A Novel Method to Investigate the Effect of Social Network “Hook” Images on Purchasing Prospects in E-Commerce

Background. Social network visual shopping trends are growing e-commerce at unprecedented levels. Images are used as product marketing material; however, image posts are triggering very low consumer behavior and low sales conversion. Objective. To explore how online stores can increase the purchasin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inComplexity (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 2017; no. 2017; pp. 1 - 16
Main Author Smaoui, Mohamed R.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cairo, Egypt Hindawi Publishing Corporation 01.01.2017
Hindawi
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Hindawi Limited
Hindawi-Wiley
Subjects
Analysis
Attitudes
Collection
Conversion
Decision making
Electronic commerce
Forecasts and trends
Landing
Marketing
Online shopping
Online social networks
Perceptions
Probabilistic models
Purchasing
Sales
Social networks
Stores
Traffic models
United States
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Summary:Background. Social network visual shopping trends are growing e-commerce at unprecedented levels. Images are used as product marketing material; however, image posts are triggering very low consumer behavior and low sales conversion. Objective. To explore how online stores can increase the purchasing prospects of their products using images on social networks. Methods. We introduce a theoretical probabilistic model to estimate consumer behavioral intention and purchasing prospect on social networks, outline parameters that can be exploited to increase click-rate and conversion, and motivate a new strategy to market products online. The model explores increasing online stores’ sales conversion by utilizing a product collection landing page that is marketed to consumers through a single “Hook” image. To implement the model, we developed a novel technological method that enabled online stores to post different “Hook” images on social networks and hyperlink them to the product collection landing pages they created. Results. Stores and marketers developed four types of “Hook” images: themed-collaged product images, single product images, lifestyle images, and model images. Themed-collaged product images accounted for 60% of consumer traffic from social network sites. Moreover, consumer purchasing click rate increased at least twofold (4.94%) with the use of product collection landing pages.
ISSN:1076-2787
1099-0526
DOI:10.1155/2017/9264920