How To Get The Most From Anonymous Users In E-commerce

Getting a traffic to an online store is not a problem today. In addition, it can be relatively cheap. But the fact that users are in our e-store does not mean success. Actually, the problems can start at this moment – if we pay for the ad, the traffic flows, but the conversion may be poor.

Traffic itself does not mean sales

Ideas for how to get traffic, or actually customers, is quite a lot. Marketers have social media at their disposal, both in terms of acquiring organic (free) traffic and generated through advertising; search engine marketing, content marketing, etc. Having a relatively small budget, we are able to generate traffic on e-store websites, which, however, is not tantamount to generating sales. According to various sources, the percentage of people purchasing at the first visit to the online store can range from a dozen to only one percent. The last number – 1 percent. – most often appears in various studies published in recent years. Of course, it is not identical for all stores, however, we can assume that for the majority of them, visitors treat the first visit as part of a wider reconnaissance. Because what has undoubtedly changed in recent years is the purchasing process itself. Customers today have many tools that allow them to check the offer, compare it and get to know the opinions of other customers who have already bought the product and shared their insights, as well as users who for a variety of reasons have given up and didn’t finalize their shopping. It should be assumed that quite a large group of people entering the online store already has some knowledge about both the product and the site itself.

Interestingly, eCommera research shows that as much as 75 percent. merchants does not take into account feedback from customers. It’s quite interesting because of the number of 75 percent. is quite often repeated value in many different types of research and it should interest not only to marketers responsible for e-commerce but to all those involved in the trade. Especially that omnichannel is becoming the norm in many companies, including those until recently regarded as definitely offline. Well, from the research of Adobe and Goldsmiths, it appears that three-quarters of the surveyed marketing chiefs do not understand the changes taking place in consumer behavior. The answer may be the results of the “Meaningful Brands” survey conducted by the Havas Group, which shows that the respondents would not care if 74 percent of well-known brands disappear even overnight. Let us add that the survey covered 300,000 people in 33 countries, and the questions concerned 1500 global brands.

But let’s get back to the customers we already have in the online store. Very often it happens that the customer has already placed the product in a virtual basket and has completed the visit without finalizing the purchase. According to a study published by E-consultancy.com, it appears that as many as three-quarters of customers abandoning shopping carts are considering the possibility of finalizing their purchases on a different date. Unfortunately, the fact that the client is considering such an option does not mean much yet. There is a good chance that the user is considering a similar action in several other stores, where he also placed the goods in a virtual basket and then left the site.

If the marketer did not take care of the user at this stage (quite often it concerns an anonymous user), there is a good chance that he will not have another opportunity anymore. The customer simply finalizes the purchase elsewhere, and the selection increases every month. In addition, more and more stores understand that customers use different devices and try to make purchasing easier for buyers in the most convenient way. Already in 2016, almost half (46 percent) of British millenials planned to buy Christmas presents using a smartphone for this purpose. In Poland, 61 percent of buyers in online stores have admitted that he starts shopping on one device and finalizes them on others. There is no need to add that over time, the number of people doing shopping this way will only grow.

A recipe for winning the e-client

When thinking about visitor of our e-store, it’s worth remembering two things. First of all, the customer makes a purchase in a place that he trusts a least on the minimal level. I mentioned earlier about research, which the user makes before buying. We can safely assume that the greater the value of the product is that the customer plans to acquire, the deeper the reconnaissance he will carry out. Interestingly, we still find e-stores that do not pay attention to the needs of potential consumers. According to the report “E-commerce in Poland 2017. Gemius for e-Commerce Poland”, 13 percent of respondents indicated that there was no information relevant when buying. For 11 percent the problem is improper customer service (for example, no answer to the questions asked). On the other hand, as much as 36 percent respondents admitted that better pictures of products (more accurate, in higher resolution) would motivate them to more frequent purchases. A little less, 33 percent of persons included such motivators more detailed descriptions of goods. As you can see, trust and customer satisfaction should be taken care not only outside the e-store when building campaigns that generate traffic but also during client visits – let me use different wording – you should very much care about customer experience during the entire journey.

The second issue is the language of benefits to be talked to the consumer. The fact that the customer appeared in the e-store may be the result of the fact that the site has been selected by him during the research. However, this does not mean a purchase decision, because the client often expects additional benefits. In the aforementioned report prepared by Gemius, 32 percent of the respondents admitted that the discounts would lead to more frequent purchases. Not in every industry (especially in low-margin ones) offering discounts is what marketers would like to offer. However, there are other possibilities and the respondents also mention them, namely more personalized offers prepared specially on the basis of the user’s purchase history.

How should you deal with anonymous users, which is probably the majority of those appearing in e-shops? The goal of every e-store should be to get a contact for anonymous users as soon as possible. For example, by subscribing to the newsletter. Of course, it may happen that he will not want to leave a contact for yourself for the first time.

The key issue is how far we have managed to gain customer trust. And it’s really worth doing this homework very well – we know great cases from the e-commerce industry, when even large and well-known brands, through neglect, lost what is most valuable, that is, trust. The recovery costs much more – also in financially measurable values. However, when the customer is able to trust the e-store, the chances of leaving the contact details increase significantly. Especially if, figuratively speaking, the e-store speaks to the customer with the language of benefits.

A satisfied customer – the best ambassador for every business

Observing how e-commerce is changing during my 20-year-old adventure with the online industry, I have no doubt today that it is much more important how effectively we are able to manage the traffic we have, also or rather especially the anonymous traffic. Effective management, however, is not possible without knowledge about the user, his expectations, behavior, activity on website and habits. Marketers have at their disposal many tools that allow them to collect data about consumers, their appropriate classification, and automation of sales processes. Not only to entire segments but also, and perhaps above all, to individual users. Every year, new buzzwords appear at industry conferences – fashionable words and phrases that warm up marketers so much. Regardless of the changing technology and the ability to obtain traffic and its servicing, the customer is the most important at the end of the day. And his satisfaction obviously. It is not by accident that often and often to well know the term of the AIDA another letter is added – S and it stands for satisfaction. If we can really take care of S, then we can deal with the letter L – like loyalty. It is not known from today that a satisfied customer is the best and the most effective ambassador of any business.