FanFinders’ CCO and co-founder Adam Gillett discusses why valuable content matters in the buyer journey
Last month, we added The Best for Baby to the FanFinders’ network, which includes Your Baby Club in the UK and US, giving our millions of members the opportunity to see reviews on the latest brands and individual products, as well as the chance to leave their own ratings.
So, why have we brought this base of over 200,000 reviews on the latest brand product together with our exclusive offers, competitions and expert content? Well, firstly, it’s because reviews matter to parents.
Our recent poll had over 3,500 responses, providing some key insights into how much ratings and reviews impact buyer behaviour in the baby market and, crucially, whose opinion mums care about most.
We found that nearly a quarter of mums (24%) had left a review on a baby product and that 50% trust recommendations from other mums most. 68% also said they would trust a product recommendation over how many awards it has.
Do reviews drive sales, then? Not always directly, but they can certainly tip the scales in either direction. 97% of those polled said they would trust reviews coming from other parents and 83% said they would stop buying a product based on negative reviews.
We also found that the product categories where mums rely on reviews most to help with their purchases are baby electronics (monitors, pumps, etc), car seats, pushchairs/travel systems and cots.
Thinking bigger picture
The reality is that mums trust the content and opinions of other mums most (including when that is verified by what our own reviews have to say), and that fits into one of our key ambitions as a business: building a community with consumer trust.
Our exciting technology roadmap; which includes creating hyper-personalised experiences for our members, and the aim to share quality content, resources and functionality to support them during their pregnancy journey and beyond, all fits into this ambition.
Why does ‘community’ matter so much to us? Well, it’s all about intent.
Both here and in the US you’ll find content labelled as affiliate or sponsored which essentially has been written purely with sales in mind. I’ve long been critical of content that either adds no value or has no lifetime.
It’s short term thinking to produce content with drives clicks based on the hype; because when you actually sit down and look at the quality of the traffic you get from that, it doesn’t influence. What we’re focused on instead is what can drive both intent and important value for both parents and brands.
Where this links to reviews is that with more and more baby items coming into the market today, parents are having to make more decisions about what is ‘essential’ for their family and our role is to provide them with more information on those products.
The intent behind a review is that parents are reading them and making buying decisions. So from a publisher perspective, that’s valuable content. This is also the story with life-stage content, another core part of our strategy, which is valuable because members are learning and being supported on their journey.
Creating traffic with intent
It’s commonly understood that people searching for discount codes have already made their buying decision, so it’s only then about what is driving the sale.
Sure, discount codes can be valuable if you want the edge over a competitor or you might get someone buying from a different retailer, but the reality is the intent is already there to purchase.
People don’t search for discount codes because they want a product next week, they’re searching because they’re looking for the cheapest way to get the product they have already decided to buy.
This is a similar story to parents who are looking for reviews. They may not have decided exactly which model they want, but they’ve decided that they want a car seat, a pram or specific things for their nursery.
It’s about traffic with the right intent: people wanting to educate themselves on products. To do that they’re looking for trusted and credible reviews from other parents within a community, and that’s what can really drive sales.
FanFinders is a performance marketing and consumer insight company that connects brands with parents who want what they have to offer via Your Baby Club. See their latest insights into the baby market at fanfinders.com/insights.
Article Source: Nursery Today July 2021 Issue
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