Social media tips: How Twitter marketing can turn browsers into buyers

How can marketers go beyond engagements and ensure social media fans go on to make a purchase? New research from Crimson Hexagon and Millward Brown sheds light on Twitter’s role in the retail path to purchase.

From ordering home goods to splurging on spring fashion, shopping is a favorite pastime of Twitter users. To help retailers understand how people navigate the purchase process and what drives them to buy, we recently conducted studies with Millward Brown* and Crimson Hexagon.

The insights we gained can help you maximize sales by sending Twitter shoppers the right message at the right moment.

Twitter users are big retail shoppers

Twitter users’ shopping habits make them a valuable audience for retailers. According to a Millward Brown survey of women on Twitter who had recently purchased household staples, Twitter users have bigger budgets and buy more often than non-users.

Users reported they planned to spend 21.7% more than non-users over the next six months, and said they had made nearly twice as many purchases in the past month. And many of these purchases were made online — on average, Twitter users shopped online 6.9 times a month, while non-users shopped online just 4.3 times a month.

Shoppers turn to Twitter throughout the purchase cycle

Whether they’re learning about a new product or on the brink of buying, shoppers rely on Twitter for information and advice. Nearly half (49%) of female Twitter shoppers say Twitter content has influenced their purchase decisions, which makes the platform prime real estate for brands.

These shoppers on Twitter are also engaged: they’re 160% more likely to stay up-to-date on brand news and promotions, 120% more likely to search for deals and sales and 240% more likely to converse with a brand than retail shoppers on the average social network.

Shoppers use Twitter differently for different retail categories.

As marketers know, shoppers hunting for home improvement products navigate the purchase process differently than those in the market for consumer electronics. Understanding these differences can enable retailers to fine-tune their marketing messaging. Twitter partnered with Crimson Hexagon to delineate them.

While users turn to Twitter at every stage of purchase for every retail category, the share of conversation for each stage can vary. For instance, 51% of apparel-related Twitter retail conversations indicated users were in the “awareness” phase – but this was true for just 8% of grocery/pharmacy conversations.

The Twitter purchase funnel for retail categories can be viewed here:

Twitter conversation reveals what drives retail shoppers to buy

After analyzing share of conversation at each stage of the purchase process for each retail category, Twitter took a closer look at the content of these conversations to learn what ultimately motivates retail shoppers to buy.

Purchase motivation also varies by retail category. For example, when in the purchase intent mindset, consumer electronics shoppers talked most about advertisements; apparel shoppers Tweeted most about price; and grocery/pharmacy shoppers buzzed most about recommendations.

To help apply this data to a marketing strategy, Twitter has identified the “purchase funnel hot spot” and “top sales driver” for each retail category. The “hot spot” is the area of the purchase funnel where a high proportion of Twitter conversation happens relative to other retail categories.

For example, 25% of the Twitter conversation around big box retail was related to brand or product evaluation — this was higher than for any other retail category. The “top sales driver” explains what is driving the most purchase-related conversation in each category. For big box, this was customer service. These insights reveal areas of opportunity for brands in each retail category to help deliver consumers the right content at the right time.

1. Big box retail

Purchase funnel hot spot: Evaluation

Top sales driver: Customer service

Recommendation: To maintain or grow your market share, make sure your customer support is competitive. In the Tweet below, @WalmartHub links to a heartwarming story about an employee who goes above and beyond for her customers.

2. Consumer electronics

Purchase funnel hot spot: Post-purchase chatter

Top sales driver: Advertisements

Recommendation: Create incentives for people to Tweet about their purchases and release buzz-worthy advertisements. Here, @hhgregg Tweeted a Gallery Card of four Valentine’s Day e-cards featuring their products. Users who Retweeted one of the images earned a chance to win a $100 gift card.

3. Apparel

Purchase funnel hot spot: Purchase intent

Top sales driver: Price

Recommendation: Use engaging Promoted Tweets with images to promote deals and sales and drive traffic to your online store. In this instance, @Gap encourages users to visit its website by offering them a 40% discount.

4. Home improvement

Purchase funnel hot spot: Conversion

Top sales driver: Seeking suggestions

Recommendation: Use visually engaging Tweet formats to distribute branded home improvement how-tos, and include links to product pages where users can easily convert to purchase within a click or two. Here, @HomeDepot uses an image to alert its audience to a new trend, and directs them to a page where they can buy the materials necessary to pull it off.

5. Grocery/pharmacy

Purchase funnel hot spot: Interest/consideration

Top sales driver: Recommendations

Recommendation: Share product recommendations that align with trends and meet the needs of your customers. Knowing that many people would be interested in having a special dinner on Valentine’s Day, @Safeway used this Tweet to share an idea for a romantic meal.