Using Shoppable Instagram Posts to Boost eCommerce

One of the latest advertising features released by Instagram is ‘Shoppable Posts’ and they’re here to change the way retailers present their products through social media. Released as a pilot last year, the feature is now available in 45+ countries to approved brands and influencers using Instagram Business accounts, allowing them to ‘tag’ their products in posts.

In this post, we’ll take a look at what Instagram shoppable posts are, how they can benefit your eCommerce business and an easy to follow ‘how-to’ guide on setting up your own shoppable posts.

What are Instagram Shoppable Posts?

Instagram shoppable posts are changing the way brands drive traffic to their websites from their Instagram profiles. Until the release of recent features, the only way for ecommerce retailers to drive traffic to their stores was by adding a link in their Instagram bio.

The release of shoppable posts allows brands to add the relevant product links directly within their posts. The opportunity to tag shoppable links in images has given brands the ability to use their Instagram accounts as visual stores and drive engaged users directly to the product pages they’re interested in.

Instagram shoppable posts create a streamlined shopping experience with a fast and natural progression from browsing to buying. Consumers are able to see a product they like the look of, tap the post to see the details and click through using the link to shop the item, making shoppable posts a simple yet powerful feature for retailers to adopt.

Shoppable posts are identified on profiles and in feeds by the small shopping bag icon in the corner of each post.

Once you click onto a shoppable post, you’ll see the shopping bag icon in the bottom left corner. Tap it to display the product tags in the image.

Tap the tag on the product you’re interested in to see more details about the product and click through to easily shop the item.

John Lewis is a great example of a retailer using Shoppable Instagram Posts to boost their social commerce – check out our recent post on 8 Ways John Lewis Achieve eCommerce Success

Benefits of Instagram Shoppable Posts

It’s clear to see the advantage shoppable Instagram posts bring to eCommerce retailers, helping them to drive more traffic from their social channels, but there are more reasons why eCommerce brands should consider using them…

Instagram shoppable posts decrease barriers to purchase

Often, customers can be overwhelmed by many things on eCommerce websites, such as a huge number of products, different delivery options and shipping prices – resulting in high basket abandonment rates.

Shoppable Instagram posts can reduce this by not overwhelming the customer with too much choice or selection, only showing them the product they’re interested in and its price with a direct link to purchase.

Shoppable posts help you understand your consumers

Using these posts helps to create a direct transaction between your eCommerce brand and consumers.

By creating Instagram shoppable posts and checking your insights, you can get to know your customers better and understand what products they love and what they don’t like so much.

Your shoppable posts will help you to see what products consumers like and are willing to buy, allowing you to tailor Instagram content to suit.

Instagram has become a search engine for consumer interests

According to a study from Hootsuite, 75% of Instagram users take action after seeing an advertising post on Instagram.

With such high engagement rates, Instagram opens retailers up to an audience of consumers who are influenced by what they see on social media.

Instagram has become like a search engine for consumer interests and passions with many sub-communities like beauty, fitness and home always on the hunt for the next new product in their niche. Retailers should use Instagram as a way to tap into these audiences and connect with the consumers who are interested in their products and services.

How to Set Up Shoppable Posts on Instagram

Instagram Shopping Eligibility

Before you start creating shoppable Instagram posts, there are a few things you need to do to make sure you’re eligible…

• Make sure you have the latest version of the Instagram app.
• Convert your Instagram account into a business profile, if it isn’t already.
• Be an admin on a Page or Business Manager account.
• You must have a product catalogue setup and associated with a shop on Facebook.
• You must sell physical goods and not services.

After you complete the above steps to gain eligibility, Instagram will automatically review the account for Shoppable Posts feature accessibility. According to Instagram, this review process could take “a few days” – you’ll receive a notification on your business profile once your account has been approved for product tagging.

Set Up a Facebook Product Catalogue

If you don’t already have a product catalogue set up, head to the Facebook page connected to your Instagram business profile.

Go to Facebook Business Manager and from the menu, navigate to the ‘Catalogues’ option to create a file of all the items you want to sell through Instagram.

When you add products to your Facebook catalogue, it will sync with Instagram and allow you to share shoppable posts using these products.

Tag Your Products

Now all you need to do is create your shoppable posts.

Upload photos to your Instagram business profile the same way you normally would when creating a new post.

Tip: You should use professional photos of people wearing or using the products available in your catalogue.

Add filters, a caption, hashtags and location like usual, but you’ll also see a new option – ‘Tag Products’.

Tag your products the same way you would tag a person in a picture. Search for the names of the products (in your Facebook catalogue) that you want to tag – this will look very similar to how you would search for a person’s Instagram name.

You can tag up to five products in one picture but if you’re uploading a carousel post containing multiple photos, you can tag up to 20 products per carousel.

We recommend tagging between 1 and 3 products per post. The more choices you give someone, the less likely they are to pick one, which is not what you want. Don’t overwhelm users by giving them too many options as the end result will be harming your conversion rate.

Summary

Instagram Shoppable Posts have transformed the way retailers can connect their followers with their products, creating a seamless experience for people to shop products directly from posts. We hope you now understand the benefits of Shoppable Posts for eCommerce retailers and how you can implement them as part of your eCommerce strategy to boost sales and conversion rates from social media.

We create bespoke eCommerce websites that convert and drive sales. If you’d like to achieve eCommerce success, speak with our team of experts to see how we can help. 

Contact us today – we’re always happy to discuss your needs!