The demise of fashion giant Forever 21 is a sign of the times: we shop online because it is quicker and more convenient than a trip into town.
Even as shopping moves away from a face-to-face interaction to an online exercise, customer service should always be at the centre of a brand’s thinking – as speed and convenience determine whether your customers will use your site again.
At ATTAIN we keep the ‘3S’ rule at the forefront of our minds in order to create the best user experience possible.
Smooth
To smooth the way to the all-important buy button, keep the steps on the customer journey as friction-free as possible.
Understand your customers’ needs, then test, test, test for usability and listen to the feedback.
Visitors to your ecommerce shop are looking for easy access to products, detailed information, clear ways to select and a speedy checkout.
The best sites have instinctive web page layouts and site navigation.
Frustrating sites guarantee customers won’t return no matter how great your product so review to the customer journey to find points where they could be delayed or find a reason to leave the process and refine it.
Use Google analytics to reveal drop off points and study the heat maps to discover the standard consumer behaviour.
Stop the drop
Is there anything worse than abandoned carts THIS close to checkout?
There are many reasons why this happens but a huge bugbear of any online shopper is an overly elaborate and intrusive purchasing process.
To stop this drop-off point, keep it simple and fast. Cut the number of steps required and only ask for the minimum amount of data possible to complete the transaction
Does the customer HAVE to sign or create an account to place an order? Obviously creating an account is better for the business so it can track its customers and build a database but it can be time-consuming or off-putting from a privacy standpoint.
It is costing sales perhaps another way is better.
Offer the option to buy as a guest but add an incentive to create an account or sign in the form of a discount of the first order or the ability to track the delivery process. The compromise eases the friction and directs consumers to behave in the way that suits the business.
Speed
A quick website loadtime is highly valued not just by customers but it is part of the criteria used by Google’s algorithm to rank sites. A good Google rating is worth its weight in sales.
So choose functionality over fancy for speedy loading – drop the dreaded autoplay videos (does anyone actually like them), make sure your images are optimised and the site works on mobile.
Strike a balance between a user experience is good for the individual but also that keeps consumer stays on the site long enough for Google to appreciate the quality of the interaction (eg purchases) and rate your site better – thus more findable.
When it comes to creating eCommerce solutions, our build and design always has the online customer in mind. Create the online shopping experience that your customers expect with the help of the ATTAIN team.
