Are people really transacting on Facebook?
Not as easily as you might expect. Ultimately the way you interact with a Facebook page is not the same as how you interact with a web page. In my opinion it is a lot harder to persuade users to transact on Facebook than a regular site as their priorities at that time are different. Facebook users go on there for one reason: to see what their friends are doing (or stalk), they aren’t looking to buy things or grab their Credit Card and make a purchase.
Not only do the browsing behaviours change but Facebook has more distractions and less room to move. Facebook gives you 520 pixels to work with which is restricting in itself. There are ways to construct this minimal space to make it usable and interactive however it does involve a lot more planning than a typical site. Another obstacle you face is the fact that Facebook apps generally live under a tab which means another click (which means more drop outs).
Even fashion powerhouse Asos who were keen to monetize on Facebook’s empire of users have since shut their Facebook online store which they opened in Jan 2011. Speculation is this was due to the lack of return on investment. Other large brands who have appeared and then vamoosed Facebook’s’ e-commerce sector include GAP, Gamescorp and Nordstorm.
These case studies show that it is a harder market to crack than a typical e-commerce website however it is not impossible. If you are going to develop a transaction interface within Facebook you need to be prepared to dedicate more planning and testing to the project that you would have on a typical site. The system needs to be engaging and interactive, with as little drop offs as possible.
If you are not prepared to dedicate time to planning and tweaking my advice would be to utilize Facebook likes to drive traffic to your main site. If you optimise the destination page and use Facebook as a traffic source then users are more likely to switch from the “social” mindset and into the “buying” mindset as they go from Facebook to your landing page.
