In today’s fast-paced world, convenience is key. When purchasing is easy and enjoyable, customers are more likely to complete their transactions, come back for future purchases, and recommend your products or services to others.
In this blog, we will explore practical strategies and tips on how to make customer purchases easier, ensure their satisfaction, and promote long-term loyalty. Whether you are managing an e-commerce store or working in B2B lead generation, this information will help you optimize the customer journey and ultimately increase your sales.
But before we delve into some practical steps, let’s first define what experience is and why it should be a key element of your marketing strategy.
Experience Might Not Be What You Think
Brand of performance Hallam’s marketing approach combines the emotional power of brand building with the precision of performance marketing. We believe that for brands to truly outperform the competition, they must capture current demand while conducting marketing activities aimed at long-term growth.
Three key principles underpin Performance Branding:
- Brand: Using the power of emotion to create a memorable reason to purchase and go beyond feature and price comparisons
- Reach: Continuous exposure to be mentally and physically available at all key points of the customer journey
- Experience: Guiding customers seamlessly throughout the long journey, removing all points of friction
The key here is that experience does not mean just user experience. Yes, user experience design is part of it, but experience is much more than that. From content and information architecture to site speed and visual design, experience encompasses all interactions a person has with a brand and therefore deserves special attention.
Is Your Website a Leaky Bucket or an Irresistible Selling Machine?
As a strategist at Hallam, my role is to connect our clients’ business goals with the marketing activities we conduct on their behalf. Prospects often contact us hoping to increase traffic to their website, thinking that alone will result in more sales. What is forgotten along the way is that in many cases, not generating enough traffic is not the real issue. Pouring more water into a leaking bucket is not just costly; it will never fill it.
Advocating for an Exceptional Experience
It’s astounding how many brands overlook this crucial piece of the puzzle, given that:
- 84% of people surveyed said difficult navigation would make them switch to a competitor (source: HotJar)
- Cart abandonments represent up to $260 billion in lost revenue (source: Baymard Institute)
- 93% of people will stop interacting with a website due to slow loading times (source: HotJar)
“Users foremost want everything to be simple, and as a marketer, it’s up to you to figure out what that means: going through a payment step, exploring a blog, trying to learn more about you or your services. Once you know what they’re trying to achieve, focus on making the process easier for them.”
Like 80% of customers who believe a company’s experience is as important as its products and services, this should be a priority for organizations, as critical as acquiring new traffic or building a strong brand.
Facilitate Purchasing in 5 Simple Steps
When marketers think about improving the customer experience and increasing conversion rates, they often only think about the conversion paths we’ll address below, such as elements like forms and payments. While these elements are important and can certainly make a difference, there are many other factors that influence the decision to engage with a brand and move to the next steps, whether it’s a purchase or a demo reservation.
That’s why our approach looks at 5 different stages of the user journey—from the moment they land on the website to the moment they make a conversion.
First Impressions
People make quick judgments. We do it with people, and we do it exactly the same with websites. In fact, research shows that it takes 0.05 seconds. So, it doesn’t take long for a user to form an opinion about a website, which will ultimately determine if they stay on the site or go to a competitor instead. This is not much time to capture a user’s attention and convince them that your brand is worth staying for.
So, what levers can you pull to increase your chances that potential customers stay on your website? In most cases, first impressions are about visual design. At a very basic level, users want websites that look top-notch, effectively communicate with them, and load quickly.
The questions you must ask yourself at this stage are:
- Is it easy to understand what you do at a glance, no matter which page they land on?
- Is your website visually appealing (layout, high-quality images, graphics, harmonious color palette)?
- Does the website load quickly?
- Does your website shine on all device types?
Consistency and Trust
Once a user has decided to stay on your website, it’s time to start convincing them that your brand is right for them and provide evidence to support your claims. This is where two Dr. Cialdini’s 7 principles of influence—consistency and social proof—come into play.
Consistency isn’t negotiable. As a customer, you approach every interaction with a brand with expectations of what the product or service will look like. As a marketer, it’s your duty to ensure that the brand’s message and visuals are consistent across all touchpoints.
Social proof is the idea that people make decisions based on the actions and opinions of others. Third-party influence is so crucial that it’s easy to understand why not only reviews but also case studies, accreditation, testimonials, and awards are vital in building trust with users and Google in terms of E-A-T.
Pay special attention to the following points:
- Is there consistency between messages and visuals across all digital channels?
- Is the information architecture clear and meeting expectations?
- Does the website use labels, accreditations, or awards?
- Does the site include reviews?
- Does the website include case studies, testimonials, or customer stories?
Engagement
Improving engagement, which involves examining how users interact with a website, is a key element in increasing conversion rates. Users need to clearly know what they are supposed to do next to achieve their goal. At this stage, you want to connect with them by showing that you truly understand their needs and have the ideal product or service to solve their problem.
Facilitate purchasing for your customers by asking the following questions:
- Is the content relevant to the audience and explicitly addresses customer problems? Does it align with your personas?
- Are the CTAs clear and trigger the expected action/land at the expected destination?
- Are the value propositions unique and relevant?
- Is it easy to compare options?
- Is it easy to get in touch?
Security
As scams, security breaches, and attacks continue to be hot topics, users want confirmation that your brand and website are trustworthy before parting with their money or personal data.
Even though user experiences are very reassuring, as mentioned earlier about building trust, brands can also take specific measures to show customers they are in good hands.
When reviewing your website, consider the following questions:
- Does the site address typical security questions on transactional pages?
- When users need help, does the website address those needs (content, FAQ page, chat, etc.)?
- At the time of payment, are the payment methods familiar to users?
- Are return and exchange procedures clearly explained?
Conversion Paths
By following the steps above, you should have already increased the number of users reaching the final stage of the journey. This last step involves removing any final friction that might prevent users from making a purchase or submitting their information.
Your checklist should include questions like:
- Is the payment/reservation process easy to follow?
- At the time of payment/reservation, is the price clear to the user?
- Are the forms clear and avoid any unnecessary information at this stage that could be asked for later?
- Are you showing rational and valid reasons to support the purchase decision?
- Is there a confirmation email detailing the actions taken and the next steps?
Further analysis and improvements to the conversion path can of course be beneficial at this stage, but you would be surprised at how often the best practices listed above are overlooked.
Start Creating a Better Experience Today
Creating a seamless and enjoyable shopping experience is essential for any business looking to thrive in today’s competitive market.
By focusing on the five key stages above (first impressions, consistency and trust, engagement, security, and conversion paths), you can significantly improve customer satisfaction and conversion rates. Remember, it’s not just about attracting visitors to your website; it’s also about ensuring their experience is smooth, reliable, and engaging from start to finish.
By addressing potential friction points and continuously refining the user experience, you will not only increase sales but also promote long-term loyalty and brand advocacy.
If you want to learn more about how we can help you get more impact from your marketing today, we’d love to hear from you.
