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E-COMMERCE
Google’s advice for e-comm owners and a survey on consumer expectations
We came across a very interesting chat session where e-commerce experts like Dan Barker, James Gurd, John Mueller from Google and many other users discussed various aspects of e-commerce marketing.
Next, we look at the MarketingLand survey regarding the desires of consumers and upcoming shopping trends for 2019. Let’s look at the chat session first.
Avoid adding unnecessary text to your category pages
Among other things, the e-commerce chat session sparked a discussion about improving product pages and whether or not adding more text is considered an improvement.
John Mueller chimed in, cautioning e-commerce site owners about adding unnecessary text to their category pages.
“Adding unneeded text to a category page may distract the user intent, which is to browse and buy products. In that way, it’s not an improvement.
Another thing to consider is the purpose of your page: What’s the user-intent you’re trying to cover?
If you’re adding random information to a category page, is it still an e-commerce page for users with “shopping” intents? Make up your mind, focus, don’t blindly stuff text.”
What does he recommend instead?
When looking to improve your e-commerce pages, there are better ways to go about it than adding more text:
- Links to top sub-categories.
- Showcasing trending products.
- Offering a selection of matching accessories.
Another Twitter user added that you don’t need a ton of content for SEO on category pages if you have huge volumes of relevant, informationally rich content in other areas cross-linked to product pages.
Also, a bit of text is useful but swathes just pushes down the CTA or product. You will see a huge uplift on a project by actually taking this content out.
Apparently, this chat session about e-commerce happens every Monday 1-2pm UK time. So, if you are interested in participating or have questions of your own, you can join in next time around.
Consumer shopping trends in 2019
Moving on from the SEO perspective of e-commerce to some stats and trends from a January 2019 survey conducted by MarketingLand.
They surveyed over 1,000 US consumers who shopped online at least once in 2018. The topic of the survey was the expectations and desires of consumers.
Here are the key highlights from that survey:
- Consumers now want 5-8 images and 2-5 videos. Compared to 2016, the average consumer is looking for more images and videos of the product when shopping online. The average number of images expected on a product page, across all age groups, was 6.
Now, if you compare this data with the average number of images used by the top 10% of products on Amazon, they only had an average of 4 images per product.
Compared to consumer expectations, even the top performers are falling short.
- Information on the product page is more important than lower prices. A common misconception of many e-commerce owners is that price is the key driver of sales in their category.
This might have been true in the past. But the kind of choice and information that many online retailers provide these days allows their consumers to make more nuanced purchase decisions based on their exact needs.
Around 70% of consumers chose “not enough information or details provided” as the reason they’ve exited a product page.
This above option beat other commonly expected options such as “price was too high” and “concern that the product is possibly fake/counterfeit.”
Here’s something most of you e-commerce owners will be happy to hear: “Unfamiliar brand” was the least frequent reason a consumer left a product page.
This means consumers are more than willing to take a chance on newcomer brand if the product detail page satisfies their questions.
- Brands need to directly answer consumer questions on the product page. Consumers want to be catered to. There is too much information on websites out there that provide your consumers with the ability to search and find precisely what they are looking for.
Product reviews are important but consumers want brands themselves to provide answers to their specific questions, right there on the product page.
Most shoppers expect an average of 8-13 questions per product to be answered by the brand itself. So, focusing on this across your highest volume or highest margin products is a good practice.
Zoom In
Consumer expectations are growing more than ever before and the consumers are not exactly short of options in the modern day. Improving your product pages, rich media, reviews, FAQs might sound like a basic thing to do. But this is what your customers want.
As a brand, you have to be able to meet these expectations and have a plan to continue doing so into the future.
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In-app shopping test with big brands
Instagram is about to change our way of shopping. The social platform is testing an in-app shopping feature. How does it work?
With this feature, users will be able to complete the checkout without leaving the Instagram app.
When users tap on “View the Product” button, they will see a “Checkout on Instagram” option rather than being taken to an e-commerce site.
Once a person enters all their information within Instagram (which can be saved for future purchases), they can directly purchase and manage their orders within the app.
This feature will initially roll out in the USA, and will initially be released for just 20 beauty and fashion brands such as Kylie Cosmetics, Nike and Huda Beauty.
The Crew’s Take
If this feature is released to all businesses, it could be a complete game changer.
At the Affiliate Summit Europe, Mike Geldrop spoke about a future where users will be able to shop from any place, without interrupting their activities. Over a blog post, a podcast, while watching a video and, in this case, while scrolling through their Instagram feed.
Users will be able to checkout in the same place that they found the inspiration to buy.
With this option, Instagram is starting to build that kind of future. Customers will complete the purchase exactly where their desire to buy was born, without having to stop what they were doing.
A non-interrupted shopping experience.
This is the kind of option that can help brands fight the Amazon power. Moreover, Instagram will start to gather buyers data, like the credit card, payments info etc. They will surely then use it to help advertisers.
It’s unclear if businesses will have to pay a fee on every purchase completed on Instagram. But even if they did, it wouldn’t be too bad as long as it delivers the right results.
We’re certainly hoping that this option rolls out to every business as soon as possible.
The good, the bad, and the ugly of FB
Facebook went down again. Yep, really. It’s not a joke! Many people are still experiencing problems while accessing the Ads Manager.
But, on the other hand, FB also released a very handy feature to easily track button-clicks events – If they’re up long enough for you to use it!
Is your Ads Manager okay?
Facebook probably needs rest. Not even a week has passed and it’s back again. Who? What?
Facebook bugs, obviously. Did you notice it? If not, good for you.
Many marketers had problems while accessing their Ads Manager yesterday, while others were unable to access some sections of it.
Fortunately, the problem doesn’t seem to be too widespread, but it’s still unclear whether the issue has been fixed or not.
Our question is this: When is the next blackout due? It would be nice to let us know in advance, given that it looks like a regular occurrence now.
An easy way to track button-click events
While FB drives us crazy with its never-ending bugs, they do keep us coming back for more with their ever-improving ad platform.
It was already excellent, but what’s the latest update?
It’s about tracking button-click events on your website. Up until now, we had to embed codes on our website to track these events.
But those days are gone! At least for some people…
Some FB marketers now have the option to easily implement the tracking of button clicks without having to touch the code.
You just need to go to your Event Manager setting and click on the “Details” button.
Scroll down and you’ll find this “Event Setup” section. Once this is rolled out to your Business Manager, you will see a “Go to event setup” button.
From there, you can add your website URL and FB will redirect you to your website. A popup will then show up guiding you through all the buttons and events you want to track.
If this explanation doesn’t make much sense, you can watch this video, where Dave Granfield explains exactly how to do it.
This update will save you huge amounts of time, and it will ensure that your events are being tracked properly without having to deal with any issues in your website coding.
It’s time to say thanks to Mark! Thanks, Sir!
Google Ads update: Recommended Columns. Google attacking a new industry
Google is about to enter a new business and it could cause some issues to its new competitors.
Meanwhile, in the more familiar territory of ads, there is a new feature in your Google Ads dashboard.
Recommended Columns in Google Ads
Another day, another feature launch by Google. Who’s complaining. Definitely not marketers!
Especially those who have too much data on their plates.
Google has added a new feature, “Recommended Columns”, which will highlight the data columns that are worth paying attention to. These recommended columns will also be updated accordingly as long as you keep making changes to your campaigns.
These recommended columns will be highlighted in blue. You can also choose to add a recommended column or tell Google not to recommend one anymore.
By default, recommendations will be turned on. However, you do have the option to turn it off completely or for any specific columns.
If nothing else, this new feature will make sure that you’re not missing out on any important data. Plus, you might be able to discover valuable new columns that you weren’t previously working with.
Big G to reveal its secret plans
Google has been silently working on a plan to join a new industry.
Finally, after a years-long effort, they’re about to unveil their attack on the $140B gaming business.
They’re probably looking to take on their competitors such as Amazon, which owns Twitch, Facebook, which owns Oculus and Microsoft, which has the Xbox.
Google’s take has a twist to it though. Something which could be akin to a Netflix for video games. How?
Currently, if you want to play a hit game, you usually need to spend a few hundred bucks on a console or on a high-end gaming PC. Then, you either need to go to the store and buy a physical gaming disc or wait for a large file to download to your console, which can take hours.
Google’s streaming service could change that model by letting users stream top games on the devices they already own, such as a laptop, smartphone or a streaming box connected to a TV.
Cloud gaming will enable publishers to broaden their reach even further by potentially tapping into new audiences on any device and screen. Game developers will even be able to reach audiences that don’t own a gaming console.
The project seems quite ambitious, but if anybody has the resources to build the platform it’s Google. Still, the analysts remain sceptical.
Will this be the Netflix for video games or the next Google+? We might find out soon enough.
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things affiliates like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
Please, let me steal your crypto
If you come across ads that promote an airdrop, distributing tokens for the popular cryptocurrency exchange desk Huobi, DO NOT CLICK ON THEM!
It’s a ploy designed to steal your coins.
A phishing campaign is doing the rounds that tricks victims into downloading a malicious Chrome extension called NoCoin, which is programmed to get a hold of your wallet‘s private keys.
This Chrome extension is disguised as an app to block hidden cryptocurrency mining, and it looks identical to popular crypto-jacking blocker MinerBlock.
Once installed, the fake mining blocker targets users of wallet solutions MyEtherWallet and Blockchain.com.
Around 230 people have fallen prey to this Chrome extension and we hope you aren’t one of them. It’s a small world after all.
Well, this isn’t the first time hackers have managed to sneak malware past Google’s defensive mechanisms and it certainly won’t be the last time.
Stay safe out there, you innocent little coins!
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