When trying to appeal to eCommerce shoppers, it’s critical that your brand acknowledges their overall journey. The buyer journey is the process of evaluation that shoppers will go through before making a purchase. This journey, or path to purchase, can be categorized into three stages: awareness, consideration, and decision.
Once you understand the path to purchase for your potential customers, you can work toward building a better experience and buyer journey. Here’s how you can start:
Make reviews easier to filter
Customer reviews are one of the biggest revenue drivers: About 77% of people say that reviews impact their purchase decisions. By adding topic filters to reviews, shoppers have the ability to find the feedback that is most relevant to their needs.
Bob’s Discount Furniture implemented Yotpo Smart Filters, which enable shoppers to find comments about fabric, size, price, or delivery from within hundreds of reviews. The AI-powered reviews filters increased on-site product engagement and boosted conversion rates.
Send better emails
It’s essential to stand out from the countless emails shoppers receive by upgrading your email marketing strategy. Optimizing your emails is about three things: who, what, and when.
- Who: This question requires segmenting your campaigns based on audience. For instance, your messaging to a satisfied five-star reviewer should be different than to a disappointed two-star reviewer. The more personalized you can get, the better the impact of your email will be.
- What: When asking what to include in your email, remember that product reviews have a strong conversion rate. Rather than describing your own product, let your customers do the talking. The authenticity of their reviews can have more resonance.
- When: This refers to the importance of timing. Use behavioral data to find out when your customers are most likely to open and click through.
Stand out from the competition on Google
Google Shopping is an excellent opportunity to rise to the top via search. By partnering with an official Google Partner such as Yotpo, your on-site reviews can be syndicated to your Google listings — adding helpful information to the search results and increasing buyer confidence with Google Seller Ratings.
MVMT had collected more than 300 reviews for their Rosewood Gold Watch. Rather than shoppers needing to click through to their site to see the reviews, the 4.8 stars were prominently displayed on Google’s search page, along with enthusiastic comments and customer photos.
Extend the reach of your content
Third-party retailers can help your brand reach a new audience along the path to purchase. However, it’s essential to bring your influential user-generated content along with you. By syndicating your content to top retail sites like Walmart, you can share your reviews, ratings, and visual UGC with your shoppers anywhere they are. You can also syndicate your content to social via shops on Facebook and Instagram.
Turn reviews into ads
Your user-generated content is one of the best marketing tools you have — especially when it comes to understanding the buyer journey. Those five-star reviews are authentic and enthusiastic, and they provide a real perspective about what it’s like to use your products.
Let your customers be your advocates by highlighting your best reviews via ads. These personal opinions are very effective on social media — ads made from reviews have three times higher click-through rate.
Meet your customers where they’re most present via SMS
With the average person spending more than four hours on their mobile devices — and over 65% of shoppers making purchases on their smartphones — SMS provides a great way for brands to cut through the noise and build effective customer relationships. Texts have a 98% open rate and a 35% click-through rate, making SMS a highly effective channel for engagement.
Therefore, it’s more important than ever that your SMS campaigns are informative, engaging, and interactive. Let your customers know when their favorite jeans are back in stock, or when you’ve just released a T-shirt they previously purchased in a new color.
Close the loop by engaging with your customers post purchase
The buyer journey does not end after the order arrives. Creating an engaging post-purchase experience is an essential part of increasing customer retention.
One of the best ways to keep your customers engaged after making a purchase is through a loyalty program, which enables you to create incentives for additional interactions and purchases. Reward customers for actions beyond just the transactional, like leaving a review, following on social media, or subscribing to your company blog.
Want more tips on how to optimize the buyer journey? Download The New eCommerce Growth Model now.
