E-Commerce product page must-haves

E-Commerce productpage must-haves.3 strategies to increase product page conversions and revenue.

E-commerce product page must haves

Executive Summary

As more and more more brands start selling online, the competition for consumers’dollars has increased like never before. Brand marketers are faced with thechallenging task of using various channels like SEM, SEO, email, and social to driveconsumer tra�ic to their product page, and then convert the visitor to a customer.Historically, e-commerce conversions hover around 1% to 3% depending on the typeof site and its popularity. So how do marketers overcome the challenge ofincreasing product page conversions, increasing revenue, and reducing customeracquisition costs?

In general, consumers purchase products online because they already know whatthey need, and it’s more convenient to buy it online. However, the consumerdoesn’t always know which specific product will fully meet their needs and looks forhelp in making purchase decisions.

So, how can a brand convert website visitors to loyal customers more frequentlywithout the personal interaction of a salesperson answering questions, advisingwhich product will best suit their individual needs, and give them the confidencethey need to purchase? There are many tactics marketers use to accomplish thistask of increasing buyer confidence. However, following these 3 strategies willresult in the highest increase of conversions, revenue, and loyal customers for your brand.

There’s a revolution in marketing, people are in control. We’ve never had a greater opportunity to connect with people.

— Marc Pritchard CMO of Procter and Gamble

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3 Conversion Strategies for Your Product Pages

1. Display Social UGC: Show social proof that the product is well liked amongstother customers, will meet their needs, and is worth their investment.

2. Display Product Reviews: Answer consumer questions directly on the productpage before they have a chance to ask, or leave the page to do further research.

3. Display Related Products: Show the consumer other products that are relevantto their needs so they can find one that is best suited for their needs.


Brands must create a customer centric product page strategy that not only influences a consumer to become a customer with logical intellect, but also with strong emotion. The more a brand builds up the consumers’ confidence, the more likely that they will be converted to a loyal customer. The most e�ective product pages make the consumer feel they are not alone in their purchase decision.

Key Takeaways

Authentic consumer content, such as social photos, and reviews let consumers know that they are not alone in their purchase process, giving them the confidence to buy.

Social UGC and product ratings and reviews may increase search engine tra�ic and reduce costs of SEM.

The most e�ective product pages provide related products, so the consumer doesn’t have to leave the page to find a product that suits their exact needs.

1. Display Social UGC

What is social UGC?

Any form of social media content from a social user including photos, videos, and text.

Product Page Strategy

SOCIAL UGC

PRODUCT REVIEWS

RELATED PRODUCTS

Increase Conversions

Increase Tra�ic to Product Pages

Increase Engagementon Product Pages

Why do brands need to display social UGC on their product pages?Social UGC provides consumers social proof that real customers, just like them, are satisfied with the product, and their needs were met. They were excited to take the time and energy to post about it from their personal social account to spread the word to their network. Since the content is organically coming from the customer’s preferred social platform it is more engaging and influential, because the emotion is authentic. Consumers want to envision the visual portrayal of the product in a real life scenario, and UGC gives them a glimpse into what could be.

These social cues, also known as social proof, reduce buying anxiety, and make the digital purchase feel not intimidating because they are not alone. By proving that other consumers converted into satisfied customers increases the buyers trust. Brands who repurpose social UGC on their product pages increase conversions 10% or more.

How do brands display social UGC?

Brands can leverage UGC in multiple ways to drive tra�ic to their product pages, and to convert consumers to customers on their product page.

Drive Tra�ic to Product Page: Brands can display UGC on their Facebook page tab, newsletter, or blog. UGC with relevant products for purchase associated to the content allows consumers to go directly to the product page.

Convert Consumers to Customers on the Product Page: Displaying UGC directly on the product page is social proof the product is worth their investment, giving the consumer the confidence to buy.

Social UGC Vendor

When evaluating which social UGC vendor would be the best fit for your brand you should consider a few di�erent criteria.

1. Scalability: does the vendor o�er a scalable solution for dynamic moderation, permissions and disclosures?

2. Productivity: does the vendor recommend and identify the most valuable UGC with a score?

3. Brandability: does the vendor provide a way to seamlessly integrate UGC onto your e-commerce so it matches your branding?

4. Adaptability: is the technology easy to operate and integrate with your e-commerce platform?


1. Scalability: does the vendor o�er a scalable solution for dynamic moderation, permissions and disclosures?

2. Productivity: does the vendor recommend and identify the most valuable UGC with a score?

3. Brandability: does the vendor provide a way to seamlessly integrate UGC onto your e-commerce so it matches your branding?

4. Adaptability: is the technology easy to operate and integrate with your e-commerce platform?


Start harnessing the positive content generated by your advocates in your marketing campaigns. Get help from providers such as... Experticity

— Richard Fouts, Gartner, 2013, Six Ways Digital Marketing will Blow Your Mind

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What is Experticity?

Experticity is an enterprise SaaS content commerce company that is changing theface of digital marketing by leveraging high-quality, product relevant, authorized usergenerated content from opt-in brand ambassadors.

Why choose Experticity?

Experticity is the only company with a comprehensive suite of products that allowsbrands to find the best product relevant social content and repurpose it in gallerieson their e-commerce. Pulse Marketing Suite is a patented content commerce platformthat scores content from hashtags, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, andambassador programs. So brands can identify the most engaging and influential content,that will drive the most revenue. With Pulse Marketing Suite brands can recruitopt-in brand ambassadors, activate on-demand configurable campaigns, amplifytheir ambassadors content on their e-commerce site, and measure the results.

Who uses Experticity?

Brands and retailers leverage Pulse Marketing Suite to manage their brand ambassadorprograms, manage their sponsored athletes, run social promotions, and repurpose the most engaging social content in their marketing. Brands include:

2. Display Product Reviews

What are product reviews?

A customer written report evaluating a product after purchasing it.

Why do brands need to display product reviews on their product pages?

Customer product reviews act as your digital sales team by influencing consumers with authentic proof of quality and value. Just like social UGC, product reviews minimizeanxiety and make the consumer feel as if they are not alone in their purchasedecision, because other consumers made the same decision o�ering reassurance.

Consumers will always have questions they want answered before they make a purchasedecision, and if they can’t find the answer on your site, they’ll leave just as quickly as they came to do their research elsewhere. This leaves the brand vulnerable to the consumer exploring other options, potentially making their final purchase from a competing brand or e-commerce site. Product reviews are created by consumers who have made the personal investment, and used the product in a real world environment. Therefore, making them a more reliable source of information than the brand. Also, customers who post product reviews receive no personal benefit or gain, so you can expect the honest truth about product pros and cons. This in turn, reflects on the brand as being transparent, and honest in their dealings with consumers.

How do brands display product reviews?

When it comes to product reviews there are a couple options for brands to leverageincluding star or number ratings, text based reviews, or a combination of the two.


JORDY FREAKBOARDSHORTS

I bought these shorts for my husband. We bothlove the colour and he says they are so comfortable

and dry really quickly. He wants another pair.

Displaying product reviews directly on the product page in a highly visible location, without scrolling, will prevent the consumer from leaving your page quickly. The key is for the brand to show as much transparency as possible. Worried about negative reviews? Don’t be. Brands who respond to negative reviews actually have a chance at stating their case, and changing the customers viewpoint, further increasing brand loyalty.

Product Review Vendor

Text based product reviews aren’t always highly converting for all product types. Text reviews work best for books, electronics, and appliances, or tangible goods. Brandsselling products based on experience such as travel, events, or sports should leveragerich media (photo or video) reviews. A consumer wants confidence the product is worth their investment, and want to know how others felt about their purchase afterwards. So determine which type of review will more e�ectively build the consumers confidence in your product, text or visuals.

What is Bazaarvoice?

Bazaarvoice is a network that connects brands and retailers to the authentic voices of people where they shop. Bazaarvoice’s technology platform amplifies these authenticvoices into the places that influence purchase decisions.

Why choose Bazaarvoice?

Ratings and Reviews: Let people sell for you by gathering their opinions, photos,and videos. Learn from their feedback to improve your products and services.

Questions and Answers: Informed shoppers buy more. Capture and respond to customerquestions to help them make better buying decisions.

We have a strong belief that customer feedback helps us improve products and services... and Bazaarvoice has given us a way to scale that process. For us, reviews were a very logical step in our journey to become more customer-centric.

— Michael Buck, Executive Director, Global CSMB Online Marketing

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Who uses Bazaarvoice?

Bazaarvoice helps more than 2,000 global clients – over 30% of the world’s leading global brands – put customers at the center of their businesses to turn social data into smarter business decisions.

Why do brands need to display related products on their product pages?

If a brand provides consumers with a variety of product options they are going to increase their time spent on the page, and increase the average value of the order placed. The consumer will have more of their needs met, building up the brand’s credibility resulting in more loyal customers.

3. Display Related Products

What are related products?

Related products are products of the same kind, identified by product a�inity or whatother buyers bought when purchasing the same product.

How do brands display related products?

Brands should display related products directly adjacent to, or below the product theconsumer is currently viewing. If related products are placed in the consumers directline of sight, the opportunity for conversions increases.

Related Products Vendor

Related products vendors are very useful to brands selling online. Amazon hasmastered the art of converting consumers into loyal customers by displaying relatedproducts in an e�ective manner on every product page. Related products vendorshelp brands mimic the same strategy to compete with retailers such as Amazon, andcompeting brands.

What is Reflektion?

Reflektion detects trends and predicts in real-time what each customer is most likelyto buy next, enabling dramatically higher sales and customer engagement. Thesetechnologies are packaged in a set of easily deployable solutions for personalizede-commerce, customer analytics, and personalized marketing.

Why choose Reflektion?

Reflektion o�ers a quick and easy way for retailers and brands to achieve betterbusiness performance. Reflektion does the number crunching, learning and deliveringapplications from the cloud. Their patented algorithms and technology reducecomputational overhead by hundreds of times, enabling modeling of individual usersevery day.

Explorer predictive product recommendations increases conversion through highlypersonalized, real time recommendations based on consumer behavior, trendingproducts, and top sellers, all driven by individual user models. Explorer understands user intent and creates a unique customer experience optimized to sell, cross-sell, or upsell. Product images may appear in an individualized category pages and personally, curated items on product and checkout pages.



Final Considerations to Increasing Product Page Conversions and Revenue

Now that you know which 3 strategies to implement, you must carefully consider thetechnologies that can be leveraged to drive your e-commerce conversions and revenue.Each vendor will attribute the success to their own technology. So make sure toweigh each companies pros and cons.

Before establishing which technologies to use clearly establish your brand’s goals,experiment with a few di�erent technologies, and keep a baseline of current conversionrates to determine which technology actually yielded the highest results. Thebest way to know which company will actually meet your needs, and allow you toreach your goals is through A/B testing.

Also, get your e-commerce team involved in the process. Finding a technology thatis compatible with your e-commerce platform is imperative. You should find a solutionto standardize and deploy various web API’s without the constant dependencefrom vendors.

Who uses Reflektion?

What we wanted was the ability to treat each online customer like an individual as we do in our stores.

— Daniel Neukomm, CEO, O’Neil

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Relevant Statistics

81% of U.S. online consumers’ purchase decisions are influenced by their friends’social media posts versus 78% who are influenced by the posts of the brandsthey follow on social media. (Source: Market Force)

79% of U.S. social media users use social sites to look up information and getrecommendations. (Source: Netpop)

43% of consumers are more likely to buy a new product when learning about iton social media. (Source: Nielsen)

58% of consumers share positive experiences and seek advice from friends andfamily when they talk about brands on social media. (Source: SDL)

83% of consumers say it would be important to read user-generated contentbefore making a decision about banking or other financial services.(Source: Bazaarvoice)

Over half (51%) of Americans trust UGC more than on a company websitecontent (16%) or news articles about the company (14%) when looking forinformation about a brand, product, or service. (Source: Bazaarvoice)

Consumer reviews are significantly more trusted - nearly 12 times more - thanproduct descriptions from manufacturers. (eMarketer)

63% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a site which has userreviews (iPerceptions)

Visitors who read reviews have a 6% higher average order value than those whodon’t (Bazaarvoice)

Customer reviews create a 74% increase in product conversion(http://www.peopleclaim.com/Default_V5.aspx#the-review-of-reviews)

Reviews drive 18% higher loyalty and 21% higher purchase satisfactio


ABOUT EXPERTICITY

Ready to change the face of your marketing? Experticity is a content commercecompany that helps brands like yours drive commerce with 100% authorized,high-quality, product relevant social user generated content. Pulse Marketing Suite,our patented content commerce platform, puts your best customers at the front andcenter of your marketing. Our unique algorithm scores (Pulse Score) content fromhashtags, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and your website. Use Pulse Scoreto filter out content distractions, and pinpoint the 1% of photos and videos that willengage and inflfluence consumers to buy.

Aim to increase your ROI by 15x. Leave the models behind, and bring your customersto the front and center. Leveraging authentic content, from your best customers increases ROI for new product launches, and e-commerce site sales.

Fire away. Give content commerce a shot, request a demo at Experticity.com.

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E-Commerce product page must-haves