Hot Topic is an officially licensed merchandise and clothing store specializing in counterculture-related clothing, accessories, and music-licensed merchandise. The brand is aimed at teenagers and young adults, particularly those interested in alternative music, movies and pop culture. Founded in 1989, it claims to have been the first retailer to bring alternative apparel and accessories to malls across the country. Today, it operates more than 630 store locations across the US and Canada, as well as its website. It’s known for its edgy, alternative style and for being a haven for fandoms.
Hot Topic sees a major win with social proof messaging after 6.39% uplift in conversion
Key KPIs delivered by Taggstar
6.34%
increase in orders
The Challenge
Hot Topic has been in a process of continued digital transformation ever since COVID accelerated its online traffic. With social proof messaging from Taggstar, the company wanted to further improve its online offer as part of the transformation, giving customers greater confidence to buy and better conveying popular products to its fandom shoppers.
The Solution
Hot Topic implemented social proof messaging with a full funnel test that ran in the US for 30 days in the 2024 peak period between the end of October and November 25. The retailer tested 13 message types, including ‘Selling Fast – X sold in the last 48 hours’ and ‘Great Choice! – Added to bag 11 times’.
“The results we witnessed from social proof messaging were far beyond what we expected, helping us to boost sales yet further during peak.”
Nathan Liu, Senior Vice President of Ecommerce
The Results
The test delivered a substantial 6.39% uplift in conversion, and a similar increase of 6.34% in orders during the evaluation period.
Hot Topic was so impressed with the results of the test of social proof messaging from Taggstar that it has since rolled social proof out across the Hot Topic brand as well as its sister business, BoxLunch – a specialty retailer selling a curated collection of licensed and non-licensed merchandise across clothing, accessories, home goods, gift and novelty and collectibles.
The Future
Social proof messaging will be a key feature of Hot Topic’s 2025 peak trading period following the success of last year’s test. The company is considering the use of animated icons, such as pumpkins, for its Halloween promotional period, for example. Animated icons help further bring messages to life and catch shoppers’ attention.
Nathan Liu, Senior Vice President of Ecommerce at Hot Topic, says: “The results we witnessed from social proof messaging were far beyond what we expected, helping us to boost sales yet further during peak. Our confidence in the product meant that we immediately decided to roll it out to BoxLunch too, without considering the need for additional testing, and we are looking forward to driving sales again this peak.”
Marjorie Leonidas, CEO at Taggstar, says: “We love to show the power of social proof messaging with our initial tests, but as this case shows, sometimes results are so encouraging that retailers quickly roll the technology out to other brands in their wider portfolios — with or without testing. Taggstar aim to deliver continual optimization and ROI for Hot Topic and look forward to the next experiments delivering equally compelling results.
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