Infographic: What Do Online Shoppers Want?

As retailers look for ways to create a better experience for consumers, customer journey optimization company Yieldify seized the opportunity to survey over 1,000 consumers in the U.S. and U.K. to uncover the truth about what they expect from the e-commerce shopping experience and what it means for the customer journey. Here are three things you should know as you head into 2019.

How Consumers Discover Your Website

How are the most effective marketers drawing consumers to their websites? Fifty-one percent of all consumers say they use search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo.

Savvy marketers therefore utilize search engine marketing (SEM) to capitalize on customers’ purchase intent, delivering the right product and message at the perfect time to grab their attention.

Paid search on Google, Bing and other search engines attracts the bargain-hunting consumer. What does this mean for you? Manage your bidding strategy well by promoting sales and promotions in a timely manner.

The Privacy Paradox

In the wake of GDPR, e-commerce marketers are faced with the challenge of creating a personalized shopping experience while maintaining customer privacy. Yieldify’s survey revealed that 63 percent of respondents expect retailers to have up-to-date information about their customers.

However, despite these great expectations, many consumers aren’t willing to sacrifice privacy in the name of personalization. For example, 59 percent of consumers aren’t comfortable sharing personal information.

It’s important to strike a balance with personalization so that your customer still trusts your company. First and foremost, be honest. Let your customers know what kind of data you’d like to collect and allow them to approve or deny that request. It’s also important to show how you’re using that data to create the best shopping experience possible. Transparency is the new norm, so let your customers know that their data will be used to make their shopping experiences better, but also understand that privacy laws like GDPR allow consumers the “right to be forgotten.”

Additionally, offer incentives in exchange for information like email address capture and location tracking. By offering free delivery or a discount on a first purchase following a request for email capture, consumers will feel like they’re getting something out of giving up a small piece of their privacy. We found in a survey that 5 percent of users will exchange an email for an entry into a competition, and 4.3 percent will also sign up after being made aware of free delivery.

Reinventing the Path to Purchase

It’s one battle to get consumers to visit your website, but it’s another challenge to get them to part with their cash. Check out the infographic below for the top five reasons consumers purchase and, more importantly, the reasons why 97 percent of shoppers abandon their cart.

So, what are a few ways you can entice consumers to convert?

• Set thresholds for special offers. When a customer reaches a certain amount of money collected in their cart, offer free shipping. Beauty products brand Kiehl’s saw a 33 percent average order value increase with this tactic.
• Put shipping and return policies front and center, leaving no surprises for customers. Hylete saw a 42.2 percent conversion rate uplift with this solution.
• Customers are willing to become loyal with a consistent, personalized experience that includes saved preferences and special offers tailored to them.

Jay Radia is the co-founder and CEO of Yieldify, an e-commerce customer journey optimization platform that creates customer campaigns that convert into sales and customers for life.