Online, Offline, or Non-line Shopping?
Cross-posted at iPerceptions' Turn up the Silence blog.
Even though the dynamics of shopping have changed in the digital world, marketers are still playing by offline rules. The fact of the matter is, we now live in a non-line world where online and offline behaviors are very much intertwined.
Take my wife, for instance. She might visit the Sephora website to check out their new line of lipsticks, visit the store to try on some colors, and then end up buying online. With this back and forth online/offline behavior, isolating each action and measuring its success individually would not be an accurate indication of the final outcome. Therein also lies the problem of attribution (but we'll save that for another post).
If Sephora’s bottom line is a completed transaction, then it has failed in both the “browsing” and “sampling” phases. The ultimate behavior did, however, lead to a completed transaction, so how would one measure that?
Marketers must look beyond that bottom line and dig into the real reasons why someone visited their website in the first place. If most websites convert at 3%-5%, then what about the remaining 95% who aren’t buying? Who are they, why were they there, and what were they trying to do? This is where intent and task completion can provide real insight. If a visit to Sephora’s website does not result in a completed transaction, it does not necessarily imply a failure. A user’s intent might have been to browse, check prices, or locate a store. Their ability to actually complete these specific tasks is the real measure of success or failure here.
At the store, my wife was pretty much a ghost. Because no transaction took place, no one at Sephora knew who she was, what she wanted, or why she left. This is where the real advantage of having an online presence comes in. A simple online survey can answer all these questions about my wife as a consumer. More importantly, the insight from these answers can uncover strengths, weaknesses, and areas requiring improvement. No store manager can provide you with this information about a customer who just walked out. Each and every customer who walks out of the store without completing their intended task should be considered as an abandoned visitor, and marketers must consider ways to optimize this experience and convert these visitors into buyers. It is time for the offline sites to start playing by the online rules.
Even though the dynamics of shopping have changed in the digital world, marketers are still playing by offline rules. The fact of the matter is, we now live in a non-line world where online and offline behaviors are very much intertwined.
Take my wife, for instance. She might visit the Sephora website to check out their new line of lipsticks, visit the store to try on some colors, and then end up buying online. With this back and forth online/offline behavior, isolating each action and measuring its success individually would not be an accurate indication of the final outcome. Therein also lies the problem of attribution (but we'll save that for another post).
If Sephora’s bottom line is a completed transaction, then it has failed in both the “browsing” and “sampling” phases. The ultimate behavior did, however, lead to a completed transaction, so how would one measure that?
Marketers must look beyond that bottom line and dig into the real reasons why someone visited their website in the first place. If most websites convert at 3%-5%, then what about the remaining 95% who aren’t buying? Who are they, why were they there, and what were they trying to do? This is where intent and task completion can provide real insight. If a visit to Sephora’s website does not result in a completed transaction, it does not necessarily imply a failure. A user’s intent might have been to browse, check prices, or locate a store. Their ability to actually complete these specific tasks is the real measure of success or failure here.
At the store, my wife was pretty much a ghost. Because no transaction took place, no one at Sephora knew who she was, what she wanted, or why she left. This is where the real advantage of having an online presence comes in. A simple online survey can answer all these questions about my wife as a consumer. More importantly, the insight from these answers can uncover strengths, weaknesses, and areas requiring improvement. No store manager can provide you with this information about a customer who just walked out. Each and every customer who walks out of the store without completing their intended task should be considered as an abandoned visitor, and marketers must consider ways to optimize this experience and convert these visitors into buyers. It is time for the offline sites to start playing by the online rules.
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© 2010 Created by Jonathan Levitt
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