Shoppable Content: Increase Conversions
With the world becoming increasingly digital, the content an e-commerce business produces is now a primary factor in whether or not consumers decide to purchase a product. If your blogs, social media, video, and other content fail to engage your viewers, you have no chance to turn those viewers into buyers. On the other hand, if the content is engaging, but offers no way for viewers to immediately purchase the item the content just convinced them they needed, you wasted your time and effort. The solution to this is to bridge the gap between browsing and buying, so engagement can turn into conversions. You can do this, and elevate your business, by taking advantage of shoppable content.
What is a shoppable content?
Shoppable content is any form of content that offers shoppers the opportunity to buy the products straight from the content itself. It uses images, videos, articles, lookbooks, digital magazines, social media, and more to close the gap between engagement and conversions by shortening the buying journey for the consumer. Shoppable content allows viewers to add the products directly to their cart or be taken to the product page and shop from there.
By integrating shoppable content into your e-commerce site and social media accounts, you simplify the shopping experience for your shoppers. What does this mean for you? Higher conversion rates. The entire concept is fairly straight-forward; if your consumers can easily find the products they’re interested in and add them to their cart quickly, rather than spending several minutes searching through your catalogs in an attempt to find it, you’re more likely to complete a sale. This, of course, means higher conversion rates and profits.
Types of shoppable content
There are several types of shoppable content that you can take advantage of in order to push your business to the next level. Some of the most common are shoppable images and videos, articles or blog posts, lookbooks and digital magazines, user-generated content, or social media posts. These types of content are what your consumers are more likely to see and engage with on a daily basis, so by making the products the content promotes shoppable, the likelihood of a completed sale increased stupendously.
Examples of shoppable content
In need of some inspiration? I’ve gathered a list of examples of ways some of the leading e-commerce businesses in the retail industry use shoppable content to boost conversions:
Topshop features a user-generated gallery to show how real-life consumers have styled their products. Shoppers can then click on certain products within the image to purchase the clothing piece they have seen styled by previous buyers.
French Connection’s blog gives users the option to explore the specific products by integrating links to the shoppable items within the article.
Lazy Oaf’s lookbook presents a “quick buy” option when shoppers hover over items. The brand also has integrated its insta-shop onto it’s main siasoste, creating an omnichannel experience between the brand’s social media shoppable content and the main website.
Kate Spade uses shoppable videos in their #missadventure series. The campaign is meant to be watched and enjoyed, while displaying the products in a fun, consumable way – the shoppable items are compacted into a list, which can be clicked on during or at the end of the video. The ads feature recognizable women such as Anna Faris and Rosie Perez.
Conclusion
Traditional content marketing efforts are no longer working for brands. By making content shoppable, e-commerce businesses simplify and shorten the buying process for customers, thus increasing sales and customer satisfaction. Shoppable content closes the gap between engagement and purchase. So what are you waiting for?
