What is shoppable content?
Shoppable content refers to any type of online media, such as videos, images, blog posts, or Stories, which include clickable links or buttons to purchase products directly from the content. The goal is to make it easy for consumers to discover and buy products without having to leave the content they are engaging with. Shoppable content ensures a frictionless shopping journey through a fast, convenient and seamless product discovery and purchasing experience.
Why is shoppable content important for eCommerce?
Shoppable content is important for eCommerce due to several reasons:
Increases the possibility of making impulse purchases
Customers can easily explore and buy products directly from the shoppable content they engage with, which may encourage making impulse purchases.
Streamlines the purchasing process
When customers come across shoppable content, their purchasing process gets much easier. Shoppable content eliminates the need to browse on a separate website or product page to buy a product. It is a powerful method to ensure fun, fast and seamless shopping experience. The ability to shop or choose among product variations like size and color through a shoppable content makes the whole experience a lot more user-friendly and fast.
Provides invaluable data and insights
Shoppable content gives valuable insights into consumer behavior and buying patterns. This can allow eCommerce businesses to make informed decisions about their marketing strategies. They can better meet their customers’ demands and needs by tailoring relevant content accordingly.
Improves the customer experience
Shoppable content offers a more personalized and interactive shopping experience that will win the hearts and minds of customers. With personalization, brands can display relevant content tailored to the needs and preferences of the customer. This can make customers feel special strengthen their relationship with the brand. On the other hand, the interactivity of shoppable content delivers a much more fun and engaging experience for the customer. Therefore, shoppable content can help improve the customer experience and build customer loyalty.
Drives sales
Shoppable content offers a seamless and convenient way for customers to buy products, which can help drive more sales.
Shoppable content is a valuable asset for any eCommerce strategy since it may help eCommerce organizations enhance the shopping experience, boost sales, and better understand their target markets.
Benefits of shoppable content
There are several benefits of incorporating shoppable content into your marketing strategy:
- Increases engagement
- Inspire customers more easily
- Simplifies the purchase process
- Drives sales
- Improves customer experience
- Provides valuable data and insights
- Enhances brand awareness
- Allows for targeted marketing
- Facilitates cross-selling and upselling
- Encourages user-generated content
Increases engagement
By integrating shoppable content, businesses can allow customers to interact with products in a more dynamic way. This in turn increases engagement and grows interest in the brand.
Inspires customers more easily
Shoppers seek a certain source of inspiration to make a purchase online. In fact, Google has found out that 60% of online shoppers feel the urge to buy a product from a source of inspiration even when they are not actively shopping. Shoppable content can inspire shoppers even when they are merely browsing by allowing them to purchase products straight through the content.
Simplifies the purchasing process
Shoppable content helps customers purchase products directly from the content. It simplifies the buying process and decreases the risk of cart abandonment.
Increases sales
Since shoppable content allows customers to purchase products in a seamless and convenient way, it can drive more sales.
Improves the customer experience
Customers encounter an interactive and personalized shopping experience through shoppable content, which can eventually pave the way for increased customer satisfaction.
Offers valuable data and insights
Shoppable content offers useful data and insights on consumer behavior and buying trends, enabling businesses to improve their marketing plans and create content that is more suited to the demands of their customers.
Enhances brand awareness
When customers engage with shoppable content, they may share it with others or decide to make purchases. This can help increase brand awareness as more people get exposure to the brand.
Allows for targeted marketing
Brands can customize shoppable content to target specific audiences or demographics. This way, they will be able to effectively adjust their marketing efforts to reach their target audiences.
Facilitates cross-selling and upselling
Shoppable content can be used to promote related or complementary products, making it easier for consumers to discover and purchase additional items.
Encourages user-generated content
Shoppable content encourages users to create and publish authentic, user-generated content. This way, users can share their experiences with the brand and its products, which can lead to increased brand loyalty and customer engagement.
Builds social proof
Brands can use shoppable content to generate trust about their brand and build social proof. When a customer provides a testimonial or a review about the brand or products, brands can use it as shoppable content. For instance, imagine that a customer writes a product review and attaches the image of the product they have taken themselves. This can be converted to a shoppable content to display both the product and the customer review. Consumers trust what others say online, therefore a positive customer review can influence others to make a purchase too. Featuring reviews as shoppable content can build social proof and trust with the brand.
Types of shoppable content
- Shoppable images
- Shoppable videos
- Shoppable social media posts
- Shoppable blog posts
- Shoppable emails
- Shoppable ads
- Shoppable live streams
Shoppable images
Using shoppable images is a great way to display products and incentivize shoppers to make a purchase. These images direct the customer to the checkout once the customer clicks on them. To give an idea, brands can utilize shoppable images for cross-selling.
They can display an image of an outfit featuring several products and inspire shoppers to buy a bundle of products that go together. Brands can create online “window-shopping” experiences with a shoppable video which increases customer engagement. Shoppable images are widely used on eCommerce websites and product pages.
Shoppable videos
The popularity of short-form video content is rapidly increasing since they are easy to digest and can keep the viewers’ attention. Moreover, Google has found that over 50% of internet users look for videos related to a product or service before visiting a store. This is why shoppable videos have become an essential way to engage customers and drive sales. A shoppable video includes products that can be purchased via the video's embedded links. There are different shoppable video formats according to the platform that you build a shoppable video on. But a shoppable video usually features a pop-up window that allows customers to browse, select and purchase products without leaving the video page.
Shoppable social media posts
Users can come across shoppable social media posts on various social media platforms like Instagram or Facebook. For example, B2C companies use Instagram to publish shoppable posts and showcase their products. Clothing brands specifically use shoppable social media posts since it is easy to promote products in one image. Similar to Instagram, shoppable Pinterest pins allow businesses to display products and inspire shoppers. With shoppable pins, brands can add the pricing information, direct to the product page and include a CTA button.
Shoppable blog posts
Blog posts are valuable for customers when they have the specific information a customer is searching for. Integrating shoppable elements into blog posts can be a great way to enrich the content and sell products. Brands can make their blog posts shoppable by adding buttons that direct the reader to the respective product pages. As shoppable blog posts make product discovery easier, they can influence the readers to make a purchase.
Shoppable emails
Email is still a relevant marketing channel for many brands. And incorporating shoppability into your emails can take your email strategy to a whole new level. Consider making your emails shoppable by integrating the leading content format, Stories, into your emails. With Inbox Stories, you can bring the dynamic Story format to email marketing and display your newest products or exclusive offers in a highly visualized way. Customers can click on the Story inside your email and easily discover products.
Shoppable ads
Shoppable ads are advertisements that allow customers to make a purchase directly through the ad. They can be designed as a video, image, or text to entice the viewer to buy a product or service. This type of content is commonly used in online advertising, such as Google Ads and Facebook Ads. For instance, Google’s shoppable image ads can be found in Google image search results. These types of ads display products and prices and can link to several product categories in the store.
Shoppable live streams
Shoppable live streams are live video streams in which brands can sell their products or services real time during a live broadcast. If the viewer sees a product they like, they can buy the product right away after clicking on it. Live streams help build a community and ensure a feeling of authenticity. They are commonly used in social media platforms, such as Instagram Live and Facebook Live.
Shoppable content examples
DeFacto
DeFacto has created shoppable video Stories using Storyly to better showcase their products and inform the customers on the app. By using Storyly’s interactive stickers and embedded CTAs on their shoppable videos, they shorten the customer journey and allow customers to complete checkout just in minutes. They use interactives such as countdowns to create a sense of urgency and add excitement to the shopping experience. DeFacto effectively communicates with customers, shares new campaigns, and informs customers about upcoming releases through shoppable content combined with the capabilities of the Story format. Check out the details of their success story if you’d like to learn more.
Decathlon
Decathlon, the world’s largest sporting goods retailer, published shoppable content in the form of Stories to engage and inspire shoppers. When users open the Decathlon app, they are greeted with personalized Stories that make it easy to find exactly what they are looking for and complete the purchase seamlessly. Moreover, personalized cart abandonment Stories helped Decathlon remind customers who have left products in their carts, thereby decreasing cart abandonment and increasing conversion rates. After app users click on the Story, they see the image of an item they have forgotten in their cart and can instantly complete their purchase by clicking on the “Swipe Up to Checkout” button. Read the full success story to discover how Decathlon thrives with shoppable content in the format of in-app Stories.
