E-commerce stores often tend to be static. They tend to present exactly the same content to every visitor each visit. This is done day after day, week after week. Sometimes we change the store for newly arrived products and season changes, but this it not enough.
Today we are able to know a lot about our visitors. The links they click, the way they enter the e-commerce site, which type of content that triggers them to add an item to cart, what kind of call to action buttons that works for each visitor and much more. Even with the signals there, we don’t use it, sometimes not even for analysis. This has to change.
E-commerce still has a focus on technology to present products and how to make a fancy design. Most designs are functional and you will be able to make a purchase in a smooth way with several payment methods and shipping methods.
What I expect to see in the future
My version of the store
The store will adjust it’s offerings to be suitable for me. By knowing what I’m interested in, the store will provide me with suggestions of things that I might be interested in. There are several solutions for this out there already and I’m currently using Nosto for recommendations based on what products and categories that I visit and what I place in my cart. However, we could do much better here.
A store that addresses me
The store will know which type of person I am and wether I’m interested in finding the perfect bargin based on price, to buy based on knowledge and the recommendations of the store or perhaps if I’m afraid to miss an opportunity based on that there are only two items left in stock of something that I really think that I need. This will be of help of showing me relevant related offerings such as:
- Other products on sale similar to the one I’m looking at right now.
- Other “Best in Test” products in other categories
- Last chance to purchase other products just like this one.
If the wrong kind of list is presented to an audience, the conversion rate may actually risk on getting lower than better since we are not addressing them and instead someone else that they can’t identify themselves with.
The helping store
When I visit a physical store, I almost always have the chance of getting some help in selecting the right products for me based on what needs that I have or what problems that I need to solve. Every physical store that deals with customers has a lot of knowledge in this area on what purposes that each and every product can be used and what kind of product combinations that are suitable together for a customer. This experience from the physical store or the customer service/sales department of an online store need to be captured and used for helping customers out in the online store as well.
I have a couple of ideas for how to get this right, and if you follow my blog you will see how to get this knowledge from the physical store to the online store.
Fredrik Gustavsson