Optimizing your entire digital shelf — your virtual store where people find and buy your brand online — is essential for providing customers with a great shopping experience. It’s how your brand shows up online, stands out from competitors, and encourages shoppers to make purchases.

Chapters:

1. What is product page optimization?
2. 5-point product page optimization audit
3. Product page optimization examples
4. Take your product pages to the next level

What is product page optimization?

Product page optimization is the process of improving all aspects of your product pages so potential customers can find exactly what they’re looking for and make informed purchasing decisions. It goes way beyond just inserting keywords and some witty copy, it’s about displaying authentic imagery, writing compelling descriptions, and using the voice of the customer.

In essence, product page optimization is about enhancing the entire user experience to make the buying process as seamless as possible.

An optimized product page is a page that first and foremost meets customer needs and achieves company goals. Traditionally, this refers to a product page designed for higher conversions and/or search engine optimization (SEO).  You also need to factor in the technical side too. Page load speed for example — nearly 70% of consumers admit that page speed impacts their willingness to buy from an online retailer. 

Think about the last time you bought something online. What did you need to know from the product page in order to make it all the way through to check out? Just the specs? No. You probably needed a lot of different information to make a confident purchasing decision. Most customers want to know: 

• Is this product good quality or value?
• How does this product look in real life?
• What do other people think about this product?
• Is there anything else I need to buy to make this product work?
• How are other shoppers using this product?

And with only 2% of e-commerce website visits converting into a purchase, it’s clear that online merchants can do a better job of providing information and experiences that meet shopper needs. 

5-point product page optimization audit

During the recent iteration of the Bazaarvoice Summit, Brandon Klein, Senior Product Manager at Bazaarvoice (and expert on all things product page), outlined a 5-point audit for perfecting your product pages. Here’s what he recommends.

1. Product page SEO optimization

You’ve spent a lot of company time and resources optimizing your product pages for higher conversions. But that’s all for nothing if shoppers can’t actually find your product pages through search — that’s where product page SEO comes in. Brandon highlights this point in this short clip from his Summit presentation below:

Expanding on that, product page SEO is the optimization of your product pages so the content on the page is found by search engines like Google. Search engine algorithms prioritize pages that are most relevant to the search query based on criteria like keyword matches and quality content. 

Here’s some of our favorite ways to use keywords naturally: 

• Include keywords in your page’s title tag and meta description, and make sure the page’s actual copy matches what you promise
• Use headings to break up copy and organize your page. Try to include a keyword in at least one of the headings, but only if it makes sense
• Include keywords throughout the page, like in product names, descriptions, and reviews 
• Incorporate keywords into an image’s alt-text if it naturally flows with the rest of the alt-text copy 
• Add internal links to any other related content on your site

The easiest way to boost your SEO though is by featuring user-generated content (UGC) like customer reviews, which can increase page traffic by nearly a third.

Customers writing reviews typically use long-tail keywords. So when someone else searches for the same terms found in product reviews, product pages linked with them appear in search results. Petco for example utilized UGC to boost their SEO standings and guess what happened? They saw a:

• 67% increase in number of pages ranked organically
• 140% increase in impressions from organic search
• 80% increase in clicks from organic search

In total, this led to a 48% increase in revenue per visit.

Product page SEO optimization isn’t just about ranking higher on Google and getting more site visits. The main goal here is to create a better user experience and give customers the exact information and visuals they need to make a confident purchase.

2. Put UGC front and center 

We know UGC is great for product page SEO. But it’s also what shoppers want to see when they’re browsing your digital (and physical) touchpoints. According to our recent survey, 74% of shoppers say they trust UGC more than branded content on product pages, and 55% are unlikely to buy a product without shopper content to inform their purchasing decisions.

UGC works because it provides the social proof shoppers need to inform decisions. According to Sabine Kaufmann, Head of e-commerce Operations Dining & Lifestyle, Villeroy & Boch, “user-generated content is one of the most trustworthy types of content a brand could show to their customers.”

Best Buy does a great job of displaying star ratings and review counts at the top of its product pages to help customers make confident purchasing decisions. On this listing for an iPad, shoppers will see that more than 3,400 customers have reviewed the product, and it has an average rating of 4.8 stars. 

Seeing an overall positive customer sentiment right away takes some of the risks out of buying an expensive item.

When it comes to collecting this UGC, diversifying your efforts is key because you’ll need a lot. You should consider leveraging review request emails and text messages, social media sweepstakes, and community requests. The most effective method for collecting UGC is product sampling, where you provide product samples in exchange for honest reviews or images. We surveyed 6,000 sampling recipients, and of those:

• 63% purchased the product they sampled
• 97% purchased at least one additional product from the brand

But according to Brandon, your best bet is using a range of solutions. These different strategies can kick-start your collection efforts, ensuring a constant supply of UGC across various methods simultaneously.

3. Respond to negative reviews and proactively address product shortfalls

Customers don’t mind if you have a few negative reviews for a product. They actually prefer it. We’ve seen that products with one or more negative reviews are perceived as more authentic and have higher conversion rates than those with a perfect 5-star rating or zero negative reviews. 

People also like responses to their negative reviews too — 54% of shoppers expect a response from the company if they write a negative review. The most successful e-commerce retailers use negative reviews as an opportunity to engage with customers, and identify potential product page improvements. The latter part is something Brandon called out specially in his presentation.

Negative reviews provide insights for improving products, which you can then update your product pages with. For example, several shoppers may leave a review saying that a pair of pants they ordered in their normal size ended up being too big. This negative feedback would allow your brand to update that product’s description to include helpful language like, “for a perfect fit, many customers prefer to size down.”

Children’s toy manufacturer KidKraft are pros at this. Watch Heather Stables, KidKraft’s Director of Consumer Engagement, explain how they use customer feedback to improve products and market messaging:

After recognising insights, the brand works on product page optimization to ensure copy matches the new product updates. They’ve since seen product improvement leading to an increase in sales.

Not only does utilizing customer feedback help consumers feel empowered to make better purchase decisions, but it can also prevent future negative reviews related to product description accuracy.

4. Distribute your content everywhere

Shoppers want a seamless transition as they engage with your brand through multiple channels, whether online, mobile, or in-store. 75% of shoppers expect a consistent brand experience regardless of channel, according to our Shopper Experience Index. Taking an omnichannel approach integrates your various channels to provide a consistent brand experience, letting you interact in the most convenient way.

Not having a robust omnichannel strategy is now a key barrier to success

Ainslie Fincham, Marketing Director, Urban Barn

An omnichannel strategy allows for quick adaptation to changing consumer preferences. It lets customers switch between channels without friction or loss of service, improving customer satisfaction and fosters loyalty.

Once you have this valuable content, it’s crucial to showcase it in all the right places — on social, in ads, on your product pages, and even in-store. You can do this by working with the right content syndication partner. By syndicating your content across all digital touchpoints, you ensure that customers can see it wherever they shop, maximizing your content ROI.

5. Make social content shoppable

Lastly, but certainly not least. Making your social content shoppable is by far one of the most important ways to increase your product page optimization. Social media is often the first place most shoppers will discover your brand, with 54% of consumers saying they often discover a product or service through social media. (That number rises to 73% for 18-24 year olds!)

They aren’t just scrolling past your products either, they’re making purchases. While the younger generations are leading this charge, even a quarter of shoppers aged 65+ purchased through social last year.

50% of all shoppers have purchased products through social media in the past year. So make sure that you’re turning social content into shoppable experiences that drive sales wherever your shoppers are. 

Shoppable content tools such as Like2buy turn your Instagram and TikTok Feeds into sales channels and Bazaarvoice Galleries brings authentic visual content from social into your website for you. For example Dreams, the UK’s leading bed specialist, uses Bazaarvoice Galleries to bring social UGC into its product pages and beyond, and has since seen a 200% lift in conversion rate.

Social is a great way to curate fresh, original, and authentic content that already exists, and has been created for you. But a recurring point Brandon makes around product page optimization is that channels shouldn’t be siloed. Put your social content across all channels and encourage purchase decisions everywhere your shoppers are.

4 product page optimization examples 

Let’s take a look at some of our favorite examples of product pages that convert. Note: Your product descriptions need to be easy to digest, especially because most customers are shopping from their mobile devices. By 2025, mobile e-commerce sales will account for 44% of retail e-commerce sales in the U.S. 

Iconic London

When it comes to makeup, authenticity reigns supreme. Shoppers want to see how different shades look on people who look like them, not in heavily curated brand imagery. Iconic London knows this and so brings in carousels of visual UGC from their community right onto their product pages.

Why it works: 

• The average star rating and number of reviews at the top of the page provides proof that this is a well-loved product
• Large imagery puts more social proof front and center
• Authentic visual UGC from real customers using the product(s) at home helps shoppers understand what the product is and how it fits into their existing skincare routine

Neutrogena

Cosmetics is a product category that really requires detailed product pages because customers can’t see or swatch the item in person. On this product page for Neutrogena’s MoistureSmooth Color Stick, the company takes a UGC-first, product-second approach.

Why it works: 

• A prominent design element halfway down the page includes a star rating and a quote from a customer about how the product feels in real life and how it works for their skin texture
• The gallery of social media images from real customers provides more information about how the product works in action
• The gallery encourages customers to “Share Your Glow” by tagging Neutrogena on Instagram or Twitter to be featured on the website
• The “Most Helpful Reviews” callout highlights one positive and one negative review that other shoppers have found useful

Nourison

Buying an area rug online can be a challenge because it’s difficult for shoppers to understand how it will look and feel when it arrives. Rug brand Nourison helps ease customers’ minds by incorporating a lot of great UGC on its pages. 

Why it works: 

• A gallery of social photos shows how customers have used this rug in their actual homes 
• The brand encourages future customers to share how they styled their rug at home by posting a picture on social media with the hashtag #Nourison
• The page displays the average rating for the product and number of reviews at the very top to signal that hundreds of others have bought and loved this rug
• The company uses short but detailed product descriptions and includes specs that tell customers where this rug would be best in their homes (a heavy-traffic area vs. a less-trafficked area)

Under Armour 

Our last example is a product page for an Under Amour shoe. The brand uses several tactics to help shoppers choose from the hundreds of shoes on its site. 

Why it works: 

• Shoppers get a complete, 360-degree view of the shoe, so they know there won’t be any surprises when they receive the product 
• Shoppers can filter reviews by rating, athlete type (casual or avid), size, and locale to see reviews that are more personalized to how they may be using the shoe 
• When a shopper starts to scroll on the page, the “Add to Bag” CTA becomes a sticky banner so customers can quickly put the item in their cart once they’ve made a decision 

Take your product pages to the next level

Product page optimization may seem like a tedious task, but in the end, it will be well worth it. If shoppers have all the information they need to make a successful purchase, you’ll set yourself apart from your competitors and see much higher conversion rates across your digital shelf.

With the rise of digital, product page optimization has become critical for consumer attention and conversion. Watch our full on-demand masterclass outlining the 5-point audit for optimizing your product pages, covering key topics like organic search, social commerce, user-generated content, and insights.

FEATURED RESOURCE

Perfecting your product detail page: A 5-point audit

Watch here

Why does the checkout page wield so much power? Well, it’s the ultimate test of your online store’s charm, efficiency, and trustworthiness. Get it right, and your bottom line will thank you. Get it wrong and you hit a sour note in an otherwise perfect performance.

Chapters:

1. What is the checkout process in e-commerce?
2. How to improve your e-commerce checkout process
3. A step-by-step guide to implementing checkout process optimization
4. Don’t stop at the checkout process

What is the checkout process in e-commerce?

The checkout process in e-commerce is the journey a shopper follows when buying items from an online store. The flow begins when the shopper adds one or more items to their shopping cart and ends when they receive confirmation their purchase has been completed.

The checkout is the point where the customer adds their payment details and purchases the product(s). Your whole checkout process needs to be as clear and frictionless is possible to provide the best shopping experience possible that encourages shoppers to complete their purchases.

How to improve your e-commerce checkout process

You have questions, we have the answers. These are our top tips to give your customers a checkout experience they’ll love so much, they’ll soon be back for more.

1. Optimize for mobile

In the US alone, 76% of consumers shop using mobile devices. The percentage is even higher (91%) for the 18 to 49 demographic. Ignoring this fact (and failing to optimize your checkout process accordingly) is like showing up to a marathon in flip-flops — you’re just not prepared for the race. And you’ll probably get a scraped knee. Or two.

First off, size matters. Make all clickable elements thumb-friendly, because nothing tests patience like trying to hit a tiny button on a touch screen. 

Speed is also of the essence. A slow-loading checkout is a no-go, so optimize images and leverage mobile-specific features like digital wallets to keep things moving at a brisk pace. 

Another neat trick is including the option to scan a credit card using the phone’s camera. This feature not only adds a layer of modern convenience but also significantly speeds up the payment process.

2. Implement trust signals and social proof

In e-commerce, trust is the currency, and your checkout process is where shoppers invest it. If you want to reassure them that it’s safe to take that final step, you need to signal trust — whether it’s through user-generated content (UGC), badges, or both.

Displaying UGC is literally having your customers vouch for you at the checkout line. According to our Shopper Experience Index, 78% of shoppers rely on this content to feel more confident in their purchases. Whether it’s a photo of a happy customer or a glowing review, incorporating these elements around your checkout can significantly boost buyer confidence.

Badges instantly signal to your customers that your site is secure and their information is protected. Examples of these trust signals include SSL certificates, which encrypt data, and payment badges like Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal.

Familiar logos offer a sense of security and familiarity amidst the vastness (and general insanity) of the internet.

Pro tip: Bazaarvoice helps you collect, syndicate, and display user reviews and other UGC across your online store and your retail partners’ websites.

3. Don’t make account creation a deal-breaker

Not everyone is ready to commit to a full-on relationship with your site on the first date (sorry to be the bearers of bad news, but they probably have other dates lined up). Creating an account might be a minor inconvenience for some people, but for others, it can be a deal-breaker.

Aim for convenience by offering paths that cater to all types of visitors. Options like signing in with social media or continuing as a guest can transform the checkout experience from a high-pressure sales pitch to a casual “come as you are” moment. 

Social media sign-ins leverage existing profiles, so the process feels less like a commitment and more like seeing a familiar face in a crowd of strangers. On the other hand, allowing customers to continue as guests is the e-commerce version of “no strings attached, let’s just enjoy the moment.” It’s an invitation to explore without the need for pesky formal introductions. 

Pro tip: You can use third-party services like Auth0 to provide social sign-in options. If you’re using WordPress, Shopify, or any of the popular CMS, CCMS, or e-commerce systems, you can browse their app stores or directories for integrations.

4. Clearly communicate fees and shipping

Finding the perfect product is exhilarating, but you know what’s not so great? Getting hit with unexpected fees and shipping costs at checkout. Turns out, this is the number one reason for abandoned shopping carts. Surprise!, said no one.

Lay all of your cards on the table from the get-go. Whether it’s a detailed breakdown of costs or a shipping calculator that adjusts in real-time, giving your customers a clear view of what they’re paying for (and why) builds trust and sets expectations right away.

But why stop at just being transparent? Go the extra mile by offering shipping options that cater to different needs and budgets. From standard to express shipping, providing choices allows customers to weigh their options based on how quickly they need their items and how much they’re willing to pay for speed.

5. Offer multiple payment options

How often have you been slightly annoyed by those places that only take cash? It’s a pain to make your way to the closest ATM. That’s how customers feel when their preferred payment method isn’t available. In this case, there’s no magic money box to go to. They’ll likely just leave. 

No matter where your customers come from or how they prefer to spend their digital dollars, accommodate them. Each payment method comes with its own security assurances, appealing to the varying levels of trust and familiarity within your customer base. 

From credit cards and PayPal to Apple Pay, Google Wallet, cryptocurrency, and buy now, pay later solutions, the more options you provide, the wider the door you open to potential sales.

6. Display a progress indicator

A progress bar is a simple addition, but one that turns the checkout process into a clearly marked journey, complete with milestones and an end in sight. More than reducing anxiety and/or impatience, it taps into the sweet feeling of completing tasks. Each step forward is a small victory that encourages people to keep going until they reach the finish line.

Implementing a progress bar is also an opportunity to refine and streamline your checkout process. By breaking down the journey into distinct steps, you can identify and eliminate any unnecessary complications. 

Each segment of the progress bar should represent a clear, concise, and necessary action. This speeds up the transaction and minimizes the chances of customers getting lost or overwhelmed along the way.

Pro tip: Providers like FastSrping and FunnelKit make it easy to build a progress bar, and the Shopify app store offers integrations with apps like CheckIt for the same purpose.

7. Allow one-click purchases

We love fast-forwarding through ads, so why not fast-forward through shopping? For customers who’ve already bought from you and built a steady, trusting relationship, one-click purchases are a boon. No need to re-enter information — they can just slide on by and see ya next time.

When customers know that making a repeat purchase is as easy as a single click, they’re more likely to come back. It’s a simple equation: less hassle = more sales. This feature also positions your brand as tech-savvy and customer-centric, attributes that can strengthen customer loyalty and set you apart in a crowded marketplace. 

Pro tip: You can find third-party providers like Stripe to help you set up one-click purchases seamlessly.

8. Make support options available

Stuff happens. Maybe it’s a promo code that won’t apply or a shipping question that’s got shoppers stumped. Either way, making sure they have someone or somewhere to turn to with their issues can be the difference between a sale and an abandoned cart.

Support can come in many forms, from live chat to an on-page FAQ or a Customer Success Manager’s contact details. What matters is that you show that you’re there to help, not just sell. It’s an extra level of care and attention that can turn a one-time buyer into your #1 fan. 

9. Reduce the number of mandatory form fields

Less truly is more. Do you honestly know anyone who’s ever said “oh goody, can’t wait to fill out this 25-page form”? No? That’s because they don’t exist (yes, we checked. Trust us). Keep this in mind when you’re designing your checkout flow.

Focus on the essential information — the customer’s name, billing address, shipping address, and contact information. That’s enough, you don’t need their whole life story. More than that, and you risk them giving up on the whole process.

Remember that optimizing e-commerce checkout is about removing obstacles and making the buying process as inviting as a freshly baked pie on a windowsill. 

10. Simplify discount application

Making customers jump through hoops to apply coupon codes will quickly sour an otherwise sweet deal. You likely gave them away to begin with, so make the option to apply them clear and accessible, without cluttering the checkout process experience. 

When customers easily see how much they’re saving, it reinforces the value of their purchase, making them more likely to hit that final “buy” button. Plus, a straightforward process can enhance the overall shopping experience. It shows that you’ve thought about every detail of the customer journey — even the part where they save some bucks.

11. Offer last-minute deals

Speaking of discounts, why not offer them during the checkout process? It’s a sneaky way to increase average order value while giving customers something in return (like sales items or free shipping). 

You’re basically capitalizing on the momentum of the buying decision. At this point, shoppers are already committed to making a purchase and a last-minute offer can be the nudge that makes them feel like they’re getting even more bang for their buck.

Not to mention, last-minute deals are an excellent opportunity to clear out inventory or promote specific products. By strategically choosing which deals to offer, you can boost sales while managing your stock more effectively. Win-win.

12. Confirm the purchase

Congratulations, you’ve got yourself a purchase! Quick tip here: don’t leave customers hanging. The moment after a purchase is your chance to leave a lasting impression. With a thoughtfully designed thank you page, you can transform a transactional moment into the beginning of an ongoing, beautiful, profitable relationship.

Brief your customers on what comes next with clear instructions about shipping timelines, customer service contact information, and how to track their orders. Your thank you page can also be a platform for deepening customer engagement.

Here, you can provide suggestions for related products, invitations to join your loyalty program, or even a simple request for feedback. 

A step-by-step guide to implementing checkout process optimization

You have the latest and greatest tips. Now, it’s time to actually optimize the checkout flow. And as with most things in life and business, it’s somewhat of a process — but not a complex one.

Step 1: Evaluate your current checkout process

Start by walking a mile in your customers’ shoes and run through the checkout process yourself. Take note of any friction points, such as unnecessary form fields, confusing navigation, or lack of payment options. These are your first clues on what needs optimizing. Or have someone in a different department try it out for you.

Next, dive into the data. Analytics can reveal where potential customers drop off and which steps might be causing hesitation. Look for patterns and trends that point to specific areas for improvement. 

Don’t forget to gather feedback directly from the source — your customers. Surveys, feedback forms, or direct conversations can provide invaluable insights into their experiences and perceptions. 

Step 2: Set clear objectives

Turn your insights into actionable goals. First, prioritize the issues you’ve identified based on their impact on the customer experience and your conversion rates. Is it the insane number of form fields that are slowing customers down? Or perhaps the lack of a guest checkout option causing them to abandon ship? 

Each issue should correspond to a specific objective, such as “reduce checkout time by 30%” or “decrease cart abandonment rate by 15%.”  

Your objectives should align with both customer needs and your broader business goals. Whether it’s increasing average order value or boosting repeat purchases, each goal should contribute to the overarching vision of your e-commerce success.

Step 3: Implement the changes

This is where strategy meets action. Begin by tackling the low-hanging fruit — those changes that are relatively easy to implement but can have an immediate impact on the customer experience. It might include simplifying form fields, ensuring your site is mobile-responsive, or adding visible trust signals and security badges. 

Next, address more complex issues that may require a bit more time and resources (e.g. integrating new payment options, developing a one-click purchase feature, or redesigning the entire e-commerce checkout page for better usability).

While these changes might take longer to roll out, their potential to significantly boost conversions and customer satisfaction over time makes them well worth the effort. 

Step 4: Monitor and refine

The checkout optimization journey doesn’t end, it simply evolves. You want to fix what’s broken, but more than that, you want to continuously improve the checkout process.

Monitor the impact of the changes you’ve implemented. Use analytics tools to track key metrics such as cart abandonment rates, conversion rates, and average order value. Keep gathering customer feedback through surveys, user testing, and direct communication for qualitative insights that complement your quantitative data. 

Some changes may yield immediate positive results, while others might need further tweaking to achieve their full potential. Keep adjusting until you hit the sweet spot. Flexibility and willingness to learn from successes and setbacks are key to long-term improvement. 

Don’t stop at the checkout process

Your checkout page is super important, but so is the rest of your e-commerce site. After all, a smooth checkout process on a website that’s otherwise difficult to navigate or slow to load doesn’t quite make sense. You want to provide a user-friendly experience from the moment customers land in your store to the moment they complete their purchase.

For more insights and practical tips on how to enhance your performance across the board, check out these 15 ways to improve your e-commerce website performance.

FEATURED RESOURCE

The e-commerce manager’s guide to user-generated content

Read here

Let’s channel your inner Don Corleone and learn how you can make consumers an offer they won’t refuse.

Chapters:

1. What is a lead magnet?
2. What makes a good lead magnet in e-commerce?
3. 10 lead magnet ideas for your e-commerce website
4. Optimize your e-commerce website for better lead magnet results

What is a lead magnet?

A lead magnet is simply a trade where you offer something valuable in exchange for contact information or another action. 

Let’s paint a picture for you: you’re browsing online, not quite ready to buy, just casually looking. Then, something catches your eye — a guide on how to choose the perfect pair of running shoes, offered for free. All it asks for in return is your email. That’s a lead magnet in action, a sweet little nudge designed to turn you from a casual browser into an engaged potential customer. 

And once you have that information, you’ll do something with it to further engage the leads and turn them into paying customers. So this interaction is also the first hello in what you hope will be a long conversation. It’s where you start to build trust and show your value to potential customers. 

What makes a good lead magnet in e-commerce?

For starters, your lead magnet should offer immediate value. People have to be able to use it right away so they can experience the benefits of engaging with your brand without delay. This immediate gratification will satisfy the desire for quick rewards (because who doesn’t love those?) and make a positive first impression.

Ideally, what you offer should also solve a problem that your audience is facing. A lead magnet that tackles a real issue provides value and also positions your brand as helpful and authoritative. For example, a “5-Minute Meals for Busy Parents” recipe book from an online food store hits right at the heart of time-crunched families.

Lead magnets should showcase your expertise or the quality of your products. It’s an opportunity to demonstrate why your brand is trustworthy and knowledgeable. Say, a lead magnet like “The Complete Guide to Sustainable Fashion” from an eco-conscious clothing brand can establish thought leadership in that space.

Finally, the best lead magnets encourage future engagement. It doesn’t just end with the download or the discount but rather marks the start of a relationship. 

10 lead magnet ideas for your e-commerce website

There’s a lot of room for creativity where lead magnets are concerned, but we have the top 10 ideas that are tried and tested to get people through your digital door.

1. Discount codes

It’s a classic for a reason. Discounts are simple, yet effective — a percentage off, a fixed amount discount, or exclusive deals in exchange for an email sign-up or another small action. Because of the instant value they provide, discounts make the decision to engage with a brand a no-brainer for most shoppers. 

Why they work:

• Everyone loves to save money. A discount code taps into this universal appeal, offering immediate savings on future purchases

• For those on the fence because they never bought from your brand before, a discount can be the incentive they need to make their first purchase

Best practices:

• Make it exclusive. Your discount should feel special. If products on your website are always on sale, this type of offer could lose its appeal

• Set a time limit. Create a sense of urgency and encourage quick action by making the discount available for a limited time

2. Personalized consultations

Personalization is a lead magnet necessity. Personalized consultations are a golden opportunity to connect with your audience on a deeper level. They allow you to demonstrate your expertise, understand your customers’ unique needs, and provide tailored advice that can make a real difference in their decision-making process.

Why they work:

• Engaging directly with customers establishes brand trust, an essential ingredient for any successful relationship. 

• By tailoring advice to each individual’s situation, you show a level of care and attention that generic information just can’t match

• A consultation is an active, engaging process. It invites potential customers to interact with your brand, creating a memorable experience

Best practices:

• Streamline scheduling: Use an easy-to-navigate booking system to minimize friction in setting up consultations. The simpler it is to book, the more likely people are to go for it 

• Prepare and personalize: Before each consultation, gather information about the customer’s needs to offer the most relevant and helpful advice

• Follow-up: After the consultation, send a personalized email summarizing the advice you gave and suggesting next steps. A follow-up keeps the conversation going and nudges consumers towards a purchase based on the problems you identified

3. Early or exclusive access

There’s plenty of ways to give your potential customers the VIP treatment — chief among them, access to early sales and product drops. This strategy plays on the human desire to be part of an elite group and enjoy privileges that aren’t available to the general public. 

Why they work:

• Knowing they have access to something others don’t elevates the customer’s perception of the value you’re offering 

• The wait for early or exclusive access to products or sales can create buzz and excitement around your brand 

• Customers who receive special treatment are more likely to feel a stronger connection to your brand, helping you build that oh-so-coveted brand loyalty

Best practices:

• Clearly define the offer: Make sure your audience understands what they’re getting access to and why it’s valuable. Whether it’s a pre-sale, a limited edition product, or early access to content, the offer should be compelling 

• Deliver on your promise: Don’t falter. The early or exclusive access experience should be smooth and rewarding. Any hiccups can damage trust and diminish the perceived value of your offer

4. Free shipping

The people have spoken — they want free shipping. So much so that 62% of consumers won’t buy from a retailer if they don’t provide that option. Offering potential buyers the chance to unlock free shipping removes one of the biggest hurdles to completing an online purchase (added costs) and appeals to virtually every shopper’s desire to get more value out of their purchase.

Why they work:

• High shipping costs are the top reason for abandoning shopping carts. Eliminating this barrier can significantly increase your conversion rates

• Shoppers perceive free shipping as an added value to their purchase, making the deal seem much sweeter (there’s that honey again) 

• Often, free shipping is tied to a minimum purchase amount, which can encourage customers to add more items to their cart to qualify and increase average order value

Best practices:

• Set clear thresholds: If your free shipping offer requires a minimum purchase, make sure this threshold is clearly communicated and easily achievable

• Promote widely: Highlight your free shipping offer on your homepage, product pages, and during the checkout process. Also, mention it in your marketing emails and social media channels

• Test and analyze: Experiment with different thresholds for free shipping to find the sweet spot that increases average order value without hurting your margins

5. Free samples

Who doesn’t love free stuff? Offering free samples as your lead magnet is a tried-and-true method to introduce potential customers to your products with no strings attached. This approach not only allows customers to test and fall in love with your products but also demonstrates your confidence in the quality of what you’re selling.

With a product sampling marketing campaign you can even ask consumers to provide user-generated content (reviews, images, or videos) in exchange for the samples. Using UGC to populate your social media feeds and product pages is the best way to generate consumer trust in your brand and lift conversions, so there’s a lot to gain here besides contact information. 

Why they work:

• Free samples allow customers to try before they buy, reducing the perceived risk associated with buying new products

• By getting your products into the hands of potential customers, you’re increasing brand awareness and the likelihood of future purchases

• Offering something for free can create a positive association with your brand, fostering goodwill and a sense of reciprocity

Best practices:

• Easy redemption: The process to claim a free sample should be straightforward and require minimal effort from the customer

• Collect feedback: Use the opportunity to gather feedback on the sampled products and get your hands on valuable insights for product development and marketing strategies. 

• Follow-up: After sending out the samples, follow-up with an email offering a discount on the full-sized product to encourage a purchase

6. Contests and giveaways

The anticipation of possibly winning something cool is thrilling. That excitement is precisely what makes contests and giveaways such effective lead magnets. They speak to people’s natural love for competition and the allure of getting something for free. 

And you win too. By offering a prize that your target audience finds irresistible, you can significantly increase engagement, grow your email list, and boost social media followers, all while creating a fun experience for your audience.

Why they work:

• The interactive nature of contests and giveaways encourages active participation from your audience

• Participants often share contests with friends and family, which helps increase your brand’s visibility and reach 

• You can make following you on social media a mandatory requirement to enter the contest, so you can grow your presence on these channels while generating leads

Best practices:

• Leverage user-generated content: Encourage participants to share their own content related to the contest (e.g., photos using your product) to increase engagement and generate content for your brand

• Reach out to every participant: After the contest, send a thank you email to all participants and offer them a consolation prize, such as a discount code, to encourage them to make a purchase

7. Interactive quizzes

Quizzes are the best of both worlds. These lead magnets combine entertainment with personalization, offering instant gratification in the form of results that feel tailor-made. They keep potential customers engaged in a unique way and provide valuable insights into their preferences and behaviors. What’s not to love?

Why they work:

• Quizzes keep users clicking, engaged, and interested from start to finish, significantly increasing the time spent interacting with your brand

• With personalized results, quizzes make every participant feel seen and understood, enhancing their connection to your brand (and likelihood they’ll buy something based on the outcome of the quiz) 

• Quizzes are an effective tool for collecting zero-party data on your audience’s preferences and needs, which can inform future marketing strategies. With the collapse of third-party cookies upon us, this is a welcomed benefit.

Best practices:

• Shareable results: Make the results easily shareable on social media to increase the participant’s engagement and extend the quiz’s reach

• Follow-up with personalized recommendations: Use the data collected from the quiz to follow up with personalized product recommendations or content, turning engagement into conversion

• Optimize for all devices: Your quiz should be mobile-friendly to get users to engage with it on their smartphones (where they spend a lot of time. Seriously)

8. Exclusive members club

We already talked about the allure of exclusivity, but you know what’s better than early access to a product? Being part of an exclusive members club that continuously offers perks, special deals, and insider information. 

This type of lead magnet elevates the concept of exclusivity to a whole new level, as it creates a sense of belonging to a special community. It’s not just a one-time offer — it’s ongoing value.

Why they work:

• Humans are complex creatures, but when it comes to belonging, they’re actually quite simple. People love feeling like they’re part of an exclusive group, and members-only clubs deliver on that innate desire for community and recognition

• Contrary to a one-off download or discount, a members club offers continuous reasons for shoppers to engage with your brand

• Members are more likely to become repeat, loyal customers, thanks to the ongoing perks and the emotional investment in the brand

Best practices:

• Update, update, update. Regularly add new perks to keep the membership exciting and valuable. Stagnation is the enemy of engagement (Confucius didn’t say it, but he might as well have) 

• Exclusive, but inclusive: While the club should feel exclusive, make joining achievable for your target audience – it’s a lead magnet, after all

• Communicate regularly: Use email newsletters or a dedicated members area on your website to keep people informed about new perks and offers

9. Virtual events

Virtual events have surged in popularity, offering a unique way to connect with audiences from the comfort of their own homes. They entertain and inform, drawing in people with the promise of unique insights, valuable knowledge, and interactive experiences that they can’t get anywhere else.

Why they work:

• Virtual events allow for real-time interaction between the guests, moderators, and viewers, making the latter feel more connected to your brand

• They can attract a broad audience by offering valuable insights, entertainment, or access to experts, depending on the event’s focus

Best practices:

• Promote early and often: Use all your channels — email, social media, your website — to build anticipation and encourage sign-ups well in advance of the event 

• Offer exclusive content: Make sure the event provides unique value that can’t be found elsewhere, such as live Q&A sessions, behind-the-scenes tours, or first looks at new products 

• Make it accessible: Ensure the platform you choose is user-friendly and accessible to people with varying levels of tech-savviness

• Interact post-event: After the event, send out an email to attendees with key takeaways, additional resources, and a CTA, such as a special offer or invitation to sign up for your newsletter

• Record and repurpose: Not everyone who’s interested will be able to attend live. Plus, you’ve put a lot of effort into producing the event, so you should milk every drop of content out of it. Offer a recording to those who registered but couldn’t attend, and consider using parts of the event in future marketing materials

10. Free trials 

Subscription businesses might find it harder to send out samples of their products. Free trials solve this issue, as they allow potential customers to test your service in all its glory. Just like with samples, free trials are effective because they remove the risk from the customer’s decision-making process. People get to see firsthand if your service fits their needs and lifestyle before committing financially.

Why they work:

• Customers can try out your service without any financial commitment, making them more likely to give it a go

• Unlike a demo or a sneak peek, a free trial gives customers access to the entire service, allowing them to experience its full benefits

• By offering a free trial, you’re expressing confidence in the value of your service, which in turn builds trust with potential subscribers

Best practices:

• Clear communication: Make the terms of the free trial clear, including its duration and what happens when the trial ends. Transparency is key to trust

• Engage during the trial: Use the trial period to engage with users, offering tips on getting the most out of the service and highlighting features they might not discover on their own

• Seamless transition to paid: Make it easy for trial users to become paying subscribers, with a simple upgrade process and a compelling reason to continue beyond the trial

Optimize your e-commerce website for better lead magnet results

Your lead magnets are the hook that draws people in, but your website is where the magic really happens. It’s one of the places where initial interest turns into lasting relationships and, ultimately, sales. 

By focusing on both attracting customers with compelling lead magnets and providing an optimized online shopping experience, you lay the groundwork for e-commerce success. 

So, don’t let the momentum stop with the honey. Continue your journey to e-commerce excellence by ensuring your website is as optimized and as effective as your lead magnets. 

Because creating every piece of content from scratch isn’t always a feasible option, especially if you’re working with limited time and budget. Even if one of your teammates is an eight-armed octopus, easy access to plenty of authentic, fresh, and relatable branded content isn’t the reality for most companies.

What is a content curation tool?

A content curation tool is an application that makes it easier for your brand to find and share relevant, authentic content.

Content curation — sharing content from other sources on your own channels — is an ideal solution for this conundrum. But this strategy goes beyond just reposting great content. It involves finding, organizing, and sharing the best and most appropriate bits in a way that adds value to your brand narrative and engages your audience.

Best content curation tools to refine your digital e-commerce strategy

Let’s look at 12 of the best content curation tools that will help you get the job done successfully — in no particular order.

1. Feedly

• Specialty: Trend monitoring and industry insights
• Top features: AI-driven content curation and powerful organizational tools for feeds and boards
• Pricing: Pro: $6/month and Pro+: $8.25/month. Enterprise plans are available upon request

Feedly offers an AI-powered platform that filters and prioritizes content from a diverse range of online sources, including blogs, news sites, YouTube channels, and more. The tool adapts to your content curation preferences over time, so the more you use it, the more tailored your content feed becomes. This level of personalization allows you to stay ahead of trends and keep a finger on the pulse of what’s relevant to your audience.

With customizable news feeds and the ability to organize content into collections, Feedly becomes a centralized hub for all your curated content, that you can then pull from to add your own perspective.

2. ContentGems

• Specialty: Automated content curation and distribution
• Top features: Intelligent content filtering based on interests and keywords and integration with social media for easy sharing
• Pricing: A free version is available. Other plans include Pro: $10/month, Premium: $99/month, and API: $299/month

Much like other content curation tools, ContentGems uses keywords, social signals, and other filters to help you find relevant content. The tool’s standout feature is Workflows — with ContentGems, you can create customized workflows that let you share your favorite pieces of curated content with your audience, whether that’s through your social networks or an email newsletter. 

Adding your brand’s personal twist (an opinion, a clever twist, or relevant insights) is a key step in content curation. ContentGems knows this, and the Workflows feature allows you to include whatever context you wish to the content prior to sharing.

3. Flipboard

• Specialty: Engaging visual content aggregation and personalization
• Top features: Custom magazine-style layouts for content, smart content discovery with personalized recommendations, and social sharing capabilities
• Pricing: Free

Flipboard stands out for its unique magazine-style interface, which allows you to create personalized “magazines” or collections of articles, photos, and videos. This visually engaging format makes it easy for you to navigate and discover content that resonates with your audience and aligns with your brand voice. Plus, it’s completely free!

With Flipboard, you can follow topics, influencers, or even specific publications, ensuring you have a diverse and comprehensive stream of content at your disposal. This content can also serve as inspiration for marketing campaigns, social media content, and even product development, making Flipboard a versatile tool in the arsenal of any e-commerce manager and digital marketer.

4. Scoop.it

• Specialty: Efficient content discovery and knowledge sharing
• Top features: Robust content suggestion engine based on your selected topics, easy integration with social media and blogging platforms, and analytics to track engagement
• Pricing: A free version with limited features is available. Pro: $14.99/month and Plus: $67/month. Enterprise plans are available upon request

Scoop.it provides a platform where you can find relevant content across the web, organize, and share it with ease. You start by creating topic-specific pages, where the different types of content (articles, images, and videos) will live. 

Scoop.it’s advanced content suggestion engine then scours the internet for content based on these chosen topics, delivering a curated selection of high-quality content. The tool also lets you share knowledge internally, so all team members can contribute to amplifying the amount of curated content available to share on your marketing channels.

5. Buzzsumo

• Specialty: Real-time insights into what content types and topics generate the most engagement
• Top features: Tools for finding key influencers in your industry and alerts for brand mentions or keywords
• Pricing: Content Creation: $199/month, PR&Comms: $299/month, Suite: $499/month and Enterprise: $999/month

Ensuring that your content curation strikes a chord with your audience is key — a tool like Buzzsumo is an ally in this regard. It allows you to search for the most shared and engaging content on social media platforms based on keywords, hashtags, topics, or domains, providing a clear view of what’s trending and what’s not. Based on these insights, you can prioritize which content from your curated library to share according to its relevance and virality potential. 

Working with influencers is another content marketing strategy for e-commerce businesses to acquire content from a non-branded source and keep their social media feeds fresh. In addition to trends, Buzzsumo also helps you find the best influencers to work with by identifying the most active and engaging accounts relevant to your brand.  

6. Quuu

• Specialty: Personalized content suggestions
• Top features: Curated content library of personalized suggestions and seamless integration with social media platforms
• Pricing: Pro plan: $5/month and Business plan: $15.83/month. Agency plans are available upon request

Quuu’s shining star is its AI assistant, Robin. Trained by the human team that once hand-curated content for Quuu’s users, Robin searches the web every day to send you relevant news articles, podcast episodes, blog posts, and more. 

It seamlessly integrates with popular social media marketing platforms like Buffer, Hootsuite, and Hubspot, and you can choose what to share to your social media accounts manually or allow the auto-pilot to post for you.

7. Curated

• Specialty: Streamlined and user-friendly newsletter creation
• Top features: Quick capture of interesting content to add to your newsletters 
• Pricing: Price varies based on the number of newsletter subscribers — consult the pricing page for a complete breakdown of the cost

Running low on ideas to spice up your email newsletters? Curated’s got you covered. This curation platform was built specifically to streamline the process of creating, curating, and sending newsletters. 

With the Curated Chrome extension, you can easily collect and organize articles from various sources that you think your audience will find valuable. When it’s time to assemble your newsletter (using Curated’s library of templates), you can choose the best links, add them to the newsletter, and include summaries or comments about the content you’re sharing that add your brand’s perspective to the mix. 

8. Huzzaz

• Specialty: Video curation and enhanced video sharing experience
• Top features: Embeddable video collections for websites and customizable video gallery layouts
• Pricing: A free version is available, and the Pro version is $9/month

In the visually-driven world of e-commerce, video is king. Huzzaz is a tool designed for video content curation, allowing you to create video collections that can be shared and embedded on different platforms, including your website and social media channels.

With Huzzaz, you can curate video content from sources like YouTube and Vimeo, and use customizable video galleries to showcase products, tutorials, customer testimonials, and other video content in an organized and visually appealing way.

9. Content Studio

• Specialty: Unified content marketing and social media management
• Top features: Advanced content discovery tools and workflow automation for planning and publishing content
• Pricing: Starter: $25/month, Pro: $49/month, and Agency: $99/month

Content Studio is an all-in-one social media management platform, but one of its standout features is content curation. The tool lets you set up a library of curated content that can be filled out automatically, by following popular topics of interest, or manually, by filtering content based on keywords, domains, and other factors. 

This content curation software shows you how each piece of content is performing, and you can then automatically distribute your favorite and most successful pieces across social media channels, directly from the platform.  

10. Buffer

• Specialty: Streamlined social media posting and analytics
• Top features: Ability to schedule and share content across multiple platforms and detailed analytics for tracking content performance
• Pricing: A free version is available. Other plans include Essentials: $6/month for one channel, Team: $12/month for one channel, and Agency: $120/month for 10 channels

Successful content curation isn’t just about finding and sharing the right content. It also involves efficiently managing it across platforms. Buffer is an excellent answer to this need, as it offers an all-in-one solution for scheduling, publishing, and analyzing social media content.

Keeping track of what to post, when to post, and measuring the impact of both curated and original content can be overwhelming. Buffer streamlines this complexity with a single platform from which you can manage all your social media profiles and activities.

11. Pinterest

• Specialty: Inspirational image discovery and bookmarking
• Top features: Powerful visual search engine and curated boards for key themes
• Pricing: Free

Pinterest is a one-stop shop for users everywhere to find and curate inspirational visual content. It’s a user-friendly way to create and share collections of images, videos, and GIFs, known as pins, that can be organized into thematic boards.

Pinterest’s guided search feature makes it a breeze for you to find content that is aligned with your brand themes, guidelines, and aesthetics. And since pins usually link to the original website, the platform also functions as a gateway to find other fresh content sources that are relevant to your brand and target audience. 

12. Bazaarvoice

• Specialty: Collecting and amplifying user-generated content (UGC) to build brand trust and authenticity
• Top features: Creator Partnerships, ReviewSource, Sampling, Retail Syndication
• Pricing: See pricing page 

User-generated content (reviews, photos, videos, or any content created by your audience) isn’t just a fantastic source of engaging content for your marketing channels — it’s the backbone of consumer trust. The Bazaarvoice platform offers a multitude of solutions, but collecting and amplifying UGC is at the core of what we do — you can watch a demo here.

Bazaarvoice specializes in collecting the most engaging and brand-safe UGC on your behalf, and then distributing it across your marketing channels to boost visibility and make the content work harder. 

Through our Influenster community, and partnerships with nano, micro, and mid-tier content creators, Bazaarvoice also helps you generate fresh and relevant UGC, so you have a steady stream of authentic content to populate your social media channels and website.

Your customers are the most valuable content curation tools

Out of all the engaging and brand-relevant content swimming around the internet, none is as powerful as the voice of the customer. If you want to keep your marketing channels fed through a constant source of authentic content that also impacts your bottom line, authentic UGC is the way forward.

Tap into the power of UGC and put your customers to work. To get started, read our e-bookDownload our e-book and learn how to build a digital content supply chain with user-generated content at its core. 

Social media and search algorithms reward fresh, relevant content and frequent posting. That’s great news if you have a lot of content and resources to work with. Not so much if you don’t.

Saturated digital spaces and higher standards for content put pressure on brands to elevate and increase their production. The time and effort needed to regularly create and distribute engaging content across channels is substantial. 

Forming a content curation plan is a game-changer for streamlining the production process and supplementing original content creation. Learn how to conquer the challenges of curating authentic content and how to implement a successful strategy.

Chapters:

1. What is content curation?
2. How does content curation benefit e-commerce brands?
3. Hurdles to curating authentic content
4. 8 tactics for curating quality content and distributing it across channels
5. Continue to evolve your content curation strategy

What is content curation?

Content curation is a way for e-commerce brands to share content from outside sources, including individuals and organizations, on their own marketing channels.

Effective content curation sources relevant and authentic content, and shares it with helpful context on appropriate channels. You should have an intentional strategy for content curation to bring value to your audience and drive results. 

Examples of different types of content you could curate include visual social media like images and videos, articles, data reports, podcasts, TV or film clips, and customer reviews. You can share curated content on your most active customer touchpoints, including your product pages, blog, social media channels, and emails. 

How does content curation benefit e-commerce brands?

Content curation offers a range of benefits to e-commerce brands regardless of size or maturity. Some of the top advantages include:

• Eases workflow: Curating content reduces the pressure, time, and effort required to regularly create original content. Instead of ideating, writing, filming, shooting, and designing content from scratch each time, you can supplement by sharing the content that someone else produced 
• Reduces costs: Because content curation reduces the time and in-house or outsourced talent that original content creation demands, it also eliminates the associated costs
• Supplies social proof: Whenever you share the kind of content that features or specifically mentions your brand and products, you’re providing social proof. When your audience sees other people recommending your products and showing love for your brand, it has a persuasive and contagious effect — this is the power of user-generated content (UGC)
• Diversifies content mix: The same type and tone of content can get boring and predictable quickly. And if the content is only coming from your brand’s perspective, that can be a turn-off. 74% of shoppers trust UGC more than brand-created content on product pages and 55% say they’re unlikely to purchase a product without consulting UGC, according to our Shopper Experience Index. Curating content allows you to share diverse voices, viewpoints, and styles of content to keep it fresh and interesting
• Increases engagement and reach: By sharing content from customers, influencers, publications, or other media and tagging those creators, you’re encouraging those sources to respond in kind. When they like, comment, or share your curated content, that’s introducing it to their own audience for further reach and engagement
• Demonstrates thought leadership: When you intentionally and thoughtfully share content, it shows you’re in tune with the latest trends and important voices. Even if you didn’t create the content originally, you can amplify clever takes and creative insights while adding to the conversation

Hurdles to curating authentic content

Content curation seems simple and straightforward enough, but to do it right, it gets more complicated. And by right, we mean consistent and authentic. It’s not just about sharing content to fill holes in your content calendar. It needs to be content created by real people voicing honest opinions that accurately reflect your brand, online community, and products. 

Understanding and addressing these challenges is crucial for e-commerce brands to establish a trustworthy online presence. Here’s some of the top obstacles to seamlessly curating a steady flow of authentic content.

Shortage of quality content

Consumers today are always-on and confronted with more content on every channel than ever. To get their attention and pique their interest, you need to express a unique style and voice along with striking visuals.

That goes for both the content your brand creates and curates. While there’s no shortage of content in every major digital space, finding the kind of quality content worthy of sharing is the real issue. Before you select and share content, you need to ensure it meets certain criteria, like it: 

• Comes from a trustworthy source
• Is accurate
• Is timely and up-to-date 
• Meets your visual and editorial quality standards
• Serves a purpose for your audience
• Reflects your brand values and identity
• Meets your content KPIs, i.e., increases brand awareness and drives conversions

Inconsistencies across channels

Customers notice when a brand’s presence across marketing channels is disjointed, and it may cause them to abandon their journey. The majority (75%) of shoppers expect a cohesive and connected experience on each brand channel. Discrepancies in tone, style, aesthetics, and messaging on different channels can compromise a consistent experience for your customers.

Content formats, audience, and language can all vary from one channel to another. All of these factors need to be in alignment when distributing curated content according to each channel’s unique characteristics. Your email newsletter has totally different capabilities and a more narrow audience than, say, your TikTok profile.

So, while you want to maintain your major brand elements on each, you also have to modify your content to fit each channel. 

Challenges in content verification 

When you’re sharing content from other sources, it’s crucial that the source and the content itself are legitimate. There’s bots, fake reviews, misinformation, and manipulated visuals at play in today’s digital arena. You need to have a reliable fact-checking and content-vetting process in place to ensure authenticity and deliver trustworthy content.

Copyright issues

Before you share content from other creators, ensure you’re not violating any intellectual property or copyright restrictions. To avoid infringement and any associated consequences, follow these best practices: 

• Check the fair use guidelines for any channels you don’t own
• Ask for permission to share the source’s content
• Properly attribute and credit the content source

Partnering with Bazaarvoice takes care of this important step for you with our automated rights-requesting capabilities. This feature enables a streamlined way to ask creators permission to use their content in your marketing materials. 

8 tactics for curating quality content and distributing it across channels

Luckily, you can easily sidestep all of those roadblocks to successful content curation and create a successful strategy by following these best practices. 

1. Understand your audience’s interests and preferred channels

How do you know if the content you curate, share, and distribute will be valuable? First, you need to understand what will help, attract, and reach your audience. Research your audience to understand what their needs and pain points are that your product solves. 

What type of content gets the most engagement? Where is your audience most active, and which of your channels has the most engaged followers? Those answers will reveal what to focus on, whether that’s tutorials on TikTok, reviews featured in email campaigns, shoppable Instagram posts, galleries of customer photos on product pages, etc.

2. Create and follow a content style guide

Establishing and implementing a content style guide is key to maintaining consistency across channels. It also provides a clear framework for your team to follow. Your style guide serves as a rulebook that includes instructions for executing your brand’s content curation strategy. These are some of the elements to include:

• Voice: The unique personality and message of your brand that represents its values and mission
• Tone: This can change depending on the situation, from the norm which could be upbeat and friendly to empathetic and understanding for delicate situations
• Format: When to use short-form and long-form content, images, videos, audio, and other elements depending on the channel
• Verification steps: The process for verifying content is authentic
• Image and video specs: The quality standards, length, and dimensions for visual assets
• Content types: What types of content work best for each platform, including educational vs. entertaining, top of funnel vs. bottom of funnel, etc.
• Tagging and attribution: How to give credit to content sources and tag them on each channel

3. Tailor content for each channel

While consistency is key, it’s also essential to respect the unique characteristics of each channel. Tailor content to fit the specific nuances of platforms without compromising the overarching brand message. Adapt visual elements, messaging length, and content formats to align seamlessly with the expectations of users on each channel.

This approach also helps broaden and diversify your marketing content mix. Different types of content have their own unique advantages, and you can track how each performs. For example, on e-commerce websites, product reviews impact purchasing decisions for 78% of consumers, and product photos taken by shoppers impact purchasing for 69%. Social media is another popular shopping source where lifestyle videos and photos taken by real shoppers thrive.

When you curate content for one channel, you can repurpose it for a different channel to maximize its reach and impact. For example, you can play clips of a podcast that mentions your brand or niche as an Instagram post and link to the episode with a written takeaway in an email campaign. Or, you can share a TikTok tutorial of how to use one of your products on your brand’s TikTok feed and also embed it in a blog post on a related topic on your website.

4. Encourage and foster UGC

You can create a steady flow of authentic content by leveraging UGC to distribute across channels. Besides its authenticity, it’s also very persuasive, giving 78% of shoppers more confidence in making purchases. 

UGC includes reviews, photos, videos, blog posts, podcast episodes, and any other content created by your own audience. UGC can come from anyone who’s purchased a product from you regardless of their online presence or from an influencer with a large following. There’s so many ways to collect and encourage UGC, including: 

• Promoting branded hashtags for users to include when posting UGC for a chance to be featured on your website or social channels
• Using customer satisfaction surveys to collect feedback and reviews
• Requesting reviews via email and SMS marketing 
• Hosting a social media contest or giveaway for followers who submit photos, videos, or reviews
• Launching a product sampling campaign offering consumers samples in exchange for UGC

FAs a good example, The Body Shop entices customers to share their social media photos using #TheBodyShop to be featured on their website gallery. Showcasing UGC galleries earned The Body Shop a 13% increase in average order value.

5. Use social listening and search engine alerts 

Social listening tools and search engine alerts are excellent content curation resources because they track content that tags or mentions your brand, industry, or relevant topics.

Social listening means monitoring online conversations across social media platforms that mention your brand or a specific hashtag you’re tracking. With social listening, you can gain valuable insights into consumer sentiments, preferences, and emerging trends. By actively listening to your audience, you can identify content to share, reveal relevant topics to focus on, and gauge the effectiveness of current content.

Setting up Google search alerts keeps you informed about industry trends, competitor activities, and relevant keywords. These real-time notifications allow brands to keep up with fresh content to share and current interests. You can set up alerts for any topic you want and receive them in your email inbox.

6. Add context and your brand’s perspective 

Merely sharing curated content isn’t enough. When you post content from other sources, add your own feedback, recommendations, or thoughts. If it needs explanation outside of its original location, provide that for your audience. Add to the conversation and tie it back to your brand’s message and content goals.

MAM Baby does a great job of this on Instagram. The brand curates relevant content from their customers and shares it on their Instagram page. They add their own message to each post, like more context on featured products or their own reactions showing their brand’s personality.

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A post shared by MAM Baby (@mambaby_usa)

They also combined their UGC curation with social commerce to make their Instagram feed shoppable, leading to increased site visits by 157% and an extra £96k in annual revenue.

7. Streamline and centralize content planning and distribution 

When you have multiple people juggling all the content for your various marketing channels, you need an easy way to manage it all. You can do that by having a content supply chain that everyone can access for all your content planning, drafting, approval, and scheduling tasks. That could be folders with multiple documents for content calendars, drafts for review, your style guide, and other resources. 

Or, you can invest in one centralized platform to access everything you need, including Bazaarvoice tools like Social Media Manager. This tool lets you create and schedule content, plus analyze performance and competitors all in one place.

8. Implement authenticity review processes

Establish a process and guidelines to ensure the content you’re sharing is trustworthy and true to your brand pillars. Make sure you collaborate with influencers who create genuine content and whose presence aligns with your brand values. Check each review and piece of content you source to make sure it’s not fraudulent. 

If you’re a smaller business, it might make more sense to vet each piece of content and its creator manually, one at a time. If you’re scaling your business or marketing efforts, you could partner with a team like Bazaarvoice that uses fraud detection technology, algorithms, and analysts to ensure authenticity.

Continue to evolve your content curation strategy

Once you have your plan and process in place for curating content, put it to the test and then measure the results. Use analytics to see what’s working and what’s lacking engagement. Then, use those insights to refine your strategy, continue what’s performing well, and address what isn’t.

Find out more about how to find, analyze, and apply consumer insights to optimize and elevate your content strategy in our guide: The smart marketer’s guide to finding and using customer insights.

LEARN MORE

Masterclass: Fuel your content engine with quality content at scale

Watch now

Chapters:

1. What is add-to-cart rate?
2. 5 ways to increase your add-to-cart rate
3. Product page optimization to increase add-to-cart rate

What is add-to-cart rate?

Add-to-cart rate measures the percentage of website visitors who add at least one item to their cart per session. A higher add-to-cart rate leads to more purchases, and more purchases mean more revenue.

There’s a number of factors that might convince shoppers to add a product to their cart. But, in our experience, one tactic is especially impactful: user-generated content (UGC). UGC includes ratings and reviews, and any visual content like photos and videos posted online or submitted to your company website by customers, fans, and visitors.

Don’t just take it from us though. In our study of five major e-commerce industries, conversion rates increased by an average of 161% when shoppers saw or interacted with UGC on their path to purchase.

5 ways to increase your add-to-cart rate

Here’s how to harness UGC’s powerful influence on product pages and social media to get shoppers to smash that ‘add-to-cart’ button and increase your conversion rate.

1. Drive traffic to product pages with UGC

The beauty of UGC is its versatility. Brands can share glowing reviews and flattering photos across a variety of platforms and meet customers where they are. But the ultimate goal is to lure more customers to your product pages, because more site visitors mens higher add-to-cart rate. Some ways include:

• Company blogs (much like this one you’re reading) are prime real estate for images and videos from social media, showing how followers use your products. Highlighting relevant customer ratings and reviews is a great way to complement any products mentioned in the content with pull quotes or screenshot images

• Email campaigns are largely a visual medium supported by carefully crafted messaging that serves a specific business goal. Visual UGC and reviews presented in an aesthetically striking way have a strong click-through influence. Enhance emails with UGC to elevate abandoned cart reminders, product launches, email-exclusive sales, event announcements, blog distribution, and more

Whichever outlet you choose, make sure product page calls to action (CTAs) are prominent. These examples from Glossier and Brooklinen show how it’s done with cleverly and intentionally leveraged UGC, coupled with clear CTAs:

2. Showcase visual UGC on product pages

Visual UGC on product pages shows that other shoppers are so happy with your product that they like to show it off. Also known as social proof. It may just be what gets hesitant shoppers off the fence when they’re hovering over that ‘buy now’ button, and bump up your add-to-cart rate. After all, displaying visual UGC on product pages increases conversion rates by up to 150%.

There’s plenty of resources to procure and generate UGC for your product pages. Asking fans to tag their photos and videos with a branded hashtag is an easy way to collect UGC on social channels. Hosting contests will take this method to the next level by incentivizing UGC posts with prizes like free products, a trip, or a website feature.

Another low-maintenance, direct way to collect UGC is by asking customers to upload pictures or videos of their purchases. You can then vet these images and add them to a gallery right on the product page. This also incentivizes them to share their UGC for a chance to be featured on your website.

River Island places UGC with a branded hashtag from social media right below the main product image so shoppers can easily visualize themselves wearing their items. This strategy led to a 184% lift in conversion for the brand.

3. Spotlight customer reviews on product pages

Another highly influential type of UGC is customer ratings and reviews. Reviews are a major deciding factor for shoppers when considering a purchase. Product pages with at least one review garnered a 354% conversion rate increase and a 446% increase in revenue per visitor compared to product pages without reviews, according to Bazaarvoice’s Shopper Experience Index. There’s few better ways to increase your add-to-cart rate.

And don’t let your reviews go unnoticed either. Collecting reviews is only half the battle. It’s equally important to feature them prominently so site visitors don’t miss them. One method is to include the star rating directly next to the product image, which users can click to see the full reviews of that product.

Five-star ratings and glowing reviews are great, but promptly addressing negative reviews and inquiries is crucial. And that’s not only because of quality customer service expectations. Responding to reviews and customer feedback can result in a 98% average conversion lift for brands and retailers.

Brands can take their customer feedback a step further by compiling common issues or questions to create a comprehensive FAQ page on their website. Companies who receive a large number of reviews and questions can manage them with a dedicated customer service team or tools like a Questions & Answers platform. These portals allow brands of all sizes to effectively and efficiently respond to customer questions.

Rimmel London shows all product reviews right below the product description and ‘add to cart’ button on their product pages. The above example shows a customer review with visual UGC and Rimmel’s helpful response to the review, a strategy that led to a 44% sales lift.

4. Create shoppable social content

UGC on social media promotes brands in a genuine and authentic way that users trust, making it highly effective for e-commerce. Using your social media followers’ UGC to create shoppable images does double duty: It entices fans with realistic, relatable content that’s linked directly to product pages.

Shoppable social media posts — also known as social commerce — include clickable products that link out to product pages where users can instantly make purchases, instantly increasing add-to-cart rate. There’s different ways to make social media posts shoppable:

• On Pinterest, business accounts can set up the catalog feature that adds everything from their online store as Product Pins. Product Pins include the name of the product and a link to the product page where shoppers can add items to their cart and purchase

• Brands can make Instagram posts shoppable in the Shop section of the app, as well as in Stories, Reels, Live, and IGTV. Any Instagram content with a shopping bag icon is shoppable. Some products can be purchased directly on Instagram without leaving the app, and some link to the brand website’s product page

• Using Like2Buy or other social commerce tools can create a multichannel dashboard for creating, scheduling, publishing, and analyzing shoppable posts on social platforms like Instagram and TikTok

This example above from apparel brand Rachel Antonoff shows a shoppable Instagram post featuring UGC.

5. Reciprocate the UGC love

The unofficial brand ambassadors who create UGC make your job a lot easier, so don’t take them for granted.

Show your appreciation by complimenting, thanking, and tagging them on social media — in Instagram posts and Stories, on Pinterest boards, in TikTok trends, in emails, and on your website. This strengthens the connection between you and your audience. By rewarding engagement, you’ll encourage more users to join the conversation so you don’t just have customers — you have a community.

And once you have a brand community, you’ll have a pool of authentic UGC about your brand to tap into and display on your customer acquisition channels, ensure an increase in your add-to-cart rate wherever your shoppers are.

Product page optimization to increase add-to-cart rate

And there you have it. Simple, effective methods for increasing your add-to-cart rate and driving revenue. All thanks to that UGC. But as part of your strategy, you mustn’t forget the product page itself. Featuring written and visual user-generated content is great, but you need to know how to display it.

Your product page(s) need to be tailored and personalized to meet consumer needs. Learn how it’s done in our on-demand masterclass: 3 powerful tactics to increase product page conversion rates.

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7 user-generated content examples and why they work

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One of the biggest apparel-related changes to come from the pandemic era? What people wear. 38% of people agree the pandemic changed the way they dress in social settings, and 35% agree it’s changed the way they dress for work. 

And while some folks have reduced their spending during recent economic hardships, 28% of respondents said they’re still shopping just as much as normal. 

But what are people buying, and where are they buying from? And where are they getting their inspiration and influence? And what actions to apparel brands need to take to win over future shoppers?

Apparel industry research: Key trends and takeaways

Our survey consisted of 24,000 shoppers from USA, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and Spain, segmented by age group:

• 18-24
• 25-34
• 35-44
• 45-54
• 55-64
• 65+

A small percentage (14%) opted not to give their age bracket. Now, let’s see what they had to say and the key takeaways for you to grow your apparel brand.

1. A majority of consumers will reduce at least some spending during hardships

In our current economy, many Americans are cutting back. According to Fidelity Investments, this year is “the year of living sensibly” amid consumer financial hardships, with over 40% of folks saying inflation is a top financial concern for them. 

72% of consumers said they reduce their spending to some extent during periods of budgetary or financial pressure and 51% stated that they cut back on certain things but not others. This selective approach suggests consumers prioritize their expenses based on their perceived importance or necessity. Just 21% of respondents reported reducing their spending across all categories.

When it comes to the apparel industry specifically, the data shows us a noteworthy trend: only 6% of consumers said that they don’t reduce their spending on clothing at all during budget cuts, suggesting a majority of consumers will adjust their apparel spending in some way during times of financial hardship.

Out of the respondents who reduce their apparel spending, 49% say they reduce it “a bit,” while 46% say they reduce it “a lot.” 

2. More people still buy apparel in-store than online 

Despite the convenience and accessibility of online shopping, 58% of consumers stated that they tend to shop for apparel in-store rather than online. 

However, the research process plays a crucial role in consumers’ purchasing decisions. Approximately 61% of respondents engage in online or social research before making a purchase (whether they end up buying through an e-commerce platform or in-store). 

When you break the data down by age-specific demographics, the numbers are slightly different. Among consumers 55 and older, just 43% said that they engage in online or social research (for 18-to-34 year olds, that number jumps to 76%).

The takeaway for retailers? With research being important to many folks, it’s important to make sure your product pages are comprehensive and up-to-date. 

Shopping on social is gaining traction

The majority of online shoppers tend to mainly shop on either retailer websites (65%) or brand websites (58%). 21% of consumers said they also shop on social media for apparel. For folks who shop on social media, they primarily buy from Instagram (23%), Facebook (22%), and TikTok (13%). 

Digging deeper into the social shopping trend, the reasons behind these apparel purchases vary. 30% cite their liking for how the clothes looked in the social media posts, while 24% appreciate the ease of the online shopping experience.

For example, Like2Buy allows brands and influencers to curate a list of products and promotions for their followers. When a person or brand wants to share those products, they can simply share their Like2Buy link (or keep it in their bio), so shoppers can find exactly what they’re looking for and be taken directly to the product. Talk about a seamless, convenient experience!

Other factors that influenced buying decisions included recommendations from friends or family members (17%), effective ad targeting (13%), and influencer promotions (12%).

3. Over half of consumers trust UGC content over brand-generated content

User-generated content (UGC) — social images, product reviews, and videos created by an individual rather than a brand — is slightly dominating the apparel industry, with over half (54%) of consumers trusting UGC over brand-generated content. 46% of shoppers say they trust brand-generated content most.

Overall, 65% of consumers said it’s important to look at UGC before making an online clothing purchase. Looking at age-specific data, 85% of 18-to-34 year olds said it’s important to look at UGC content versus 46% of those aged 55+.

For in-store purchases, the numbers take a dip: 73% of 18-to-34 year olds and 33% of people 55 and over say they look at UGC before buying. 

Where do shoppers find this content? Respondents said they primarily come across UGC on:

• Retail websites (35%)
• Brand websites (34%)
• Browser search results (27%)
• In-store displays (22%)
• A friend or family member’s social feed (20%) 

UGC isn’t just a nice-to-have to please shoppers. From our own network data, we see apparel brands who utilize UGC achieve a significant positive impact on their revenue.

4. Millennials and Gen Z are inspired and influenced by online trends (Baby boomers? Not so much)

Age demographics clearly have an impact on apparel industry trends because when we look at what inspires and influences shoppers, there’s clear disparities between age groups.

For example, among 18-to-34 year olds, 53% stated they find inspiration in products they come across on social media. In contrast, only 8% of individuals aged 55 and older reported being influenced by products they see on social media. We see a similar pattern for influencer blogs — 21% of 18-to-34 years olds get inspiration from influencer blogs compared to only 2% of the 55+ age group.

Interestingly, it’s window shopping that still holds sway with older consumers. 47% of people over 55 indicated they find inspiration in products they discover while window shopping. (Only 29% of individuals aged 18-to-34 rely on this traditional method for inspiration.)

The influence of friends and family remains strong across all age groups, with approximately 33% of respondents finding inspiration from, and being influenced by, their close connections. This underscores the importance of personal recommendations and the power of word-of-mouth in shaping consumer behavior.

For those who find their inspiration on social media, the primary sources are everyday social media users (55%), a brand’s social media (48%), social media influencers (47%), and celebrities (28%).

5. Sustainability and second-hand shopping has slightly declined

Sustainability and eco-friendliness often play a role in today’s consumer purchasing decisions. When respondents were asked how important sustainability and eco-friendliness are when purchasing clothes, 57% said they’re “important” or “very important.” In the same apparel industry trends research we ran in 2021, 69% of shoppers had the same sentiment. 

40% of respondents said they don’t pay attention to whether a brand is sustainable or fast-fashion. Rather, they make clothing purchases based on personal needs and preferences. 27% stated they buy clothing from both sustainable and fast-fashion brands, and 18% expressed a specific preference for purchasing sustainable clothing.

However, sustainability and second-hand shopping are other categories with significant differences between age groups. In looking at the data, it’s clear younger consumers prioritize sustainability and second-hand shopping more than older ones.

Age groups differ on sustainability and second-hand

• 66% of 55+ individuals said they “never” shop second-hand on platforms — only 26% of 18-to-34 year olds said the same
• 43% of individuals aged 18-34 reported shopping second-hand “very often” or “often” compared to just 11% of folks aged 55 and older

Additionally, 50% of the 18-to-34 age group reported they’ve purposely purchased clothing made from sustainable materials compared to 26% of those aged 55+. And 57% of 18-to-34 year olds said they would pay more for clothing made from sustainable materials versus 35% of the 55+ age group.

When asked about the reasons behind their second-hand purchases, several key motivations emerged. Saving money ranked as the top reason, with 59% of respondents identifying it as their primary driver. Other factors included the desire for more environmentally sound choices (38%), the fact that high-quality clothes are more affordable this way (38%), reducing the demand for fast fashion (29%), promoting sustainable fashion (29%), seeking more unique items (27%), and recognizing that second-hand items often last longer (23%).

To encourage consumers to purchase more sustainable clothing, brands can adopt various strategies. Our respondents suggested that brands:

1. Offer discount vouchers (52%)
2. Provide gift cards (32%)
3. Offer extra loyalty points (32%)
4. Give more details about how and where the products are made (29%)
5. Provide clear labeling with appropriate ecolabels (24%)
6. Make donations to a good cause when sustainable clothing is sold (22%)
7. Disclose the supply chain and environmental impact data (17%)

While some of these responses are monetary or reward-based, several aren’t — showing it’s not just about the cost. 

Another industry trend among environmentally conscious apparel consumers is clothing rentals. Before 2020, only 13% of folks said they’d used a clothing rental service. Now, that number is up to 62%. By age groups, 61% of 18-to-34 year olds said they’ve used a clothing rental service, while 42% of 55+ individuals said they have. 

6. Shoppers still want athleisure and casual clothes more than other categories

The data from this year shows us that athleisure and casual clothes are still just as popular as they have been over the last few years. 

When shoppers were asked what categories of apparel they spent the most on in the past 12 months, 59% said casual wear, and 37% said casual footwear. 

Casual wear also dominates the social e-commerce landscape, accounting for 60% of purchases. Sportswear follows closely behind at 41%.

The comfy-clothing trend applies to second-hand shoppers, too: Among the folks who purchase second-hand items, 62% said they primarily purchase casual wear. Other popular categories include children’s clothes (29%), party attire (29%), special occasion clothes (27%), luxury wear (25%), office wear (23%), and maternity clothes (13%). 

For the people who subscribe to clothing rental services, comfort is a priority — 36% say they rent casual wear. They also rent special occasion clothes (37%), party wear (34%), luxury clothing (34%), children’s clothing (28%), office wear (28%), and maternity wear (21%). 

7. Consumers prefer personalization when shopping for apparel

When asked if they prefer a personalized experience from brands and retailers (e.g., recommendations, using your name, or offers tied to your interests), 41% of shoppers said yes, while 36% said no. Breaking down the responses by age groups, more than half (57%) of 18-to-34 year olds prefer personalized experiences from brands and retailers, whereas only 24% of individuals aged 55 and above shared the same sentiment.

Keep this in mind as you serve your Gen Z and millennial customers since personalization matters to them. 

We also asked shoppers about their preferences for customization services like monograms or custom tailoring. 50% of people said they would not pay more for these types of services. Of the shoppers who would pay more, it would most likely be for clothing customized to their exact body measurements (27%), custom styling (19%), custom tailoring (18%), fully customizable fabrics (13%), and custom wording or monograms (9%). 

8. Nearly a quarter of shoppers are interested in smart clothing

Smart clothing refers to garments equipped with technology to monitor the wearer’s physical condition or location. These kinds of clothes are gaining traction, especially among more active shoppers and outdoor enthusiasts. When we asked consumers if they’d purchase smart clothing, 24% expressed an interest, while 53% indicated they wouldn’t — 24% said they weren’t sure. 

Among those who did express interest, 37% were aged 18-34, while 11% were 55 and older. 

In terms of specific features, respondents identified a few types of smart clothing that would pique their interest. If you’re looking to get started on the smart clothing industry trend for your apparel brand, the top preferences include clothing that:

1. Auto-adjusts temperature (54%)
2. Tracks physical strain to aid in recovery (42%)
3. Monitors stress levels (41%)
4. Tracks heart rate (40%)
5. Monitors UV exposure (39%)
6. Has its location tracked (27%) 

Future apparel industry trends

Three-plus years since the onset of the pandemic, shoppers are still gravitating toward comfortable clothing. Clothing standards for both work and social settings have shifted — casual clothing is much more acceptable now, even in some corporate settings. Today’s consumers are looking for versatile pieces that can seamlessly transition from professional to casual environments.

But looking forward, we’re also seeing social media evolve from being simply a place of inspiration and influence to a place where people can directly purchase clothing items. Remember, over 20% of consumers said they use social media as one of their main channels for clothes shopping.

And UGC can help boost your social sales: 47% of 18-to-34 year olds said that it’s very important to look at user-generated content before they buy clothing online. UGC is authentic and relatable to your followers, and it allows you to curate your content so it resonates with them. Apparel brand EziBuy saw a 325% increase in revenue per visitor with UGC and clothing giant GANT utilized UGC to reduce return rates by 5%.

To learn more about the e-commerce trends we’re seeing beyond just the apparel industry, watch our on-demand masterclass from award-winning CMO Zarina Stanford: Commerce trends and predictions: The winning formula.

Bazaarvoice is the leading UGC platform, and we help companies transform their online brand and marketing strategies with user-generated content. Request a demo today to learn how. 

Displaying product reviews on websites has become an integral part of the shopping experience, both online and in-store. Product reviews are by far the first thing shoppers consult when considering making a purchase, according to our research of over 30,000 global shoppers.

But product ratings and reviews aren’t only beneficial to shoppers — brands and retailers see serious value from them as well. According to our annual Shopper Experience Index, the conversion lift among shoppers engaging with user-generated content (like product reviews) we found a 144% lift in conversion rate when shoppers engaged with UGC and a 162% lift in revenue per visitor.

Our study also found that 64% of shoppers consider ratings and reviews, consumer-submitted questions and answers, and consumer photos important. Last year, shoppers around the world submitted 66.8 million reviews across our network, up 9% from the year before.

Because they’re so pivotal to the shopping experience for both shoppers and businesses, you should display reviews on your website. But they shouldn’t be limited to just your website. You need to put this kind of content in front of shoppers everywhere they are.

5 ways to display reviews

Here’s some of the ways best-in-class brands are displaying reviews to enhance the e-commerce and in-store experience.

1. Website

First impressions matter. Display reviews right on your home page and on your product description pages so consumers can instantly see the opinions of their fellow shoppers. Display reviews in slideshows on your homepage, on sidebars on your product pages, and keep a review or two in the header of every page on your website. And above all, make product highlights skimmable.

That’s why Trend Micro, a global cybersecurity software provider, and Carvana, an online used car retailer, display their consumers’ reviews both on product pages as well as the front page of their website. This ensures that a fellow shopper’s stamp of approval is the first thing a prospective customer sees when they arrive on the homepage.

Trend Micro not only calls out the average star rating and total number of reviews they have, but also includes a few specific customer reviews.

Carvana invites browsers to take a look at their customer reviews, both the good and the bad, embracing the power that both positive and negative reviews have.

2. Commercials

Consumers often tune out or even skip commercials. Make them genuinely worth watching by using the voice of the consumer. Not only does this Gillette commercial display reviews, it also shows how Gillette genuinely listens to the feedback from consumers that the brand gets through reviews and uses it to improve their products.

In addition to improving product design, customer reviews and questions can help identify issues with customer service, website content, pricing, shipping, or other areas of the customer experience.

3. Social media

Especially as social media becomes more shoppable, this is an integral place to display your customers’ reviews. Whether it’s an advertisement, Instagram Story, or an organic post (all of which are seen below), customer testimonials are a simple way to promote your products on social in an authentic way.

Consumers are also becoming more skeptical and weary of influencer marketing that has invaded the social landscape. According to our research, consumers trust content from every day social media users than they do from social media star’s, celebrities, or even your own brand’s social media content.

Let them hear from someone just like them, who genuinely used and enjoyed a product, instead of from a celebrity who is being paid.

4. Email campaigns

Email marketing is used far and wide to connect with your audience, promote your brand, and increase sales. Displaying testimonials from consumers alongside product photos helps your consumers do additional product research with minimal work on their end.

Reviews from fellow shoppers will help your click-through and conversion rates that you’re working to bolster through these types of campaigns.

5. In-store advertising

It’s no secret that online is now the predominant way that people shop — one benefit over in-store shopping is that it’s easier and more convenient to make purchases. A clever way to bridge between the online and offline experiences is to display reviews in your brick-and-mortar location(s).

It’s what shoppers are starting to want, too. So help shoppers research online while they shop in-store.

By including testimonials in store displays and signage, shoppers can see the opinions of other consumers, in addition to being able to test out or try products themselves in store. Neutrogena, Rexona, and Suave does just this at a retailer’s store.

Display more reviews with Bazaarvoice

Given how beneficial ratings and reviews are, why limit their potential to the product page? From social media to commercials, the sky’s the limit for the way you can use the voice of the consumer to advocate for your brand.

With Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews, you can easily manage and display reviews at scale. And when combined with Bazaarvoice Review Syndication, you can ensure your reviews are in front of shoppers no matter where they are.

Bazaarvoice customer Nourison did exactly that, and has seen stronger relationships with retailers, a 4x lift in conversions, and a 3x lift in revenue.

Today’s marketers have an unprecedented amount of technologies, tools, and data available to them, giving them the ability to execute increasingly sophisticated campaigns, better report the ROI of their efforts, and inform future marketing plans.

But at the same time that marketing technology has advanced, the consumer shopping journey has gotten more complicated. It’s difficult to know how to attribute sales or brand awareness to any given campaign.

What is marketing attribution?

Marketing attribution is how marketers determine what marketing tactics and related customer interactions contribute to sales, conversions, or other KPIs. These metrics identify the channels and messages that inspire potential buyers to take action.

Brands and retailers invest heavily in marketing strategies, whether paid or owned, so it’s important to be able to determine the ROI of these endeavours. There’s four types of attribution, each providing different insights:

1. Single touchpoint models focus on one touchpoint in the customer journey, whether first touch or last touch
2. Multi-touchpoint models take all touchpoints of the consumer journey into consideration
3. Data-driven attribution uses conversions and other KPIs to calculate how each touchpoint contributed to a sale
4. Econometric or media mix modelling is a statistical analysis of how marketing campaigns contribute to goals

Facing increasing pressures to deliver the most accurate and appropriate metrics, digital marketers must understand how to measure and report on customer behaviors.

Marketing attribution analysis

To uncover varying industry perspectives and expectations around marketing attribution, we partnered with Digiday to survey 250 people from brands, agencies and publishers.

The results shine a light on the challenge of campaign attribution. Many of those surveyed struggle to identify which campaign metrics to track, and, frequently enough, they disagree on the best approach to attribution. A majority of respondents (63%) said that the ideal state of marketing attribution means being able to track customers throughout the full marketing and sales funnel.

To work towards that goal, here’s five best practices to help you set more accurate and effective goals for future campaigns.

1. Rarely credit attribution to the last touch model

The last touch attribution model can be useful when analyzing basic sales metrics. But more often than not it omits important information. Marketers should rarely base their entire attribution strategy around the last touch model.

Email campaigns, online ads, social media, and store visits are among the many tools that marketers use to reach consumers. With the last touch model, whatever interaction a consumer had with your brand right before they made a purchase gets the credit.

According to our survey, this approach is the most widely-used marketing attribution method. 41% of respondents said that the last touch method was their most commonly used attribution approach for online channels. The problem is that this model often tells only part of the story.

“Last touch, which is where most people are starting, is wrong,” said Michael Horn, Managing Director of Data Science at digital agency Huge. “The reason why so many people prefer last touch is just because it’s instant…that really misses the whole cumulative impact of sequential messaging, multiple channels, and all virtual brand perceptions.”

Interestingly, most survey respondents would prefer not to be using the last touch attribution model. Almost half said that a first touch attribution model was more useful for measuring digital campaigns. There’s a clear disconnect between what marketers are doing, and what they think is most effective.

2. Place emphasis on first touch attribution

In contrast to the last touch model is first touch attribution. Through this model, marketing attribution is tied to the moment when a customer was first exposed to a brand.

“That first click really shows you where your brand power is. It shows where people are first having a touchpoint with your brand,” said Conor Shea, formerly Managing Director of Global Marketing at Discover Financial. The first touch is part of a potential customer’s research process. It’s critical for brands to establish a positive first connection with a lead — a bad impression may mean there’s no second chance for your brand to redeem itself.

First touch attribution is an ideal model to use if your primary goals focus on brand awareness, instead of conversion. The first touch model allows you to zero in on the moment when a customer first interacts with your brand.

3. A multi-touch attribution model is ideal for tracking marketing metrics

A multi-touch model — one that analyzes customer behavior throughout the journey to purchase — provides a lot more data than first touch or last touch alone. Because of this, it’s also more labor-intensive and takes much longer to produce actionable insights.  

A multi-touch model by definition incorporates a healthy mix of channels, campaigns, and metrics, eliminating the blind spots that arise from focusing on just one or the other. Multi-touch marketing attribution provides you with a much richer data set across your campaigns and is worth the investment if you have the resources to implement.

But marketers often don’t have the time to sort through all of the data this model provides. Because of this, it’s useful to decide what goals and metrics are most important, so you can zero in on the data that matters most to you.

4. Don’t neglect offline data and attribution

However complex the online consumer journey is, the offline element remains crucial. In fact, almost every respondent said that offline attribution remained important to them. Offline attribution relies on data-driven models that marketers collect from non-digital sources, often from in-store purchases.  

The biggest mistake a company can make is to underestimate the value of offline conversions and offline interaction

Felipe Araujo, Senior Director of E-commerce, Diane von Furstenberg

First and foremost, that means collecting basic sales data. What the customer bought and which store they bought it at, etc. But those surveyed said they often dive deeper, collecting information such as names, email addresses, phone numbers, social media profiles, or even demographic info such as age or gender. “It’s very important for sales staff to capture personally identifying information,” said Michael Crooks, DVF’s Senior Director of Global Marketing.

In today’s consumer journey, omnichannel commerce reigns supreme — offline touchpoints are often connected to online interactions. Our own research shows that 64% of shoppers research online before purchasing offline. By collecting customers’ personal information in-store, that information can be used to track whether that customer interacted with any other digital channels or campaigns before making a purchase.

5. Align with partners on clearly defined KPIs

With multiple attribution models and sources of data, how do brands know which campaigns are successful, and why? In order to effectively show marketing results and their influence on business outcomes, you must:

1. Thoroughly understand and evaluate the different types of attribution models
2. Establish distinct marketing objectives
3. Clearly communicate campaign goals and KPIs with agencies and brand partners

The most effective way to determine success is to be crystal clear about what your end goal is for each campaign. As stated earlier, if your brand’s goal is to build awareness, website traffic metrics and first-touch attribution models can isolate the moments when customers first interact with you. Conversely, brands who want to drive concrete sales should consider return on ad spend (ROAS) and last touch attribution models to determine which ads impacted conversions and overall ROI.

In an ideal scenario, a comprehensive multi-touch model would be used and could measure a variety of metrics across the consumer journey.

Over half of marketers (52%) said that sales metrics such as conversion rates and ROAS were the most effective when evaluating campaign success. Traffic metrics like click-through rate, average time on page, and unique visitors came second at 36%.

The industry may disagree about the best marketing metrics to use, but it’s important that you communicate your goals and align with their partners and agencies, so that everyone is on the same page for success. Almost 40% of brands don’t feel as though their agency and brand partners are aligned on delivering consistent or accurate metrics, demonstrating a considerable need for clearly defining marketing KPIs at the beginning.

Marketing attribution requires multiple models

There’s no singular solution for measuring marketing attribution, but mapping different metrics and attribution models to clearly defined campaign goals will maximize the value of marketing activities and spend. Attribution doesn’t just determine due ROI either.

The right attribution model(s) will provide you with a wealth of consumer insights you can use to enhance your marketing strategy. Tools like Bazaarvoice Insights and Reports can easily extract these insights into a simple, actionable dashboard.

You can learn more about it here.

The Walmart seller Marketplace is an online platform that allows third-party sellers to list their products on Walmart.com. Selling on Walmart Marketplace lets you tap into the retailer’s massive customer base and reputation as a well-known, trusted source for high-quality items. It will also help you grow your audience, build a following of your own, and drive sales.

Walmart.com sees 100 million unique visitors each month, and it keeps growing. Recently, Walmart CEO, C. Douglas McMillion, said that online sales during the pandemic accelerated by “two to three years in some cases,” and he expects that growth to continue. 

First steps for selling on Walmart Marketplace

1. Begin the application process, where you tell Walmart about your business and the kinds of products you sell (that can be found here) 
2. Wait for approval
3. Once approved, register and create an account on the platform 
4. Set up your profile for shoppers to see 
5. It’s time to list your products! 

Now that you have your product pages up, there’s several ways to optimize your Walmart Marketplace listings.

4 ways to sell on Walmart Marketplace

As a business that partners with Walmart, we’re well positioned to guide you on how to sell on Walmart Marketplace. Here’s our best practices to follow.

1. An SEO strategy ensures your products get noticed

To increase sales, your products need to show up in a shopper’s search results. So, you need to optimize your product pages for SEO. Walmart uses algorithms to rank products based on the number of sales and views, and how your page displays the product name, images, features, description, and attributes. 

Product names should be 50 to 75 characters and clearly state exactly what you’re selling. The suggested naming structure includes the brand name, size specs, a defining quality, the item’s name and style, and quantity. 

Getting more reviews is one way brands can improve where their products show up, giving them more clicks to their products

Shariq Hasan, Associate Manager, E-commerce Merchandising Operations at Walmart Canada

Include multiple high-quality, professional images on each product page and consider adding a video showing the product in action to increase traffic. In the product descriptions, add several relevant keywords. You may need to do a little research — such as checking out your competitors’ product pages— to find which keywords will work best. 

Using the right keywords to highlight a few product features also helps shoppers browse easier. Adding the relevant Walmart Marketplace built-in product attributes, such as clothing size groups or colors, helps your items stand out when consumers search. 

The higher you appear in search results, the more products you will sell on Walmart Marketplace.

2. Use user-generated content to enhance product discovery 

Ensuring that your product pages feature user-generated content (UGC) offers a wealth of benefits. For one, it enhances the discoverability of your products and boosts sales. 

For two, UGC helps brands boost their SEO traffic. Encouraging UGC and customer reviews keeps your product pages fresh with new content, and websites with regularly updated content that’s rich in keywords rank higher. 

Customer ratings, reviews, and social content also let you foster a dialogue with shoppers and reduce return rates. 78% of shoppers worldwide trust online product reviews, and nearly 40% rely on reviews to inform purchase decisions, according to Bazaarvoice research. And using data from the Bazaarvoice Network, we found when shoppers engage with UGC on best-in-class sites, brands and retailers experience a 144% lift in conversions.

Shoppers also respond to visual content from their fellow consumers, as they consider photos and videos as authentic and helpful in their shopping journey. Visuals, combined with detailed product descriptions and reviews, provide a more engaging shopping experience.  

3. Increasing your review volume on Walmart Marketplace drives purchases

The more reviews your products have, the better. Getting just one review can increase purchases by 10%, according to Bazaarvoice research. A hundred reviews can bring a 37% purchase increase, along with insights into consumer sentiment about your products. Increasing your review volume helps grow your Walmart seller marketplace presence. 

One of the best ways to increase your Walmart Marketplace reviews is through Managed Sampling, by Bazaarvoice. The sampling program gives brands access to a vast community of loyal shoppers, who receive a product sample and provide an honest review in exchange. 

Bazaarvoice helps brands choose items to sample — whether it’s a new, seasonal, or exclusive product — and the audience segments best suited to sample and review the product. Within just three weeks, you can see authentic reviews and images start flowing in. And then your revenue increasing.

4. Optimizing reviews helps brands succeed on Walmart Marketplace

Collecting a trove of Walmart Marketplace reviews is just the start. You need to optimize your reviews, too. Bazaarvoice offers several products to help. 

Collect + Distribute equips brands with tools to collect reviews from customers who make a purchase and share those reviews across different retailer websites, like Walmart.com. For Walmart Marketplace sellers, this boosts sales, expands the impact of each review collected, and enables you to connect with consumers. 

Engaging directly with shoppers through reviews lets them know that you’re listening and care about their feedback. Answering questions and responding to reviews on the Walmart seller marketplace helps you build relationships and deepen connections with your most loyal shoppers. Brands that interact via Questions & Answers see a 150% increase in conversion. 

Brands can also tap into the more than 7 million members of the Influenster community, who can be engaged to create content about the products they love. 

Start selling on Walmart Marketplace

Selling on Walmart Marketplace gives brands an opportunity to engage with a huge group of shoppers and link up with one of the most recognizable retailers in the world. The key to getting noticed, driving sales, and building a following is increasing and optimizing Walmart Marketplace reviews.

Getting started with Walmart and Bazaarvoice

Now you know how to sell on Walmart Marketplace, all that’s left to do is get started. Walmart partnered with Bazaarvoice so we could help brands build UGC programs on Walmart, through Sampling, Questions & Answers, and our Influenster community. That means we’re best positioned to help you succeed.

Learn more ways to drive Walmart sales on our co-marketing page. Or get in touch below to get started.

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