Last week Taggstar was exhibiting in the Ogilvy Retail Innovation Zone at UnBound Digital in London. Hot on the heels of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the air was thick with talk about website traffic, sales and 2014 performance vs. 2015.
The boom is far from over yet. We’ve moved into what Information Age called this week the ‘Golden Quarter,’ so-named because of the glittering potential for sales and profits open to retailers.
Of course, the new norm of Black Friday means that the Christmas shopping window starts earlier in the UK now. With more and more e-tailers launching their promotions and gearing their sites from late November onwards, here’s a simple reason why adding social proof to your web site could stop the Golden Quarter from becoming tarnished.
It Makes Buying Easy
Here’s what I mean.
When we analysed the performance of the web sites we work with over Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we found the conversion rate uplift was higher than usual. We like to think that our social proof software was the only factor, but shopper attitude and behaviour is also an important determinant. At this time of the year, people are more likely than usual to be coming to your site with an appetite to spend.
But at this time of the year they’re not buying for themselves and they could do with your help. Last night for example, I got a text from my 22 year old brother asking what to buy my kids. I went to bed last night with visions of him panicking over whether Frozen was still the ‘in’ thing for a five year old. It’s a scenario played out a million times over. Whether they’re buying a Secret Santa for their boss or for their 90 year grandmother, many will have a specific person in mind – and no clue what to buy.
Adding social proof to your website pages helps give the products you sell kudos. Whether in the form of good reviews; displaying the number of people who are watching or who’ve bought an item before; telling the browser whether stock is running low or that it’s flying out of the warehouse because it’s popular, these messages build a picture for the prospective buyer about whether it’s the right decision for them. If others have given it their seal of approval then they’ll be more confident to buy.
We’ve seen this scenario work time and time again through our A/B tests. Buyers are happier to click ‘buy’. And at this time of year, less panic-buying now by givers means less post-Christmas returns by receivers, fixing a major revenue challenge for retailers.
