How to Understand and Enhance Online Consumer Behavior - Drive Digital

We live in a time when online consumer behavior in the competitive eCommerce landscape continues to evolve with technological advancements and innovative new ways to connect products and services with end customers.  

In this new age of post-covid-19 retail shopping, even traditional brick-and-mortar stores have entered the online landscape. As a result, understanding new trends in emerging consumer shopping behavior can be a wealth of knowledge in growing your online presence and sales. 

Re-assessing the customer journey, user touchpoints, and needs are crucial to streamlining your acquisition and increasing brand loyalty through tapping into what customers actually want. As much you suppose to grasp consumer behavior, there is likely always more to the puzzle. Although the fast-moving eCommerce landscape makes it difficult to discern and organize these dynamic needs across the board, circling back to the strategic breakdown of general customer expectations is always a good place to start.  

So what is online consumer behavior?

Online consumer behavior describes how and why customers make the decisions they do when purchasing products online. While these individual actions and behaviors that drive online interactions are different for every shopper, focus on new findings tracked to widespread needs and patterned expectations. 

Matching customer expectations in terms of product availability, logistical transparency, affordability, and shipping costs all contribute to a positive shopping experience. Oftentimes, a single negative interaction or touchpoint along the shopping journey can taint the entire experience. Cast a net over the entirety of online behavior, narrowing down patterned behavior into individual needs.   

Online trends in consumer behavior:  

The following breakdown will outline emerging consumer behaviors and how to successfully capitalize on these trends in adapting the most profitable strategies for your online store.  

Improved Convenience 

Around 76% of shoppers rank convenience as their top priority when it comes to online shopping. Convenience online means easily browsing online stock and checking out without being forced to create an account or engage with excess pop-ups and prompts. A clean layout, navigation, and imagery are all key aspects of a convenient shopping experience. 

The fewer steps it takes for a customer to move through the online buying journey, the more likely that person is to return. Here, time is money, and money is time. 

Unlimited Access 

It’s rare to encounter an individual using a single device throughout their day. Since capitalizing on meaningful conversions at checkout often require a perfect combination of variables, having your eCommerce platform optimized for a user's preferred mode of online shopping can make or break the deal.

Whether it be an employee on their work desktop shopping for clothes, or an individual sitting poolside looking for some new sunglasses on mobile, easy cross-device shopping experiences are imperative. 81% of online shoppers need a seamless shopping experience, whether on mobile, laptop, or desktop. 

Omnichannel Shopping 

Omnichannel shopping is a multi-channel approach to sales that incorporates desktop, mobile devices, telephone, and brick-and-mortar store channels into one. Omnichannel shopping has seen a huge spike in popularity given features like Instagram shopping that allow merchants to utilize social features for shopping purposes. 

Now, given 70% of consumers shop multitasking, customers almost expect that their favorite brands to be on the same channels where they spend the majority of their time.

Painless Payment 

Given consumers seek convenience and access over anything, implement strategies to optimize the checkout process. Simplifying a secure and easy-to-set-up payment gateway drives 89% of consumers to make a purchasing decision more quickly and confidently. Accepting popular payment methods and flexible payment plans gives customers on the fence the peace of mind to pull the trigger on a purchase they would have otherwise passed or hesitated on. 

Rapid & Efficient Delivery 

It's no secret that customers expect and deserve fast delivery options when shopping online. For some, the very act of shopping online rather than in-store is done based on time and convenience variables. In an age where 72% of consumers abandon their purchases over a lack of shipping transparency on eCommerce sites, efficient logistics and supply chain management is crucial. 

How to meet modern online shopping expectations? 

Here, the key to success lies in understanding eCommerce trends and implementing cutting-edge solutions that continue to exceed customer expectations. The following methods work to help you keep up with the evolving changes and demands of customers.  

Diversify your platforms

A major part of getting your products into the hands of consumers is knowing where they are and how they spend their time. This requires looking for growth in the right places. Understanding who your target audience is and how to capture their attention comes with research and platform testing. While some online brands have massive success advertising and selling on social platforms like Tik Tok, others have the opposite. Diversifying your influence in the right places is key to growing your customer base. 

Streamline your supply chain 

Now that companies like Amazon have standardized features like 2-day shipping, consumers expect transparent and convenient expedited shipping options. It's no secret that customers value speed and affordability 

Returns can create a world of headaches if not properly managed. However tedious, establishing a smart returns management blueprint designed to combat customer pain points and potential losses. There's no question the returns will come, so capitalizing on the strategic opportunity to attend and build memorable customer experiences that increase loyalty is well worth the effort.  

Personalize the shopping experience 

Conveniently filtering products and recommending services that fit specific consumer needs helps facilitate a personal connection with customers. Customers don't want to dig too deep to resolve the problem or need at hand.

Curate the best possible customer experience using available data like purchase history, geographic positioning, and contact info. When analyzed and applied, this data is essential to providing a personalized shopping experience. 

Conclusion

As the eCommerce landscape continues to grow, so will the amount and complexity of consumer needs. Prepare yourself today by partnering with a competent digital marketing agency with the branding skills, technical instruments, and experience you require to stay ahead of trends in an ultra-competitive eCommerce landscape. For a customizable digital marketing plan, or to explore how Drive Digital can take your promotional strategies to the next step, get in touch to explore our suite of customizable digital marketing services which include email marketing, PPC advertising, social media management, and SEO.