Finally, a better shopping experience is coming to Instagram.
Instagram recently announced that it’ll integrate a feature allowing customers to shop products directly from a brand’s Instagram feed. This move is revolutionary. It’ll help solve one of the biggest Instagram questions for eCommerce businesses – how can I get ROI and sales from the items I post on Instagram?
Instagram has changed the entire ball field for marketing. If your business isn’t using Instagram, you’re missing out a big audience. When it comes to Instagram, marketing and eCommerce, everyone recommends using Instagram as the number one platform. Instagram not only drives sales, but also serves to build an audience and engage with your customers. Why? Instagram has over 400 million daily active users and has the highest engagement rate out of all the existing social media platforms.
According to an Instagram study, “60% of [the users] say they learn about products and services on the app, while 75% say they take actions like visiting sites, searching or telling a friend after being influenced by a post.”
Instagram is proven to be a phenomenal platform for discovering new products and brands, but things get a little tricky if you wanted to purchase a product directly.
As of right now, converting a follower into a paying customer on Instagram is quite challenging. This is particularly due to the limitation of links — you are only allowed to have one on your profile. If a customer is interested in an item posted on your Instagram feed, he or she has to then go to your website and search for it. Hopefully, the customer knows the product name to easily find the item, but that shopping process in itself is anti-intuitive and inconvenient.
Good news is Instagram is improving its in-app shopping experience soon.
The company plans to have Instagram shopping built right into the app. Once the brands post a picture on Instagram, they can tag up to 5 product items per post. Each tag will display the product’s name and price. When you click on the tagged item, it’ll open the product description displaying size, color, fabric, etc, with an option to add the item to your cart and checkout. This entire process will stay within the Instagram app, which creates a seamless checkout experience for buyers. Some brands, like Kate Spade and Warby Parker, are already testing Instagram’s new shopping feature. We can expect to see more brands capitalizing on this new sales channel as soon as Instagram rolls out the feature officially.
There are a few current Instagram shopping plugins we recommend to our clients in the meantime. These Instagram shopping tools are directly embedded into the app itself and essentially make it easier for customers to make a purchase. Yotpo designed a popular Instagram widget that provides a “shoppable link” on your Instagram profile. When a customer wishes to purchase an item shown on your feed, he or she can click the link to find your products in a shoppable Instagram web page. It’ll provide the customer an option to “buy now” and take care of the checkout for you.
Foursixty is another great Instagram shopping plugin. It turns your Instagram content into a shoppable gallery within your store’s website, with other awesome features to schedule your posts and showcase your user-generated content.
Instagram shopping is the future of mobile eCommerce. If you’re not already on Instagram, you’re missing out on a great sales opportunity.
Have any questions about Instagram shopping? Feel free to leave us a message here.
