New Jellyfish Report Reveals Critical Role of Performance Content in Retail Ecommerce

Jellyfish, digital marketing partner to the world’s leading brands (i.e., Samsung, Uber, Nestle, Deckers, Spotify, and eBay), announced today the findings from their Winning the Ecommerce Content Race: A Jellyfish Insights Report. The report focuses on the top 100 retailers in the U.S., representing categories ranging from home improvement and fashion to sporting goods and electronics. The insights highlight the critical nature of Performance Content–the high volume content users engage with right before they buy. In addition to driving organic search traffic, Performance Content converts ambivalent browsers more effectively and enables more informed purchasing decisions, resulting in fewer product returns.

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“Performance Content sits on the pages where shoppers make purchase decisions, which means it directly impacts the ROI on all of a company’s marketing activities”

As consumers spent the last year fast-tracking their online shopping proficiencies, retailers–many of whom had relied heavily on brick-and-mortar locations as their primary revenue stream–were forced to “up” their ecommerce game in response. With retail on the rebound (retail sales rose 7.4% in March from February, according to the National Retail Federation), retailers must understand that winning big means fully embracing the digital customer.

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“Without the showrooms, visual merchandising and experienced sales assistants found in a traditional retail store, online content needs to be thoughtfully crafted in a way that, as far as possible, replicates that offline experience,” says Ed Bussey, founder of Quill and Chief Solutions Officer at Jellyfish. “Content standards need to be higher online than they would be in-store.”

The report focuses on three fundamental types of Performance Content, each of which holds a particular value within the ecommerce cycle: product descriptions, category descriptions and buying guides.

Notable findings include:

• 78% of retailers are losing organic traffic by offering sub-standard category descriptions, with 23% having no category descriptions at all
• 48% of retailers are missing conversion opportunities by using incomplete or unhelpful product descriptions
• 55% of retailers are failing to provide helpful advice to consumers due to sub-par guide content, with 42% offering no relevant guide or how-to content at all

Overall, the Jellyfish report found that Home/DIY retailers were amongst the industry’s top performers, a result attributed in part to a strong focus on high-quality how-to and buying guides. Fashion retailers struggled as a category, with the weakest area of all being guide content. This indicator reveals fashion retailers are missing out on valuable opportunities to help consumers make more informed and confident decisions while simultaneously up/cross-selling.

“Performance Content sits on the pages where shoppers make purchase decisions, which means it directly impacts the ROI on all of a company’s marketing activities,” Bussey continues. “It’s not an algorithm; it’s one of the foundations of selling products. As our report shows, getting product descriptions right has immediate benefits.”

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