Why Comments Matter in the E-Commerce Industry

E-commerce is all about online activity, from the buying and selling of goods to the interactions your brand cultivates with its customers. To the benefit of the e-commerce industry, consumers have found themselves online more than ever; they’re chatting online, browsing online, and buying online. According to Statista, global retail e-commerce sales reached an estimated 5.8 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023. Projections indicate a 39 percent growth in this figure over the coming years, with expectations to surpass eight trillion dollars by 2027.

The industry is transforming. Brick and mortar stores are closing at a rapid rate. Window shopping has been replaced by social media hopping, meaning you’ve got to make your ‘digital shop front’ one that makes people excited to browse. Create content that converts, engage in conversations that boost people from the awareness stage to the consideration stage, and encourage open and civil discourse in the comments section. 

E-commerce brands need to meet their customers where they are, and this isn’t limited to the check-out page. A solid online social presence helps build a loyal community, and a strategic social presence results in a higher ROAS and ROI. This year, turn conversations into conversions by providing top-notch customer service while capturing sales opportunities.

So why hone in on conversations in the comments section?

Dissatisfied customers might head to your brand’s comments section on social media to tell you why they’re unhappy with a recent purchase. Trolls and spammers might go to your comments section to spread hate and fake offers. At the same time, consumers considering your product or service browse your social page's comments section before making a purchase. This mix of visitors-new and old-making their way to your brand’s social pages means you need to be consistently providing top-notch customer service to effectively curb angry customers while encouraging returning ones and welcoming new ones.

Check out our blog How to Set Up Community Guidelines on Social Media for insights to maintain control and civil discourse in the comments section.

Now ask yourself, 

• Does my brand moderate harmful comments such as spam, trolls, and discrimination?
• Does my brand moderate sensitive comments such as competitor mentions and brand attacks?
• Does my brand respond to customer complaints on social media?
• Does my brand engage with new users, leading them to the next stage in the buying funnel?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, we will help you understand why these actions are so imperative and how you can tackle them head-on, at scale.

How your brand can turn conversations into conversions

1. Protect your brand from harmful comments

Spammers invading the comments section, trolls attacking your loyal customers, and competitor mentions attempting to out-shine your product or service can and will impact conversions and your overall reputation if not monitored. For one, your brand should remove hate speech to demonstrate that this behavior is not tolerated on your social media accounts as it puts your followers in danger. 

92% of consumers are less likely to use a business if it has negative comments. (Source: Local Consumer Review Survey, Inc.com). In the eCommerce industry, you also need to keep an eye on sensitive content. Comments attacking your brand with false claims and negative critiques can drive potential buyers away, as most consumers check comments before buying from a company, especially first-time buyers. 

Therefore, it's crucial that your brand also receives alerts for dangerous situations such as spike in negative sentiment. BrandBastion’s Moderation + Alerts Solution protects your brand 24/7 from situations you consider sensitive and perceived threats to your brand’s safety. This could be hateful and derogatory comments directed at your followers or profanities deemed inappropriate by your brand.

On the other hand, brands should closely follow what users are saying about their products on their ads to identify issues and concerns so these can be addressed in time. By keeping track of reactions to your social media posts and ads by using listening tools, you can evaluate sentiment and identify customer concerns about a certain product, service, or promotion.

2. Use FAQ and Product Interest to boost conversions

Comments left by users can provide subtle hints about where they are on their customer journey with business. Comments can indicate whether followers are in the awareness,  consideration, or decision making stage. Brands that deliver appropriate responses and CTAs to comments based on the user journey end up recording more conversions from their social media ads.

Think of your comments section as a way to spot the first stage of your conversion funnel: right before people add a product to the cart. If you're not replying to FAQs and comments mentioning product Interest you can be missing some purchases to ramp up your conversion rates.

Comments & guided responses throughout the buying funnel:

• Awareness Stage | Example: “This looks good ''

Instead of replying to such messages with a simple “Thanks,” you can reply with a thank you and a personalized response.

• Consideration Stage | Example: “I  wish this was cheaper” | “How does this feel after 3 months?”

Responding to such comments with more information, testimonials, promotions, stats, or guarantees in a conversational style can gently push the user forward to the point of making a decision.

• Decision Stage | Example: “I want it! How can I buy it?”

In this stage, you should reply with a link to the landing page or detailed information about acquiring the product/service.

• Advocacy Stage |  Example: “@johndoe see this”

If your customers are recommending your product or services to other people, you should like the comment and engage with more information.

3. Respond to customer complaints

57% of users prefer reaching out to a brand’s digital service channel to reaching out via dedicated customer service phone lines or emails. In essence, more than half of your customers are likely to reach out with customer complaints via social media, and they are likely to do it in the public news feed, where it’s fast and convenient.

An ad that’s taken over by customer complaints will see a dip in its effectiveness due to a drop in user perception. Posts that see complaints without replies or public solutions run the risk of damaged user perception and diminished ROAS.

BrandBastion's Customer Engagement Solution issues public, customized, and personalized responses to customer complaints on a brand's behalf. We can also handle customer complaints in a private channel, using a public-to-private flow. In this case, responses are issued on the brands' behalf both publicly (to comments) and privately (through Messenger) to make the customer service journey as fast and efficient as possible.

4. Get the maximum value out of fan community comments

Fan community comments - comments that express positive language about the brand, products, or service - strengthen social communities and show your brand what efforts are successful. Fan community comments that get replies from a brand also influence other customers, developing positive brand associations and increased engagement. Unfortunately, only one-third of brands have strategies in place to actively encourage users to share success stories.

Positive comments are often ignored, yet responding to them acknowledges the user’s experience, rewards them and reinforces their decision to comment while helping deepen brand loyalty. The key idea is to identify the user expectation relative to the comment and to be able to deliver a brand response that matches the enthusiasm and effort of the user. Should your brand need a hand providing customized responses at scale, consider BrandBastion’s Customer Engagement Solution.

Fan community examples and responses:

• Short Fan Community Comments

For instance, reply to short and sweet comments ("Gorgeous 💕") with a variation of short and sweet comments ("Thanks! 😊 Or "That's Right! 💕"). This makes the user feel valued and leads to excellent word-of-mouth marketing.

• Long Fan Community Comments

It's not enough to reply with a simple "Thank You" to a long comment that describes their positive experience in detail. You need to respond with an engaged and thoughtful response.

• Use Fan Community comments in your strategy

You can leverage the opportunity to get permission to highlight and share such comments with your larger community. Longer glowing reviews can become testimonials and great user-generated marketing content.

5. Get the most from product feedback and social listening

Comments left on social media help you understand customer behavior. For example, most media buyers struggle with lots of add-to-basket, yet low purchases. Many times this is due to shipping costs or not enough payment options. By reading comments left on your social pages, you can discover these insights and cater to consumers. 

Comments can also give an indication as to how you can improve your products. You might gain certain insights based on several people making the same types of comments requests a change. Your brand can iterate based on feasibility and after measuring the potential profits and drawbacks.

Moderation & Engagement Made Easy

It can be difficult for your e-commerce brand’s customer service team to consistently deliver personalized and prompt replies while constantly monitoring your comment feeds, especially if you receive a high volume of comments. BrandBastion’s Customer Engagement Solution makes engagement easy by responding to comments on your brand’s behalf within 60 minutes, 24/7. There’s no limit to scalability and we provide responses across a wide variety of categories, including but not limited to - Customer Complaints, FAQ, Fan Community, and Product Interest. Our Moderation + Alerts solution takes the weight off of your shoulders, giving you peace of mind, assured that your comments are effectively monitored 24/7 around the clock.