As the fight to stand out and remain relevant above the noise online gets harder, the information that frames a product sold has become an important element for both the buyer and the e-tailer. The content that goes with a product has gained significant gravity in the equation that defines the sales of a product, from user generated content such as reviews and comments about a product, to product description and manuals. The growth of social media and the increasing influence of word-of-mouth marketing have dictated the importance of adding content on e-commerce sites that would urge the customers to share info about new products on their social networks. This content has become an integral part of the customer’s experience and can make or break a sale.

A picture is worth 1,000 words: Images are a very important part of any e-commerce site. The five senses play a major part in our buying decisions but e-tailers can only use just two to make their products more appealing: vision and hearing. Apart from providing a rich high quality photo gallery to show every aspect and detail of their products, many e-tailers prefer to add to a written product info and a video description of the product like Zappos. Zappos videos feature next-door people who introduce themselves in the beginning the video instead of professional models with voice over, to create a more relatable feel. Then there’s Asos, who prefers to feature catwalk videos of its clothes. Further away from the old-school telemarketing are the videos featured on Youtique by French connection, a YouTube store, where instead of “dry” infomercials, they present the clothes while giving away styling tips for different occasions or with humorous how-tos like: How to eat spaghetti – in a gorgeous dress and bolero. Video is a great communication tool for your e-shop, as it allows a deeper experience with the products, but you need to figure out the style that appeals to your audience. Remember to upload it in a form that’s easy to share on social networks, for instance on Zappos and Asos, although the product page is easy to share, the video itself is not, unlike the case of Youtique.

Copywriting: Especially when it comes to fashion, the line between an editorial and an e-shop has completely blurred with e-commerce sites like Net-A-Porter running their own magazines and on then editorial sites like Refinery29 launching e-commerce sections. A great example of practical information presented in a “shareable” way is J’aime mon carre by Hermès, which shows different ways one can wear a Hermès scarf. Unfortunately this mini site is disconnected from the Hermès boutique so one can only look at the scarf and see the design’s ID but not shop it directly. Even simple short texts like the ones that describe Groupon deals play their part into attracting the consumer and spice up the experience. Groupon counts many writers among its staff (as of September 2010, 70) and has an entire style guide to help its writers find the right words to describe the deals. Keep in mind that while you want your text to be engaging, you need to convey the product info in a clear way so that the consumer will get the necessary info with the first scan of the text.

In-store: More and more customers look up product info online while shopping in-store, either by manually searching on the Internet or by scanning products’ bar and QR codes. BestBuy has included 2D bar codes in store to enhance the off line shopping experience. The customer can scan the codes with the BestBuy app and discover product info, offers and rewards. Many food and beverages companies enable the consumers to find out information about their products’ origins online by entering the product ID in a web app. Coca-Cola UK has launched a Web app that allows consumers to trace the environmental impact of their can or bottle of Coke. Other examples are Dole Organic which gives the consumers a tour of the farm their fruit came from once they enter the fruit’s sticker number online; Askinosie chocolate provides the customers their chocolate’s background once they enter their ‘Choc-O-Lot’ number, and more. People will look up products before they shop anyway so you might as well embrace this part of the shopping experience and curate the information needed in an easy to access and navigable way. Openness and honesty are the basis of any good dating profile and product description, so make sure you get back a: Like!

Social Media Content: The reviews of friends and family spread across different social media platforms are worth equally if not more as the information you put up on your e-commerce site. No way to ignore them anymore, so try to find a way to add information from the customer’s online network as a social layer on your e-shop. Levi’s has managed this with the Friend’s store showing what your Facebook friends liked through Facebook connect, same thing Amazon has done with Facebook connect (beta), providing gift recommendation for friends and birthday reminders as well as Amazon products recommendations based on your personal profile. Marissa Mayer in her recent LeWeb interview talked about social and real-time search and that taking into account parameters like the user’s location and tastes, comes up with curated results according to his context. For instance she said: “If you’re sitting in a restaurant, can we pull up the menu? And can we pull up a menu that isn’t the menu that the waiter would have just handed you, but a social menu – where you can see what other people have ordered, what other people like, how’s it’s been marked up.” How will e-tailers handle contextual user-generated content and integrate it in their online presence?

In a competitive market place shifting fast to catch up with the latest technology innovations, the question raised is how to enrich and handle your product information in order to stay relevant throughout all the various communication channels. What do you think the future of product information looks like?

God I love the Internet. Never before in human history have we been able to experience the democratization of knowledge in such a viral, rapidly-evolving way.

The Internet has instigated innumerable actions, which have spawned human innovation and creativity. In 2008, we wrote about harnessing the wisdom of the crowd. One of the Internet’s best uses is its ability to harness the masses, to crowdsource opinion in hopes of innovation (gotta love Wikipedia). But the two words together- “crowdsource and innovation” could make some experts cringe. It’s true, there’s something unsettling about their juxtaposition. But as long as CEOs and product developers keep their wits and effectively vet from the pool of crowdsourced ideas, they can avoid winding up with a camel. Here are three great examples of crowdsourcing in product design.

Fiat

This October, Fiat, Brazil’s most popular automotive brand called upon the powers of crowd-sourcing to build a new car under the project name Fiat Mio. Working with Sao Paulo-based digital agency Agencia Click Isobar, Fiat built a web platform and assembled a group of contributors “that outstripped their expectations.” Fiat’s website received over 10,000 suggestions from over 160 countries, which were then vetted by the team at Agencia Click and presented to Fiat. Suggestions included what people want most from their cars – like size, environmental specifications and entertainment options. This worked because Fiat is a brand that people really love, in fact, according to Fiat, its customers “are more guardians of the car than creators.”

Peter Fassbender, manager of Fiat’s Centro Estilo and responsible for the brand’s design in Brazil explained: “A good designer tries to realise the wishes of everyone, and with this concept car we were truly working on everybody’s behalf. The group of designers working in the Fiat Mio house were totally open. There was transparency about every decision, which were all communicated online and commented on. This is completely different to the usual design process, which is entirely hidden and secretive.”

Agencia Click’s Creative VP, Raphael Vasconcellos de Oliveira, added: ‘The most important output for the brand was learning the benefits of listening to its consumers. The creatives at Fiat and in the agency didn’t have control of the process, but things are richer because of the passionate contributions.’

Crowdsourcing opinions forces companies to listen to all feedback, particularly the negative, and deal with truths about how the consumer sees the brand. Fiat’s project demonstrates a genuine desire to initiate discussion with its consumers, which resulted in a car that buyers want to drive. Talk about a sense of ownership.

StyleFactory

StyleFactory is an e-commerce site based in New York City for furniture design that brings newer European, Scandinavian and American designs, normally found in a boutique setting, to an online market. The company uses social media in really creative ways, crowdsourcing opinions to decide which products should be made. Online democracy is essential to StyleFactory’s production and sales experience. The ‘My Factory’ section offers a mix of renderings and finished products that community members can vote “make it” or “drop it,” then share their opinions via Facebook and Twitter.

StyleFactory also utilizes the methods behind group buying that have made companies like GroupOn and LivingSocial wildly successful. The most popular products go into the “Buy” section, and once enough people have promised to buy the object, it goes into production. The trick is, the product won’t be made unless a certain number of people commit to the purchase. With products like furniture it’s vital to achieve a minimum order to guarantee a good price or to make it feasible to make the product in the first place. StyleFactory’s Buy section brings people together to fulfill those minimum orders. “We’re building an audience so that we can fulfill larger and larger thresholds while making great design affordable,” says George Casey, StyleFactory’s CMO.

Quirky

Quirky is a website that enables people with bright ideas to become inventors without dealing with the financing, engineering, distribution or legalities associated with such an undertaking. Anyone can upload an idea to Quirky for $10 and then anyone in the Quirky community can respond to the design. The best designs become the “product of the week” and products that then secure enough buyers, a la StyleFactory, get a chance at production. When a product is complete and starts making money, 30% goes back to the Quirky community, a portion of it to the “ideator” and the rest to those who commented on the design during the one week community vetting period. This financial incentive encourages the Quirky community, now at 45,000 members, to stay active.

The site, which Fast Company describes as an “interesting mishmash of a bunch of concepts that have been floating around in social media,” launched in 2009 and has spawned 80 products so far, 28 of which are being sold at retail stores worldwide, and is now averaging production of 2 products a week.

Products include The Slingback, a universal wire retractor that eliminates loose power cords and costs $9.99, The Pivot Power, a “creative outlet,” The Scratch and Scroll, noteable mousebad and this ergonomic dog leash.

According to Ben Kaufman, the CEO and founder of Quirky, crowdsourcing alone doesn’t work. The idea that the world community is smarter than a band of experts isn’t sustainable. ”It’s experts and the community working together that works stunningly,” explains Kaufman. And the relationship works both ways. “People calling our expert designers out on their work makes our expert designers better. And our designers make the world smarter,” he says. The world influences Quirky’s business in real-time, and they share revenue directly with the people who helped make successful decisions.

See Quirky’s video of how they operate here:

On the Internet, anyone can be a designer. Design your next pair of heels at Dream Heels. Design your own Lego set. Or if you think you’ve really got talent, enter for the Muji Award International Design Competition. Just remember the old saying: “A camel is a horse designed by a committee.” Using the Internet to source for great ideas and inspiration is what it’s there for, but a careful vetting process by experts is necessary to produce a product worth making.