E-commerce brands and retailers are always on the lookout to improve their customer experience and stand out in a busy online marketplace. One area which many may struggle with, or perhaps not have even thought of, is product selection. This may include the customer having difficulty visualising the product beyond static images and product descriptions, feeling overwhelmed by the product choices, or even struggling to find the right fit for them. However, with the rise of live video shopping, e-commerce brands and retailers have a new tool to alleviate these pain points and provide a more succinct, personalised shopping experience.
In this article, we will cover the following:
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The customer pain points of e-commerce product selection
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How live video shopping can improve the e-commerce shopping experience
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Benefits of focusing on customer pain points
The customer pain points of e-commerce
When it comes to online shopping, customers face a number of challenges when it comes to selecting products.
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Difficulty visualising products
- The inability to see the products beyond static images and product descriptions can lead to uncertainty or hesitation around making the purchase. Customers may struggle to visualise the product in their rooms or on themselves without clarification from a brand ambassador, reducing the number of browsers turning into shoppers
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Overwhelming choices
- Especially true for product categories with a large number of variations (such as home goods, clothing, or electronics), too many choices can lead to confusion or dissatisfaction in the final decision
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Uncertainty about quality
- If a customer is new to the market or the product has a high price point, they may be uncertain about the quality of the products they are considering
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Limited availability
- Customers who find a product they are in interested only for it to be out of stock or on backorder can get frustrated, especially if they don’t have the assistance of a brand ambassador to recommend alternatives
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Lack of alignment between online and offline experiences
- A customer might find a product online that they like, but when they visit the physical store to purchase it, they find that the product is not available or does not match the online description (webrooming). Conversely, a customer might see a product in-store but decide not to purchase it because they would prefer to see it in a different colour or size, only to find that the options available online are different or limited (showrooming). Find out more about the webrooming and showrooming strategies, and how together they can deliver the best customer experience
How live video shopping can improve the e-commerce shopping experience
To address these challenges, e-commerce brands and retailers are turning to live video shopping as a solution. Live video shopping allows customers to connect with brand ambassadors via a live video on the retailer’s website. The brand ambassador can then provide a personalised shopping experience, showcasing products, answering questions, and helping customers make informed purchase decisions. Read more about live video shopping, and how it enables profitable engagement with customers.
Improving the pain points
Live video shopping, especially Confer With’s live one-to-one video shopping platform, is an excellent solution for retailers to implement if they are looking to improve customer pain points in e-commerce. Here’s how.
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Difficulty visualising products
- With live one-to-one video shopping, customers can see the products in real-time, ask questions, and get personalised recommendations from the brand ambassador. The retailer can either showcase the products virtually or physically over the video call. Check out how luxury Italian haircare brand, Oway, built an immersive shopping experiencewith their digital store!
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Overwhelming choices
- For large product SKU’s, live one-to-one video shopping allows the brand ambassadors to offer personalised recommendations based on the customer’s needs and preferences. The brand ambassadors can narrow down the options and help customers make informed purchase decisions based on their specific requirements. In fact, Elasticsearch reports that “88% of online shoppers said they were more likely to continue shopping on a retailer website that offers a personalized experience, including 96% of Gen Z and 97% of millennials”.
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Uncertainty about quality
- Through live video shopping, customers can get a better sense of the product’s size, colour, texture, and functionality; this immersive and interactive shopping experience can help reduce uncertainty and increase confidence in the purchase decision.
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Limited availability
- Confer With’s live video shopping platform shows brand ambassadors the number of products available in their catalogue. Should the one the customer wishes to view be unavailable, the brand ambassador can cross sell, recommending alternative products that are just as suitable. This can result in a 49% and above increase in average order value for the brand and retailer.
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Lack of alignment between online and offline experiences
- Live one-to-one video shopping can bridge the gap between online and offline retail by offering the convenience and flexibility of online shopping with the personal touch of a brick-and-mortar store. Customers can receive real-time assistance, ask questions, and receive immediate answers, creating a more seamless and engaging shopping experience.
Benefits of focusing on customer pain points
There are three main benefits when focusing on customer pain points to improve the e-commerce shopping experience: increased customer engagement, reduced return rates, and higher conversion rates. Both offer benefits to the brand and retailer, which we will now explore further.
Increased customer satisfaction
With regular e-commerce stores, NPS scores can easily fall below the excellent benchmark. This could be down to a number of reasons such as impersonal or automated customer service, poor product quality, or even lack of knowledge or solutions from representatives. When brands and retailers focus on these customer pain points, they can increase their NPS scores to between 70 and 80.
Picture this:
A customer comes to an online representative unsure of what outfit to wear for an event they have coming up. With this information, the brand ambassador can learn more about the context and the consumer’s style to then best advise them on what clothing item to purchase. This will result in increased customer satisfaction and, by extension, higher NPS scores for the brand and retailer thanks to these real-time interactions and advice.
Read more on how businesses can improve their NPS score in retail with live video shopping.
Reduced return rates
Addressing customer pain points in the e-commerce shopping experience can be a useful strategy for reducing return rates; by identifying and addressing the root of a customer’s dissatisfaction, this can improve the overall shopping experience. Brands and retailers can therefore expect to see an increase in customer satisfaction and loyalty.
When customers encounter pain points during the e-commerce shopping experience, such as difficulty finding the right product, a confusing checkout process, or slow delivery times, they may become frustrated and dissatisfied with their purchase. This can lead to a higher likelihood of returns and negative reviews, which can damage the business’s reputation and future sales. By addressing these pain points, businesses can enhance the overall customer experience by making it simpler for customers to find the products they need, navigate the checkout process, and receive their purchases in a prompt and efficient manner. This can increase customer satisfaction, loyalty, and ultimately, lower return rates.
Higher conversion rates
The average e-commerce conversion rates lie at around 2.5%; Confer With’s live one-to-one video shopping platform sees results of 20% conversion rates. How? Through a four-stage process:
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Match
- Brands and retailers can use Confer With to set up virtual appointments or match high-value customers with members of their team in real time. In order to guarantee sales, this ensures that crucial customer requirements are met—sometimes even exceeded
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Engage
- Customers can interact with brands and retailers in a way that makes them feel at ease. Live video shopping considers more cooperation around choosing the right item for the client; any queries or questions can be answered quickly and effectively. It gives customers a variety of ways to interact and emotionally invest in the brand and retailer
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Immerse
- The platform allows brands and retailers to show product pictures, video demos and even more, allowing them to curate recommendations for their customers, comparable to the physical retail experience.
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Convert
- Using Confer With’s virtual shared basket, brands and retailers can convert more sales. Customers will be more reassured and engaged with the products showm, which will encourage them to return for more and make additional investments in the brand and retailer
Key Takeaways
- Customer pain points when it comes to product selection are often overlooked in e-commerce, as it is assumed they know what they want to purchase – this is not the case
- To turn browsers into shoppers, online brands and retailers should implement live video shopping solutions to target these specific pain points
- Confer With’s live one-to-one vide shopping platform allows brands and retailers to match, engage, immerse and convert their online customers from browsers into shoppers
