As a retailer, ensuring your ecommerce website and marketing activity aligns with how your customers think and feel is of utmost importance. A customer’s personality can determine how they make a purchase, whether they search around, ask others, or buy spontaneously.
A study now reveals that nearly 40% rely on online reviews, with Google the most popular pre-purchase research channel, with 87% using it.
Gnatta, Customer Service Software Provider, have conducted a survey to understand the key influences on purchase decisions and product research, to allow e-commerce businesses to tailor the way they meet customer needs and match customer purchase behaviour.
According to the study, 39.4% said online reviews were very important when it comes to purchasing a general item, and the majority (51.6%) said online reviews were ‘somewhat important’ – 91% in total, certainly something to be considered by businesses.
Online reviews for considered items (eg, a house or car) had a higher percentage score for ‘very important’ compared to general items, 47.5% in total.
25-39 year olds have the highest percentage of finding online reviews ‘very important’ when buying a general item (56.1%) and a considered item (60.7%).
Meanwhile, Google came was the most popular pre-purchase research method, with 87.5% of participants using it for research. The second most popular way to research a product was ‘reviews on website of purchase’, with 43.1%.
52.7% of participants said they do interact with social media ads, with 18.3% admitting the click on ads ‘a few times a week’.
Almost ⅓ (28.4%) have made a purchase a product directly through social media – with the rise of in-app e-Commerce experiences, this is something retailers should keep in mind.
23.5% of our UK surveyors said sustainability definitely affects their purchase decision and 40% said it does ‘sometimes’ – that’s a huge 63.5% in total.
Eco-delivery is important for 46.8% of surveyors (8.1% = very important and 38.7% = somewhat important).
Just over a quarter (25.7%) of participants said they’d be more inclined to purchase something with a ‘pay later’ option, and 14.9%were unsure, however the majority – almost 6 in 10 (59.4%) stated that they wouldn’t be affected by this.
Rob Mead, Head of Strategic Marketing at Gnatta says: “Businesses should never underestimate the power of collecting and utilising customer data. Looking at how your typical customer behaves and knowing the reasons behind this can be incredibly valuable for businesses. Whether you use it to generate marketing campaigns that target your customers effectively or launch products with methods that match common customer purchasing behaviours, you can boost your sales while making sure customers feel understood.”
