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The last two years have been marked by a pandemic, which has significantly contributed to the development of the e-commerce industry. Even customers, who are used to shopping in a stationary place, were often forced to order products or services via the Internet.
This made us know a lot more about what an online store should contain in 2022.
Many of the functionalities that were little known until recently are now a kind of must-have in online stores. All this, of course, is to facilitate the purchasing process for customers. Below, we have prepared several mechanisms, the implementation of which will improve the efficiency of your store. Check if you have dealt with them before!
By card, cash, or maybe ... with a mobile phone?
Over the last decade, we can observe a constantly growing trend in the use of mobile devices compared to desktops. Why? Mobile devices are more convenient, we can use them anywhere, and most importantly – we handle more and more matters via the phone / tablet. A statistical customer, being at the stage of finalizing the order, wants to make the payment as efficiently as possible – he does not read the details, he just wants to use the fastest payment option.
Who among us does not know BLIK? It will be hard to find a person who has not used this form of payment. However, just providing the BLIK function is not enough! It is much more important to implement the BLIK code directly to the checkout page so as not to redirect the customer to the operator’s external website. Do you think it’s not important?
After implementing BLIK payments without being redirected to the operator's website, we noticed an increase in payments by this method by our client by as much as 40%. We also recorded a 10% drop in abandoned carts.
Another functionality is Apple and Google Pay. A small detail, but very important in the process of reducing the number of abandoned carts.
When switching to payment, the vast majority of customers choose the method of payment they have checked, and if there is no such method – they can leave or interrupt the purchasing process. As we can see below, the total number of cards added to mobile payments between Q4 2020. and 4Q 2021. is as much as 55% more (almost 4 million more connected cards, compared to last year’s period).
The availability of such payment methods depends mainly on the payment gateway, so it is worth doing a short research in advance and choosing an operator that gives you as many options as possible regarding individual methods. Give your customers a choice so they can choose the option that best fits their needs.
The percentage of customers who currently choose to pay with Google / Apple Pay.
68%
We do not accept returns?
A topic that probably every owner of a store, mainly from the fashion industry, focuses on more closely, i.e. returns. How do they affect abandoned carts?
According to Traffic Trends, as many as 39% of customers expect the possibility of easy product return.
Online shopping is very convenient and you can save a lot of time. However, it may happen that the dress that comes to you will be in a different size than you thought; that the shoes you order will differ from those in the photos.
When making a purchase, the customer wants to know that in the event of such an eventuality, he will not have a problem with returning the product. Unfortunately, a large number of stores do not have any systems in place to facilitate returns.
The companies that automate returns (e.g. wygodnezwroty.pl) come to the rescue. As a store, you do not have to worry about whether: the customer chooses the correct address and the return will not be lost in the system. In addition, you can choose whether you “bear” the cost of the return or leave it to the customer, or whether you share the cost between the store and the consumer. On the customer’s end, a convenient and fast online form is also a huge advantage. We no longer have to manually fill in the return form attached to the package, which is then retyped by a person in the warehouse and entered into the system.
Okay, you will say, but how much do I have to pay to make the customer return even easier?
Luckily, nothing. Companies that deal with the automation of returns usually include their “costs” in the shipping cost (which, by the way, does not differ from ordering a courier on their own). Formalities are kept to a minimum, so why wait?
The simplified return process significantly increases customer confidence in your brand. You make it clear that their satisfaction is your priority, and you remove any potential fears many people feel before placing an order.
Voice search - hit or miss?
Until a few years ago, meeting someone in the street who spoke on the phone “Hey Google” was at least abstract.
However, over the course of several years, technology has developed more than anyone could imagine. Voice search is more and more common in the e-commerce world, so don’t ignore this type of activity.
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Percentage of users who use voice commands on their devices in their daily routine (according to a Google report)
There are many modules to implement on your e-shop that will allow your customers to use voice commands. This in turn will make it easier for them to search through the products in your e-commerce store.
Note that this form of searching for a product is a much faster solution than using the keyboard and manually browsing individual categories.
What’s more, thanks to the voice option, your client can immediately complete the form on the website, even when he is just leaving the apartment or tying his child’s shoes. Nowadays, saving time is more valuable than ever.
So a hit or miss?
As for us, it is a step forward, thanks to which you can stay ahead of the competition and soar where it has not yet reached.
Google Analytics 4
Another tool from Google? It is probably well known to many e-shop owners. However, some of you will ask yourself the question: why do I need it, if I have a functional AU plugged in?
Universal Analytics is a very useful solution, but you can only use it until July 2023 – it will be turned off later. GA4 collects more data and is more accurate than UA, so it’s worth changing your analytical tool now. With GA4 you can create up to 50 custom parameters – and this is just the tip of the iceberg regarding changes to this system.
Below is a refreshed GA4 interface that offers you many more possibilities in the field of data mining.
We strongly recommend you migrate to GA4 now as it will allow you to start collecting data immediately. These, in turn, will be invaluable when you lose access to Universal Analytics. That is why now (June 2022) the best option is to use both of these engines in parallel.
When analyzing sales data, the results are often compared year on year. Remember that if you do not migrate to GA4 early enough, you will lose the opportunity for in-depth analysis
e.g. results from July 2023 versus July 2022.
To sum up: We are observing a clear and dynamic trend of changes, in which the options previously reserved for the biggest players are already the norm even for the more average stores.
Remember that many small components contribute to the overall effectiveness of your e-commerce business. As we mentioned at the beginning of the post, nowadays a lot of such elements are not gadgets, but rather a clear answer to the current needs of your target group.
Pawel Sieminski
He scans online stores and then provides customers with constructive solutions to make their online businesses work even better.
