It comes as no surprise that thanks to recent changes in Google's algorithm, your product details page (PDP) has become the main window into your brand. In fact, Google Shopping now sends more customers to your PDP than your brands homepage.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean you need to reconsider how you measure the success of a page. PDPs generally have a higher bounce and exit rate, so don't be alarmed if you see these climbing.
E-commerce templates have remained stagnant while the nature of online shopping has changed, so there's going to be a transitional period as we reconsider the customers shopping experience - their journey from the PDP, and throughout the rest of the site.
Every fashion retail client we've worked with shares this significant statistic:
A customer that reviews your size guide is three to five times more likely to purchase than one that doesn't.
The issue is that size guides are quite generic, and interrupt the flow of the sale - the customer likes the look of an item, clicks the size guide to determine their size, and has to then return to the PDP to check if their nominated size is in stock.
In short, we're treating a high-intent customer very badly.
There's so much potential to deliver a better experience whether by offering an interactive size guide tool, 'training' customers on how to use the size guide, or developing a seamless size finding journey.
Getting your size guide experience right plays a big role in reducing returns and increasing customer confidence.
Customers have started to treat the shopping cart like a virtual change room, where they'll place everything they're interested in before deciding what to buy. In essence, the shopping cart has become the new wishlist.
So much so, that even if you offer a wishlist function on your site, most customers will prefer using the cart because its easier to progress to purchase.
This could mean you see an increased exit rate from the cart page, but all is not what it seems - this could be your customers circling back to the PDP while making their final purchase decision, a journey that is relatively misunderstood.
We've even heard of customers using the cart as an in-store shopping list, so we reiterate, an omni-channel strategy is a non-negotiable in this day and age.
We're seeing a significant trend in retailers moving their loyalty programs onto an app, but good examples of a seamless customer experience from desktop to mobile to app are rare. This discrepancy between the mobile and app experience is forcing the customer to relearn how to shop with you, causing a significant inefficiency.
The shopping experience must be consistent so any insights from the web or mobile site can be translated into the app and vice versa.
Cart as a wishlist is just one of the changes we've noticed in recent times, signalling that we're using old metrics to measure new behaviour, delivering false metrics and analytics about our customers.
High bounce rates, high exit rates and high cart abandonment are not what they used to be, and you need to account for that.
For example, when looking at a landing page which (necessarily) has a high bounce rate because the customer has no where else to go, the question becomes - how can we integrate this landing page into the rest of the site?
If Google is sending traffic to your PDP, you can test new types of PDP designs to keep the customer on the page. They're at the start of the shopping funnel, so are they looking for price? Build a price story. Are they looking for a specific style? Present an occasion.
SUMMARY
Once you've established motive, you can start to design experiences for different channels. E-commerce is undergoing a period of great change as customers establish new behaviours. Experimentation is one of the best tools to track and analyse these shifts so you can better understand your customer journeys, and create and deliver an improved shopping and brand experience.
Interested to learn more?
