Each week, we publish a mishmash of ecommerce related, insight infused articles for you to smash through. Just as we collect business information across all of a merchant’s channels in a single place, we’re doing the same for ecommerce related content from a variety of top tier content creators. If you find the material filling your appetite for knowledge, feel free to share this post, as well as any article you see here.
We’re getting engaged! This week is all about the best ways of engaging with customers and site visitors. It includes benchmarks for measuring engagement success, which types of engagement are most useful where, and it addresses emerging trends on the topic, from rising platforms to changes in metrics.
An Engaging Conversation
Social media and engagement are married – the two are completely connected. But what types of posts and content lead to greater engagement? Measuring the word by shares, likes, and comments, social media guru Buzzsumo analyzed the total engagement of more than a billion posts by three million brands to find which types of posts were most effective. Below is just one chart to look at, but check out the post for even more.
Instantly Engage
On the topic of social media – every marketers most engaging tool – Instagram may quickly become the reigning champ of engagement given its forecasted stats. Marketing research firm eMarketer predicts that more than a third of all mobile phone users will be on Instagram, with more than half of all social network users on it by next year. As a platform in general, it’s blasting ahead of all competition when it comes to growth, at 15.1% this year alone, with overall social growth at 3.1%.
Gauging Engagement
Measuring engagement by how long a site visitor remains on an online store’s domain, SimilarWeb and Internet Retailer ranked top online retailers in terms of engagement, hoping to find the reasons why consumers stay. It’s segmented by desktop, app, and mobile device, and each has specific factors contributing to engagement, from solid site design to captivating promotions. Give the ranking sites a look for some inspiration.
Does the ‘E’ Stand for Engagement
E-mail is a steady and reliable way of engaging with customers. Considering it’s used for promotions, announcements, newsletters (to name a few), it’s just useful all around. And one of the sure-fire ways of analyzing its engagement-effectiveness is by checking out open and click-through rates. According to Epsilon, North American email open rates are down a bit this year, and the downward trend of CTRs seems to be continuing. That said, consumers aren’t as engaged with brands this time of year given the somewhat recent holiday season, so there’s no need to re-evaluate email as of yet.
Image: Joe the Goat Farmer
