Do you sell products online?
Having a succinct, no-thinking-required user path to purchase is a sure-fire way to keep your customers coming back.
And the best part is, Meta (Facebook+Instagram) and most shopping platform web builders (Shopify, Webflow, WordPress and more) have introduced systems to make the flow between socials and web platforms pretty seamless after some small set-up requirements.
Here are 5 ways to ensure your online users are experiencing a seamless flow from social media to website to checkout (and beyond!).
Have a clear ‘shop’ section on your website with landing pages for each product
Make sure your Facebook and Instagram Accounts are connected (properly!)
Install a Facebook Pixel
Set up a Product Catalogue
Set up Remarketing campaigns
1. Have a clear ‘shop’ section on your website with landing pages for each product
When it comes to making the ‘path to purchase’ easy for customers, the first thing you need to do is to make sure your products are set up on a page with checkout functionality.
Site builders such as Shopify are designed to make the process of setting up an online Shop as simple as possible.
That way, a user sees exactly what they're expecting when they arrive on a page for your product. Be it from an ad, a post or a blog article.
Being able to read about, review and purchase a product on the one page is much easier than having to scroll through tabs, or email or call to order a product.
As the old saying goes, ‘keep it simple’!
Why?: The benefit of having each product on its own page is to:
a) make it simple for users to know exactly what they’re purchasing, and
b) to make setting up conversion tracking easier (we’ll talk more about that in Step 2.)
c) It makes it way easier for Google to come up with the write meta-descriptions and headings (your SEO).
If you have built your store using Shopify, you’ll also have the option to include ‘recommended products’ to your online users, based off the products they have either purchased, added to their cart, or have looked at.
If you would like to get a store set up, but don’t have the time, get in touch! Yellow Digital is a Shopify Partner and delivers on-time!
2. Make Sure Your Facebook and Instagram Accounts are Connected... Properly!
Your Facebook Page should be set up as a ‘Shopping’ template.
Your Instagram Account needs to be set up as a ‘Business’ Profile.
Once in your Facebook page, click on Settings in the left menu, and from there, head to ‘Instagram’.
Once you’re in the Instagram tab, it’s just a matter of typing in your Instagram handle, and BAM! You should be connected.
If you find that this isn’t working for you, or Instagram’s not playing along, shoot me a message and I’ll see if I can help you out. Sometimes there can be an issue if you already have a Business Manager account, Commerce Account or Meta Accounts Centre set up without realising.
(You'll need these for the next steps).
3. Install a Facebook Pixel
This step can be a bit tricky, but there are YouTube videos and marketers out there who can help you if you get stuck! It should take roughly 1-2 hours if you haven't done it before!
To complete this step, you will need to have set up a Business Page on Facebook, and a Business Manager Account on Facebook (this is different to just having ‘Page Access’).
What is a pixel?
A Facebook pixel is a piece of code that helps track ‘events’ that users take on your website.
You may have heard of these events referred to as 'conversions'.
An event might include:
landing page views (someone views a page on your website)
Form submission (the 'Submit' button gets pressed)
Add to Cart (an item is added to a shopping cart)
Complete Purchase ... the purchase is completed.
Once you have created and installed your Pixel, you can set up which events you want to track online. Installing a Facebook Pixel also means you can build audiences for your Facebook ads based on who has interacted with your site. As your Pixel database grows, the more advertising options you will have, and the richer your data.
For example, you might learn that one particular product receives 10x the views as another, but isn’t receiving as many sales. This may mean you need to re-evaluate your copy and strengthen your sales point, or compare the image quality used on the two products.
I definitely recommend installing Google Analytics as well, which will help you gain a deeper understanding of user behaviour and help you with Google Ads/Google Shopping later down the track if that is something you want to do.
4. Set up a Product Catalogue on Facebook
A Catalogue is as it sounds: a collection of all of the items listed on your website to sell. Facebook and Instagram are able to use these product listings to create what are called ‘Dynamic Ads’ - ads that are built and optimised to suit user preferences.
These Catalogues are also used in tagged Instagram Posts - you may have seen these before. The example below is from ASOS’s Instagram page. By utilising Catalogues, they can tag specific products in a post and direct users straight to their checkout page. Pretty cool!
Image from https://blog.hootsuite.com/insta-shopping-tips/
They are also used in ‘Remarketing ads’, which we’ll discuss in Step 5.
To create a Catalogue, follow these instructions from Meta.
5. Set up Remarketing Campaigns
So you’ve set up your Facebook page, set up your Instagram, installed your pixel, set up your website AND created a catalogue! Phewf! But why?
This. is. Why.
You know when you’re online shopping, and you see a pair of sneakers and you add them to your cart but you don’t check out, and then all week you see the exact same sneakers on Facebook?
IT’S NOT A COINCIDENCE. Alllll of this is carefully planned.
Remarketing is one of the strongest tools in the marketing handbook. In as simple terms as possible, remarketing literally means re-marketing to those that have been on your site before. It offers a chance to upsell, promote a special, suggest recommended items, and to remind users that they haven’t checked out yet (the sneakers!).
By getting back in front of an audience that has already checked out your goods, you’re much more likely to convert to a sale. Remarketing is what increases the Life Time Value of a customer.
What remarketing campaigns do is follow users who have either:
Completed a purchase, or
Have abandoned their shopping cart, or
Have literally completed any ‘event’ on your website.
Example:
You know how we were talking about creating ‘audiences’ earlier?
You can create an audience for people who are interested in Product A. Maybe you think if they really liked Product A, they’ll really like Product B. So you start a campaign targeting people who have landed on the page for Product A, with ads for Product B.
An example of a Shopify ad that is targeting recent sign-ups to their platform.
Now, this is some very in-depth level marketing, and it works really well for e-commerce stores. It is very time-intensive, but when done correctly, your Return on Investment will definitely be worth it.
If you’d like to know more, or want to get this level of marketing set up, get in touch!
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