PDPs are focused on driving conversions at the bottom of the funnel. The problem with this is brands are ignoring the top of the funnel and middle of the funnel shoppers – meaning these shoppers are not receiving the key information or validation needed to make confident purchases. What does this mean? They leave and run the risk of running into the arms of your competitors.
Optimizing PDPs by integrating influential and inspirational content from customers, influencers and your brand will help increase conversions and sales and ultimately help your bottom line. So let’s dive in.
The cruel truth about PDPs
Visitors who land on a PDP are 72% more likely to bounce than those who land on a different page. This is because these pages ignore shoppers outside the bottom of the funnel unlike higher-level pages such as your homepage. Isn’t it strange to think PDPs are supposed to support and encourage purchases, but ultimately customers are less likely to convert on these pages? Let’s explore why.
1. PDPs are focused on driving conversions at the bottom of the funnel & ignore everyone else
The problem with this is brands are ignoring the top of the funnel and middle of the funnel shoppers – meaning these shoppers are not receiving the key information or validation needed to make confident purchases. Using content from real customers or influencers shows a real representation of the product either in their house, them wearing it, using it, or whatever it may be. It paints a picture, shows the product in use, shows the happy customer, provides the shopper with inspiration, may even evoke FOMO and ultimately encourages them to take the plunge to click ‘buy now’.
Brands are constantly fighting for the attention of online shoppers more than ever and with this rife competition, it’s vital for your brand’s PDPs to engage, inspire, and influence shoppers whether they’re new to your brand, considering a purchase or close to purchasing.
2. PDPs don’t inspire shoppers to actually shop
Product pages don’t give shoppers inspiration or help them find what they’re looking for, instead they are met with a product-centric page with basic information about one particular product.
PDPs should highlight more than just related products to encourage visitors to browse and shop. Inspire confidence and foster discovery by showing visitors why they need your product, why other customers have purchased the product and exploit raving reviews and feedback from real customers and influencers.
93% of consumers find UGC to be helpful when making a purchase decision.
In the image below you can see that Johnson’s Baby provides social proof to visitors who land on their PDPs. Three tactics they use:
- Instagram post relevant to the featured product to inspire confidence
- Personalized product recommendations to foster product discover
- Additional UGC to guide them through their journey if they’re not ready to make a purchase then and there
“We knew there was content available to help our visitors, but the challenge was how to get the right content in front of the right customer at the right time, without lots of manual resources and effort which was not economical “- Johnson’s Baby
3. PDPs are impersonal
Most brands understand the importance of personalization but struggle to deliver it at scale, across multiple journeys, pages and channels.
74% of customers feel frustrated when website content is not personalized.
Brands who not only integrate influencer, UGC or brand content into their PDPs but personalize this content to every visitor will encourage more shoppers to click buy now & check out with confidence
Enhance your PDPs with social proof and validation content
Use UGC to showcase real people using your product(s)
It’s no secret that UGC, whether in the form of video, image or even a written review, is increasingly becoming a valuable asset for brands, but it’s how you put this content to work that will set you apart from the competition. UGC exudes trust and authenticity because it’s content created by real people, with real opinions and experiences. Using content from real customers shows a real representation of the product either in their house, them wearing it, using it, or whatever it may be. It paints a picture, shows the product in use, shows the happy customer, provides the shopper with inspiration, may even evoke FOMO and ultimately encourages them to take the plunge to click ‘buy now’.
93% of consumers find UGC to be helpful when making a purchasing decision (Tintup)
So it’s a no-brainer to use the voice of your customers in PDPs.
Use influencer content more effectively in the buying journey
Influencer marketing is indeed a powerful and collaborative tool that several brands use to stay relevant and grow amidst the admitted chaos that exists in the current landscape. The industry is set to grow to 16.4 billion in 2022 up from 13.4 billion in 2021 with more than 75% of brand marketers intending to dedicate a budget to influencer marketing in 2022, according to Influencer Marketing Hub.
With such significant spending and importance placed on generating influencer content, the pain point for many brand’s is, most of this content is locked away on social media channels like Instagram, YouTube or TikTok, which means you are missing the opportunity to make influencer endorsements and recommendations work even harder, getting more bang for your buck. How? By moving this content out of channel-based silos and into key touchpoints such as PDPs
Use content from your brand to deepen the connection with shoppers
Though brand content is often deemed less trustworthy than UGC and influencer content, it can still serve you well. Yes, there’s still hope for your brand content yet and there are a couple of effective ways you can use this content to influence buying decisions.
When customers buy, they compare products more and more often based on ethics & sustainability. There is now a trend toward thinking about how each purchase impacts the global community and the plant (leading in context). Forget the content that is deemed untrustworthy and salesy. Focus on the content which shows your brand’s dedication and passion for issues bigger than the products you sell. Similarly, if your brand is aligned to a cause, don’t be afraid to share that as well, this helps to deepen the connection with your customers and builds trust.
60% of consumers want to know what brands are doing to limit their carbon footprint, emissions, water usage and damage to the earth.
Key takeaways
- Don’t ignore shoppers outside of the bottom of the funnel.
- Use social proof from customers and influencers.
- Big up your brand beyond the products you sell; have blogs on your sustainability practices, ethics, brand ethos? Include them in your PDPs.
- Personalize the content on PDPs to each shopper.
- Adopt a personalized & scalable approach by, leveraging technology to help you scale UGC, influencer & brand content across PDPs.
Integrate your UGC, influencer & brand content into high traffic pages such as PDPs
Whether you’re looking to increase direct sales from your eCommerce store or sales exits to eRetailers, it’s vital that your brand’s PDPs engage shoppers who are new to your brand or close to making a purchase. Don’t hide your most influential and inspirational content to social media or your blog, use it across key touchpoints including PDPs to encourage your shoppers to purchase with confidence.
Here are three tactics to transform your approach:
- Automate searching and tagging of all available relevant influencer, UGC, and brand content.
- Dynamically integrate content into PDPs based on each individual shopper in real-time.
- Build intelligence around each shopper and content asset to understand what motivates shoppers to convert – identifying what content drives sales.
Good news, Knexus does all of the above and more to help you reduce costs and resources, whilst successfully scaling UGC, influencer content, and brand content across all relevant areas of your site. Learn more.
