over $900 million each.

“The 2013 online holiday shopping season is off to a solid start with nearly $19 billion in desktop e-commerce sales, an increase of more than 14 percent versus last year,” said Andrew Lipsman, comScore VP of Marketing & Insights. “The heaviest online spending day thus far fell just shy of $1 billion in sales, and though we’ve not yet reached that benchmark we can expect to see that spending threshold eclipsed numerous times during the post-Thanksgiving period. Black Friday and Cyber Monday can both be expected to easily surpass that total, with Cyber Monday already beginning to point toward $2 billion.”

“While the early part of the online holiday shopping season has been solid so far, we are tempering our expectations given the shortened 26-day shopping period between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year,” said Lipsman. “In addition, with Hannukah beginning in November this year there is some spending that has been pulled forward and likely added a boost to the early November shopping period. That said, our forecast of 14 percent growth for desktop-based buying still represents a strong outlook versus last year that highlights the continued channel shift to online. We also expect m-commerce spending growth to contribute about 2 percentage points to that growth rate, meaning that total digital commerce will grow at a rate of nearly 16 percent.”

The firm believes mobile commerce (which includes tablets) will reach $7.1 billion for the holiday season, which would be 13% of total ecommerce as total spending is expected to be $55.2 billion for the season.

A new Gallup poll released today shows that over half (53%) of Americans say they are “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to shop online during the holiday season.

Image: comScore

Ecommerce Sites Aren’t Utilizing Site Search Data Like They Should Be

SLI Systems has put out a report finding that most eCommerce sites are missing out on a big opportunity to use data from their internal site search tool to improve the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns.

The firm surveyed 160 global eCommerce professional, and found that 57% don’t use site search reports and data to enhance their marketing. 50% of them aren’t even using site search data or analytics to enhance any of their business offerings or processes.

Still, site search, according to the survey, is one of their top priorities for next year (along with eCommerce platform, SEO and mobile).

“These findings demonstrate a significant missed opportunity for retail marketers in improving brand visibility, customer engagement and ultimately sales,” SLI says in the report.

Only 25% of those that actually do utilize site search data in their marketing campaigns are integrating that data into email marketing to customize offers for customers.

On why they’re not doing more with site search data, half of those surveyed blamed limited resources, while about 30% said they don’t know how to use the data effectively, and 10% said their site search solution doesn’t allow for integration with marketing programs.

Some other interesting stats:

27% have created search engine-optimized landing pages populated with site search results and custom banners.
13% are taking advantage of site search to power mobile search
11% are integrating site search with social media channels to improve amplification of marketing programs

You can find the full report here.

[via MarketingCharts]

Image: SLI Systems

Tips For The Success Of Your Ecommerce Project: Why Hiring An Expert Is Important

Building an ecommerce website is a necessity for every company that is serious about revenue generation and the provision of multiple opportunities to clients.

Getting such a website developed is a relatively challenge-free task. You can rely on numerous tools and opportunities that will enable you to build the website on your own. Some problems may stem from the lack of experience in the realm of ecommerce. Developing a successful and highly functional online store can be challenging. Running it on a daily basis will be even more demanding.

You can undertake several basic steps to make the process smoother. Relying on an experienced ecommerce expert is the first and most important way to give your ecommerce project a successful start.

Hire a Professional and Experienced Ecommerce Expert

Sounds easier said than done. A simple web search will reveal that hundreds of ecommerce experts are offering their services for hire.

In order to benefit fully from such business interactions, you need to discover the right ecommerce expert for your needs. Ask for assistance. You can always seek tips from somebody who has already worked with an ecommerce expert. Personal recommendations and online reviews are two of the best ways to discover a highly professional ecommerce expert.

So, what can an ecommerce expert do for you?

Improve Your Website’s Design

As a person that lacks experience in the realm, you may choose design elements that interfere with the experience of website visitors and potential customers. The risk is very high if you choose an ecommerce platform that allows you to put the website together on your own.

A good ecommerce expert will give suggestions that will increase the functionality and the visual appeal of your online store. It has to look innovative and reputable in order to capture the interest of the audience. Professional assistance will help you achieve just that.

Work on Functionalities

You can easily fall in the trap of cluttering your website. Functionalities and widgets look cool and it seems that they will all increase the appeal of your project.

These statements are true, as long as the widgets and the functionalities add something to the visitor’s experience. Expert assistance will help you determine the options to incorporate in your website development and the one that the project can go without.

A clutter-free website will make all the difference in the world. Internet users today are well-educated and they have experience with all kinds of websites. If you fail addressing their needs in an adequate way, they will simply turn to your competition.

The Importance of Good SEO

Good website development needs a search engine optimization strategy. This is the most important marketing tool for every online project. Good SEO means that your website will be easy to find through search engines, which will ultimately result in higher traffic.

Ecommerce experts understand the importance of website optimization. They will suggest design and content improvements that will make your ecommerce website search engine friendly.

SEO is so important because it is one of the few free of charge marketing opportunities that will deliver. If you spend enough time on website optimization, you will be capable of getting more than 70 percent of your traffic from search engine referrals.

Differentiate Yourself from the Competition

Whatever ecommerce website development strategy you choose, differentiating yourself from the competition will be a challenging task.

The world of ecommerce has seen significant growth lately. The number of projects competing in every niche is increasing all the time. Many websites suffer from a major and very common shortcoming – they all look the same.

Good ecommerce experts will suggest strategies that will help you differentiate your product from the one that the competition is making available. Both content and design can be used to achieve the goal. As long as you have the know-how, you will be capable of setting yourself apart and building a loyal clientele.

The success of an ecommerce project depends on several factors. Getting the assistance of an ecommerce expert can streamline the procedure and help you experience a revenue increase faster than you will be otherwise capable of accomplishing. It is very important to choose the right professional for the job. Some ecommerce software options will give you an opportunity to work with an experienced ecommerce expert as a part of the services you are entitled to. Otherwise, you will have to do your homework in advance. Careful research is the guarantee of satisfactory results in the future.

Establishing A Sustainable Social Media Marketing Strategy

For companies trying to make sense of social media and online marketing, it’s important to take a step back from all the “TwitFaceBlogTubeIn” mania for a second and look at the nature of how these things are going to work for the overall business.

There are many questions that need answers: ”Should we develop a strategy first before engaging?”, ”Should we experiment and develop a strategy as we go?”, “Will it ever be OK to ask customers if they want to buy directly within social channels or will we always have to tiptoe around the subject?”

Here are a few considerations to help answer those questions and establish the framework for a sustainable and successful social media marketing program.

Social Media Strategy: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pond of cure”. Having some idea of what measurable goals and business outcomes you’re after is essential for planning resources and forecasting outcomes. This is true with any kind of marketing and is certainly the case with social media.

I polled a number of industry smarties on social media strategy vs. tactics and while there was some distance between the approach Guy Kawasaki preferred and that of people like Chris Brogan, the consensus was that developing an approach is essential for planning, implementation, accountability and measurement of success.

The formation of a social media strategy is a ripe opportunity for creativity and certainly shouldn’t get in the way of getting started. Gaining consensus about social strategy within a corporation could easily create a bottleneck. A strategy that calls for experimentation with iterative improvement in the context of overall goals, approach, tactics, audience and an effort to measure success is more likely to be implemented and gain support.

Social Media Marketing Tactics: The best mix of tactics needs to tie into the plan for reaching business goals. Whether it’s “Better engage with our customers” to “Filling the top of the sales funnel”, an understanding of audience preferences and behaviors will lead to the right tactical mix.

A lot of companies take the path of least resistance and go for what I like to call, “The Social 5-Pack” of: Facebook, Twitter, Blogging, YouTube and LinkedIn without thinking through tactics. For example, one common question often I hear is, “Is a LinkedIn group a better use of time and resources or a Facebook Fan Page?”

What the marketer might want to ask is, “Where do social networking vs. blogging vs. microcontent vs. media sharing fit in the context of our social media goals?” Then do the research and implement a listening program to discover which social networks, media sharing sites or blogging communities the target audience is present and participating in. That homework will answer the question about Facebook vs. LinkedIn and any other social communities where customers spend time.

Social Media Process: “Companies who start with implementation are at risk”, is a great quote from Jeremiah Owyang in his recent post, “A Pragmatic Approach to Social Business“. There he lists a checklist of 8 steps that form a process for approaching social media. Jumping into tactics can send a company in a very unproductive direction. Working through a strategy, tactics and developing processes leads to efficiencies, scalability and social engagement that is true to the business goals.

We’ve published a social media checklist that can serve as a prompt for companies to gather the information necessary to make smarter decisions about how their organizations can incorporate social media in their marketing and communications mix.

Process with social media marketing is important for a variety of reasons ranging from quality assurance to accountability. How can an organization scale its social media efforts without some kind of processes in place? Redundant processes can often be automated by software. Processes also outlive internal social media subject matter experts who move on to other opportunities.

From a personal process perspective, take a look at Tac Anderson’s daily routine as a social media strategist, which he calls a “workout”. In addition to planned activities and tactics, there’s room for putting out fires or handing spontaneous situations. In the end, a routine or process helps keep social media marketing tactics on track over time.

Social Commerce: Social Media that Leads to Sales: Question – What’s the ROI of Social Media? Answer – What’s the ROI of having a phone system in your office? That phone systems facilitates communications for a wide variety of reasons that are important to the functioning of the business from product/service inquiries to hiring new employees to customer service.

Social media in a business sense, is technology that facilitates communications, sharing and connecting brands with customers. For the most part, people buy from those they like and social media helps build, maintain and improve those relationships.

So how does social media influence or result in sales? A helpful post on BarnRaisers summarizes several studies that show exactly that. Click on the link to see the post (How Social Media Drives Sales Relationships). I’ll also summarize them here:

Facebook – “The top reasons people press the “Like” button on Facebook is to have a sales relationship with a brand – either to receive promotions & coupons (40%), get updates on upcoming sales (30%) and show their support for companies (39%).” – ExactTarget 2010.

Twitter – “For over 40% of the time people are on Twitter, we spend it learning about products and services, listening to what others have to say and giving opinions. That explains why over 20% of the time we’re on Twitter, we’re ready and willing to buy directly off Twitter.” – Edison Research 2010.

Social Networks – “For every hour we spend on online, we spend the most amount of time on social networks, almost 15 minutes of every hour. Roughly half of the time (approx 6+ mins), we are seeking out products and services and looking to have a sales relationship with brands.” Nielsen 2010.

As more brands include commercial offers in the social experience they provide for customers, those customers will become increasingly comfortable with the notion of social commerce. At the same time, more social features are being added to ecommerce websites. In the way that blogs and Twitter accounts are expected features of brand websites, so will social commerce functionality.

Building a flexible strategy that considers business goals and the people to engage will help marketers identify the best mix of tactics for their social media marketing program. Developing processes from a corporate and an individual standpoint will help sustain, not stifle, social engagement activities in the long run. Start by building community and relationships. Listen, respond and create value. Monitor and analyze for opportunities to implement social commerce features, but don’t rush it.

How have you incorporated social media into your business processes? What are you doing to create more sustainable social participation within your organization?

Originally published on TopRankBlog.com