Let's Go Pre-Shopping!

As we've been moving deeper into this age of the Internet, we've relied more and more on it to get the information we need and want about so many things. Besides using it to connect with others, we research, comparison shop, give reviews so other people can read them, and browse just to gain knowledge of the new items available. In a word, we "pre-shop".

Pre-shopping is so much a part of today's society, especially with generations X and Y. It's only a matter of a few keystrokes and a couple clicks to find information about whatever product you're interested in. This information can come from a companies website, and in may cases from other people's blogs.

Any company* should take advantage of this and jump into the world of social media. If not to give useful information about their products, then at least to see what other people are saying about them. People certainly love to help others and show off their knowledge whenever they can. So by finding what they're saying you can learn how others perceive your company.

Back in 2002, the Roomba self-vacuuming machine from iRobot was first released. Since then, other models and updates have been released. Customers have continued to be fascinated with them. One customer even enjoyed his so much that he posted this video with seven reasons to get one:

Here is an example of a customer who recently Tweeted about her Roomba:

It can be a bit cheesy and humorous, but it's valid. When a customer loves their device that much, they'll let others know. And the next time someone is interested in purchasing a Roomba, they may see this video and be that much more convinced that they should get one.

As you could probably guess, the easiest products to find an abundance of information on are other technologies. A few examples are the Roomba, cameras, computers, spy watches, mp3 players, cell phones, etc. There is so much social media, mostly in blog format, that contributes to pre-shopping. A couple examples are ubergizmo.com and laptoping.com. Go to these and many other sites and you'll find plenty of information about a lot of products. And techfresh.net has tons of categories for you to look through, letting you know about all the most recent innovative technology devices.

As I've said before, today's consumers are online. They are blogging, using Facebook ,Twitter, and MySpace, writing in forums, and getting all kinds of information from each other. These formats you can't control. But companies who help their customers "pre-shop" will probably have an advantage over others, as long as the information is honest and true.

Get your customers the information they want online, and it could save your employees time from having to answer numerous questions. It's where they are, and where you should be helping them.

~Connie Jo

*Not all companies can do this online, but most of those who sell products directly to their customers can.