The Importance of User Generated Content for Online Retailers to appeal to an Experiential and Social Customer

User Generated Content is any content that has been created and uploaded by unpaid contributors, and can include pictures, videos, testimonials, tweets, blog posts as a part of users promoting a brand rather than marketeers (Goh et al, 2013).

“86% of Millenials say that UGC is a good indicator of the quality of the brand” (Tint, 2016)

“Brand engagements rise by 28% when consumers are exposed to a mixture of professional marketing content and user-generated content” (Tint, 2016)

An interesting discussion by Peter Esperson on the “Perfect Storm” of User Generated Content:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5PVqlXrOA0

UGC Appeals to the Experiential Online Customer

UGC appeals to the experiential consumer, who is motivated by the “fun” and personal enjoyment of online shopping (Wolfinbarger and Gilly, 2001). Wolfinbarger and Gilly’s research recognises that there is greater playfulness associated with experiential behaviour and this results in a more positive mood, greater shopping satisfaction and a higher likelihood of impulse purchasing compared to goal-focused shopping (Wolfinbarger and Gilly, 2001). This is particularly important for beauty and fashion retailers, whose customers are likely to browse, want opinions and share with friends before committing to a purchase.

UGC Brings a Sense of Community

UGC brings an audience together, and creates a sense of unity between the customer and brand, rather than an “us” and “them” situation (Tint, 2016). In MacMillon and Chavis’ theory penned in 1986, they defined community as membership,  influence, integration and fulfilment of needs and shared emotional connection. User Generated Content particularly allows customers to influence each other by sharing content, and in turn shares an emotional connection (Tint, 2016).

The Rise of the Social Consumer 

The evolution from an online product-orientated environment to a customer-centered one, represents the transformation from e-commerce to social commerce (Wigand et al, 2008). Social commerce leverages social media and Web 2.0 technologies that support social interaction and User Generated Content (UGC) in order to assist consumers in making their purchasing decisions in online communities and marketplaces (Huang, 2017).

Research on the Generation Y consumer indicates that customer perceptions and decisions are not only based on information created by the marketer on e-commerce platforms but are also influenced by the content created by other consumers on social networks (Constantinides and Fountain, 2008) as reviews, validation and feedback from peers are crucially important to the social consumer. This new evolution in e-commerce in the social economy will enhance customer participation, promote customer relationships and ultimately achieve greater economic value for firms (Huang, 2017). Online retailers should be thinking beyond the statistics of their social media channels, and should be incorporating “social” into their strategy for their online experience, if they are too appeal to their experiential customer.

Existent literature shows that internal word of mouth has a significant and positive impact on retailer sales (Gu et al, 2012). There is a wealth of eWOM literature surrounding the effects of product reviews on conversion rates but the below examples are more innovative and exciting initiatives online retailers have taken, using UGC to interact with their customers.

1.Shoppable Instagram feed – Debenhams

The new CEO of Debenhams has presented his new strategy that promotes a “fun and sociable digital shopping experience” (Debenhams, 2017) that involves UGC across all brand pages, where customers can upload photos of their new looks to be featured and connect with the online community, see below. Customers browsing the content can buy the product from the Instagram post. This combination of combining commerce within a social network supports Huang’s research into the incorporation of web 2.0 technologies and social media (Huang, 2017).

Source: Debenhams.com/KatVonD

2. Social Community – Sephora

Other retailers have implemented initiatives to appeal to the social consumer, such as Sephora’s Beauty Insider Community. This is a page on their website that allows customers to join groups, get inspired, watch live chats, get advice and join events. The community meets all four aspects of MacMillon and Chavis’ community theory; membership,  influence, integration and fulfilment of needs and shared emotional connection, which is perhaps a reason why it is is such a successful initiative.


Source: Sephora.com

2.1 Personalisation 

When becoming a member, customers are invited to create a “Beauty Profile”. This allows them to find “beauty matches” with other customers creating content in the community, which makes for a more helpful, relevant and meaningful exchange. This particularly appeals to the integration and fulfilment of needs and shared emotional connection elements of MacMillon and Chavis’ definition of community.

 

  1. #AsSeenOnMe– ASOS

ASOS’s “as seen on me” campaign is viewable on the landing page, where customers can upload their looks and tag the appropriate PDPs. The feature is also linked to the product display page, so customers can seek inspiration and see how other customers have styled the particular item of clothing, to aid them in their decision making process.

 

Source: ASOS.com

The ASOS #AsSeenOnMe campaign landing page, reads “Check out the gallery for the latest #AsSeenOnMe pics, shared by you on Instagram using the hashtag or the ‘add look’ button below, plus shop the looks you love

4. UGC Trench Coat Campaign – Burberry

Burberry adopted a UGC approach to its Art of the Trench campaign in 2009.  Burberry’s fans uploaded pictures of themselves wearing their iconic trench coat. Burberry curated the best submissions and showcased on their microsite and Facebook page.

Source: Tint.com

References

Debenhams Plc. (2017). Interim Results and Strategy Review.Available: http://phx.corporate- ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=196805&p=irol-resultscenter. Last accessed 28th October 2017.

Constantinides, S.J. Fountain Web 2.0: conceptual foundations and marketing issues Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 9 (3) (2008), pp. 231-244

Goh, K., Heng, C. & Lin, Z. 2013, “Social Media Brand Community and Consumer Behavior: Quantifying the Relative Impact of User- and Marketer-Generated Content”, Information Systems Research, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 88-1

Gu, B., Park, J. & Konana, P. 2012, “The Impact of External Word-of-Mouth Sources on Retailer Sales of High-Involvement Products”, Information Systems Research, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 182.

Huang, Z. & Benyoucef, M. 2013, “From e-commerce to social commerce: A close look at design features”, Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 246-259.

Tint. (2016). What is User Generated Content (and Why You Should Be Using it). Available: https://www.tintup.com/blog/user-generated-content-definition/. Last accessed 22 Feb 2018.

Wigand, R. T., Benjamin, R. I., and Birkland, J. Web 2.0 and beyond: implications for electronic commerce. In Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Electronic Commerce, Innsbruck, Austria, August 2008, ACM Press, New York, NY, 2008.

Wolfinbarger, M. & Gilly, M.C. 2001, “Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun”, California Management Review, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 34-55.

How to tell if the Layout and Appearance of Fashion Retailer’s Email Marketing Campaigns are Effective

Chaffey identified six digital marketing channel approaches “for opportunities to reach more prospects”(Chaffey, 2015). Brands in the fast moving fashion industry need a diverse marketing strategy that leverages all channels that Chaffey discusses. This blog post will focus on the email element of a fashion retailers digital marketing strategy, at it ties directly to customer acquisition, conversion rates and general purchase behaviour (Beashel, 2014). Various research surrounding the importance of email has shown that email can deliver more return on investment than other channels as this gives them a direct line to their customer base (Beashel, 2014).

Chaffey identified that emails must be effective by “doing the right thing” involving supporting business objectives by obtaining sales, leads, ROI as well as being efficient by “doing the thing right” referring to maximising opens, deliver and being optimised on mobile (Chaffey, 2015). Both play pivotal roles in the success of a company’s email marketing campaign. The use of the CTAs, image layout and copy structure will impact the efficiency and effectiveness of the email.

Call to Action

The use of CTA’s must be both efficient and effective to achieve the goal of a click-through to their website and ultimately increase conversion by a purchase.

  • Verbs: Strong action orientated verbs should be used such as “click, buy, shop” to tell the consumer “what? Why? When?” in a matter of seconds (Moth, 2012). For example, “Shop tops now!”.
  • Repetition: Repetition of the CTA across the email, gives the suggestion more weight by strategic scattering. The CTA could be placed in logos, images, headlines and products to link to appropriate pages to maximise conversion rates. For example, in the ASOS email sent on 21/11/2017 most elements of the page are clickable. The top category tab, the large landing image and the product images beneath all link to product pages on site. Image based buttons have been proven to have a higher click rate (Moth, 2012) and placing CTAs at the top of the page have been found to increase click through rates by 50% (Lavery, 2017).Figure 1: ASOS Black Friday email received on 21/11/2017
  • Colour: The colour of the CTA button should be contrasting but in keeping with the colour palette and theme of the email. It should have a white or negative space around it, and other images and text should be further away, to bring more attention to it (Moth, 2012).
  • Arrow Icon: Research by the Digital Evolution Group, has shown that customers are more likely to click on a CTA with an arrow next to the button (Moth, 2012). To lead with effective email marketing campaigns retailers should place an arrow next to their CTA’s to increase click-through rates to be more engaging with customers.

CTA button with NO arrow

CTA button WITH arrow

CTA: “Shop Watches” 13.6%

CTA: “Shop Watches” 17.1%

CTA: “Shop now” 4%

CTA: “Shop now” 4.9%

Figure 2: Customers shopping for watches at Helzberg Diamonds were more likely to click on CTA with an arrow (Moth, 2012)

Layout

The layout of the email can determine how easily and effectively the customer reads the email. The retailer must want the customer to read as much as possible, but research has shown that the customer has little time and often scans (Amunwa, 2017).

  • Width: The email should be kept at a width of 600px wide as scrolling from side to side will hinder email response rate. Eye tracking studies have discerned that the average web users reading habits lean more towards scanning rather than reading word for word, so content on the left gets more attention that content on the right (Amunwa, 2017). Retailer’s will be producing effective emails, if the most important information is on the left hand side of the email.
  • Column arrangement: Studies have shown that readers eyes are attracted more strongly to striking imagery over text. Research has found that they read this first, then go on to text. There should be a maximum of three columns on the page. Creating a layout of more than 2 columns limits what you’re able to create that’s still visually impactful (Amunwa, 2017).

Figure 3: Eye tracking study by Nielson demonstrating the consumes eye movements. Image provided by Telepathy (Telepathy, 2017). 

  • Eye Tracking Study by Jakob Nielson: Jakob Nielsen conducted a study tracking 1.5 million eye movements. He found that web users skip over content that appears unimportant resulting in an F-Shaped pattern, indicating that imagery and copy on the left side of the screen get more attention. Taking these findings into account, retailer’s should lead with the most important and relevant content in the top left hand corner. (Nielson et al, 2010).

Related Video: Watch “F-Pattern in Reading Digital Content” by the Neilson Norman Group

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=XU1-Rz2Q7-E

Copy Structure

The copy structure will have an impact on the attention gained by the consumer. Retailer’s should consider the the copy of the email in the inbox (Subject Line) and also the structure of the text in the email (Serial Position Effect) in order to be effective.

  • Subject Line: Effective emails ensure that it is clear who is sending the email, the “from field” is what the customer will see first. The logo should also be at the top of the email page, to make the retailer even more recognisable (Amunwa, 2017). The subject line should catch the customers attention so will need to entice the customer to increase their email open rate. The content of the preheader text will also aid this decision making process. Companies must be aware of this and pay particular attention to these three attributes.

Figure 4: Diagram of email layout, created by Writer from personal email account. 

  • Serial Position Effect: Research conducted by psychologist Herman Ebbinghaus found that the the first and last messages in a series are ones that the customer remembers. Companies should put their most important message first, use a filler in the middle or a piece of information that carries the least importance and the other important piece of information last. The study also showed that a P.S line at the end, had a high rate of being recalled (Beashel, 2014).

Figure 5: Data displaying words recalled depending on the position in the sequence. Source: Beashel, 2014

References

Amunwa, J. (2016). 28 Tips for Designing Effective HTML Emails.Available: https://econsultancy.com/blog/9263-designing-the-perfect-email-call-to-action-infographic. Last accessed 29th November 2017.

Beashel, A. (2014). Are You Missing Click-Throughs by Not Structuring Your Email Campaigns for ‘Scanners’?. Available: https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/email-marketing/2014/09/structure-email-marketing-campaigns-scanners/. Last accessed 29th November 2017.

Chaffey, D. & Ellis-Chadwick, F. 2015, Digital marketing, Sixth edn, Pearson, Upper Saddle River.

Lavery, J. (2017). 8 best practice tips for successful email marketing.Available: https://www.web-foundry.co.uk/blog/item/8-best-practice-tips-for-successful-email-marketing. Last accessed 29th November 2017

Moth, D. (2012). Designing the perfect email call to action: infographic. Available: https://econsultancy.com/blog/9263-designing-the-perfect-email-call-to-action-infographic. Last accessed 29th November 2017.

Nielsen, J. and Pernice, K., 2010. Eyetracking web usability. New Riders.

 

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