Charlotte Russe Increases Instagram Click-Throughs With Like2Buy

Millennials are highly social and have an innate desire to stay connected. Many of these young consumers rely on social media to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and show support for their favorite brands.

That is why social media is central to Charlotte Russe’s marketing and engagement strategies. Across Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and other social networks, Charlotte Russe is “running different promotions every day,” especially during the holidays, according to Kristen Strickler, Social Media and PR Manager at Charlotte Russe. Specifically, user-generated content has become a more critical component to Charlotte Russe’s campaigns and tactics.

In fact, user-generated images are syndicated on the Charlotte Russe e-Commerce site, showing how fans and followers are wearing their favorite items from the retailer. Charlotte Russe also was one of the early adopters of Like2Buy, a solution from Curalate that allows brands and retailers to create shoppable Instagram feeds.

“So many of our customers use Instagram to inform themselves before making a buying decision,” Strickler noted when the solution was first implemented. “Some use it while they’re shopping online or even in a store.”

Like2Buy is designed to bridge the gap between social media and the e-Commerce site, an arduous task for any retailer. Through Instagram, consumers can click on the Like2Buy link, and see a breakdown of images that feature Charlotte Russe products. Once they click on a specific image, consumers will be redirected to the specific product pages.

“You can’t be more straightforward than just clicking a link in a profile,” Strickler noted in a follow-up interview with Retail TouchPoints. “We’ve gotten a great response from our consumers so far.”

Since launching with Like2Buy, Charlotte Russe has generated thousands of unique visits to the gallery. And once consumers interact with the tool, they stay engaged: 61% of users who click on Like2Buy typically do so more than once.

Of the consumers who click on the Like2Buy gallery, 60% click through to a product page, leading to more than 13,000 clicks to the web site over a period of six weeks.

“We’re seeing that we’re garnering the highest click-through rate on images that have the most ‘likes’ or comments on Instagram,” Strickler said. “Although we do share some images that are more general, such as motivational and fun quotes, that is definitely the most common trend; if they like it, they want to know where they can find the product we’re spotlighting.”

Strickler explained that the social media team typically receives a lot of questions on Instagram, especially if they publish outfit ideas. Prior to Like2Buy, team members would have to answer each question individually, which was very redundant and time consuming.

“We’re getting 60% to 70% fewer questions now,” Strickler said. “Now, the Like2Buy link is clearly listed and in all of our images and copy we say that all they need to do is click the Like2Buy link. It has cut down a lot of work for the team because when we got more comments, our responses weren’t seen very easily. So in reality, we had to respond to the same question multiple times.”

Since Like2Buy has helped cut down the manual work, Charlotte Russe now can focus more time and energy planning and executing new social campaigns.