How Enhanced Content Can Drive Higher Holiday Conversions

With the threat of winter sparking more coronavirus spread, many consumers will be staying at home and shopping online for their holiday gifts this year. In fact, it’s already reported that e-commerce sales have surged more than 30 percent in 2020. While this is promising for the retail industry as a whole, it's also a challenge for online retailers because there’s more competition.

With an increase in online shopping, how do retailers and brands ensure actual conversions? In today’s world of information-at-your-fingertips, both retailers and brands have the chance to go much deeper, pulling a shopper in and engaging them with details beyond a product’s label to reinforce an item’s uses and benefits. And that’s where enhanced content comes in.

Enhanced content is where products move from simple descriptions to telling a story, creating ways to engage with consumers. From interactive images to demonstration videos, it’s what helps to keep customers on the page longer, learn more, and make more emotional connections to a product. Adding enhanced content to a product detail page creates a richer, more engaging shopper experience and improves brand trust, which can in turn increase conversions. In fact, we found that product detail pages with enhanced content drive 12 percent to 36 percent more shopper conversions than those without.

If a shopper took the time to visit a product page on your website, they're interested — or at least curious. Now it’s your opportunity to keep them there. As more consumers shop online this holiday season, not only will they expect convenience, but they’ll also want transparency and expect to find any information they need about a product immediately. The environment you create for them can lead to a sale ... or for them to look elsewhere. To simply list out product features and benefits misses out on the opportunity to deliver engaging product detail pages.

For those that are looking to enhance their content experience this holiday season, here are some best practices you can use to get started.

Video Content

Instructional or demo videos are a great way to deliver product benefits quickly and easily. Think about the problem your shopper is trying to solve: How does a particular product fit that need and do it better than others? Check out this example from OREO. Consider uploading lifestyle videos or instructional videos for DIY-type items. Leave off long branding or logo intros on your videos and get straight to the value proposition. A series of short videos ranging between 15 seconds and 60 seconds that convey a key value proposition are best. However, if you do have longer videos showcasing multiple key features, consider trimming them and using snippets instead.

Photo Galleries

Photo galleries are another great way to provide an in-store experience online. However, don’t just upload any picture from your phone. Not only is it important to upload hi-res images that are at least 300 pixels by 300 pixels, but it’s also important to keep photo backgrounds consistent (e.g., choosing all lifestyle images or all white backgrounds). Pampers is a great example.

360-Degree Views

By viewing items online from multiple angles, otherwise known as a 360-degree spin, shoppers can get a “feel” for a product. For example, 360-degree views are especially useful for big-ticket items such as electronics, exercise equipment, jewelry and home improvement tools (check out this example from Keurig). Having at least 20 (or more) images are optimal for a full 360-degree view.

Product Documents

Shoppers rely on vital information before making a final purchase decision. Product documents, such as Kohler’s installation and dimension guides, that provide full-scale immersion into a product can reduce returns by providing customers with a sense of the effort involved.

Interactive visuals — like these from Google Nest — are more engaging than straight text, and can provide valuable product information. Use copy to complement the images in your photo gallery and complete the product tour.

Once you’ve assembled and uploaded your enhanced content, it’s important to pay close attention to your content’s performance metrics (e.g., time spent on your product page, content interactions, a product’s add-to-cart rate). Experiment by regularly testing different types of photos, videos and other content to see what resonates most with your customers.

With today’s increased e-commerce activity, retailers and brands can drive greater shopper loyalty and engagement, all while increasing conversions, by delivering a consistent, seamless digital product experience. By understanding the different types of enhanced content and how it makes it easier for shoppers to find the information they need, both brands and retailers can make the most of their product detail pages this holiday season.

Patrick Niersbach is senior vice president of marketing at Syndigo, a product content management and syndication platform that gives brands and retailers a consistent presence across the retail ecosystem.