On this blog I’ve talked a lot about how to improve your e-commerce revenue, how reviews impact sales and how to analyze data and turn it into action. That’s all very straightforward, but all sales through an e-commerce store boil down to one simple factor: trust.
A lot of blogs, including this one, go into the nitty gritty details or small improvements you can make to boost your sales. All is well, but they don’t reveal the core of these improvements. At the heart of all those small increments lies trust. Creating a connection with your customer. A connection that fosters a transaction of goods.
Old school brick and mortar
The Atlantic has dubbed it the retail apocalypse where countless well-known and unknown brands are disappearing from city streets and malls, but let’s go back to that time when you still bought most of your goods in the store.
Sometimes you need to take a step back and let go of all the A/B-testing to maximize conversion, and realize that your customer is just like you.
You walked through the streets looking for a new pair of shoes and saw a shop that looked well designed, with good music, you saw the staff walk around arranging the products, cleaning the floor, helping other customers. A well orchestrated harmony of different processes and people, in sync to serve the customers’ needs. You got in and were greeted by one of the employees. You get the gist, but this mentality hasn’t left the online shopper. The customer is looking for the same signals when browsing online, the same checklist of criteria need to be met before a store is entered.
A brick and mortar store that looks shabby, in a dark back alley with poor lighting, no staff and no customers walking around, aren’t signals that are inviting to the potential customer. The customer is wary to do a purchase. And when he or she does come in, the customer is more aware of small inconsistencies and is less eager to buy.
Looking in the mirror
When you work a long time in the marketing field, wandering the different trade shows, you are numbed. Numbed by all the online marketing tools, all the data that can be gathered, that you lose touch with who your buyer is. It’s not a set of digits, plunged into a web analytics tool. No, it’s a human being of flesh and blood. Take a look at yourself, evaluate how you make a purchase online.
Looking at a website, you are not specifically looking for that loading speed under 3 seconds, that privacy badge that your data is secure, how people review the products or the payment method that you are willing to pay with. You take in the atmosphere, does this website look safe? All elements blend together into a mix of trust.
Sometimes you need to take a step back and let go of all the A/B-testing to maximize conversion, and realize that your customer is just like you. Keeping the customer in mind will help you find new opportunities where all the tooling that you’ve been using or are planning to use, will play its role in creating the optimal customer experience.
