We are in a phase where there are almost no companies without an internet presence, but still relatively few have a good online presence. In particular, e-commerce stores are only now starting to work better in our country. An online store aims to replicate (if not improve) the physical store experience, especially with regard to: – Experience of touching and feeling the product – Being able to talk to store employees to ask for explanations – Having the product at home almost immediately
The last point is a logistical problem that is starting to be resolved in several markets (last week Google just launched Google Shopping Express and Amazon started delivering on Sundays in 15 North American cities).
However the first two points are solved by something called ‘CONTENT’ and often forgotten until the moment of launching the websites. Contents generally fall into the ‘I thought the other department had already solved it’ problem category. When the moment of truth comes, everything gets complicated and costs grow exponentially.
What are contents? In a simple way, they are the elements that will give your customers information about your company, your products and your brand. As a consequence, they increase the conversion rate (ratio of the number of people who enter the site and end up buying), add value to products and brands, and improve positioning in search engines (Google, Bing, etc). All of this is reflected in a better user experience and increased sales.
But does the content only apply to ecommerce? No, Websites are one of the best ways to educate your customers. A great example is car manufacturers. Although few brands sell their cars online, more than 95% of people who buy a car do an online search beforehand. In most industries 60-70% of people who go to an online store still end up buying in a physical store. This means that if your customer does not find the product he is looking for in your online store, he will consider that it does not exist and will go to your competitor’s store. In a study carried out in our consultancy (available at litsebusiness.com) the main reason for people not to buy was the low quality of photos and descriptions, and the following the lack of variety of products in online stores, when compared to the total catalog existing in physical stores. As such, not investing in the site’s contents will be reflected not only in the loss of online sales but also in sales through traditional channels.
There are several content formats but we will focus on three main types: texts, photos and videos.
The texts in the case of products (because there are the most varied types of text on the websites: frequently asked questions, who is the company, etc) aim to: recreate/describe the product as best as possible, strengthen the perceived value, and improve positioning in search engines. It is also fundamental that the information is consistent and homogeneous. As such, they have to be thought of from the beginning. Writing for the web is also different from writing for other formats since, for example, when we think of websites for mobile phones, we have to reduce the amount of text by at least half.
Photos and videos represent a more significant investment in themselves. In a study we conducted with an online store, going from one photo per product to four photos led to a 40% increase in sales for that product. Don’t be fooled by the idea that you buy a camera and someone takes the pictures, or ask a photographer friend. Doing this with two thousand products, four photos per product, that’s eight thousand photos. Now add product description, process each of the photos and put the names in the files. More than artistic, it is an almost industrial production process that has to be managed in a highly efficient way. In the case of videos, the production is even more complex and expensive, although there are more and more new options.
The generation of content is one of the main concerns that we have encountered in companies developing their online businesses and as such we will dedicate the next articles to this topic.
