3 ways to improve your eCommerce user experience
The fundamental challenge with online selling is matching up with the conventional and naturally immersive brick and mortar store shopping experiences. Since the beginning days of eCommerce, all efforts have been in the direction of recreating that matchless physical shopping experience online.
Even though we have great technology at our disposal, why do we still face those tricky and spotty shopping experiences with some great brands? Not every online portal gives you an Amazon or a Zappos experience today. I think this stark difference in user experience is due to various factors like platform constraints, resource limitations or a simple lack of vision in building and leveraging the power of product design and experience systems at scale.
An empowered seller experience enables a great shopper experience.
Most brands use some sort of commerce management platforms or invest in custom design and development of their eCommerce portals to craft a unique experience for their online shoppers. Some brands take an omni-channel approach, match up and balance the over all user experience across channels for their customers.
Most shopping behaviours and b&m mental models are already mapped by some major marketplaces like Amazon, there is plenty of catching up and learning to do for other retailers, stand alone online brands and growing online marketplaces.
Online marketplaces, retailers and brands need to build experience systems at scale.
Outlined here are 3 simple techniques to improve the user experience. These methods should be defined at a policy level and built deeply into the design and experience systems. Visual Product Detailing is the answer to create an enhanced and connected seller and shopping experience, in turn generating more sales, reducing returns, operational costs, improving seller NPS and profit margins.
Now, who would not want more conversions and equally step up both the seller and customer experience?
1. Product in Context
If you ask me, this is the golden rule of product detailing. Always show your product in context to educate the customer on what they are signing up for.One does not have this advantage even in a brick & mortar setup due to reasons which you would appreciate as you read further. This is the true power of eCommerce. This is a one time investment model with recurring returns as long as the product is sold.
Context does wonders to your shopper experience and builds credibility. Detailing has the capability to build trust in seconds.
Shown below is an example of how IKEA uses this simple mechanism to its advantage when displaying products to customers in online stores. This philosophy probably stems from the contextual shopper experience that they constantly strive to generate in their b&m stores by creating sensible themes, rooms and influence through powerful visual merchandising.
 |
| IKEA |
If you visit the IKEA website, in the Product-listing and Product-details-page, the first image shown is mostly of the product shot under studio conditions and that's a no brainer. However, the second image is the product-in-context.
Show, Tell, and Sell.
 |
| IKEA |
The product is shown in its real context, explaining the shopper on how that product could be used, how it looks and feels in a real environment. This educates the shopper and helps them visualise the product in their desired home or office setting. From a business standpoint, it steps up the trust and conversions, reducing returns due to mismatch in expectations, lowers operational costs and protects seller margins. From a consumer standpoint, they know what they are signing up for. No surprises here.
2. Product Metric Systems
We see and hear numerous stories on product expectations and measurements mismatch just by going through the customer questions and reviews sections on various online portals. Seems to be a standard problem with most marketplaces and brand stores. The amount of repetition on the most basic and simple questions about a product will blow your mind.There’s nothing wrong when shoppers ask questions or show sarcasm. They only ask because the sellers don’t do their job right. Attending to the detailing needs of every customer is a great operational and opportunity cost to sellers. Every recurring problem needs to be addressed at a root level through policy.
Metric systems are a critical aspect of building a great experience, driving sales and optimising costs for all types of retailers. We need to appreciate the fact that every country or culture has their own way of life and this becomes challenging for the globetrotting consumer and the global online seller.
Measuring a mattress in inches might not appeal or connect intuitively to someone who has a sense of cms or mts, when it comes to measuring or even visualising a product. What happens when customers don’t connect with the metric system? Builds disorientation and they go off page to fetch a converter, adding to the overall cognitive load in completing the shopping transaction.
It's like leaving the store to get a measurement tool from home.
Imagine a customer has to convert 20 products in their shopping list. Its going to be a taxing experience and customers are more prone to delay purchases or even exit from your store.
Shown here are two products using different metric systems. The first one shows as product in cms, the second one shows a product in inches. Both products are from leading Indian eCommerce portals, catering to the Indian consumer market.
 |
| Amazon India Store |
The metric system is critical for conversions and sales.
The metric system is ingrained in our thinking, common cultural vocabulary, local products, services or systems. Non standard systems create an unnecessary learning curve for the online shopper.
 |
| Leading Furniture eCommerce Store in India |
No wonder, IKEA and several leading home furnishings stores, give you a free measuring tape the moment you enter the store. This gives people a sense of freedom and control on what they are buying, leading to lesser disappointments and gets one closer to realty with a great sense of visualisation. Their entire business depends on how easily they can integrate and place their products at your place.
Going that extra mile in detailing matters.
Shown here is a smart carpet measurement system in an IKEA store, Hyderabad, India. (Photograph taken in 2019) The best solutions are simple, low-tech and low-cost ones, that save time and resources.
 |
IKEA Store (Hyderabad, India) |
Smartly augmenting reality is smarter than augmented reality.
Now, you can’t really give a tape to your online customer. Can you?
You could complicate things with some augmented realty, though. Common, everyone is doing it, so let’s spend a million dollars and do it as well. Okay, we have spoken too much about the problem for now. Let's look at simple solutions to complex problems. There are three ways to solve this recurring problem in eCommerce.
- Customization
- Interactive photography
- Converter widgets
Customization
Online stores could offer the customer to choose the desired metric system at the time of signing up, default settings to geo location and empower them to change this in their account settings at any point in time. This setting should ideally change metrics across the portal, showing product specifications in the desired format.
Interactive Photography
Enable controls to convert the product photography in the desired metric format. Now, this involves addressing the problem at the design and experience system level and educating sellers on the need to do this and churn more product photographs in multiple measurement formats. Also calls for a total overhaul and efforts in custom development. Doesn’t work, if your product has a short market life.Converter widgets
The first two can get complex, however this is an easy, practical and low cost design solution. Place an instant converter from cms to inches or feet or mm. The same applies for liquids and weights. Default a base system based on customer geo location and empower the customer to instantly convert when they are viewing the product. No need to exit the page to fetch the right tools.
3. Product Friction Principle
This principle mostly applies for sellers on marketplaces.A slight deterrence to purchase is a good sales strategy. A smart seller would use this principle to create some friction and deter a shopper to purchase the wrong product. This mismatch, would eventually have long-term repercussions on the brand as wrong expectations lead to disappointments and repeat business.
If you ask me, the first and most important job of a sales man is to educate the customer in taking an informed decision and feel in control.
People are going to ask tough questions and provide critical reviews. However this is gold mine for the seller to improve the product presentation. The user generated content around the product is a seller’s real business and they need to take action based on this content, build shopper trust, improve merchant ratings and the LTV of a customer.
Sellers should show what your product isn't with as much visual detailing as possible by using the first two methods of product-context and product-metrics.
Explain your prospects through descriptive text, images, videos, comparison tables, FAQs, influencer images and videos. This visual detailing needs to be continuously improved based on user (shopper) generated content like reviews, questions, calls to customer care, video reviews and sightings on social media channels.
Shown here are two examples, leveraging this principal. (Amazon sellers in India)
 |
| Amazon India Store |
 |
Amazon India Store |
This principal, lowers return management, reduces carbon footprint, saves operational costs, avoids bad reviews, in turn building a longer and stronger relationship with your customers.
The fundamental rule.
Be it offline or online, happy selling leads to happy shopping.