A Winning Social Commerce Strategy: Don’t Ask How, Ask Why

An article in Bloomberg a few months back listed a number of prominent retailers ranging from Gamestop to JC Penny that shut down their e-commerce stores on Facebook this past year because of dismal on-site sales. As Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst at Forrester Research wryly noted in the Bloomberg post, “There was a lot of anticipation that Facebook would turn into a new destination, a store, a place where people would shop…but it was like trying to sell stuff to people while they’re hanging out with their friends at the bar.”

If the future of commerce is social and mobile, why are companies having such a hard time selling their products on social media sites like Facebook?

More importantly, do such negative experiences with Facebook commerce expose a natural limitation of social media for business?

Not by a long shot.

This is a classic example of form over substance, with most companies overly-focusing on the “how” of social commerce rather than the “why.”

Brands often pay too much attention to the technical and process-oriented aspects of social commerce, such as site construction and/or website integration, forgetting about the overarching customer experience. By doing so they’re assuming the sale without bothering to consult their target audience or analyze buyer motivations when purchasing through social media.

In other words, they are concentrating on how, and forgetting to ask why.

Brian Solis underscored this idea in a recent post. When analyzing recent brand adaptation of Facebook commerce, or “F-Commerce,” he had this to say: “F-commerce only gets an “F” because brands used Facebook as yet another digital catalog for selling products and not as a platform for activating new experiences based on the nature and the psychology of the relationships that define the network…Some use Facebook as an opportunity to spam offers, others present versions of their online storefronts as a way to garner more sales.  But is this the right way to make money? Is this the right way to gain loyalty from your Facebook fans?”

It doesn’t sound like a wise approach to me.  Remember folks, it’s about the journey, not the destination.

GIVE ME VALUE, OR GIVE ME DEATH

On the other hand, IBM’s 2011 study entitled “From social media to Social CRM: What customers want,” found that on the main customers are far more interested in getting “tangible value” when seeking out brands’ social media sites than building deeper connections. The study went on to suggest that companies may be confusing “their own desire for customer intimacy with consumers’ motivations for engaging.”

Wait a minute. What happened to building customer loyalty through deeper social engagement?

Before you throw the baby out with the bathwater and rewrite your social strategy, this data is actually good news for business, because it means that consumers are embracing social media in a more organic and three-dimensional way.

Users are now viewing social media as an essential organizing principle for their lives rather than just a fun place to chat with friends.  Consumers have accepted “why” they’re using social media; it’s time for businesses to catch up.

As Eileen Brown wrote in a post on ZD.Net, “Social shopping is more than the click-to-buy mentality common across some e-commerce sites. F-commerce is about sharing, influencing and encouraging your friends to engage and purchase things that you love and recommend.”

Universal Pictures took this concept out for a test drive when promoting last year’s movie “Safe House.” Through a social-based ticketing app, fans could watch and share the movie trailer, find show times, invite friends, and buy tickets, all without leaving the Facebook wall. Leigh Godfrey, Director of Digital Marketing, Universal Pictures “fully expect(s) the continued use of this unique tool as fans make plans to see other Universal films in 2012.”¹

Facebook can facilitate this kind of three-dimensional approach to consumer engagement via social thanks to its Open Graph, which seamlessly integrates 3rd party apps into the Facebook experience to create a more engaged ecosystem that caters to individual consumer interests.²

IT’S THE STRATEGY, STUPID

As with many things, companies are failing at Facebook commerce in particular and social commerce in general because they are too focused on process and not focused enough on strategy.

Building a complex, user-friendly s-commerce platform is not a bad idea per se, as long as it is a means to an end rather than an end in itself. 

In any event, your company’s social commerce site structure and process flow should be subordinate to a well-thought out social commerce strategy that fully integrates your online (and offline) marketing efforts, all while never forgetting to factor in the needs and wants of your target audience.

Simply put: don’t ask how, ask why.

¹ ZD NET, "Facebook stores fail f-commerce goals by selling not socialising

² Brain Solis, "Brands Give Facebook F-Commerce an F"

³ Brian Solis, "Likes, Genre, Action- Facebook Introduces Clicks to Action"

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3 Trends Driving the Future of Online Commerce

With the rise of social and mobile, more people are going online to purchase goods and services than ever before. Marketers and business owners should be thinking about three trends in particular that are shaping the future of online commerce: social sharing, live online chat, and mobile commerce.

SOCIAL SHARING

In today’s online marketplace, social sharing is having an increasingly profound effect on our purchase behavior. A recent study by Social Labs found that 62% of all online shoppers have read product-related comments from friends on Facebook; 75% of these shoppers have ended up clicking through to visit the retailer’s site; 53% who click through end up purchasing the product.¹

The study also showed that this kind of social proofing has a marked impact on shopper confidence, with 57% of shoppers more likely to buy after receiving positive brand acknowledgement from a social buddy.¹ It seems that positive social sharing experiences tend to create behavioral cycle of social sharing and purchase, further impacting the online consumer ecosystem.

Your business can capitalize on the trend toward social sharing by displaying socially shared content directly on your web or ecommerce site. Offering an option to share “on-site only” will encourage leery consumers to share, and will provide persuasive social proofing content for new visitors.¹

Ask satisfied customers to provide reasons why they like your product or service; the more positive feedback you can offer other prospects, they greater the likelihood they will convert to sales.

Make it easy for customers to share experiences with friends by providing social share buttons on your site.  This kind of frictionless sharing will broaden your reach, as you deputize an army of brand ambassadors that will go forth and promote your products to their social media following.

Social sharing and other forms of user-generated content are fast becoming the rule rather than the exception. For example, according to eMarketer, 65% of users aged 18-24 consulted the information they found about brands on social networks when making a purchasing decision. You should care about this, because by 2017, Millennials will be driving US commerce.

LIVE ONLINE CHAT

For online shoppers, live chat has finally reached a tipping point of adoption. In a 2011 survey by eMarketer, more than 2,000 people in the U.S. and the U.K. were asked about their experiences with live chat. The survey revealed significant growth over previous years for both chats initiated by visitors and for chats resulting from proactive invitations from retailers.²

20% of shoppers said they preferred live chat as their communication method of choice for contacting a retailer. In five out of eight key shopping scenarios — including having trouble finding an item, checkout errors and questions about promotional codes — live chat was chosen as the method preferred over email and phone.²

The survey found that customers preferring live chat tend to be college-educated with a higher household income, more likely to shop more frequently, spend more, and are highly-influenced by the chat experience. In fact, the study found that shoppers who chatted four or more times in the last few months showed all of these attributes in an even more amplified way.

The study concluded that, based on the growth of chat being seen, “we're approaching a time when 75 percent or more of regular shoppers will have engaged in a live chat with a retailer.²

It may be time to take live chat more seriously.

MOBILE COMMERCE

More shoppers are turning to their mobile devices when purchasing goods and services online than ever before, according to a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive for Placecast . The survey found that 39m Americans made an online purchase using their phone last year, which represents roughly 20% of all mobile phone owners in the United States.³

Of the smartphone owners Harris Interactive polled, some 59% indicated that having the ability to make a purchase using their device was at least "somewhat important.” Surprisingly, 30% of all mobile phone owners who don't already receive marketing text messages from retailers said that they'd be interested in receiving them.

For those who want to read more, I’ve written more extensively about the trend to mobile commerce in a recent blog post.

MARKETING TAKEAWAYS

These three trends are not surprising when you think about how most of us make purchase decisions. We tend to look for input or advice from people whom we trust and who either have knowledge or experience about the product we’re thinking of buying. When we go to the store (online or bricks-and- mortar) we’re looking for affirmation and simplicity- tell me I’m making the right decision, and make it easy for me to act.

For marketers and business owners, here are three takeaways:

Social Shares - Once you’ve converted a customer, make sure to leverage them on your website and social media. This will amplify your message, increase your reach, and create a buzz for your product.

Live Chat - Real-time engagement with consumers, personal interaction builds trust and transparency, shows you care, fosters brand loyalty, and creates brand evangelists.

Mobile Commerce - Make sure to optimize your website for mobile. Doing so will force you to simplify your message and create a clean user experience. Make it easy for prospects and customers to find you wherever/whenever, and provide a site that leads them down the sales funnel to effortless purchase.

Remember one last thing: people WANT to brag about the great deal they got, the great shopping experience they had.

Embrace these trends and help them do it. 

¹ Social Labs, "Social Sharing 2012"

² Business News Daily, "Live Chat for Online Bloggers Comes of Age"

³ eConsultancy, "39M People Made a Purchase Via Mobile Last Year: Stats"

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