Poor customer experience makes social commerce unpopular among users

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It is therefore no surprise that social platforms seem to be investing more and more in social commerce features – the idea is to get people to buy directly through these platforms, without leaving the app. After all, there is money on the table.

But then... these platforms had to put their foot on the brakes.

We recently received some news indicating that major social media brands are reconsidering social commerce as a priority in the near future as consumers have not yet embraced it.

Instagram shut down its affiliate commerce some of the important considerations program in August, Facebook will end its live commerce shopping program in October, and TikTok had abandoned its plans to expand social commerce in Europe and the US.

The question is: why don't people buy with these features? Among many answers, one of them is that the customer experience of these platforms is clumsy .

Let’s take some time to see what’s going on and why customer experience is such an important topic.

Social media does influence purchasing habits
As reported by Hootsuite's Social Trends 2022 , 53.2% of people from younger generations prefer to turn to social media to research brands .

Looking specifically at these generations, a study conducted in the US by Statista shows how users are influenced by social ads in their purchasing decisions, with Gen Z accounting for 50% and Millennials corresponding to 58%.


Source : Statista
Therefore, the notion that social media is not useful for promoting products and influencing users is completely wrong. In fact, it plays an increasingly important role in the buyer's travel decision.

However, these actions do not seem to be enough to lead users to buy on these social media platforms, as Meta and TikTok are closing social commerce programs. So, what do you, as a marketer, have to do with this?

Everything, because this scenario involves the user and their needs.

Consider the customer at the center of your strategy
When thinking about social commerce and even social strategies as a whole, the entire experience must be closely aligned with the central key to its operation: the customer.

As a Digital Marketing Analyst at Rock Content, I often recommend thinking of the customer as the core of your strategy. Your functions, decisions, and actions should be made taking into account the customer’s needs, pains, desires, and their online and offline interactions throughout their entire journey.

After all, no one is better at telling you where you need to improve and what the most valuable things about your solution are than your buyer, right? So, listen carefully.

Social commerce, like any other platform, needs to be considered beyond its features and be strategically connected to the entire buyer journey, from attraction to your support team. According to Sarah Dawley, Content Manager at Hootsuite:

“[...] Social commerce is really about the entire purchasing process that takes place on social media, from discovery and evaluation to the point of purchase, but also what happens after the purchase and what follows, and the customer service angle.”

Therefore, having a well-designed Buyer Persona and Journey Mapping aligned with your company’s offerings and staying on top of market changes are essential for building marketing and sales action plans. In fact, according to a study by Emplifi , 47% of companies struggle to convert followers into customers.

What ideas can we take?
The decline of Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok in relation to social commerce clearly does not mean that all actions and strategies targeting purchasing habits within social networks must end.

However, it is important to evaluate new strategies with the customer as the guiding star and consider the entire experience in digital and physical locations in a customer-centric way.

Only with a clear and feasible vision of who your real buyer is will it be possible to achieve the expected goals and objectives.

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