Use social media to reduce returns

Consumers are using social media to help them make purchase decisions.  An infographic by Invesp provides key details including that:

• 4 in 10 social media users have purchased an item online or in-store after sharing it or marking it as a  favorite on Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest.
• 50% of those purchases take place within a week; 80% take place within 3 weeks.
• 71% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase based on social media referrals.
• Twitter is the most influential for tech purchases, and the least influential for gardening and decor.
• The top 2 ways Twitter helps solidify purchase decisions are: purchase location identification and product discovery.

A Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) study found similar results.  CEA found that 24 percent of consumers who use social media say that they always or almost always refer to social media websites before they make a consumer electronics purchase.  For high engagement users (13.5 or more hours per week) this increases to 65 percent.

Here’s how companies can use this information to reduce returns.

Inform

Use social media to give consumers the basic facts about your company and your product.

Educate

Use social media to educate consumers about your product.  Specifically, social media can be used to educate the consumer about how the product can be used, the benefits that can be realized by the use of the product, and the ROI of the product.

Engage

Use social media to engage with consumers.

If a consumer is considering the product, use social media to answer questions the consumer has, or to address concerns.  Similarly, if the customer has already purchased your product, you can use social media to answer questions the consumer has, or to address concerns.

Through the use of social media you can enable consumers to make more informed purchase decisions.  Additionally, you can use social media to answer questions and better educate consumers on how to use your product thereby reduce no fault found returns.

This was originally published on Electronics Purchasing Strategies.