An online buyer's journey is sometimes a fickle one, with several factors affecting whether someone ultimately purchases. To optimize sales, it’s essential to build confidence and minimize friction. Shoppers need the opportunity to have a sneak peek into what they’re thinking about purchasing to understand if it’s right for them. And everything about the user experience has to maximize ease of use, discovery, and navigation. Without that foundation, your content store may not hold a buyer’s attention for more than a few seconds. They may “bounce”—as the usability experts say—and make their purchase from another provider.
But even if you have a cutting-edge Tizra eStore, there are several aspects of online purchase behavior that you should consider as you prepare to launch your site.
Keeping Customers Moving Toward a Purchase
You may think that if someone wants or needs a product, they’ll surely complete a transaction. But the reality is that buyers are finicky. A person who is seconds away from making a purchase (and who presumably would have been very happy with the product) may balk if they encounter any hurdles on their way to the finish line. Or, they might make a small purchase but leave without addressing other needs.
To increase the odds that they’ll buy everything they set out to (and ideally more), you should take these five actions:
Minimize the clicks between browsing and purchasing. It’s surprising, but experienced online sellers will tell you that something as seemingly innocuous as an extra click or two to complete a purchase can be the difference between a completed transaction and an abandoned cart. Create the straightest and shortest line between the end of a customer’s browsing activity and the act of clicking “Pay Now.”
Offer related materials. Giving eStore visitors the opportunity to purchase items related to the one that brought them to the site benefits your organization in a few ways. The first is, of course, that more purchases mean more revenue. The second is that showing a visitor that your content store can be their “one-stop shop” makes them more likely to return and less likely to visit a competitor’s site to buy other items.
Minimize distractions on the checkout page. Ideally, you should offer related items before an eStore visitor reaches the point where they’ll submit their payment. Any distractions on that page can interrupt the sales flow, especially when someone is handing over payment information, and give them time to change their mind.
Clearly explain purchasing options. If you offer options like one-time purchases or subscriptions, you should define them clearly. If you don’t make it easy for customers to understand the transaction they’re about to complete, the result may be confusion or frustration—neither of which is helpful. Clarity is also essential in how your online shopping cart works. If a user doesn’t know how to change the quantity or remove an item from their cart, they may abandon the purchase altogether. Your cart and payment functions are not areas to be clever or creative. Instead, they’re places in your eStore to stay as conventional as possible to evoke trust and reliability and create a positive experience that brings the customer back and may even get them to leave positive reviews.
View your customer experience through the lens of trust. Trust is essential whether a customer is considering a purchase of $500 or $5. Nobody wants to lose their own or an employer’s money when making a purchase. If anything about your content store—from pricing errors to spelling mistakes—makes them uncomfortable, they will likely bounce and buy from a site that gives them more confidence.
Don’t Leave eStore Customer Behavior to Chance
With the right content store system and a streamlined interruption-free customer experience in place, you’ll be putting your content in the best possible light and be more successful at turning prospects into paying customers.
Find out how Tizra makes online browsing and purchasing intuitive and enjoyable. Schedule a demo today.