SuperShoes.com Credits New Social Media Features with Double-Digit Increases in Product Page Views and Conversion Rate
Supershoes.com
reports double-digit increases in product page views, conversion rate
and customer interaction and credits addition of a number of Social
Media features to its site.
Andover, MA (Vocus/PRWEB) -- Supershoes.com
reports double-digit increases in product page views, conversion rate
and customer interaction and credits addition of a number of Social
Media features to its site. In May 2009 the site launched a number of
new features including the ability to rank, tag and share products
customers like or dislike, replicating customer interactivity functions
found on many social networking sites. Since the launch, product page
views per visit have increased 56%, conversion rate has increased 37%
and customer interactions on product pages have increased 128%. Noting
that referrals from Social Networking sites have also increased, Vice
President, General Manager Frank Malsbenden views these initial results
as a positive trend that "makes us want to continue to expand on the
concept of social shopping not only on Supershoes.com but on our other
online properties as well."
Malsbenden and his team recognized the effectiveness of increasing
customer interaction online when an initial test showed that product
pages on Supershoes.com featuring product videos converted at a higher
rate than products without video. After increasing the number of
product videos on the site from 100 to 400 the team looked to expand
the concept by adding "Love It", "Hate It", "Tag It" and "Share It"
buttons to all product pages. While the "Love it" and "Hate it" buttons
allow customers to rank which shoes they like and dislike, the "Tag it"
option allows customers to enter a term they would like to associate
with that product. The "Share" button allows customers to send a link
to the product page they are on directly to a friend, along with their
own message. The new buttons are placed prominently on the page, just
below the "add to cart" button.
With an understanding of the power of consumer-generated content,
the team added ways to track and show customer generated content
globally so it could be shared with all visitors. A "Recent Activity"
section on the product page charts the number of people who have
"loved", "hated" and "shared" the same style. Clicking on the
hyperlinks within the Recent Activity section takes customers to a
global view of "Products our customers LOVE", "Products our customers
HATE" and "Products our customers SHARED". Customers can also zero in
only on their own activity in the "My Activity" section. On the product
page, "My Activity" reflects any actions the customer has taken in
relation to the specific product featured on that page, but clicking
the "My Activity" link takes customers to a global view of their
interactions on the site as a whole, listing "Products I LOVE",
"Products I HATE", Products I've TAGGED", "Products I've SHARED". The
"Products I've Tagged section" lists not only the products the customer
has tagged, but includes the specific terms that customer has tagged
the product with.
Consumer-generated content has proven to enhance the success of
e-commerce websites including that of Supershoes.com, and Malsbenden
believes that the new features take consumer-generated content to the
next level. "Features long utilized by Supershoes.com such as customer
reviews and the Return-O-Meter have resulted in content more relevant
to visitor goals than just retailer-provided descriptions and imagery.
Now, with these new features Supershoes.com is providing hyper-relevant
content, because the features are interactive and the results of the
interactions are displayed in real-time." He continues, "When you give
visitors the opportunity to interact, every interaction becomes a data
point. When you aggregate these data points and display them in fun
ways, in real time, not only is the data consumer-generated and
immediate, but it carries with it an "explicit social graph", which
Real Time Web thought leader Ken Fromm identifies as a key component to
the emerging "Real Time Web". The Real Time Web is something we're
watching closely and that's what we're laying the foundation for with
the incorporation of these new social shopping features."
The team encouraged adoption of the new features through contests and giveaways executed on social networks including Facebook and Twitter.
"We knew this audience would be familiar with this type of
functionality, but also saw it as an opportunity to connect with the
newest breed of online shoppers, who expect increased levels of
interaction, connectedness and personalization online" explains
Malsbenden.
An initial promotion encouraged Twitter followers to tag a shoe with
their twitter name - thus teaching followers how to tag products while
allowing the site to identify a winner by name. Another giveaway helped
spread the word of the new features virally by asking followers to get
their friends to "Love" or "Hate" a shoe they chose and rewarding a
free pair to the person whose shoe received the most "Loves" and
"Hates".
While the promotions succeeded in increasing use of the new features,
since the launch, visits from Social Networking sites are up. "Where
weekly referrals from social networks used to represent at best 2-3% of
visits, we now see weeks where they reach 10%" Malsbenden confirms.
Encouraged by the results, the team expects to roll out similar
features on their other online properties including Shoeline.com and
ShopGeox.com within the next year.
About SuperShoes.com
SuperShoes.com is an online retailer
specializing in women's shoe brands including Clarks, Naturalizer,
Skechers and BOC. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of parent company
Vision Retailing Incorporated, an e-commerce consulting company based
in Andover, MA. An experienced e-tailer committed to innovation, Vision
Retailing owns online properties Shoeline.com, SuperShoes.com and
AddingtonFalls.com and has consulted a number of high end Department
Stores, brick and mortar retailers and consumer goods manufacturers
including GEOX, Born Footwear and Sofft Shoe Company.
For More Information:
Mary Jane Mellet
Office: 978 933 4843
Cell: 203 536 6071
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