We audited 125 home & furniture sites. Find out what is slowing down their conversion rate.
LEARN MOREThere can be no better time than 2021 to invest in an online furniture store. In the aftermath of the Coronavirus pandemic, the shift to online shopping has sped up by 5 years as more consumers started to shop online due to physical distancing and safety reasons. The shift was already underway but the pandemic accelerated the speed by easing more consumers into the world of digital commerce and online furniture stores are no different. As we all know, people are now spending more time inside their homes; in the past year, millions of WFH offices have been set up and most living rooms across the globe have been revamped with the help of online furniture stores. In fact, home and garden is one of the three eCommerce categories that have shown the most significant growth during this period.
As a result, the demand for furniture in the eCommerce industry has risen considerably and thus, furniture retailers need to ace their marketing game and create a place for themselves amongst the increasing number of competitors. Creating an online marketing plan and understanding your target market is the first step of establishing an online presence. What comes next is the formulation of effective strategies that can catch consumers’ attention and bring them to your online furniture store
Choose Social Media Marketing for Your Online Furniture Store
In recent times, social media has emerged as an accessible platform where potential consumers interact and discover products they could use in their lives. As per a research conducted by Deloitte, consumers who use social media during their shopping process are likely to spend 4X more than non-social media users. It plays a major role in their decision-making and selection process.
Especially for products such as furniture and home decor, consumers tend to get more influenced by what they see during their routine social media scroll. As per a study, social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest are a major influence when it comes to home decor and furnishing. Thus, it becomes important that an online furniture store leverages social media for their benefit.
Social media marketing looks simple on the surface but it requires creativity and spontaneous ideation to grab consumer’s attention through it. We have compiled a few tips that can help you up your social media game and enhance the conversion rate of your online furniture store –
So, without further ado, let’s get started –
Say hello to social media influencers
What is your first reaction when an ad comes before a YouTube video? You skip it, right? In fact, you’re not alone; nearly 65% of people tend to do the same. They are no longer interested in a brand asking them to buy their products. They would rather trust a recommendation or a review by a person of authority they follow and admire. And this is where influencers come in.
Since the time social media became an important tool of marketing, brands have started to allocate a sizable budget to work with influencers. Major online furniture retailers in the UK like MADE and Dunelm also frequently collaborate with influencers to reach the consumers in their niche.
Source – https://www.instagram.com/madedotcom/
However, influencer marketing is not just limited to bigger brands and established influencers. In recent times, micro-influencers with a following of 3-100k followers have also emerged as strong brand advocates. They regularly engage with their audience and have a loyal fan following which considers them more relatable than celebrity-like mega influencers. In a campaign run by a coffee brand, it was noted that micro-influencers achieved a whopping engagement rate of 45% as compared to 10% delivered by bigger influencers. At the end of the day, influencer marketing is all about getting the right engagement and a growing business can definitely benefit from the reach of micro-influencers.
So, if you’re a growing online furniture store looking to establish your identity amongst home decor and furnishing enthusiasts, influencer marketing should be on top of your marketing campaign list.
Pro tip: Start your influencer marketing campaign journey with a quick search on Instagram with hashtags like #homedecor #decor and make a list of all major influencers.
Create Visual Experiences
Social media is much more than just posting pictures and details of products. It lets you play with creativity and put your products in the spotlight by creating visual experiences. Gone are the days of product catalogs and animated pictures, it is time to get real with beautiful arrangements and live visuals.
Here’s a glimpse from IKEA UK’s feed that helps a user visualize how they could use their furniture in their homes.
Source – https://www.instagram.com/ikeauk/
But, this is not it. There are so many options in social media that you can explore to provide your audience with an interesting experience. From posting DIY tutorials and decor inspiration to managing a lively Pinterest board, an online furniture store can easily use imagery to inspire and allure customers via social media.
Pro tip: Dedicate a small space of your workplace for your product shoots which could be turned into a living room, a bedroom or a dining room as per the requirement for your social media feed.
Let the customers tell their story
There’s no denying the fact that your consumers are your best advertisement. In a survey conducted with 1590 consumers and 150 B2C marketers in the US, UK and Australia, 79% of the consumers said that user-generated content impacts their purchasing decision and brings more authenticity to a brand. From testimonials to product reviews, every piece of content that shows your furniture being used in the day-to-day life of a consumer can become a huge selling point for your business.
One of the most effective ways to become a part of your customer’s stories is by assisting them. With features like Instagram stories, you can conduct online Q&A sessions and offer tips related to furniture and decor. You can even take a leap and include customers in a campaign just like Ikea. They started a social media campaign wherein they helped customers design their small spaces in a way that they looked more spacious and airy – in return, they got multiple customer stories and the validation that their brand helps solve everyday problems.
Another method to ensure that your customers remain interested in your brand is by keeping in touch with them through social media. Make sure that you provide prompt responses to their comments and queries and take no time in acknowledging any appreciation they send your way. In this digital age, you need to stay in touch to stay in mind and that is why we have social media to the rescue.
Create an engaging and responsive eCommerce website
The entire purpose of a social media strategy is to drive traffic to your eCommerce website. Without a user-friendly website, the entire campaign will fall flat! In fact, a good website is often a better sales strategy than most others.
Now, there are many factors involved when it comes to designing a website that is successful in reaching out to your prospective customers amongst the growing competition and then, keeps them engaged.
One of the most important factors that you should never overlook is the responsiveness of the eCommerce website across all devices. It not only improves the user experience but also makes your website SEO-friendly.
Speaking of SEO-enriched eCommerce portals, there’s one aspect that often gets overlooked – site speed. Did you know that you only have 5 seconds to engage a customer and 1 in 4 visitors abandon a site if it takes more than 4 seconds to load?
Moreover, Google has time and again emphasized that site or page speed plays a major role in judging website performance and ranking a website on the search engine.
All of these factors suggest that ensuring good speed on your eCommerce website should be your priority in 2021.
Besides this, you must ensure that your eCommerce website is built from a user’s perspective. Simplify the customer journey and ease product discovery with clean designs and clear navigation. The user experience should be in focus while you design your online furniture store.
Finally, let your furniture take the lead
The key player in your entire plan would always be the products that you offer. Let your furniture do the talking and take centre stage in your social media plan. Inspire prospective buyers with your products, engage with them and let the world of social media take your furniture store to the next level!
