U.S. eCommerce sales in 2017 grew 15.8 percent to $452.8 billion as compared to the previous year. With an increase in sales come greater expectations of a better on-site experience. An inadequate shopping experience is often the reason why eCommerce sites do not flourish. In the past year, around 87% shoppers refused repeat purchases due to bad product pages. Furthermore, 40% shoppers refunded their purchases due to poor product content.
As you can see, product content can make or break your eCommerce website. Below are the types of eCommerce product content available for a marketer to boost sales
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Blogs and Articles
These are the most versatile and popular type of content in eCommerce. Blogs and articles can be used at any stage of the sales funnel, whether it is an informative piece to aid a purchase decision or an entertaining one to increase brand awareness. The versatile blog can do it all. Moreover, you can guest post on other sites relevant to your industry to increase the size of your audience and increase your brand awareness.
The versatility of blogs helps you cover a wide range of formats and topics such as breaking news and announcements, how-to or product buying guides, and even opinion pieces such as industry trends and insights. As blogs and articles can be informative, they are your best bet to establish yourself as an authority for your niche.
Blogs are excellent for SEO. With a large word count in the hands of a capable copywriter, blogs can be tailored to increase your search rankings. Statistics show that organizations that blog receive around 434% more pages indexed. If you need to boost your SEO or increase traffic, blogs are the first and most important ingredient in your Content Strategy.
While blogging for your brand or organization, there are a few best practices to keep in mind. First and foremost, keep your paragraphs short. Blogs that have lengthy blocks of text look intimidating to readers, and it can increase the odds of the article being skipped. Short paragraphs encourage your words to be read. You should also keep your headlines catchy, add images to break the textual monotony, and have a regular publishing schedule to encourage readers to check back often
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Buying Guides
Buying guides are extremely useful for eCommerce websites. These guides are informative and help to answer any questions a potential customer may have before making a purchase. Buying guides are also versatile as they can be created in a blog format or as comparison charts between similar products.
eCommerce websites are constantly attracting new customers, and these shoppers are seeking assistance on what to buy. Buying guides help usher prospects further along the sales funnel as it provides key information shoppers need before finalizing an order. Furthermore, it helps keep shoppers on the website as they research and browse through various pages, which increases on-site time and improves SEO rankings.
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Lookbooks
Lookbooks or product image galleries are ideal for visual markets such as fashion, beauty, home décor, etc. This type of product content inspires a “desire” for the product while the shopper browses through them. These are a bit different from product photos seen on product pages. Lookbooks are a curated collection of stylistic photos depicting the products you have on sale.
Product image galleries with their artistic nature help to establish a deeper emotional connection between the product and the shopper. It also helps them to understand the product in context as it answers questions like how would it look on me? Would it go with my current wardrobe? Etc. Moreover, lookbooks give you ample material to engage with audiences on visual social media networks such as Instagram and Pinterest.
The number one rule to follow for lookbooks is excellent photography. Along with aesthetic photos, it is imperative to keep the overall design simple. The product or model should be the star, and your background should supplement the items and not distract the reader. Lookbooks are also a great way to give specific products special attention during seasonal sales and promotions.
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Infographics
These visual aids started gaining in popularity in 2010 as their usefulness lies in expressing complex data or ideas in a manner that is easily understood. Infographics not only aid comprehension but also make mundane topics fun. Along with being engaging, they help businesses increase their web traffic as they are liked and shared three times more often on social media.
While creating infographics, you should keep in mind to design it with a coherent narrative flow. As infographics as useful in representing complex data sets and trends in an easily understood form, their purpose can be realized only when they are structured properly. A standard rule of thumb to follow is to have each section build on a previous one. Although design and image editing skills are preferred, you can use time-saving tools like these to create visually stunning infographics.
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Video
As we pointed out in our earlier blog, video is taking center stage for all content marketing strategies. If you’re not engaging your audience with video, you’ve already fallen behind. With around 69% of the total traffic on the internet belonging to videos, it’s without a doubt that video is king.
Just like blogs, videos are extremely versatile when it comes to the creative execution of your marketing campaign. Whether it is subject matter, style, or length, videos are suitable for virtually any marketing goal or industry.
Using videos as a medium, you can repurpose your existing content such as how-to guides into short how-to-use product videos, product reviews, etc. You can even publish interviews with industry leaders or even showcase employee engagement programs to the world. It’s your brand and videos are the best storytelling medium available to marketers today.
One thing to keep in mind when publishing videos is to have a transcript included in the description of the video. This enables search engine crawlers to understand what the video is about and index the page correctly, thereby boosting SEO.
Are you looking to turnaround lackluster sales with content that informs, entertains, and converts? Get in touch with our marketing team at marketing@iksula.com and give your eCommerce website the boost it needs.
