Social Media Archives | Page 2 of 4

Kidrobot Makes More MUNNY with Social Content in its Search

Posted by Dawn MortensenMarch 18, 2014Site Search, Social Media, Success Stories, User Experience

Kidrobot is one of those brands that people love to Like – it’s common for a single Kidrobot post to receive more than 1,000 Likes on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook or Twitter. As the retailer’s popularity has expanded for its mustache-sporting Labbits, paint-it-yourself MUNNYs and other popular art toys, so has the company’s need to connect its online shoppers with its wealth of social media and blog content.

Such rich non-product content can be the catalyst that transforms a browser to a buyer – or drives up order values.

Case in point: While researching Kidrobot for this blog, I searched the company’s site for Yummy brand toys and enjoyed looking at Yummy’s plush pizza, hot chocolate and ice cream sandwich… but it wasn’t until I clicked on the Instagram tab and saw the adorable photos of these stuffed toys that I experienced the overwhelming need to own more than one Yummy plush of my own (#truth – I now own nine).

Six months ago, Kidrobot did not yet have this valuable social media content available on the site’s product pages. A fan searching Kidrobot for Marvel MUNNY toys would not have learned from the search results that Kidrobot also has Marvel Labbits, or that Marvel Labbit artist Frank Kozik would be signing products at certain Kidrobot store locations. In fact, six months ago it was challenging for shoppers even to find the products they wanted on Kidrobot.com.

“We give our products unique names, and it used to be that if you didn’t get the spelling correct for an on-site search, you wouldn’t find the product you were looking for,” Kelsey Vendetti, Kidrobot e-commerce & digital marketing manager, said in a case study and press release published today. “Visitors would search for something as simple as a t-shirt and get one result when in fact we offer over 20 t-shirt styles.”

To resolve these challenges and others, Kidrobot turned to SLI Systems. We made their products easily findable with technology that produces the most relevant search results, and we brought in the social, blog and video content that could help shoppers decide to buy. We also increased their site traffic through our Site Champion SEO solution.

The results tell the rest of the story: a 13% increase in orders, a 4x increase in conversions for visitors using the search box and a very happy customer.

“From the capabilities of their technology to the helpfulness of their support, the whole package of working with SLI is a huge improvement from what we had before,” Vendetti said.

Take a closer look at this and other SLI customer success stories by browsing our case studies.

Three of the Best Trends in E-commerce Site Search

Posted by Sasha ButkovichFebruary 25, 2014eCommerce, Site Search, Social Media, Success Stories

Sasha Butkovich is senior writer for Ecommerce Outtakes and a guest blogger for SLI’s Site Search Today.

When it comes to e-commerce site search, what’s going to be the next big trend? Well, there are a few serious contenders to take a look at. Some truly cool features have been popping up in online stores around the web, and they are bound to take off for widespread use throughout the coming year. Take a look at the newest best practices in site search.

Autocomplete

Personally, I can’t wait until autocomplete and rich autocomplete are the norm on every e-commerce site. Until then, this growing trend is well worth exploring, since there are a few different levels of this feature. At the most basic level, autocomplete can guess at the user’s search term, prompting them to select from a drop-down. Even this is helpful to steering shoppers in the right direction and avoiding spelling errors.

Beyond this, rich autocomplete can come into play for an even more satisfying search experience. Displaying suggested search terms is great, but displaying specific products is even better. Rounding it out by showing a thumbnail image, short description, and in some cases the price, goes above and beyond for the user. The example below from The Home Depot even offers project guides. All this extra info in the search helps people get to shopping faster, which is really the whole point. Easy and seamless!

Creative Refinements

Once shoppers enter a search term and view the results page, there are even more opportunities to create a great experience. Refinement options are a prime example of this. Get creative here, and show your customers images to help narrow down their search. The key is not to go too over the top and overwhelm a shopper, but to create imagery that is helpful to the shopper and makes your brand memorable. The Republic of Tea does a great job of this, displaying images of what the brewed tea looks like. Very cool!

Social Media Integration

Have a strong fan base on social networks? Tie it into your search results page. This offers some interesting refinement options for your shoppers. For example, FTD offers the ability to sort search results by most Facebook likes. It’s an awesome way to show shoppers which products are popular among their peers. Or check out Kidrobot. Their search results pages offer tabs that give users all kinds of social options. You can see when these products were mentioned on Instagram and Twitter, for instance. Can someone say “retweet”? When site search is social and fun, it’s a win for everyone.

These are just a few ideas to implement into a site search to kick it up to the next level. Expect to see these on more and more e-commerce sites in the year ahead. With the way these features make the search experience easier and richer for the shopper, they are bound to take off in a big way.

To learn more top site search tips, download the 2014 edition of SLI’s Big Book of Site Search Tips.

Infographic: The Biggest Missed Opportunities for eCommerce Marketers

Posted by Dawn MortensenNovember 12, 2013eCommerce, SEO, Site Search, Social Media, Success Stories

This new infographic highlights some of the results from the SLI Systems Global eCommerce Site Search Survey. Click here to download a full report of survey findings.

What Do Young Consumers Want from eCommerce?

Posted by Erika StasiSeptember 23, 2013eCommerce, Navigation, Navigation Tips, Site Search, Site Search Tips, Social Media, User Experience

In my last blog regarding usability, I detailed some of the design features and functionality that make eCommerce user-friendly for an older demographic. The important features to optimize site search and navigation for the 65 and older user contrasts considerably with today’s youngest set of shoppers. These digital natives, ages 12-17 years old, are comfortable with evolving technologies, new features, and shopping concepts that take shopping online to a whole new level.

Investment firm Piper Jaffray, in its 25^th semi-annual study, found that 79 percent of teen females and 76 percent of males shopped online, with 70 percent of those teens shopping online at their favorite stores. Creating an engaging and valuable website is crucial in capturing the attention of young shoppers, who have never experienced a time in their lives without technology.

Important Features for the Young Online Shopper

Jakob Nielsen, a pioneer in the user experience field, has researched the usability features most important for the teen online shopper in his article, “Teenage Usability: Designing Teen-Targeted Websites.” Nielsen says sites geared toward the teen market should use less text and adhere to standard design layouts. Examples of such sites are HotTopic.com, KidRobot.com, and SpencersOnline.com. Nielsen points out some specific design features that are important for teens: use of bright color, high quality images, integrated media such as videos and music, interactive games, and links to social media.

The Influence of Social Media

Social media has become an integral part of the teen market online shopping experience. The 2013 Piper Jaffray survey confirms that Facebook and YouTube are still the favorite social media sites for teens, with 53 percent of females and 52 of males indicating that social media influences their purchases (especially Facebook).

Other non-conventional social media platforms such as Pinterest and Polyvore have created innovative ways for teenagers to connect with their friends, see what their friends are interested in, and link them directly to eCommerce sites where purchases can be made.

Polyvore, for instance, is a community-driven social commerce site where members pick and choose from a variety of clothing, shoes and accessories to create fashion collages. Users can see other community members’ and friends’ fashion boards. Below these completed fashion boards are links to external retail websites, where users can complete any online transactions.

Pinterest, like Polyvore, is community-powered and allows members to follow friends’ and like-minded individuals’ pinboards. Pinterest users can re-pin rich images of home design, nature, fashion, food and beverages, and an assortment of other items for their followers to see. Each image or “pin” links directly to an online retailer’s site, essentially sharing that link with a huge network of followers.

Surprising Findings on Usability for Teens

Compared to other demographics, the teen market is actually less affected by poor usability features such as errors (their own or at the fault of the site). In the case of negative usability, such as slower loading time, the teen market has been shown to forgive and forget more easily than the senior market. Longer load times can still be frustrating for any user demographic, and may seem even more so for a group that craves instant gratification. However, patience is something that the youth market has practiced because of all types of technology mishaps they experience on a daily basis. This is unlike the senior market, which isn’t completely absorbed by the tech craze of smartphones, tablets and laptops.

Why the Teen Market Matters

Although some will argue that tailoring eCommerce sites to attract the teen market isn’t as valuable because teens don’t have direct buying power when it comes to online shopping, they are extremely influential when it comes to the consumption levels of their parents. According to the 2012 Harris Poll YouthPulse, teen-influenced purchases account for over $211 billion worth of purchasing power! With 23 million teens in the U.S. alone, teens are making a huge impact to the economy and their parents’ wallets.

When considering the teen demographic in their site design and usability, internet retailers should implement those site search tips listed above as a starting point to capture their target market. Including non-product content such as social media links and interactive content such as Instagram, Pinterest, and Polyvore is a way to stay relevant and exciting to this young group. The key to engaging these Gen Z consumers is to keep it simple, avoid boring content, and consider using responsive website designs for multiple interfaces to keep your site fresh and fun.

Contact SLI Systems for a free site critique to learn how you can optimize your eCommerce site for this emerging youth market and other key market segments.

Can Facebook’s Graph Search Learn from E-commerce?

Posted by Terry CostaFebruary 4, 2013eCommerce, Social Media

There’s been a lot of talk the past couple of week’s about Facebook’s new Graph Search which most think is long overdue. While Graph Search – currently still in limited beta – has an interesting and perhaps compelling approach to search, we in the e-commerce search sphere got the end-user experience down a long time ago. You can even say that e-commerce search has been at the forefront of many of today’s search “revolutions” and is a key driver in developing trends around how people search the web.

In fact, a social-oriented search experience already exists on many e-commerce sites, where visitors can filter search results by user reviews to find products that are most highly rated by previous purchasers. SLI also applies this ‘wisdom of crowds’ approach to our own search by delivering results based on items that get clicked on the most for each keyword. Many sites also allow visitors to filter results by the number of Facebook “likes” or Pinterest “pins.” And when integrated with either of these sites, visitors can even see what items their social connections have given the thumbs-up to.

While Facebook users may start to flock to Graph Search to find photos, restaurants, music and other cultural events – and see what their friends have been posting on a given topic – Facebook can still enhance the experience quite a bit by adding features that are prevalent on many e-commerce sites.

The ability to refine searches by attributes like color (red dress or blue shirt), sizes, price, location, etc. is also critical. If a search returns hundreds or thousands of results (which would likely be the case with a Facebook search), people want mechanisms to narrow down those results and get closer to what they want. Mouse-over pop-ups, which provide all the detail of a specific result when the user rolls their cursor over the image, is also a great way to streamline the experience, as are Quick View Windows.

The team here are all very excited to see Facebook taking search to the next level. It validates the importance of good search, no matter what type of site, and also helps people experience search in a new and innovative way. As search continues to evolve and advance in new directions, it’s intriguing to see how different types of search – web search, e-commerce search, social search – can all borrow from each other.

Boost Views and Repeat Visits with High-Engagement Content – Part 2

Posted by Shaun RyanJanuary 9, 2013eCommerce, Social Media

In my last blog, I mentioned that creating content that drives high user engagement is essential to compete in the new online commerce landscape. Online shopping is more social than ever before. I’m not just talking about “Like” or “Pin It” buttons for easy sharing (though they definitely help), but also features that create an impact for customers by providing relevant information and second opinions to ease decision making.

First, online retailers are encouraging users to upload their own video reviews and testimonials to their website through online video sharing sites like YouTube. Folica does this extraordinarily well, harnessing the opinions of thousands of customers who buy, test and share video reviews and tutorials of products on their site, even though they’re not getting paid to do so.

Second, eCommerce sites are creating their own videos and allowing them to be shared via social media and indexed alongside product content. Bulk Reef Supply creates their own educational videos to help those new to building saltwater reefs. These videos can garner more than 40,000 views, proving that content is just as valuable as the products they sell, since they help customers find the exact part or item they need. They have even enabled users to have the ability to grade the helpfulness of the content to increase engagement.

Third, social media interactions, blogs and other media mentions can be indexed into search results, like e.l.f. cosmetics has done. Search for eyeshadow, and you’ll find the most recent magazines that have featured e.l.f. eyeshadows, facebook and twitter mentions, and blog content. When you’re unsure if it’s the right product, seeing other reviews or mentions can help solidify your decision.

Fourth, online retailers are making sure their products can be shared on social media sites – for example, ‘Liked’ on Facebook or “Pinned” on Pinterest. This is a simple addition to any site and quickly becoming a standard feature that customers expect. Village Hat Shop does this well, including a “Like” and “Pin It” button on their search results page.

And lastly, online retailers are the ability creating the ability to shop on their social media pages. Motorcycle Superstore and Boden have both created gateways to their online stores through their Facebook pages.

How else have you seen social media and eCommerce integrated?

2013 eCommerce Resolutions Infographic

Posted by Kemberly GongJanuary 4, 2013eCommerce, Merchandising, Ratings and Reviews, Related Search, SEO, Site Search, Social Media

Here’s our infographic from our 2013 eCommerce survey results, showing top resolutions and goals for online retailers in the New Year. You can find the full results of our 2013 survey here.

Curated Commerce Takes Shopping One Step Further

Posted by Kemberly GongJanuary 2, 2013eCommerce, Ratings and Reviews, Social Media

Happy New Year! As I was finishing up my shopping this season, I got to thinking – wouldn’t it be nice to more easily choose the perfect gift for all of my friends and family? To spend less time searching through countless products and instead see the most unexpected and interesting pieces that you’d never expect, but end up loving?

Ecommerce companies are hoping that’s the experience want. Because as more consumers spend time online, a plethora of eCommerce sites are leading with curated collections that target specific types of customers, in an effort to mimic the personal shopper experience.

Popular curated web magazines like Uncrate show products chosen by their editors that are targeted to a certain type of hip urban man. On this site, you can always expect to find the coolest of gadgets, cars, gaming gear and stylish duds.

Their sister site, Outblush, features products targeted to a female audience. All links redirect shoppers to the original eCommerce site where they can purchase the item. In the same vein of edited content, Piperlime features celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe’s fashion picks, and in the past has run curated collections by other celebrities and fashion superstars.

Curated commerce is the next step forward from ratings & reviews, since expert suggestions can be the push customers need to make a purchase. It’s a move toward niche rather than generalist shopping experiences, and runs in parallel with the personal sharing and targeting that’s occurring in the social media sphere.

These persuasive techniques give a personalized approach to shopping, although they target a much narrower audience.

User preference is the key driver in other sites, such as ShoeDazzle and OpenSky, which take a different tack by first identifying what customers want through a style quiz. The resulting products that they show to individuals are narrowed down and tailored to their personal preferences. This technique personalizes a site and may help drive engagement and repeat visits.

OpenSky quizzes users to find their preferences before showing tailored content

The Fancy integrates curated commerce and social media sharing

Some curated sites like Pinterest and The Fancy also have strong social media connections. They both allow you to share the same products that you “Fancy it” on Facebook or “Pin it” so your social network can see what you’re currently lusting over.

Many of us love sharing the best information or products with our friends, and eCommerce sites have made the most of that user insight to create sites and tools to harness those social needs.

What other sites did I miss? Let me know other curated shopping sites I should be checking out!

Surprising Results from SLI’s eCommerce Survey

Posted by Terry CostaDecember 11, 2012eCommerce, Merchandising, Mobile/Tablets, Reporting and Analytics, SEO, Site Search, Social Media1 comment

SLI Systems just released our latest eCommerce survey and infographic, which illuminates new trends about online retailers’ priorities for the coming year, as well as for this holiday shopping season.

Overall, improving sales conversions was still the most important goal for online retailers, with 63 percent answering it was their main priority. Close behind with 61 percent was attracting more customers to the website. The survey of 457 retailers from around the world also found that expanding to serve international customers was another major priority. The surveyed included companies located in the US and Canada, UK, Europe, Australia/New Zealand and Asia/ Pacific.

In anticipation of this year’s holiday shopping season, more than 40 percent of online merchants worked to drive more customers to their site by making improvements to their SEO, and created a more curated experience for customers by improving their merchandising. Additionally, 37 percent of retailers improved their refinements or navigation on their eCommerce site, according to the results of our survey.

Additionally, retailers are planning out their strategies to grow their site in 2013. The top New Year’s resolutions include making improvements to site search, SEO and mobile. In line with this year’s solid increase in mobile browsing and purchases for holidays shopping, nearly half of retailers said they will add a mobile version of the website, with about 20 percent planning to create a mobile app.

As more commerce moves online, the trends for retailers – improving SEO, driving conversions and finding ways to reach customers at many touch-points continues to drive the need for higher visibility from SEO, thoughtful user experience and innovative features to improve traffic, conversions and retention. We’ll take a deeper look into all of these trending features in the coming weeks and explore the best use cases we’ve seen.

These are just a handful of the results – to learn even more, click here to download the full report.

‘Tis the Season for Online Pinboards and Mobile Holiday Shopping

Posted by Kemberly GongNovember 14, 2012eCommerce, Mobile/Tablets, Social Media

This holiday season is looking good for online retailers, and interesting new trends are emerging in the eCommerce space for mobile and social media. Increasingly, shoppers are finding products and comparing them through social media and smartphones.

As numbers from eMarketer suggest, smartphones are now being used by 61 percent of consumers to research products while shopping in the store. Other figures from Econsultancy show that up to 38 percent of customers are following through with completing a transaction via that smartphone, and the numbers are continuing to grow every year. Be prepared to see a few tablets at the Thanksgiving dinner table this year and smartphones in hand while at the mall on Black Friday.

As an online retailer, it’s becoming increasingly important to enter the mobile shopping market by creating a mobile-optimized shopping site or app that lets users browse and buy products easily. Though apparel seems like it would be a difficult purchase to make via mobile phones, it’s actually one of the fastest-growing segments of the mobile market.

More shoppers are also turning to their tablets to shop online – it was reported in Yahoo!’s small business advisor blog that “in 2011 tablet users spent 20 percent more per order on average than desktop online shoppers and 50 percent more than smartphone users.”

The Boston Globe also reported that when customers use tablets to shop, they are more likely to be relaxed, shopping from their couch or in a comfortable location, which leads to longer browsing times and a more leisurely shopping experience. Some online retailers are also creating tablet-optimized sites that give a magazine or catalog-type experience with large images, videos and interactive features, which creates a sophisticated and engaging way to view products that is a step above the standard online shopping experience.

Pinterest is driving traffic to online retailers

Consumers are also turning to social media to find new products. Though Facebook was originally targeted as a way to reach groups of like-minded people, the true eCommerce explosion has occurred via Pinterest. According to the eMarketer report, “30 percent of traffic to apparel sites is coming from Pinterest.”

The grid format and image-heavy page layout places a variety of products front and center, and takes users directly to the source of the image with a couple of clicks. If your customers have pinned your product to their Pinterest page, their followers will see it immediately and find your product page by clicking the image. It’s no wonder Pinterest is revolutionizing the way people shop.

According to Shopify, Pinterest users are also more likely to spend more per average order than customers referred from other sites like Google, Amazon or Facebook. It was reported on Mashable that “66 percent of users regularly follow and repin retailers.” Conversely, only 17 percent of Facebook users do the same. This presents a significant opportunity for retailers to start and keep engaging with shoppers through the years.

As users’ engagement rises with mobile devices and social media, it’s imperative to remain relevant to today’s shoppers. Make sure your eCommerce site is optimized for smartphones and tablets and take advantage of the best social media sites to create new channels to promote and sell your products.

Are you seeing additional traffic via Pinterest, other social media pages or on your mobile site during the holidays? We’d love to hear from you!

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