Seven principles of a stellar online customer experience

It’s easy to pay lip service to creating the optimal online customer experience. But what does creating that experience actually entail? In the white paper “Customer Experience: What’s Best, What’s Next”, Doug Mack, vice president and general manager of consumer and hosted solutions at Adobe, suggests following seven principles:

1) Content is (still) king. For ecommerce sites that doesn’t necessarily mean text; as all good print cataloguers know, pictures sell, and the same holds true online. So rather than rely on one lone photo on a product page, offer alternative views, zoom functionality, and inset photos highlighting special features. And don’t limit your product shots to the product pages; include them on category pages and other landing pages, and use them within the checkout process to sell relevant add-on products that will increase average order values.

2) Movement has meaning. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, a video is worth at least twice as many; according to Mack, adding a product video to a page can double conversion rates. If you sell apparel, videos of models wearing the clothes can put potential customers’ mind at ease regarding product fit; if you sell appliances or tools, instructional videos can highlight product features and demonstrate how easy the products are to use.

3) Search can be sexy. Adding thumbnail photos to on-site search result listings is one example of “sexing up” search. So is offering options as to how many search results should appear on a page, how the results should be sort, and which filters are available to help winnow down the number of relevant products.

4) Navigation should be added where needed—and only where needed. Navigation should serve the customer and simplify the buying process—end of story. As Mack puts it, “Too many sites create clutter for shoppers with user interface (UI) elements and choices. Instead of following the typical path, where the UI and controls are designed and built first in an application, let the content be the interface, and all interactions should fall naturally around it, enabling direct manipulation or in-line navigation. A focused UI, especially when an item requires a complex decision-making process or offers many customisable options, can help increase revenues by up to 40 percent, while shortening the sales cycle by 75 percent.”

5) Personalisation pleases. A basic example: If you sent a customer an email promoting golf gear because that’s what he’s purchased in the past, make sure the landing page features golf gear rather than a generic array of sporting equipment. Tailored microsites and product recommendations are other examples.

6) Shopping has always been social. Offline, shopping has long been a social activity. Now it can be online as well, thanks to features that enable site visitors to email friends products they like, to post product reviews and recommendations, to store wish lists, and to share on forums personalised outfits and other products.

7) Mobility is gaining momentum. “Already mobile devices are being used not only for direct orders but as a direct marketing tool to drive in-store or to the web for online purchases,” Mack notes. “Examples include click-to-order and direct connection to your address book for gift deliveries, texting for in-store pick-ups and specials, pushing newest arrivals that are regionally linked to local store phone numbers for inventory availability, mobile search or UPC scanning capabilities tied to GPS navigation, and web search to find the closest available items in-store or best prices on the web.”