Last Updated on September 1, 2023 by David
Guest Post: Nathan Sykes is the editor of Finding an Outlet. To read the latest in business and technology news, follow Nathan on Twitter @nathansykestech.
Let’s talk about how, and why, eCommerce is changing. For a start, it’s changing because it must: by 2021, eCommerce could be a $4.9 trillion industry and will represent a larger-than-ever portion of the “total retail sales” pie chart. It’s also changing, and expanding because it’s borderless and accessible in a way that purely physical retail stores can never be.
Nevertheless, as eCommerce invents and reinvents itself, there are lots of lessons it can take home from the brick and mortar world. Learning these lessons and coming up with solutions to common pain points requires a newfound commitment to user experience (UX).
Lesson 1: Lack of Personality and Usability
“Curb appeal” is one of the most important lessons to start with. We’ve all had experiences with storefronts that looked shabby and uninviting. Or, on the other hand, maybe the entirety of a shop’s budget went into the window dressing and the marquee out front and the owner phoned-it-in on the interior. Either way, the “atmosphere” can make or break the shopping experience.
If anything, that goes double for eCommerce. Here, it’s even harder — for lack of a human presence to greet them directly — for shoppers to get an accurate impression of what they’re in for. This means eCommerce retailers have to work extra hard on the fit-and-finish in areas like:
- Sensible website navigation: Have you A/B tested different kinds of sidebars and menu designs? Have you taken a look at your website directory to see if it offers a logical hierarchy? Do visitors get visual “breadcrumbs” as they navigate so they can easily make their way back again?
- Appealing visual design: UX isn’t just about the visual appeal, but that’s definitely a big part of it. What colors and imagery greet your visitors when they first arrive on your storefront? Do you make use of complementary hues, parallax scrolling or animations? If so, do any of these elements slow down user devices because they’re resource-intensive?
- High-quality product images: Grainy product images lacking in detail are one of the fastest ways to turn off potential shoppers. You’re up against the brick and mortar experience, where customers can see, touch and even smell, if they want to, the products they’re considering spending money on. It’s 2019, which means e-retailers are out of excuses for posting crummy product shots and calling it a day.
Whenever you’re in doubt, it’s safer to prioritize usability and an uncluttered design over ornamentation. Physical retailers and eCommerce websites are engaged in a kind of minimalist arms race, with the goal of making sure customers don’t have any real or digital stumbling blocks, or mental reservations, standing between themselves and the “Click Here to Buy” button.
Lesson 2: Shopping Cart Abandonment
According to some research, more than 69 percent of online shopping carts end up abandoned. And compared with shopping in a brick and mortar environment, there are many more reasons why customers may choose to do so, including:
- Hidden costs, including shipping, that show up at the last minute
- Required account creation
- The website didn’t appear trustworthy or employ the right security protocols
- The seller didn’t support the right payment methods
Physical retail presences, for better and worse, lean on salespeople to close the deal. It’s more than possible to over-sell sometimes or come across as pushy, but when it’s done well, a personable member of your staff can easily make a successful sale that might’ve been lost without them there. It’s not about twisting your shoppers’ arms — it’s about effectively communicating about the benefits of buying a certain product from you, versus another product from somebody else. It’s about answering questions, honestly, in a manner that doesn’t always translate to other mediums.
Of course, no matter how well put-together your website is, you’ll still get some customers who fall through the cracks and leave merchandise in their shopping basket. To avoid situations like that, consider adding a tasteful splash screen message for first-time visitors or a chat-based welcome trigger message using a tool like Re:amaze. Offer a discount in exchange for their email address. Later on, if they leave your website with a product still in their cart, you can follow-up with an email offering a further incentive or a link to resources that might help you close the sale.
Lesson 3: Use Data and Customer Insights
If you can believe it, some surveys indicate that nearly 60 percent of companies make business decisions based on gut instinct alone, rather than with the aid of data. There are a few techniques brick and mortar retailers can use to make more informed decisions about which products to stock and what kinds of promotions to offer. POS data can yield information on the fastest-moving products, which locations offer the greatest opportunity for expansion and new service offerings, and much more.
But the world of eCommerce is potentially far richer, in terms of the tools at your disposal. If you want to use customer insights to grow your eCommerce presence, you can do so quite easily thanks to online keyword research, Google Analytics for diving into page bounce rates, intelligent prediction models to help anticipate customer demand and much more. Platforms like Re:amaze can even help find cohorts of customers with similar purchasing platforms, allowing you to engage them further. Even plumbing the depths of social media can help tailor what you do, based on public sentiment.
Diving into the available data on bounce rates and time-on-page alone can yield valuable insights about areas of your website that might be giving customers trouble and which products are looked at in tandem with others.
Lesson 4: Don’t Take Loyalty for Granted
In the dark times, when folks were pretty much limited in their shopping options to what happened to be within walking distance, customer loyalty was basically a given. These days, however, we’re absolutely spoiled with choices — and that means physical and eCommerce retailers alike need to be more thoughtful about how to retain customers after the first sale.
Consider building a loyalty program for your business. It’s hardly a new concept, but too few companies out there seem to take it seriously. The benefits tend to be either not relevant enough, not generous enough, or they get needlessly complicated with “points” accruals. A successful eCommerce loyalty program should send compelling messages to customers regularly — but not so regularly that it feels like spam. It should also offer something of actual value. Not a 10 percent discount, but perhaps a 15 or 20 percent discount. Something that might actually drive interest and traffic back to your website.
A trade-in program is another option, where customers can return their used goods for a newer model. You get loyal customers and an influx of refurbishable, re-sellable products, and they get the newest features. Everybody wins.
The Solution: Customer-Centric UX
There’s one thing each of these lessons has in common: a deceptively simple solution. It’s “simple” because it’s straightforward: you have to put yourself in the shoes of your customer and experience your business, its web presence, and its products and services, in a fresh way — like you’re looking through somebody else’s eyes. Solving some of these problems means finding out which digital tools make the most sense for your business model.
Solving the others means practicing a sort of self-serving empathy, which goes something like this: “What does the public actually want, how do they want to get it, what’s standing in their way, and how can I serve myself by making it easier for them to get it?”
About Re:amaze
Re:amaze is a modern helpdesk and customer messaging platform designed to help eCommerce businesses boost customer happiness and revenue. Re:amaze allows all customer-oriented teams to work together in a shared inbox through email, social, SMS, voice, and live chat. Re:amaze also comes packaged with automated messaging and chatbots so eCommerce brands can succeed at the front lines of conversational commerce.