Content is King: The Basics of Attracting the Online Customer

November 16, 2012

If you've read my eBook A Marketplace of Ideas, you'll be familiar with the mantra that I talk about all the time; 'content is king.' (Don't worry; that was the only shameless self-promotion of the day, I promise.)

Businesses of all kinds in today's online-centric marketplace must focus on the quality of their content (images, product descriptions, blogs, customer feedback, articles, etc.) in order to be found by today's shoppers, because content is king when it comes attracting the online customer.

Don't believe me? Think about it this way: If you're like the majority of consumers these days, you're sofa shopping on your iPad or laptop while comfy at home. You'll type what you're looking for into Google, ‘brown leather sofa', and click on the photos that fit what you'd like to buy.

Now switch back to being the manufacturer trying to win that customer to your sofa. If your images are poor in quality (with low resolution, random objects cluttering the photo, and so on), the customer won't even bother clicking on the product - it doesn't represent what she wants to buy. Even more critical, if your product description doesn't include necessary keywords and phrases - in this case ‘brown', ‘leather', ‘sofa' and so on - your product won't even show up on the first few pages of search results. If she doesn't see what she's looking for in the first few pages of Google search results, she'll start her search over with new keywords.

In order to reach that customer, retailers and manufacturers need to recognize that a change in thinking is required. Your content (images, product descriptions, and messaging) should be tailored to attract the online consumer. The days of appealing to the catalog shopper are long gone.

Boost the online appeal of your products through the following:
1. Superior Imagery: Acquire photos of your products that are clean and clear about what you're selling. Use high-quality images with high resolution to avoid a foggy and unpolished look. Remove backgrounds or additional products in the main image - it's okay to have this ‘lifestyle' look for a secondary image featuring the product, but the primary image should only show the item itself, preferably on a clean white background.
2. Romanced Descriptions: So tell her something she doesn't already know. The image grabs her, but telling the story of a product, while also sharing important features (such as materials used and special touches like handcrafted construction) will bring a customer to fall in love with a product. If you can use keywords and adjectives to bring a product to life through the description, you attract customers to the item, guiding them to envision the piece in their own space.
3. Personalized Messaging: Your brand's story is nearly as important as the story behind each product. Today's online customer wants a relationship with whomever she chooses to do business. Become real and personal to your customers, so that when she tells her friends about your products, she'll want to tell your story, too!

For home décor retailers and manufacturers alike, the caliber of product images, the richness of product descriptions, and the ease of discovery of both for the home décor consumer are directly linked to sales growth. If you can make these changes to your content online, you'll reach your customers with a shopping experience that will bring them back, and inspire them to send their friends to you too!

Posted by Barry Abraham on November 16, 2012 | Comments (5)

Industries: Furniture Retailing

January 7, 2013

In response to: Content is King: The Basics of Attracting the Online Customer
Sangita commented:

ok look,the answer is very oouvbis- don't eat too much!!think about it- the countries where people don't stuff themselves with food, such as asia, the people are slim, and in perfect healthtoday, the society is all about foodwe're eating because the food tastes good, not because we're hungry!you see food ads on tv, magazines, everywhere!food is everywhere, you cannot go anywhere without being offered food!you need to learn to resist the temptations. back in the older days, you didn't eat everyday! you ate when you hunted and caught food!you would be perfectly fine not eating for a day, it's actually good for you because it cleanses out your body!! all that getting a minumum of at least 1500 calories a day is BS!! you can survive perfectly fine on just 500 calories consumed from HEALTHY food. Sure, you'll have an uncontrollable desire to eat, but trust me, you'll LIVE.and all this diet crap is aimed at overweight consumers. the media suggests that anorexia is bad, all these models are dying blablahblah..that's all just to make the normal obese american feel better!! i mean, how often do they show people dying from being overweight???there's really no need to eat junk food either. it's a waste of money, and all it does is make you fat!! think about it. twinkies and soda and chips don't fill you up, they just taste good, which makes you want to eat more!look at the skinny people nowadays. they don't constantly crave for icecream or stuff themselves with food whenever they see it.

January 4, 2013

In response to: Content is King: The Basics of Attracting the Online Customer
Tracen commented:

It's a joy to find smnoeoe who can think like that

November 19, 2012

In response to: Content is King: The Basics of Attracting the Online Customer
Mike Root commented:

Your comments on content being the defining difference are spot on. When consumers find the same offerings from multiple retailers you need to give them a reason to choose you over the lowest price guy in Timbuktu. Having a relationship for the customer through better copy, stories and pictures can be a defining difference online.

November 16, 2012

In response to: Content is King: The Basics of Attracting the Online Customer
Jeff commented:

It's pretty commonly known that people don't shop with catalogs anymore - they use the Internet. Sure, Ikea and the others you mentioned are still printing catalogs, but I would bet that their phones are barely ringing, because people who see things in their catalogs will just go online to buy it. My bet is, catalogs are a huge cost without much return for these places, and they're wasting their money.

November 16, 2012

In response to: Content is King: The Basics of Attracting the Online Customer
jon commented:

if the days of the catalog shopper are long gone, why do top retailers such as ikea, pottery barn, west elm, crate and barrel and restoration hardware continue to circulate catalogs?