How to Use Shoppable Stories to Enhance Retail Media Campaigns
Shoppable stories hold tremendous potential, especially within a retail media campaign. However, it is vital that you have a clear idea of what your campaign will be and what role shoppable stories should play.
A well thought-out media campaign can do wonders for a retail brand. It can revitalize the audience and make them come back in droves. It can also help the company breach a new market and establish itself as a serious competitor. However, the effects of a media campaign largely depend on how well it follows the ongoing trends and how well it represents the brand. As a fairly novel type of content, shoppable stories present an engaging way in which you can optimize your campaign and yield results. Therefore, in this article, we will cover shoppable stories and their potential use in retail media campaigns.
How to use shoppable stories
As we've covered shoppable stories in our previous articles, we won't go into much depth here. In a nutshell, they are interactive, visual content that you can find on social media, apps, or websites. What makes them unique is that they allow users to purchase products directly from the content they’re viewing. Typically formatted as short videos, carousels, or slides, these stories feature clickable tags or buttons that lead to product pages or instant checkout.
Brands and influencers use them to create seamless shopping experiences by combining engaging storytelling with direct purchasing options. When designed and integrated properly, shoppable stories bridge the gap between discovery and transaction, making them a powerful tool for driving sales. Especially in the visually driven, highly competitive digital marketplace.
Now that we have a basic idea of what shoppable stories are, let's outline how you can use them to enhance your retail media campaign.
Choose the right platform
The effectiveness of a retail media campaign is, in no small part, based on the choice of platforms. Choose the right platform, and your content will reach your target audience where it can boost engagement and conversion rates for your brand. Choose the wrong one, and all that content, including shoppable stories, will fall on deaf ears.
In practice, brands usually need to engage multiple platforms in order to gain traction with their audience. Which combination of brands suits you will depend on your industry and how your target audience tends to shop. For general purposes, the following should serve as a guideline:
- Instagram/Facebook Stories - Best for fashion, beauty, and lifestyle brands.
- TikTok Stories/Spark Ads - Great for viral trends and younger audiences.
- Pinterest Story Pins - Ideal for home decor, DIY, and inspiration-driven shopping.
- Snapchat Stories - Effective for Gen Z and flash promotions.
Leverage influencers & UGC
No matter how good your content is, you should always look to partner with influencers. There is a certain resonance that influencers have that no brand can copy. The underlying reasons for this are manyfold. But they all boil down to the simple fact that brands aren't perceived as trustworthy. Even if you have a stellar record and great reviews, people will still view your content with a certain reserve.
A similar sentiment goes for users who generate content. This is why it is unwise to underestimate the importance of UGC and how vital it is for a growing brand. A good idea would be to leave room for UGC within your campaign and actively encourage users to create it. Once they do, it will be easy to implement a shoppable story that will link to the product that the user is reviewing.
Optimize for mobile & fast checkout
Regardless of who your target audience is, it is always safe to assume that a sizable portion of them will primarily use mobile devices to view your content. Therefore, it is in your best interest to ensure that everything, including your retail media campaign, is mobile-friendly. Shoppable stories are quite useful in this regard, as they are often made with vertical orientation in mind. But, besides relying on vertical videos, you'd be smart to take a few extra steps.
Mobile-friendly design entails that your content is not only easy to view on a mobile device but also that it is easy to interact with. So, make sure to enable 1-click purchasing where possible (e.g., Shop Pay, Amazon Buy Now). The similar sentiment goes to any interaction that you might use within your campaign (swipes, clicks, information input, etc). Everything should be easy to view, do, and shop with a single finger. Fail to do this, and you risk ostracising a large chunk of your audience.
Track performance & retarget
One of the great things about shoppable stories is that they provide certain metrics that are easy to track. Tap-through rates, conversion rates, sales attribution... All these are important metrics that you need to keep in mind to orient your campaign properly. Know that a retail media campaign isn't something that you simply design and put into practice. It needs constant oversight and adaptation in order to hit the mark. The more you are able to gather data regarding audiences' behavior, the better you'll be at targeting and retargeting.
Example retail media campaigns
To better illustrate how one could make use of shoppable stories within a retail media campaign, we will outline a couple of examples. These shouldn't serve as a blueprint for your campaign but more like an inspiration. However, if you do end up using one of the campaigns we will outline, we won't take it to heart.
The fashion flash sale: "The 7-Day Style Challenge"
For our first example, we will take a fashion brand that is trying to re-engage and retain its customers. While there are many ways to do so, this would be an effective retail media campaign that relies on shoppable stories.
Week 1: Tease & build hype
During the first week, the fashion brand needs to build expectations and excitement. An effective way to do so is by teasing what your campaign will be about. So, you would post cryptic stories like close-ups of fabrics, zippers, or shoes with the caption "Something’s coming…" and a countdown sticker.
After a couple of days, you would spice things up by introducing the "7-Day Style Challenge". Here, you would encourage influencers and users to post their look every day before 12am. At twelve, you would decide on the daily winner (based on likes and comments) and give them a discount on future products. This not only encourages customers to interact with your brand but also check out your teaser posts.
Week 2: The shoppable story rollout
Once the second week rolls in, you introduce an innovation. Each morning, you post a 3-part story. The goal of the story is to show how the previous week's challenge has inspired your stylists and how they came up with new outfit ideas.
- Behind the Scenes: A stylist explains the outfit’s inspiration.
- The Look: A model wears it with shoppable product tags.
- The Hook: "First 50 swipers get 15% off!"
In the evening, you can have a recap with a story carousel of the day’s looks with a "Shop the Week" link. By doing this, you make your customers feel like a part of your brand, and you provide them with new products to shop.
Week 3: Keep the momentum
Once the campaign gains track, you'd be smart to use the momentum. Repost customers wearing their purchases with #StyleChallenge. Highlight customer reviews to encourage conversations about which outfits work best for which occasion. And make sure to put out "Last Chance" reminders: Flash sale countdowns for stragglers.
The beauty mystery drop: "Unlock the Vault"
Let's now put ourselves in the shoes of a beauty product company trying to launch a new product line. Traditionally, you would do this through standard marketing content and product announcements. But let's take our marketing into the 21st century and make a product launch feel like an exclusive event.
Week 1: The Mystery Box tease
We can start off this campaign in a similar way to the fashion brand. Namely, trying to build suspense and excitement with teasing. So, during the first week, you can start with "mystery posts. A shadowy Instagram Story with "What’s in the vault?" and a poll: "Skincare or makeup?" To encourage engagement, you can promise discounts to the first 15 people who guess correctly.
Once you feel that enough people have given their guess, you can post a blurred product close-up while stating, "48 hours until the big reveal." By the end of the week, the excitment should be at the alltime high. Now you post a story where an influencer "unboxes" a sealed package… but the product is still hidden.
Week 2: The Shoppable reveal
The first day of the second week feels like a good enough time for the product reveal. Here, you can use a 10-second Story sequence:
- A hand slowly opens a box.
- You congratulate the winners of the guessing contest.
- The product glows on-screen with "Tap to shop before it’s gone!"
- A 24-hour live badge: "Ask us anything about the formula!"
During this week, you post shoppable product stories where you either explain how the product was made or how it can be used. Ideally, you will incorporate eco-friendly sentiment into both product design and usage. Be sure to answer any customer questions.
Week 3: The Afterparty
By week three, your users have already grown somewhat accustomed to your new product line. Now is the time to introduce active discussions. Firstly, try to leverage user reviews. Respond to them and encourage viewers to tell you what they think. Share customer reactions (e.g., "OMG, this changed my skin!"), and don't shy away from criticism.
A good idea can be to host a live Q&A. During it, you can discuss what your customers have to say and provide a helpful link to the product you are currently reviewing. If everything goes well enough, you can host a "Leftovers" Sale: "A few extras just popped up…" with a last-chance link.
The home makeover: "14 Days to a New Room"
Let's now say that you run a furniture company and that you are trying to reach a new audience. Well, an engaging way to do so is to show products in action with a mini-renovation series.
Preparation
It is fair to say that this campaign is a bit more tricky to pull off than the last two. Namely, you will have to find a willing customer that will allow you to shoot your content while redoing their home. If you've recently moved both your company and your family, you can make the most out of a difficult situation and use your home for footage. But if not, look for a customer who is willing to collaborate.
Week 1: The "Before" Disaster
During the first week, you simply announce that you are doing a room makeover. With a willing customer, you can start shooting the necessary "before" shots. For instance, a chaotic bedroom/closet shot: "This room needs HELP. Swipe to see our plan." The current goal is to build interest with your audience and have them commenting on what can be done. You can post a Pinterest-style mood board (shoppable tags on key items) where you give customers ideas on how the room can be remodeled. Or, you can introduce a poll: "Which rug should we use, A or B?" so that customers can vote on what they find interesting.
Week 2: Daily shoppable transformations
Once week two rolls in, you can start introducing changes. Every day, you can set a specific "problem" and a "solution" to the mess in the room. For instance:
- Problem: " The lighting is all wrong."
- Solution: Install a shoppable lamp + "Tap to brighten your space!"
Make sure to finish the day off with a story where you show Side-by-side before/after. By day five, you can have the big reveal. Entire room (before and after) with a carousel of every shoppable item used.
Week 3: The audience takeover
Week three should be all about encouraging audience engagement. For instance, you can ask for fan Submissions: "Show us your makeovers!" or "What would you have done differently in the room we've remodeled?" The more your customers discuss their makeover ideas, the better. You can even host a makeover competition where the winner gets a discount. It can also be smart to provide a bundle deal: "Shop the whole room—20% off if you buy 3+ items."
Key takeaways
The retail media campaigns we've outlined all have some similarities. Firstly, they make use of time and anticipation. While modern audiences do suffer from the need for instant gratification, they also enjoy a bit of excitement. So, try not to push too hard, too fast. Also, notice the emphasis on engagement with the customers. Every campaign's content served to primarily gain customer interest and encourage discourse. Shopping was secondary but also highly accessible, thanks to shoppable stories. In this manner, brands can walk the thin line between pushing products and meaningfully engaging with customers.
