Jake Weatherly, CEO of SheerID
Every day, more and more brands are coming to the realization that their web site and e-Commerce experience is an integral part of how they’ll survive and grow in today’s changing retail landscape. However, what many fail to realize is that a poorly designed web site can also be their downfall.
According to the Baymard Institute’s 2016 study, 27% of consumers said that they abandoned their shopping cart due to a complicated checkout process, while Adobe found that 38% of people will stop engaging with a web site if the content/layout is unattractive. And since e-Commerce is growing at a rapid speed — up to 3x higher than the growth rate of the wider industry per the National Retail Federation — creating an enjoyable, user-friendly online experience for customers is an absolute must.
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And though there are many contributing factors to successfully creating customer loyalty and encouraging conversions at checkout, these are a few of the key components that you should focus on first:
Web Site Design And User Flow
Now, this may seem obvious, but it’s hard to believe how many brands throw up a web site without doing any research into user experience and preferences. What may look good to you, may be exactly the opposite of what will entice your customers. The number one rule when designing a web site for your retail brand is to do your research into what design will attract customers. Furthermore, you absolutely must map out the customer journey from beginning to end. How will your customer go from viewing a product, to adding it to their cart, to moving through the checkout process. Ensuring this journey is as simple and easy as possible is crucial.
Optimizing Checkout
The Baymard Institute, mentioned above, did a great in-depth look at how to optimize the checkout process, which is something many brands neglect to do. This is why so many brands see a huge drop off in conversion rates at checkout. And according to Baymard, the average large-sized e-Commerce site can gain a 35.26% increase in conversion rate though better checkout design.
So what can improve the design? Remove barriers to entry, and keep it simple. Don’t make customers create a profile to check out, and make promo codes or deals easy to plug in as the customer is filling out their payment information. Also, make sure you don’t send your customer away from your web site to verify an email or status for an exclusive deal, like a student discount. Keeping them in your experience dramatically increases your chance of them converting.
Deals, Deals, Deals
This may seem trivial, but we live in a world where most customers hunt for the discount, and whether or not they get it can be the difference between them completing a purchase. In fact, BigCommerce found that one of the top three factors that are very or extremely influential in determining where Americans shop is discount offers (71%). However, not all deals are created equal.
Shipping costs are a major detractor for many shoppers. As many as 66% of online shoppers report not buying an item, and abandoning their cart because shipping wasn’t free. If you can offer discounted or free shipping, you’re giving customers a reason to come back and buy with you. Also, special interest groups such as teachers and military, which represent communities of 4.8 million and 40 million respectively, are fiercely loyal to brands that offer exclusive deals to them, made available online. One of our recent surveys of military families found that a whopping 95% are more likely to shop at a company who offers a military discount, with 71% saying they would use a military discount more often if it could be redeemed online.
While there are countless ways to better conversions through your brand’s retail web site, the above are just a few that can have the biggest impact. Never stop talking to customers and researching ways to improve how your customers see you – because as they say, perception is everything, and at the end of the day, your bottom line depends on it.
Jake Weatherly is the Co-Founder and CEO of SheerID, an Oregon-based technology company that gives retailers the power to reach new customers through protected exclusive offers. For more than 15 years, Weatherly has focused his career on entrepreneurship and small business growth in the Pacific Northwest, most recently joining the board of the Technology Association of Oregon. He is especially passionate about supporting the growing tech sector across Oregon through education and innovation.
