Hello Folks
I have a friend online (whom I trust – Joy Schwabach) who is a journalist for print and web and her husband is a financial analyst and reporter of such.  Recently she posted this item at SoftCity:

The Numbers Report: What Sells
“This is pretty interesting: Contrary to our impression, and perhaps that of many other people as well, only one percent of online purchases are made from social media sites like Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook. The main route for online purchases is by directly visiting a company’s web site. The second most common path comes from links that appear when you do web searches. You know: all the choices that come up on the screen. In third place are advertising links in search results you often see on the right hand side of the screen, as they are in Google. For repeat customers, email is effective. Thirteen percent of purchases by repeat customers were the result of an email link. If you bought from a place before, you’re a prime candidate to do it again. The study is from Forrester Research.”

The Name of the Study:THE PURCHASE PATH OF ONLINE BUYERS IN 2012
Study Synopsis:“In 2011, Forrester partnered with GSI Commerce and its digital agency True Action to evaluate how shoppers touched various marketing touchpoints, such as paid search and email, prior to completing a transaction online. To understand if those behaviors have changed in the past year since the introduction of new mobile devices and new social networks, we examined the data for 77,000 consumer orders made between April 1 and April 14, 2012. In spite of changes to the eCommerce landscape, consumers continue to be influenced by the same web marketing tactics in largely the same ways.“

So, what’s your take on how this numbers report and study will effect your online biz attitude?

Eileen

I agree, your website should be your base for everything you do.

But, I support many customers who don’t have an online webshop at all, but they do use social media to increase their sales. By using social media platforms, they lead the people physically into their shops. So it works too, it’s just more difficult to measure.

my social media  works  great and  brings in a lot of  cash every week…  and interest…..  but  not online…..how  do i know?   they tell me  when they are in the store…. 

 our website is  also major…

@supereb im  not suprised…..  at all.i never think of  facebook as aplace to buy stuff……for online  buying   we  go  to   other kinds of places….like   amazon  for  1  click…..  and  special  websites  with   shopping  carts and  full catalogs…..  or   great  buying  places  like  zappos…. 

but  for local  brick and mortar   facebook  can  work   really well….   

@supereb The cool part for me is that she added that email was such a large draw for sales. A good website with a great email signup offer and a healthy email list will do wonders for your sales.

Hello Everyone,

My school library has access to this (I think, I’ve used Forrester in school papers in the past) so I think I’m going to spend a quiet evening reading the report (if I can get it). If I find anything super interesting, I’ll make sure to share it.