Guest Blog by The TurnTo Team
Shoppers online often have questions or want advice before making a purchase. From the perspective of shoppers, they want credible advice from someone who has nothing substantial to gain from a purchase being made. When in the equivalent situation at a brick-and-mortar store, a shopper might ask the advice of another shopper instead of the sales clerk. The same is true online where, in the absence of other shoppers, they’re likely to seek purchase advice through social media. The conversation is then taken away from the online store.
It’s not a secret that social networks present great methods for engaging shoppers and customers. As we all know, the benefits of increased social media engagement range from free word-of-mouth marketing to better brand loyalty. However, keeping your shoppers on your store and off of social media is critical to completing the purchase process. So, what can you do today to prevent visitors from bouncing to social media? How can you keep your shoppers engaged with social content while keeping them on your online store?
The solution is simple: you must foster your community conversations on-site. Your store is already the ideal rallying point for people who are interested in your products. Use this opportunity and location to connect your community. There’s a simple way that you can incorporate shopper conversations into the on-site shopping experience: implement Social Q&A.
If you have an effective social commerce strategy, then you may already have on-site Social Q&A. If you don’t have it, what are you waiting for? Social Q&A allows shoppers to have their product questions answered by your actual customers. On top performing sites, 95% of shopper questions receive social answers. The best-in-class solutions, like TurnTo’s Ask Owners, have highly effective email components (with an average 12% response rate) that drive unique and repeat purchases, generate indexable UGC for SEO, and foster customer conversations on your site. Retailers who utilize Social Q&A consider it to be the equivalent of a product-level discussion board, only more social in nature.
Opening the lines of communication between your customers will keep them engaged on your store longer and more frequently. Also, the perceived value of product research on your site will increase as your shoppers receive advice on purchases from actual customers who are more credible than any company representative could ever be. Unlock the hidden potential of your community by fostering conversations on-site. Instead of allowing social media to draw traffic away, encourage social conversations on-site to retain your shoppers’ attention.
If you’re interested in benefiting from Social Q&A on your online store, let us know. We’d love to help.
