A recent Cowen and Company survey of 2,700 millennials uncovered compelling findings about how millennials complete purchases from brands discovered on Facebook, demonstrating that marketers looking to drive direct sales from social media with the millennial market should consider additional media channels.
According to the survey, brands discovered by millennials on Facebook are losing 49% of direct sales to other sources. The largest source is Amazon; 42% of those surveyed complete purchases on Amazon after first discovering a brand on Facebook. Great news for Amazon… bad news for direct sales.
The survey’s findings are even worse for brands using social commerce to drive direct sales in store, as only 15% of those surveyed completed their purchase at the brand’s physical store. Brands looking to drive direct sales to their own websites are faring a little better; 36% of those surveyed complete their purchase on the brand’s own website.
This underscores the need for brands to maintain an omnichannel marketing presence to drive direct sales. Using only social commerce, as this survey illustrates, results in a loss of direct sales.
The average millennial spends more than 10 hours a day consuming media. As they move from one media to another rather seamlessly, using an omnichannel strategy to interact with them across multiple forms of media will give any brand a better chance of generating a direct sale.
Further, millennials may be enticed to purchase directly if presented with a stronger offer proposition, be it a better offer in general, a loyalty program tie-in, or another tactic. This will help build brand affinity, as well.
Reaching them on Facebook alone will help to generate awareness, but unless other channels are brought in to increase interest and consideration along the path to purchase, that awareness of your brand only may only serve to drive them elsewhere to purchase.
