The latest research from Skrill highlights that over one third of consumers are window shopping on the high street before eventually buying online. Tim Burge, Director at Maxymiser, says this highlights just how critical it is to make your sure your on-line presence is both useable and relevant to your customers.
In a world where customers can use your store as a shop window to then buy from someone else, making sure that it’s your website that people are using is critical.
You therefore need to think of your mobile site as a sort of virtual shop assistant that can help a customer make an informed purchase, whether or not that purchase is made on-line or in store.
It’s also important to consider an overall commerce strategy, rather than considering in-store and on-line, especially mobile on-line, as silo’d sales channels.
We have already seen the reverse scenario happening in many industries, where customers start their purchase on-line, only to end up calling a call centre or visiting a physical store to complete the transaction, so why shouldn’t we consider the opposite as-business-as usual too?
The challenge here is making sure that the transaction is completed with you.
Many of the reasons a consumer will buy from a particular brand come down to price, reputation and previous experience. Losing a customer due to a poor or inconsistent online user experience is not just a lost sale – it can also have a lasting, negative impact on brand reputation. Brands therefore need to ensure that the mobile site works for them in the best possible way to get that final conversion, wherever that might happen.
There are several key elements to make this a success.
Firstly, it’s important to understand why people are using your mobile site and what services they expect to be provided with.
Just replicating all the desktop functionality clearly isn’t going to work and those companies that have seen success here understand that providing the right services is vitally important.
Next, once you have decided what services to provide, they need to be as easy to use and intuitive as possible.
Mobile websites and apps are becoming increasingly slick and users expect a high quality, engaging experience beyond being able to perform simple transactions.
The key to success here is making the customer’s experience relevant, useable and in-line with, if not better than the experience they would expect to receive in store.
Businesses who stick to these guidelines will be able to ensure that they don’t lose consumers to other brands when searching online.
By Tim Burge
Director
Maxymiser
www.maxymiser.com
