WHITE PAPER MAY 2018 - Commerce Futures
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APER
WHITE P
8
MAY 201
CONTENT &
WHITE PAPER
MAY 2018
COMMERCE:
RIGHT CONTENT, RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME
P
roducing the right content to sell your products
has never been more challenging. The continuing
shift towards mobile commerce and the growing
consumption of content on social media
platforms presents a dilemma in terms of where
to focus and how to allocate precious content
production resources.
In the UK, 85% of adults own a smartphonei to do more than simply list products on your
and one in four internet users (24%) only use website with vanilla descriptions, unless you are
a device other than a computer to go onlineii. competing solely on price. Instead, you need to
When it comes to retail, Forrester predicts that build an emotional connection with your audience
smartphones will be used in over one-third of total and determine what makes your brand appear
sales in 2018 for some aspect, including research, authentic in an era where trust is increasingly
price comparisons and purchases.iii In Q3 of necessary, yet harder to win.
2017, over 40% of online transactions were made
on mobile devices.iv Together, these statistics
provide compelling evidence that you need to
be focussing on the mobile experience when
Match Content to Context
determining your content strategy. Among the most important tasks is ensuring any
content matches the context within which people
Many of these smartphone owners will be using will encounter it. For text, that applies as much to
them to access social media, which presents its its length as to the information it contains. Sparse
own challenges, as users respond to the power of information is not very inviting when you’re trying
‘influencers’ and form virtual communities. to attract, inspire and engage a potential customer:
Together, these trends underscore the need conversely, encountering too much content in the
2 CONTENT & COMMERCE
“We have a framework that we use when we bring out a
new product or enter a new season: this is our ‘Thinking,
Planning, Doing’ document. It covers what the customer
will be doing at each of those stages and what we need
to do to be able to ‘touch’ that customer – and then what
content we need to produce in order to do that.”
Michelle Corp, eCommerce and Commercial Manager at Hotel Chocolat
or no additional cost. For example, you may be
able to exploit user-generated content, in the
form of words or images, as long as you have
appropriate consent. Alternatively, you may be
checkout process can be distracting, potentially able to reuse content that you already own. “We’re
leading to abandoned shopping baskets. lucky to have a fantastic volume of publications
and mechanisms for our inspirational content,”
From its inception, fashion retailer Net-a-Porter says Harper. These include physical magazines
approached commerce as a “shoppable magazine and online-only content.
online”, explains Anna Harper, Lead Product
Owner for Customer and Commerce. Content is Bear in mind that you may need to adopt a
split into three core segments: initial inspiration, different approach to content when you step away
to excite, engage and inspire customers; from what consumers understand to be your
navigation, to help them find what they’re ‘normal’ merchandise. Consider creating additional
looking for (and potentially encourage them to or alternative content to educate people about
purchase additional, complementary items); and buying that type of product online instead of in-
transactional, where the aim is to help them to store, or buying it from you instead of elsewhere.
complete their purchase by reducing cognitive
overload.
The approach at chocolate brand Hotel Chocolat
Use the Power of Imagery
is similar. “We look at who are we talking to and and Social Media
what content they need to consume at different
points in the journey,” says Michelle Corp, Content isn’t just about words. Without
eCommerce and Commercial Manager. “We have resurrecting that old adage about how many
a framework that we use when we bring out a words an image is worth, it’s certainly true that
new product or enter a new season: this is our imagery deserves special attention. Context is an
‘Thinking, Planning, Doing’ document. It covers issue here too, given that some social platforms
what the customer will be doing at each of those are designed to showcase images first and
stages and what we need to do to be able to foremost. “We find that Facebook and Instagram
‘touch’ that customer – and then what content we are the most effective platforms for Oliver Bonas
need to produce in order to do that.” in terms of ecommerce and conversion, but our
images also work well on Pinterest,” notes Camilla
Most online content is likely to be produced from Tress, eCommerce Strategist at Oliver Bonas.
scratch, to meet the needs of consumers at the
relevant point in their purchasing journey. But Leading the field are Facebook and Instagram.
there may be content you can repurpose at little Launched as a simple photo-sharing app,
3 CONTENT & COMMERCE
Instagram is now a core channel for many
businesses. In fact, it’s so powerful that UK
footwear brand EGO has built its entire business
off the back of Instagram. “It’s more on trend for
our target audience, whereas Facebook is good
for paid response but not organic traffic,” explains
Usman Riaz, EGO’s Co-Founder. “That said, paid
Facebook does help to maximise who sees our
content, especially for those who don’t know the
brand. YouTube, on the other hand, is expensive to
produce content for, so it’s not for us currently.”
Social media channels work differently for
each company, reflecting the company’s target
audience. For example, accessories specialist
Skinnydip London focusses on millennials, and
although Co-Founder James Gold agrees that
social media as a whole has been crucial for
Skinnydip’s growth, he
credits Instagram with having
the biggest impact on the
business. Conversely, Harper “You need to show the right content to the right
from Net-a-Porter says the people at the right time in their buying cycle.”
company sees some of its
Jim Warren, Marketing Director at Bloom & Wild
highest engagement rates on
Facebook.
Whichever works for you, consultancy Gartner If your business relies on paid social, then “you
L2 advises that investment in social media is need to show the right content to the right people
definitely worth prioritising, because even though at the right time in their buying cycle,” points out
organic and paid search drive more desktop Jim Warren, Marketing Director at flower delivery
traffic, the traffic generated by email and social company Bloom & Wild. Personalising the content
media results in longer site visits.v PwC agrees, people see makes the ads more relevant and
finding that when consumers were asked where reduces ‘fatigue’, saving money by reducing cost
they went online to get inspiration for purchases, per click and minimising negative comments. In
37% chose social media as their first destination, the flower delivery company’s case, they split
placing it above retail websites (34%).vi people into those who have never interacted,
those who have but have never bought and those
who have purchased from the company before,
with each group being shown different images
Get the Right Picture and text.
Researching what type of imagery works well is
vital. “We know certain things convert better than Choosing the right imagery is not just about
others – for example, naked chocolate shots really conversion. Returns can be a costly burden for
work well on social because people respond online businesses, so anything that reduces the
to the oozy chocolate!” says Corp from Hotel proportion of returns is worth studying. Lifestyle
Chocolat. store Oliver Bonas found that showing jewellery
4 CONTENT & COMMERCE
“We worked really hard on a tone of
voice – it didn’t evolve overnight.”
Pat McNulty, Editor at Made.com
than our beautifully staged studio shots,” reveals
Pat McNulty, Editor at Made.com. “So we ran the
pictures on our product pages and people loved
seeing the items in other people’s houses, even
on models not only increased sales but also if the picture wasn’t perfect, as it helped them
reduced returns: “People could now see the scale understand how they would look in real life.”
of each piece, how it looked when worn, how far a
necklace dropped and so on,” said Tress.
Some brands choose to adopt different
Be Authentic
approaches to imagery across social media Being brave enough to show less-than-perfect
channels, but anecdotal evidence indicates this images of your merchandise can be one way of
may not be necessary. “I thought having a tailored removing the gulf between your brand and your
approach to different channels was the right thing customers, and underscoring your authenticity.
to do,” remarks Connie Nam, CEO and Founder of
jewellery brand Astrid & Miyu. “But we found that Trust and authenticity are now key for successful
whatever works on Instagram works across all brands, as the growth of social media has
channels.” influenced how consumers decide if a brand is
one they can trust. In its 2018 Global Consumer
Nam notes that imagery doesn’t always have Insights Survey, PwC found that ‘trust in the brand’
to be costly. “We moved from using expensive was one of two reasons ranked first most often by
models and photographers, which didn’t consumers in terms of what influenced them to
necessarily convert very well, to inviting blogger shop with a particular retailer.vii
photographers to take shots of women we spotted
on social media and also our own staff. For us, “Brands have to think about what’s the best way
these ‘candid’ images convert better, and because for them to engage so that they come off as being
they are cheaper to produce we can create new authentic and caring,” according to Rick Kauffield,
campaigns far more frequently. We use these Principal at PwC US.
images online and then in our catalogue too.”
Brand trust can be built in many ways. Your
Similarly, user-generated images can be powerful, content needs to reflect your company’s ethos
showing your products in a less composed and and ideals. And the way you ‘speak’ to your current
more natural way that more closely reflects and potential customers in every interaction needs
the reality of living with them. “We took some to match your overall brand and be consistent.
of the photos uploaded by customers to the
‘Inspiration section’ of our website and put them “We worked really hard on a tone of voice – it
on Instagram, and they got higher engagement didn’t evolve overnight,” explains Made.com’s
5 CONTENT & COMMERCE
“Most people think experimentation is A/B testing,
but A/B tests can be extremely expensive to set
up and run.”
Johnny Quach, Vice President of Product Management at AirHelp
consumers, but can be difficult and expensive to
work with. They may also be unrelatable for your
target audience.
Instead, consider “painting yourself differently”,
as Gold puts it. Send your products to the people
McNulty. We felt it was important because we the stars follow. Or look for bloggers and micro
didn’t want to sound like other design brands. influencers who actively engage with their
We don’t use lots of design jargon or ‘highfalutin’ followers, and therefore may engender more trust
terms. Instead, we write like we talk. And that in your brand.
helped us connect with our audience in a different
way – it made a more human connection.” Influencers aren’t right for every brand, however.
Some companies choose not to work with
Other options are to create or get involved in them due to concerns around tone of voice and
campaigns, and instigate collaborations with potential conflicts with brand values. And on a
designers and other brands that match what practical level, it takes time (and money) to find
you stand for. Campaigns can help to create a influencers and then manage the relationship, to
community allied to your brand, as can careful use ensure it doesn’t backfire. So plan carefully. Look
of social media and opportunities on your own site. at the opportunities, consider the costs and then
This community approach can work for all sorts of decide if this approach is appropriate for your
products, not just obvious ones like sports goods. business.
“We harnessed the power of what content could
do from day one, using it to build a community
around our content and subsequently to build
Use Research and
brand advocacy,” says McNulty. “Content is not an Feedback
add-on – it’s fundamental to everything we do.”
Content production is never cheap, but some
of the work you do to improve the content you
present to consumers could be very costly, so
Engage Influencers research and testing is vital. But how you test is
Among the most powerful tools in building a also worth some thought.
community and inspiring potential customers is
engaging influencers. “Social conversation is very “Most people think experimentation is A/B
important and you have to partner with the right testing, but A/B tests can be extremely expensive
people,” advises Gold from Skinnydip. to set up and run,” points out Johnny Quach,
Vice President of Product Management at
Working with influencers doesn’t have to mean AirHelp. “Instead we do ‘mock’ testing. These are
reaching for the stars. They may inspire some lightweight tests that give you validation of an
6 CONTENT & COMMERCEidea that you think is true.” Instead of building the A powerful CMS, whether standalone or part of
alternative version of something that you wish an eCommerce platform, can enable a content
to test against your current setup, mock testing team to create and publish content without
involves finding a different, simpler way to present involving a technical team, allowing them to
the alternative option to users of your website and move fast.
assess their response.
Another feature to look for is the ability to produce
There’s also the question of when to publish new modular blocks of content – either within the CMS
content, especially long-form content such as or using a plug-in – that can be used in multiple
blogs and inspirational pieces, which you want places, even on social media. Heal’s uses this
consumers to receive when they are most likely to approach to create rich content: “Where it’s had
respond. For example, Net-a-Porter publishes one the most effect is where we’ve used it to solve
of its main campaigns – Porter Edit – on Fridays, in something that would otherwise have been more
response to customer feedback that this is when difficult for us to do. This lets us create a piece
they have time to read long-form content, and of user ‘experience’ much quicker and deploy it
this is also when the company sees the highest faster than we would have done under normal
engagement rates. circumstances,” explains David Kohn, Customer
and eCommerce Director at Heal’s.
It’s also important to choose a solution that
Invest behind the scenes produces truly responsive content. “As a brand,
Producing authentic content with a common we needed to respond to the dominance of
voice across multiple channels, and potentially mobile by using tools that help across the
in multiple languages, is a huge undertaking, whole experience,” says Hannah Bennett,
especially for smaller companies. Anything Project Manager for Web Development at Paul
that can make this easier is therefore worth Smith. “You need something that enables you
investigating. The good news is that recent to design a site that looks good on mobile and
iterations of many eCommerce platforms and also renders it fast. Freedom to use plug-ins
content management systems (CMS) have and create content that you can duplicate and
been built with this in mind. swap out easily are also significant.”
SUMMARY
There is no single solution to producing the Establishing trust and authenticity is essential.
perfect content for your brand: instead, there Investing in research and tools for content
are many aspects you should consider before creation is also vital. The good news is that our
investing time and money into the task. It’s also understanding of what kind of content to present
worth bearing in mind that “Not all content needs at various stages in the eCommerce journey is
to convert – sometimes it’s about getting into now clearer and the tools have matured to match
their hearts and minds instead,” according to that need.
Steve Kato-Spyrou, UX Architect at John Lewis.
i Deloitte; State of the Smart, Consumer and business usage patterns, Global Mobile iv AdWeek; Mobile Shopping Is on the Rise, But Remains Split Between the Mobile Web and
Consumer Survey 2017: UK Cut Apps; 23 February 2018
ii Ofcom; Adults’ media use and attitudes, Report 2017; June 2017 v L2 Gartner; Intelligence Report: Content & Commerce 2018; March 2018
iii Forrester; 2018 Retail Best Practices: Mobile Web; February 2018 vi PwC; 2018 Global Consumer Insights Survey
vii PwC; 2018 Global Consumer Insights Survey
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