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Supercharge your e-commerce app with these social commerce strategies

Most likely you are doing social commerce the way most companies are. Team Vinfotech challenges you to think different with some tried and tested strategies.

Even social media can sometimes feel robotic. But your business is after all about people. Precisely why social commerce needs to come out of just scratching the surface and really involve people. Consumers now want to be able to shop from virtually anywhere – be it from a fashion magazine, from a social network, while reading news or browsing videos on Youtube.

Social commerce thus involves not necessarily a social network channel but a social environment to shop. Several e-commerce companies have adapted to newer social layers on top of their applications to give their buyers a feel of social networking while shopping. Our team listed down some guidelines that would help you understand your buyers’ inherent socializing need that leads to selling of your product.

Get them talking with conversational commerce via chatbots

Back in 2016, platforms such as Facebook, Shopify, Slack and Google realized they needed chatbots – real-time customer communication through messenger applications and bots. This gives a huge opportunity for e-commerce brands. Conversational commerce offers almost unlimited access to touch-points to potential users. A great example of an e-commerce company using this is Adoro. This online fashion network has a chatbot that interacts with customers. In response to commands like “show me something in red” or “I need something to wear to the school ball dance”, the chatbot lists multiple options to choose from. Chatbots today remove the doubts of the buyers immediately, give them what they need at the moment about the product and expedite buying decision.

Solve their problems on community forums

E-commerce companies now would need community forums on their platforms to solve problems of their buyers right there at the application instead of relying on social media channels. While social media remains the easiest way to reach out to customers, community forum can flip the coin and bring customers on a social platform belonging to the specific brand. Companies know it costs them at least five times more to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing one. And such forums help selling the products to existing customers. These forums, in a way, replicate the offline shopping experience. Even brands such as Sephora are effectively utilizing community forums. Sephora has a platform - Beauty Talk - to solve beauty problems of customers and have real-time conversations about their product to steer buying.

Create superfans on official fan clubs

Another social trend that e-commerce companies must immediately adopt is creating an online fan club outside of social media channels. E-commerce companies can create local fan clubs of their products for customers to discuss and share information about the products and availability. This would give the companies valuable insights into local buyers, their culture, their preferences so they could pitch specific products to targeted buyers. A fashion e-commerce brand Polyvore gives all of its buyers a voice through a global community of stylists who share tips, fashion predictions and trends. Buyers can simply save their favourite items on to the app and can buy them as and when they are available.

Tell product stories

You have seen stories going viral on social media. Now imagine your e-commerce website full of product stories that engage users indefinitely. You must think beyond product description and bring the power of social interaction through product stories. For instance, wrist watch companies that sell only wooden watches may have stories built around the manufacturing of these watches, the process and the benefits. Such stories help your customers build relationships with your brand and create personalization. HBR reports that personalization can deliver five to eight times the return on investment for your marketing spend.

Reward and gamify your app

Your millennial buyers want thrill at every step of the way. For them, buying is not just about ordering things they need, it’s about the whole experience. Start rewarding your customers when they invite friends or when they share their wish-list on social media. OpenSky that sells jewelry, kitchen, electronics and a variety of other products, encourages users to follow individual sellers and rewards them upon inviting friends. It gives away points to users to enjoy rewards like discounts or good deals for future shopping.

Serve personalized newsfeeds

This may not strike you particularly as an e-commerce feature but may go a long way in helping you engage users the social commerce way. Some e-commerce companies are creating personalized newsfeeds that replicate Pinterest or Etsy so the users get a social media environment and feel most comfortable in hitting the Buy button. Fancy is one such site that allows users to discover products that have been curated by its global community and buy from thousands of different stores directly through the platform. Users get to create their profiles, see their personalized newsfeeds and buy through a few clicks. While this is a common network for you to use, you can create your own personalized newsfeeds for your registered users and keep them engaged indefinitely on your e-commerce platform.

Facebook CFO Dave Wehner recently said, “We continue to expect that ad load will play a less significant factor driving revenue growth after mid-2017. ” This clearly means that ads on social media platforms are not the best way to attract buyers or sell products. E-Commerce companies need to think harder about socially engaging ways for the buyers in order to increase sales and revenue. We have some great social commerce ideas that can be implemented on top of your existing e-commerce application or we can build a brand new e-commerce application customized to your requirements. Let us know.

IN A NUTSHELL
  • Get them talking with conversational commerce
  • Solve their problems on community forums
  • Create superfans on official fan clubs
  • Tell product stories
  • Reward and gamify
  • Serve personalized newsfeeds

About Vinfotech

Vinfotech creates world's best social networks for employees, brands, interest groups and sports fans. We promise initial set of real engaged users to put turbo in your social network growth. Our award winning software vSocial™ allows us to build stellar customized communities faster and better. Our customers include Aston Martin, Burberry, Arabian Gulf League and Snapdeal.

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