People don’t care about what any ecommerce provider says about Itself. They care about what other customer say about It.
A cross category research, measured the impact of several marketing vehicles on people’s consumption decisions in main categories / industries.
The research was focused on four main vehicles:
- SPOQ – Social Proof Of Quality. This vehicle is based on users’ reviews, and combines sentiment and volume of user recommendations. Ranking products and services by customer’s recommendation will be a leading factor in the next phase of Digital Marketing.
- Content Marketing. Brands and Services provide consumers with relevant high value content and consequently develop ongoing relations with the audience
- UIA – User’s Initiated Advertisements. The commercial information is initiated by users search for a specific product or service.
- ATL / One To Many Advertisements. This is a traditional mass media, commercial interaction, in which one source (brand, company, service provider) tries to convince its audience to choose its product or service. This vehicle refers to offline or digital ads such as TV, magazines, radio, websites and social ads, etc.
The research focused on 13 main categories:
Grocery, Pharma, Health care, Beauty, Convenience stores, Personal services (lawyers, accountants, etc.) , Travel, Leisure , Education, Finance , Media & Content, CPG, Retail , On Line Retail , Automotive, Real estate, Home Products, Personal products, Ecommerce
The research’s main conclusions regarding online shopping :
SPOQ – Social Proof Of Quality vehicle, has major Impact on people when they have to take decisions in the online retail field
According to this research, traditional advertising makes a minor impact in the industry.
UIA / Search engine marketing should be included in your activity if you are active in the online retail category on top of your investment in SPOQ.
Content – you should invest in Professional content that describes your store’s advantages comparing to other ecommerce providers . you should choose 3-5 parameters that are relevant and clear to your customers
This research may help online stores choose what vehicles will lead their marketing plan according to their main category.