MarketingCharts: Social platforms contribute more valuable traffic to e-commerce websites

According to Monetate's latest quarterly e-commerce report, social media traffic to e-commerce sites continues to underperform relative to search traffic, but is growing in some key areas. During Q1 2014, the average order value (AOV) of social media traffic was $107.55, compared to $91.40 at the beginning of the year. Analysts noted that growth was driven by image sites, with AOV for Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and Polyvore traffic all increasing year-on-year.

This is especially true for traffic from Instagram, which had an AOV of $123 in Q1 2014, more than double the average of $51 a year earlier. Of note, of the four major platforms named, traffic from Polyvore generated the highest AOV at $149.12. Here are a few recent surveys that illustrate the high AOV of Polyvore traffic.

However, Polyvore is about to cede the top spot in terms of revenue per session. Facebook tops the list with an average of $2.01, far higher than other platforms, while Instagram's revenue is much lower, at an average of only $0.37.

Of course, social network traffic cannot compete with other relevant sources, which seems to be a fact confirmed by Monetate in every quarterly report. For example, in Q1, the AOV of search traffic reached $188, which is 75% higher than the average of social networks. The average conversion rate of social network traffic is 1.08%, which is far behind search (2.27%) and email (3.31%).

Finally, Monetate's report notes that search still dominates share of website traffic. With nearly a third of e-commerce site visits in the first quarter, search is well ahead of email (1.7%) and social networks (0.9%). [Social networks' smattering share needs to be put into context: The study measures direct traffic (last-click attribution), which tends to underestimate the influence of social media by a significant amount.]

Via: 199itTranslated from MarketingCharts