In the race to convert mobile online shoppers, brands must forget any preconceived notions that consumers are logging on only to purchase and instead focus on the all-round experience the brand delivers.
So suggests The Reimagining Commerce study by Episerver, which has found that 92% of consumers visit a brand’s website for the first time to do something other than make a purchase and that even when visiting a brand’s website or mobile app with the intent of buying, a third rarely or never make a purchase.
According to the study, a staggering 98% of shoppers have been dissuaded from completing a purchase because of incomplete or incorrect content, with a third of consumers being dissuaded every time. Some 35% feel brands do a poor or very poor job of customizing the online shopping experience, with just 7% believing that brands do this very well.
The study goes on to suggest that the key lies in improving the overall brand experience online and on mobile, with better more personalised content being key – finding that nearly two-thirds of shoppers are interested in personalisation as a part of their online shopping experience, and 43% are open to personalized in-store experiences through their mobile.
In fact, 28% of those questioned chose personalized content as one of their top three contributors to a great digital user experience – with a tenth of shoppers ranking it as the most important factor.
Shoppers are more interested in brands tailoring content for coupons based on location (44%) and images (31%) than emerging technologies like virtual reality (7%) and augmented reality (6%).
This is backed up by 21% of shoppers are more likely to purchase again from brands that do more to personalize their digital experience than those that do not, and nearly the same number are more loyal (17%).
The report goes to outline how brands and retailers can make this happen, suggesting that Brands must focus on improving the overall customer experience with a well-designed website, including navigation, shopping and checkout.
Brands must thoroughly understand the needs of site visitors and then design a site to suit those needs, providing rich and accurate content to guide the user throughout the entire process.
