Online retail is projected to earn over $4 trillion in 2020. Even in the shadow of a pandemic, businesses that sell online stand to make plenty of sales as shoppers quarantine from home.
But what if you can’t afford to sell your products online?
Or what if you need another, more ROI-friendly avenue to sell to your customers?
No matter which side of the coin you’re on, Facebook has rolled out a great, affordable feature that can solve your brand’s eCommerce woes.
In mid-May, Facebook rolled out its new Facebook Shop feature. This allows you to add a Shop section to any existing Facebook page, allowing customers to shop directly on Facebook without even clicking through to your site. The goal was to help small businesses sell more of their products online.
Let’s break down how Facebook Shop works and how your business can get even more sales with this innovative upgrade.
What is Facebook Shop?
Facebook rolled out its Shop feature to help businesses pivot to online selling during COVID-19. All you need is an existing Facebook page and inventory to start selling.
Facebook adds a Shop tab to your page, where you can manage everything from checkouts to shipping to orders natively within Facebook. Best of all, it’s free! You just pay Stripe’s payment processor fees.
Facebook Shop includes features like:
- Product listings.
- Customizable look and feel.
- Advanced features like tax personalization.
- DM your customers through WhatsApp, Messenger, or Instagram DMs.
We like Facebook Shop because it’s integrated with social media. It’s incredibly easy for customers to chat about your products with their network, giving you a bigger platform to promote your business. Facebook also gives you more power to engage in authentic conversations with customers while they shop.
With more storefronts closing their doors, Facebook Shop gives you a new, affordable avenue to reach customers when they’re ready to buy. This experience can decrease the friction caused by customers clicking through to your site to purchase, boosting revenue.
Upcoming Facebook Shop features
Facebook Shop is a new add-on for Facebook pages, with many features still in development or beta. Here are just a few developments you can expect over the coming months:
- Live shopping: Live stream about your products and tag them from your catalog. They’ll display below the video, where customers can shop your store.
- Loyalty programs: Facebook is currently testing reward apps to encourage regular purchases.
- DM shopping: Message your customers and allow them to purchase products directly from the direct message.
As great as Facebook Shop is today, it will only continue getting smarter and better over time. If you sell physical products, set up your Facebook Shop to boost the bottom line.
3 tips to make the most of your Facebook Shop
So, you’ve set up your Facebook Shop. Now what?
Optimize your Shop to rake in even more eCommerce sales. Follow these 3 tips to overhaul your Facebook eCommerce presence.
1.Run ads
Now that you can sell directly from your Facebook page, page traffic is incredibly important. The easiest way to quickly drive traffic to your page is to run Facebook Ads.
However, you need to run effective ads to get results. You can create posts just for promotion or boost your highest-performing organic posts.
What’s great about running ads for Facebook Shops is you can now see the entire customer journey in one place. It’s easier to track where conversions are happening—making attribution a reality for even the smallest business.
2. Create awesome content
Ads are great, but you can’t beat high-quality organic content. Invest in great Facebook content to bring more followers to your shop. That includes:
- Sharing high-quality, real-world images of your products in use.
- Filming behind-the-scenes videos and sharing them exclusively on Facebook.
- Going live with helpful tips or exclusive interviews.
- Hosting contests or quizzes.
- Partnering with influencers and brand ambassadors to spread your brand on Facebook.
The goal is to really engage with your followers. Don’t be anonymous: start real conversations. That’s the key to building relationships that boost sales for the long term.
3. Offer impeccable service
How do you treat customers after they make a purchase? The first rule of selling product is that you have to give all customers a spot-on experience.
Facebook Shops makes it easy to DM customers with questions and to address any customer service issues. Make sure you’re replying quickly to customer orders, offering no-hassle returns, and being professional and polite.
You can spend a ton of money and time promoting your page, but if the service isn’t up to par, your customers will quickly (and rightfully) turn against you.
The Bottom Line
Facebook Shops is designed to help small businesses through the pandemic. It’s a great feature if you’re switching to eCommerce on a budget. But it’s also a great feature for businesses that already have an eCommerce site. Shops gives you the power to reduce friction during the buying process, seeing higher conversion rates and more purchases.
But Facebook Shop is a new feature, after all. If you’re not sure where to turn right now, rely on Logical Media Group’s experienced team of social media and eCommerce pros. Get a no-hassle quote right now for your business.
