Generate additional sales while employing your customers. Let them help merchandise your products for a fraction of the traditional marketing costs using Pinterest [while keeping them on your site longer].
For those still aren’t sure what Pinterest is, here is how Pinterest describes itself:
“Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard.
Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.
Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.”
In theory, Pinterest users find images of products, places and things that touch them in some positive way. They categorize these images via ‘Boards’ that can be shared with friends and family. Part of the power of Pinterest, in terms of the store owner, are these ‘Boards’ and their contents. To a certain extent, the ‘Boards’ help the store owner look into the mind of their customers, visually showing what items [or themes] are important to them. The trick is to entice your customers to allow you access to their ‘Boards’ or in other terms, access to what excites them…their desires and wants. Think about how much that information is worth. Priceless if you can create actionable items out of it.
Marketers have been scrambling to figure out how to effectively take advantage of the rich data being generated by all of the pinnings since it’s launch. Although the jury is still out on the best usage, there are some easy, inexpensive opportunities that store owners can use right now for the upcoming shopping season that will increase sales and generate new merchandising ideas for this season and the next.
Here is an easy inexpensive idea that will help do just that and hopefully spark other ideas or campaigns which can foster both growth and a deeper relationship with your customers.
Pick a day, week or month to run your Pinterest campaign. Let your customers know that you’d like their help. Offer a 10% off coupon [or some other payment for their time] for the first 500 people who create a ‘Board’ specifically for your website and ‘Pin’ images from your store that interest them. Have them send you the specific link to the ‘Board’ and in return, they receive 10% off their next purchase via a coupon code [or whatever your offer is]. Think of the window into their head that has just been created. By looking at their board you’ll be able to see what is specifically important to them that you offer. By studying ALL of the ‘Boards’ that are generated from your customers you’ll be able to start pulling together groups of items that may be a good fit to bundle in a package. You may also see trends of the same items being ‘Pinned’ but not purchased. Maybe this tells you that your price is too high and an adjustment may increase conversion. Studying the ‘Boards’ may also help the store owner know what new products to source…same type of item but with a better price point maybe…possibly an ‘Off Brand’. Maybe you even start seeing groups of color patterns that make sense for your customers. If you are bold enough, let your customers put other site’s products on their ‘Board’ and use it for new product ideas. The possibilities are endless.
Philosophically think in terms of ‘Hiring Your Customers’ because truthfully, they are the experts when it comes to knowing what they want. From a store owners perspective, if you don’t know what your customers want you really don’t have a viable business.
Remember too that Pinterest is a ‘Social Site’. Through Pinterest your customers by default will be marketing your products to their friends. As we all know, word of mouth is like gold when it comes to the retail industry.
Here is all you need to make it happen:
- Install the Pinterest button on your site [We can help]
- Create the offer with a specific end date and cap on the total number of ‘Boards’ you will accept
- Post your offer to the site and let your email list of previous customers know about it
- Analyze your customer ‘Boards’
There is no true Home Run out there anymore using one marketing technique but Pinterest creates a different customer perspective than previously had. Adding better insight into what your customers want can only help drive more quality offerings. We think Pinterest may be an additional, inexpensive option to do so.
Need help setting up Pinterest in your Yahoo! Store? Let us know. We’d be happy to assist. It’s fast and inexpensive. We’ll even give you a FREE site consultation while on the phone as a thank you.
Call us Toll Free at 1.888.770.8883
