In today’s highly competitive retail environment it’s become easier than ever for shoppers to vote with their feet, or more likely the click of a mouse. As the Internet has reduced the barrier to entry, there are now more brands than ever vying for business. And with so many options and different ways to make a purchase, it’s no surprise that many consumer decisions come down to a combination of two key factors – loyalty and convenience.
The challenge for online retailers, of course, particularly new market entrants, is that the first factor cannot be achieved without the second. It takes several positive brand experiences to build loyalty. So convenience, and the entire customer journey from initial site visit to final purchase, has therefore become one of the biggest consumer trends having a bearing on a retailer’s bottom line.
The convenience factor
With this in mind, in the world of eCommerce, where convenience plays a more important role than with bricks-and-mortar stores, it’s no surprise brands live and die by analysis. Those responsible within a retailer’s team for managing the customer journey will spend hours trawling through Google Analytics and other site behavioural tools to try and get a better picture of how shoppers think.
Often, there are nuggets of information hidden within these data sets that will help retailers to streamline the checkout process. However, while these tools can certainly explain the who, what, where, and when of an issue like cart abandonment, they can’t always answer the most important question – why?
Despite the countless advances in analytics platforms, machines aren’t very good at reading people’s minds. Sometimes, the only way to find out what a potential customer is thinking is by talking to them directly. Contrary to popular belief it’s a brand’s customer base, and not the retailer itself, that are the true eCommerce experts. It’s only by speaking with them that it’s possible to find out what works and what doesn’t, thereby making it possible to identify new ways of configuring the checkout process to maximise sales.
It could be something as small as lack of support for a certain payment platform that’s hurting a retailer’s conversion rate. But without explicitly asking potential customers what’s preventing them from completing a sale, it’s often impossible to find out. And when you consider how a single percentage point reduction in cart abandonment can have a hugely positive impact on a retailer’s bottom line, it’s a no brainer to use all the information available to help drive this change. After all, empirical data is extremely important to any retailer, but so too is direct customer feedback and experience.
The five main strategies to checkout success
Granted, there’s much more that goes into managing the overall sales funnel, and convenience alone cannot guarantee success. In total, there are five main strategies that must be taken into account when responding to current consumer trends in order to improve the checkout process. However, once the issue of convenience has been tackled, it’s then much easier to address the other ingredients that are required to optimise conversion rates and greatly enhance the consumer journey.
By Pete Youell, technical director, Astound Commerce
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