As ecommerce passes beyond 15 years in existence and passes 7% of total US retail spending it’s amazing to see how far we’ve come from say the early version of amazon.com, but also worrisome to see how much the same things still are [compare that with today’s Amazon.com cart].
For most digital marketers when we think about a term like “conversion optimization” it brings up ideas like one page checkouts, testing new trust marks, button colors and confidence text. While these are important, downright vital, steps every site should go through they’re details and can stop us from forgetting the much more vital question – does the process offer the best experience for the customer?
As businesses outside of the traditional retail space enter ecommerce be it pizza chains, floral shops, or service entities like salons and gyms, these business have brought with them much different purchase process. While most simple adapt the same product -> cart -> checkout funnel, some have stepped outside to build something completely new to match their model. There’s a learning there for product sites.
Take for example the Domonio’s pizza website. While it ends with a fairly typical ecommerce process, the start is a very friendly, simple and yet practical GUI [shown above] that asks a few key questions which come off as practically beneficial to insuring your order gets to you as quick as possible. In truth this is data that Dominos needs to get to make their process work but with a fun presentation, it doesn’t seem so cumbersome to provide it.
By offering a better first step, confidence is established and the customer [speaking from a few conversations here] feels like this is a better step than trying to spell out an address over the phone or the hassle of driving in their car. That seals the deal.
On a very different page you have sites like Nike ID, Ford and even Alienware computers. While they all end in a fairly typical ecommerce checkouts, the product page and selection process are designed around custom creating a solution. Not merely about color or size, these options determine how the product looks and even works. To insure people make it through, each site uses a combination of pictures, dropdowns and simple options through the product page and following up-sell pages offering flexibility. Ultimately much of what’s really happening is upselling to buy another bag, a better case color, or advanced sound system but by presenting the options as part of personalization, it feels a lot less pushy.
These are a few examples of sites that in all reality are fairly logical evolutions on-top of the existing ecommerce process concept, much more innovative solutions are starting to roll out for b2b and niche b2c concepts especially around fashion and housewares…. I suspect more are on their way.
I’d argue that this type of evolution is necessary to just about any business. In the consumer electronics space it’s well known [by the industry] that core products like TVs, laptops, even mp3 players don’t include compontents necessary to get the full product experience. The manufacturer of an mp3 player is not selling headphones, so what they bundle is a cheap solution to let them remain price competitive. In a TV it’s even more pronounced where a standard LCD comes with composite cables that are about as good as a VHS recording while an HDMI quality signal is needed for true HD picture.
Rather than presenting an up-sell which, to the customer, comes off as accessory peddling, wouldn’t it be better for the shopping process to add the tv and then walk the user through the nearly mandatory options that will make their experience better while offering a range and education at each point?
It’s not just about increasing revenue. It’s the holidays, you order a TV, it arrives and you plan to put it together for the Thanksgiving Day football game but when you plug it in you notice the picture is terrible compared to your current, and 5 yearold, set. You’ll be heading to their competitor to buy cables on Black Friday. Contrast that against your neighbor who had a little more risk of bailing during checkout but finds that the accessory he got is exactly what is needed. Who is going to come back and shop their same website again?
It’s not that what we’re doing now is wrong, it’s questioning if it’s as right as it could be. Ecommerce has evolved because the customer has evolved. It’s not a matter of creating something new for the sake of being slicker, it’s about looking at your business offering, the process people take and asking if the presentation you have meets the expectations.
At the end of the day, good experiences, complete experiences lead to reduced returns, customer service inquiries, and better reviews and viral sharing along to their friends. You can sell more and build an advocate by selling it better.



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