Is your product content directly affecting your sales? In my experience (and I have a lot of shopping experience), yes! When a consumer can’t go look at the product in the store, they must rely on what’s on the screen in front of them, and, if I’m being honest, as a consumer I’m often disappointed.
Product Content in Real Life
This week, it finally felt like spring at 55 degrees in Wisconsin, and I wanted to work on my patio. I realized I needed to replace my patio umbrella, so I jumped online to see which stores might have something in stock that I could pick up over lunch. After a bit of browsing at Ace (trying to shop local), I realized I didn’t know what size I needed or how to figure that out. Frustrated with their single image of the umbrella and unclear specs, I jumped over to Walmart and in seconds had the information I needed. They provided multiple images of the umbrella as well as sizing information to pick the correct umbrella based on your table size. I jumped in my car and headed to pick it up.
In this situation, product content made all the difference for a single purchase and will also drive future purchases for me. So, what should you and your brand do?
Product Data and Content Basics
Let’s start with the basics – what is product data and content and is there a difference?
Product data refers to the specific details and attributes of a product such as its SKU number, price, dimensions, weight, material, and other technical specifications. This information often comes from the ERP and is used in inventory management, logistics, and ecommerce systems.
Product content refers to the more descriptive and marketing-oriented information about a product such as its features, benefits, images, videos, and other multimedia assets. This type of information is usually presented to consumers in marketing materials, product descriptions, and product catalogs to help consumers make informed purchasing decisions.
Essentially, product data provides the technical information required to manage and sell a product, while product content provides the more expressive and persuasive information to promote and sell a product.
The Impact of Bad Product Content
The quality of product content significantly impacts online sales and enhances brand loyalty and can have an equally negative impact if it’s mismanaged or incomplete. Poor product content could lead to:
- Decreased engagement. Bad content can lead to less engagement from consumers in the form of fewer page views, social media shares and likes, and comments or interactions on your content.
- Damaged reputation. If your content is inaccurate, misleading, offensive, or poorly written, it can damage your reputation and credibility and lead to loss of trust from your audience, which can be difficult to regain.
- Reduced conversions. Bad content can also lead to reduced conversions, as potential customers may be less likely to trust your brand or make a purchase based on the quality of your content.
- Missed opportunities. Bad content can lead to missed opportunities. If your content is not up to par, you may miss out on opportunities to build relationships with customers, grow your audience, or achieve your marketing goals.
Ensuring that you have good product content to meet your business needs requires work across people, process, and technology. Understanding if your content is meeting your consumer needs and identifying the key areas for improvement can be overwhelming. Our Product Readiness offer makes it simple. We use our experience and assessment model to understand if your business outcomes and the quality of your product content is aligned.
