“Content is king,” Bill Gates famously wrote in a 1996 essay. If that is true, would it be fair to assume that all content is good? Or, at least good for any type of business?
The truth is that ecommerce content is much different than what you might find in the pages of an online magazine or website of a nonprofit organization.When you say “ecommerce,” you automatically say “sales” and you want your content to support those goals.
Confusion around what can be labeled as ecommerce content and what can’t is keeping online store owners like you from boosting their profit margins with smart copy.
This article is meant to help you get clarity on what content is worth your efforts — and how to do more of it. We’ll share advice from the Americaneagle.com content team who specialize in writing for ecommerce businesses, as well as practical tips to simplify the content production:
1.) User-Generated Content (UGC)
If you’re not familiar with UGC, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to learn that this type of content is one of the most authentic ways to connect with your audience and expand your bottom line. The numbers speak for themselves:
- Over 86% of companies use UGC as part of their marketing strategy.
- Around 48% of customers say that UGC helps them discover new products.
- 70% of shoppers will factor in UGC reviews or ratings before buying from a brand.
This content is produced by your customers, site visitors, social media followers or employees in many forms, from reviews and testimonials to comments and posts.
Famous B2C companies like Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and BMW are leveraging the power of UGC to gain more brand credibility and drive sales. Loews Hotels, for instance, chose to promote the photos their guests shared on social media over images featuring paid models. The brand #TravelForReal hashtag attracted submissions and got more eyes on their hotel.
While UGC tends to be more light-hearted, many B2B marketers experienced great success with it too. Here are some tried-and-true ideas from brands like Buffer, Adobe and IBM:
- Share photos (with a dedicated hashtag) that were taken by your employees to showcase the company culture.
- Promote videos and photos of real customers using a product or service whether it’s a software or an air conditioning unit.
- Post video testimonials from satisfied clients.
By blending your brand voice with your customer’s voice, UGC will help you not only build a larger customer base but also a dedicated community.
2.) Webinars and Online Courses
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented surge in the demand for online learning. With more time to spare, consumers are turning to webinars and online courses, eager to learn new skills that will allow them to pivot quickly in times of crisis.
Why is this good news for you? When it comes to ecommerce, between 20% and 40% of webinar attendees become qualified leads, according to ReadyTalk.
Business owners like you are increasingly using these types of content to achieve a number of things including:
- Generate qualified leads
- Launch and promote new products
- Educate customers about your products and services
- Rank higher on search engine results
At Americaneagle.com, we use webinars to interact with our targeted prospects and provide them with free knowledge about a variety of topics, from email marketing to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and paid search. We also host an annual, free virtual Forum series to help our clients accelerate their digital growth.
Tips to create webinars that get prospects excited to buy from you:
- Choose specific topics that a.) speak to your audience and b.) allow you to showcase your expertise. Collaborate with your sales team to find your audience’s pain points, then create content around those issues.
- Choose the right format. Case studies, expert panel discussions and tutorials work best for retaining and onboarding new customers.
- Pique your audience’s interest using storytelling, images, graphs and screenshots.
- Insert mini Q&A sessions throughout the webinar to get your audience involved.
- Include an offer and call-to-action (CTA).
- Incorporate a landing page to convert registrations.
- Keep it around 60 minutes.
Ready to take your ecommerce content strategy up a notch?
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3.) Branded Product Guide
Customers like to make informed decisions and they will spend hours researching and comparing products. It’s often not those companies that offer them a better deal that make the cut, but those which provide with more details and make
a memorable impression.
A product guide does exactly that. It allows you greet your prospects at a critical stage in the buying process and nudge them to pick your products and services over your competitors’.
IKEA is a perfect example of a B2C company that makes excellent use of product guides. Their guides are as practical as they are beautiful. One of their product
guides aims to introduce buyers to SYMFONISK, a furniture-turned-speaker line, designed in collaboration with Sonos.
Website users can watch a short video about how to use these products, check out prices and scroll through several high-quality images accompanied by CTAs (“Learn how to use SYMFONISK speakers”) that link to more in-depth information.
To create an effective buyer’s guide, make sure to mention product specifications, pricing charts (if you’re selling variations of a product) photos, videos, as well as customer testimonials and CTAs.
When it comes to format, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. The only rule is to be consistent with your brand style. Nikon’s manuals, for example, are black and white, and containing charts full of technical details. Wayfair, however, decided to convert their product guides into blog articles that link to individual landing pages, increasing online purchases. It’s always helpful to give buyers the option of downloading your product guide, so they can easily revisit it from their devices.
We hope you feel more equipped to tackle ecommerce content on your own, but if you need more guidance, we’re happy to assist you. Check out ourDigital Marketing Servicesand see how our copywriters and SEO experts can help you achieve everything we’ve talked about in this article and much more.
