By Ross Haskell, BoldChat by LogMeIn
A recent ComScore report of 5,000 U.S. shoppers found that, “for the first time in the study’s five-year history” more than half of all consumer purchases are made online. That’s not all that surprising; honestly, it’s more surprising that it took so long to happen. In a short number of years, we’ll be saying the same thing about mobile commerce.
The same survey found that 44% of shoppers use their mobile device to purchase items online, and more than half report that they use their mobile device to research products before buying. Mobile shopping is fast approaching ubiquity, which means that only those retailers who embrace its challenges can reap the rewards yet to come.
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Here are three keys to a successful mobile strategy.
Hellllloooo In There….
For mobile consumers, readily accessible support options are a must. A recent mobile study, conducted by Vanson Bourne on behalf of BoldChat, found that the #1 factor which foretold the success of a mobile experience was “easy access to help.” It wasn’t “optimized text and images” or “no horizontal scrolling” or even “fast loading pages.” The determinant of success was the ability to get help.
And the risk to retail dollars is real — following a poor experience, 72% reported that they have abandoned a mobile experience because it was too difficult to reach a representative, and 85% of mobile shoppers say they are unlikely to do business again with the same organization following a bad mobile experience.
Q: Does Self Help Matter? A: Yes.
In addition to having a seamless support experience, shoppers also want the ability to solve their own issues. As many as 53% of consumers report that they always or usually look for FAQs on a retailer’s web site or app when they need to get a question answered. And half of that percentage said the FAQs were able to answer their questions. Serving approximately one quarter of customers without the need for a one-on-one interaction is a win-win for everyone.
A well-crafted FAQ page that guides customers to self-answer their questions will reduce the volumes of customer service representatives while simultaneously easing customer frustration. That said, retailers need to solve for the circumstance when FAQs fail (because they will) by seamlessly integrating other engagement channels directly into the FAQ experience.
Integrate The Mobile And Face-To-Face Experience
Shoppers still want access to a human being when they need help. Nearly half of consumers immediately try to contact a live person when they have an issue, and beyond that, 91% of consumers believe they should be able to contact a live person at any point during their mobile experience.
It is this omnichannel approach to retail that can provide an intentioned experience for customers, appealing to the variety of their preferences, that will ultimately win wallet-share and keep them coming back for more.
It is estimated that by 2018, half of all e-Commerce purchases will be made through a mobile device. The sooner that retailers can eliminate the pain points associated with mobile engagements, the more likely they are to be successful. 2018 isn’t that far away and before you know it we’ll all be wondering what took so long.
Ross Haskell is the Senior Director of Products for BoldChat by LogMeIn, leading product strategy, liaising with customers and development in order to push customer care agents towards a future of enterprise-class features, mobile dominance and unparalleled efficiency. Before BoldChat, he held senior-level marketing, product and consulting positions at technology companies, including Visionael Corp., Green Mountain Energy Co. and Tivoli (an IBM company). He has a special interest — and nearly 20 years’ experience — in translating consumer data into actionable insights for customer service professionals. Haskell earned a BS in Marketing at Boston College and a MBA from Texas A&M University.
