Social Media Study Says Retailers Should Focus on Search and Email

By emeadows
September 27, 2012

According to a new study from Forrester, e-commerce businesses should consider focusing less on social media. Fewer than one percent of 77,000 online transactions could be traced back to popular social media networks like Facebook and Pinterest.
“E-commerce websites still convert more highly than any other channel, accounting for 30 percent of transactions. Thus it’s smart for retailers to promote their domain names as much as possible,” writes Mashable.
After direct visits, organic search and paid search are the two largest drivers of new customer purchases, accounting for 39 percent of such transactions.
The Web is still a useful tool for “spear fishers” — people who know exactly what they want and search for that item alone. “For repeat shoppers, e-mail is the most effective sales influencer: Nearly a third of purchases from repeat customers initiated with an e-mail,” explains the post.
“Social media’s potential as a shopping portal has yet to be realized,” suggests Mashable. “Less than 1 percent of transactions from both new and repeat shoppers could be linked to social networks, Forrester found.”
“The researcher believes social media can still be a powerful marketing tool, and that social media’s influence on purchase behavior likely can’t be measured in the 30-day attribution window the report examined.” It’s worth noting that small businesses, not included in the study, may have better results with social media as a sales driver.

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