Most retailers don’t use Buy buttons, and even among those that do, few generate significant sales from them.
Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and other social networks have spent more than a year rolling out Buy buttons that enable consumers to buy directly on their platforms. But few retailers are using the buttons, and even among those that are, few are generating much in the way of sales, according to survey results released by email marketing vendor Campaigner.
The survey finds that only 16.6% of the 562 Campaigner clients that took part in the survey offer Buy buttons on at least one social network. And 71.8% of those that are using Buy buttons aren’t generating meaningful sales from them. Another 17.5% said they are generating 1-5% of their revenue from Buy buttons. Those lackluster results, which mirror similar results reported by Macy’s Inc., help explain why 39.7% of respondents said they planned to decrease their use of Buy buttons next year.
While Buy buttons haven’t gained much traction, social media marketing is second, behind only email marketing, in respondents’ rankings of the tools they plan to use more of next year. 73.1% of respondents said they plan to increase their use of email marketing, while 59.8% said social media marketing, 46.3% email newsletters, 45.5% content marketing, 37.6% personalization, 33.8% search engine optimization and 33.1% digital advertising. (Respondents could select more than option).
Iksula’s Take on the Buy Button
While brands & retailers have established social media is a great platform for acquiring customers, they are still just ‘experimenting’ with Buy buttons. For consumers, there is a lot of content – even out there on visual social networking sites like Instagram & Pinterest – leading to less attention span and lesser conversion chances. However, we believe combining social networking with buying is a behavior of the future. For now, you can stay clear of Buy buttons from your strategy, but keep experimenting with exciting content.
Excerpts from Internet Retailer
