Changes to Instagram Shops by Meta mean that you can no longer send traffic to your site from your product catalog. Equally you may have be using Instagram Shops and are frustrated with lackluster performance despite the platform's massive user base.

In this article we explore the options and what to do now.

You probably had a notification from Meta stating that “starting from 24 Apr 2024, we will only continue supporting Facebook and Instagram shops with checkout enabled.”

In practice this means that you will be forced to use Instagram and Facebook’s native checkout if you want to tag products in posts. This means selling on Meta’s platform, rather than directing traffic to your ecommerce site.

So the most important question is should you now enable Instagram checkout and sell on that channel? The chances are that you’ve already tried it and may have been disappointed because despite the opportunity to reach customers of all ages and interests, many businesses struggle to achieve satisfactory conversion rates from their Instagram shops.

But fear not! There are strategies you can implement to turn the tide and capitalize on this lucrative platform.

There are other more strategic issues as well – should you be selling on third party channels or directing all traffic to your website?

In this article, we'll delve first into selling on Instagram, the root causes of low conversion rates, and offer practical advice to help you unlock the full potential of Instagram shopping. Get ready to unleash the full potential of Instagram shopping and social commerce, and skyrocket your sales like never before!

In the second part we’ll look at the alternative – how to send traffic to your own ecommerce site and really make that fly – and in doing so own the relationship with your customer. That’s important because it gives you the ability to market to these customers using email and other channels to drive repeat sales. If you’re focused on brand profitability and Customer Acquisition Costs then this should be high up your priority list.

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What is Instagram Shop and why are brands using it for social commerce?  

Instagram shopping is an exciting new feature that allows businesses to sell products directly to their followers through their Instagram profiles. 

Instagram shopping allows businesses to sell products directly to their followers through their Instagram profiles.

With an Instagram Shop, you can create a shop that showcases your products, making it easy for customers to browse and buy without leaving the app. Customers can explore your catalog, view product details, and complete their purchases, all within the Instagram app.

Setting up an Instagram shop has numerous benefits for businesses, including increased brand visibility, improved customer engagement, and higher sales conversions. Here are 4 key benefits of using Instagram shopping for social commerce:

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1. Reach a wide demographic of customers

With Instagram shopping, businesses can reach their target audience more effectively. Instagram's vast user base spans across all age groups and demographics, making it easier for businesses to reach their ideal customers and get started with social commerce.

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2. Easily get your products discovered

Instagram shopping makes it easy for businesses to showcase their products and highlight their unique features. By creating a seamless shopping experience for customers, businesses can drive more sales and increase their revenue.

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3. Tap into the power of photos and videos

Instagram is a highly visual platform, and businesses can leverage this to create an immersive shopping experience for their customers. By using high-quality photos and videos, businesses can showcase their products in action and make them more appealing to potential buyers. With the ability to tag products in posts and stories, you can create shoppable content that encourages customers to make a purchase.

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4. Create an engaging shopping experience

Instagram has become a popular destination for people who love to shop, and by using Instagram shopping, businesses can tap into this market. By creating an engaging shopping experience on Instagram, businesses can build brand loyalty and connect with customers who are passionate about their products. Moreover, Instagram's built-in analytics provide valuable insights into your customers' shopping behavior, allowing you to optimize your strategy and tailor your products to their needs.

While businesses are swiftly setting shop on Instagram, a lot of them are unable to fully reap the benefits of Instagram shopping. Many struggle to meet the eligibility criteria, while others find it challenging to create an effective strategy that drives sales. But with the right approach and some expert guidance, you can take advantage of this powerful tool to grow your business and connect with your audience like never before.

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Why is Instagram shopping broken and not working for businesses? 

Instagram shopping has been touted as the next big thing for businesses looking to sell their products online, but why isn't it working for many of them? Here are some reasons:

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Instagram shopping has been touted as the next big thing for businesses looking to sell their products online, but why isn't it working for many of them and why have many brands pulled back from selling on the platform? Here are some reasons:

1. No customer relationship

When selling through an Instagram Shop, you're selling through a channel (like selling on Amazon) and therefore Meta has the customer relationship, not you. This is important because profitability in ecommerce typically comes from repeat sales not initial ones. It’s very hard to turn a profit on a first sale to a new customer (called First order profit) because the Customer Acquisition Costs outweigh the margin of the first sale. Profit can be driven from emailing existing customers to stimulate follow on sales, which is much cheaper than paying for advertising.  

2. Inability to see all product info

Another major issue with Instagram Shopping is that users are unable to see all of the product information they need. To gather more information around the product, consumers need to click through to the brand website and find the product page.

This can be a significant disadvantage for businesses as customers may not be fully informed about the product they are interested in while on Instagram, which can lead to a decrease in conversion rates by the time they do decide to reach your website.

3. Not all content formats are shoppable

While Instagram shopping is available on many types of content, such as posts and stories, Reels are still not shoppable. This is problematic because many people watch Reels more than other types of content, and what they see in Reels often influences their purchases.

4. Attracts Impulse buyers

We’re conducted quite a lot of research on impulse buying and its not necessarily a good thing for customers or brands. Instagram Shops makes it very easy to buy at the point of first discovery, but our research shows that 52% of customers go on to regret these purchases, leading to higher returns and customer dissatisfaction. This is not a great way to start a relationship with new customers!

For more details on our impulse purchase research check out this blog https://www.simplicitydx.com/blogs/impulse-buying-in-social-commerce-fact-or-fiction

5. Only targets 1% of shoppers

Only a tiny percentage of shoppers will buy in the first session, typically less than 1% (for new customers its closer to 0.25%).

When someone clicks on an item in your Instagram shop, they either buy it or leave. There is no way to encourage them to explore other products or categories or learn about your brand.  Remember that 99% of customers that click through an ad don’t buy, and most will take a sequence of visits to your website over time before getting comfortable with your brand and the specific offer before  buying.

6. Loss of context

When it comes to Instagram shopping, one major issue is the loss of context.

What does this mean? Well, let's say you're scrolling through your Instagram feed and come across a beautiful table setting featuring a stunning tablecloth. You click on the "Shop" button and are taken to the product page for that tablecloth. However, instead of seeing the same image of the table setting, you're greeted with a plain, uninspiring product shot.

This disconnect can make it difficult for customers to fully connect with the product and may lead to increased drop-offs. Equally your shopper may have been more interested in the table itself, or the wine glasses not the tablecloth.

This loss of context means that once a customer clicks on a product and lands in the Instagram Shop, they are given the option to either purchase or leave the shop. There is no encouragement to explore related products, which could potentially lead to more sales.

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Also read: Social commerce revenue is underreported by 245% (study)

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Directing traffic to your own ecommerce site using a campaign microsite.

Now that you know what is broken about Instagram shops for social commerce, let’s take a look at why we think campaign microsites are the future:

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1. They are more detailed and relevant than a PDP

A campaign microsite is a complete microsite designed specifically for the traffic from one campaign. Unlike a Product Detail Page or Landing Page which can easily become a dead end, they cater for multiple intent and interests and different levels of customer engagement. A brand new shopper will want to explore and get comfortable with your brand. A returning visitor may want to explore other categories or dig deeper into specific products. A returning customer may be ready to buy.

Each of these groups are into social traffic – campaign microsites make it easy to buy and easy to explore catering for all of the traffic. And shoppers can also have different interests as well from what you are promoting: Imagine a post showing the model wearing a jeans and a t-shirt, with only the jeans linked to. Now what if the consumer was actually looking at the belt worn that we even forgot mentioning when promoting this piece of content?

A campaign microsite uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to identify the key elements of an Instagram post. This lets you display all the elements - jeans, t-shirt and the belt, on the page they land on, instantly being able to capture multiple intent and interests.

2. They can make any format shoppable

Campaign Microsites tie social media to commerce, extending your content onto a branded site that online shoppers can make purchases from. This means you can increase relevance by converting any Instagram content format - post, carousel, video, reel, into a shoppable post. SimplicityDX pulls the content onto the page to create contextual landing for online shoppers. This also helps reassure buyers in moments of doubt like ‘is this the same product I saw on social media?’

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3. Mirror the campaign

The number one reason why shoppers bounce when clicking through form social is because they cannot find what was featured on social or the product looks different. Its basic stuff, right? But this is frequently done really badly leading to high bounce rates and low conversions rates. As a consequence a campaign microsite is designed to mirror the campaign creative (reassure your shoppers they’re in the right place) and make it easy to find ALL of the products featured in the post or ad. Then the next goal is to encourage them to explore further and learn more about your brand and products. Just like a website, but tailored to your campaign.

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4. Shoppers prefer to buy directly from you.

Our studies have shown that despite wanting to explore new brands on social media platforms like Instagram, consumers still want to make purchases from brand websites. Almost three quarters of shoppers prefer to buy from brands and retailers directly over shopping on the social platform. Savvy consumers what that branded experience, are wary about scams on social and seek an authentic and direct brand relationship.

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The future of Instagram Shops

Instagram is the best social platform currently to drive ecommerce sales (yes, even over TikTok based on where consumers say they prefer to discover products). While Meta is focused on making shopping faster by offering Shop-in-ad and Instagram Shops, these approaches are not for everyone: This tends to attract impulse purchasers, and may not be where brands want to sell. Getting that first party data and the ability to market to customers that buy from you directly is critically important for most brands.

We believe that the proven pattern of sending traffic from ads to your brand site directly is right for most (but not all) merchants. But where and how they land is currently a lottery. Using AI, machine learning and automation extensively, SimplicityDX makes it so easy to build campaign microsites that any brand can do this for every campaign. You can turn any post or ad into a complete, shoppable microsite in minutes. The results speak for themselves: lower bounce rates, and higher returns from ad spend – typically between 28% and 300% more revenue for the same ad spend.

Want to know how campaign microsites work with Instagram social commerce?

‍Book a demo today.  

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