Gift Your Customers a Fantastic Holiday DX

Amazon.com's Prime Big Deal Days are in the rearview mirror, and it’s all holiday ahead. With consumer spending expected to surpass pre-pandemic figures for the first time, retailers that deliver a great digital experience (DX) are poised to win big during the most important time of the year. In fact, 85 percent of consumers say that a great digital experience is as or more important than a great in-store experience.

However, despite the well-documented importance of a user-friendly DX, new research reveals that many brands aren’t living up to customers’ expectations — and they know it. In a recent B2B survey from FullStory, only 40 percent of respondents describe their website or app as “excellent,” while 60 percent say there’s room for improvement.

A key challenge: finding friction points proves tricky, which leaves many brands guessing at the right DX improvements to focus on. Over 40 percent of survey respondents lack a clear view of customer preferences, and nearly 50 percent lack a clear view of customer behaviors. A staggering 81 percent have no clear visibility into when their customers are frustrated in apps or online.

This is especially worrisome heading into this year’s holiday season. FullStory data shows that frustration is on the rise for shoppers, with a 13 percent increase in “rage clicks” in October 2023 compared to the previous year.

It’s a constant push to understand exactly why consumers behave the way they do, why they purchase, and why they don’t. With competitors only a tab away, the pressure to deliver a snag-free shopping experience is at an all-time high. The survey indicates that retailers should double down on DX analytics in order to eliminate frustration and stand out from the pack. Quick wins include the following:

1. Nail the basics.

You’ve already made the big decisions about whether to introduce augmented reality or launch a whole new website experience this holiday season. Now make sure that new features and experiences — and the ones already on your site — are doing their jobs.

This includes monitoring site abandonment and examining ways to improve the customer’s journey. If a consumer can’t easily find a product, examine its features, and add it to their cart, they’re not going to buy it.

Shipping and return policies impact shopper behavior, so clarify your policies early and often — and monitor ongoing impact to see if a change might increase sales. Analyzing customer journeys, funnels and page flows can lead to those important insights.

2. Make it easy to research gifts.

Pay attention to digital signals that can help you improve the experience for shoppers who may be researching products. If shoppers are using pinch-to-zoom, it’s likely that something is difficult to see — and an opportunity to improve the shopping experience.

Copy/paste indicates shoppers may be comparison shopping between sites. For example, if you see a high number of users copying and pasting on the product detail page or product landing page, and then abandoning the site, they might be getting a better deal elsewhere.

3. Monitor coupons and loyalty programs.

Make sure loyalty program offers and promo codes are working properly as this can be the difference between a shopper completing a purchase or abandoning a cart. On the flip side, the holidays are also a critical time to reduce friction for shoppers who want to check out as a guest without creating an account. Get out of the way of shoppers who just want to quickly make a purchase and move on.

More good news for retailers: A thoughtful DX data strategy can not only drive holiday sales, but also alleviate mounting pressure on DX teams and catapult them ahead of the competition in 2024. The new year will demand efficiency: 79 percent of DX pros say their targets have increased for the year ahead while more than half (51 percent) have had their budgets cut. The retail brands that build a strong DX foundation now will not only win the holidays, but position themselves for the best start to the year ahead.

Agata Bugaj is senior vice president of product at FullStory, a DX data and insights platform.