In what follows, we're going to explore how to make commerce and related sites "social" in the sense of making them places to gather as groups, and how sites can tailor themselves to males, females and couples in order to encourage engagement.
I'm going to make some generalizations about men, women and couples that are just that: generalizations. These generalizations are not universal, nor do I mean to suggest that all men do things in one way, or all women in another way. So please don't be offended.
Giving couples a reason to shop
How do you know a couple (gay or straight, doesn't matter) are comfortable with each other? More specifically, how do you know they're comfortable with each other in a social setting?
They touch.
Touch is perhaps the most primitive demonstration of our emotional selves that remains unchanged throughout humankind's evolutionary history. All humans -- regardless of language, culture, education, vocation and avocation -- carry with them a sense of personal space.
People touch when they're comfortable with each other, and the degree of comfort is shown in shared body postures, shared eye focus, shared facial expressions and so on.
How does this apply to marketing? Let's talk about different ways to encourage visitors, readers and viewers that they should purchase some jewelry.
When it comes to creative for jewelry, forget showing an image of somebody surprising that special someone with a specially wrapped box. Instead, start the visual sequence with them both looking at the jewelry in question, make sure they're both staring at it, show that they're talking about it, smiling and laughing gently. The visitor, reader or viewer doesn't need to hear their conversation. In fact, it's probably better that they don't.
Western culture recognizes the giving of jewelry -- especially expensive jewelry -- as a demonstration of possession, not love, and the metaphor we use for this bridging of the old and the new is "by love possessed." The giving of expensive jewelry is Caveman Og throwing a side of mastodon onto the fire and bellowing in defiance at the night -- a demonstration of the ability to provide, not the ability to "love" in the modern sense. Love, as we think of and demonstrate today, is an extremely modern concept in the Western world, probably no more than a century and a half old at best.
So the visitor, viewer or reader not hearing the conversation, or at best being aware that the conversation is being carried out in whispers -- another demonstration of intimacy, safety and trust -- is important.
The killer element, however, is that their other hands -- the ones not holding the jewelry -- be touching.
The visual elements are as follows:
- They share visual focus (they're looking at the same thing)
- They share facial emotional focus (they're both smiling, whispering)
- They're both holding the jewelry in the foreground. If not holding, their hands are near the sales element. One could be holding for the other to see better, but both foreground hands must be near the sales element.
- They are holding each other's hands in the background. If not holding each other's hands, they must be shown touching as equals. This is usually demonstrated by leaning into each other and touching along the length of the arms, as if huddling.
- The whole of the spatial and physical relationship the couple has with the sales element is a circle. It doesn't have to be a neat, obvious or exact circle, but a circle it does need to be because the circle -- in almost all cultures that have access to modern information technologies -- means continuity.
These elements are aptly demonstrated in the following images taken at random from various websites. None of these pictures are the ideal, and we're not worried with hitting the ideal. Think of this as theory versus application. I often tell clients, students and co-workers that it's better to understand the theory because mastering the theory equates to knowing how to apply it to various situations. Knowing only an application is like using Maslow's Hammer: everything looks like a nail. In this case, understanding the theory allows you to apply it to ecommerce as well as traditional social sites.
Let's start here:
The circle is formed, the sales element -- jewelry -- is obvious and in front of the couple, facial expression, tonus and shading are equivalent, as are dress and image style.
This next image is a bit different:
Again, the circle is formed. There is no sales element per se, but the shared mutual focus, body postures, dress, hairstyles, even the fact that they both wear glasses, all work to communicate a shared message.
This image is a masterpiece in many respects:
The circle is implied and is out of the frame, implying mystery. The hands and arms are displaying the symmetry demonstrating mutual trust and respect. While we can't see the male's dress, etc., the color of his hand tells us enough so that we can imply the rest. This is a beautiful piece of work, and my hat is off to them.
Likewise, here:
This last image would work on any site targeting couples, and it is another fine execution of the principles I'm describing in this piece.
Author notes: Joseph Carrabis is CRO and founder of NextStage Evolution and NextStage Global and founder of KnowledgeNH and NH Business Development Network. He was recently selected as a senior research fellow and board advisor for the Society for New Communications Research. Read full bio.
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