Utilising Behavioural Science principles to improve eCommerce (and how to measure success)

At Spotless, we often utilise behavioural science principles to understand how customers behave when visiting a client’s website.  For websites engaged in selling products and services in particular, these are embedded in our eCommerce model: Entice-Excite-Reassure-Transact.

These four stages of engagement, point to recommendations on the type of engagement that we see matches different mindsets that a customer may take as they make a purchasing decision on a website.   In many purchases made online - whether on mobile or on a larger screen format - the customer may make multiple visits to your website as they evaluate their options.  As they discover more, they may go through different considerations, and this influences the way in which different parts of a website purchase journey can be designed.

ENTICE

Let’s start off with the initial landing on the site.  A user, whether through a google search, or perhaps a direct approach often makes a quick evaluation of whether the website is likely to meet their needs.   At this point, we are in the ‘Entice’ stage.  This is the equivalent of the shop window front - the task is to convince the customer that it is worthwhile investing some time exploring the website.  Homepages of a website are often the place in which key imagery and messaging is placed to Entice exploration of the site.  Here we can apply behavioural drivers such as Rewards or Scarcity to drive customers to engage with the site.  The enticements can take the form of time-based offers (Black Friday being a seasonal example), and discount codes.   Enticements can also be in the Tangibility of the offering and use of aspirational imagery to drive desirability.  The measures of success in this first stage of engagement are bounce rate and visit duration.  A successful Entice approach should reduce bounce, and extend duration of visits to your website.

EXCITE

If your customer has been enticed to explore, the second stage is exciting them sufficiently to consider your offering as a potential option.  One way to measure success in the Excite stage can be the placement of products in the shopping basket.   To get to this point, customers will need to be able to understand how the product fits their needs.   We often find that creating a clear choice architecture is one of the underlying elements to facilitate decision making.    While there may be a temptation to throw all the selling points onto the product page, there is a need for strong information design to avoid overwhelming a customer.   We look out for restraints that create barriers - such as too many steps or decisions a customer has to make.  Overcoming barriers to the purchase can be done through reducing Effort and making the best option for a customer clear. 

REASSURE

At this point, customers may leave websites to consider other options.  Upon return (or possibly within the same single visit), a different mindset often prevails.  This is a more questioning mindset, where concerns can surface.  This may be about the product or solution itself, or it can be around the more logistical aspects of the purchase.  For the product itself, choice validation is often a strong approach.  This could be in social proof such as user reviews, or it can take the form of videos or images showing how the product or service is used by people in similar situations to them.  A good FAQs section is usually a big asset - particularly if the product category is relatively new or unknown (newer technologies such as Electric Vehicles as an example).  A proxy measure for the success of Reassure is a comparative change in how many baskets progress to the payment screens.

TRANSACT

The final stage is about simplicity and trust.   A successful online experience requires the customer to feel secure in providing personal information including payment details and addresses within the website environment.  This requires the basket checkout and payment approaches to demonstrate Familiarity and transparency.    For more complex checkouts (think of an airline flight ticket as an example), a stepped approach is often a good structure to enable decision making while avoiding cognitive overload.  A proxy measure of success for Transact, is the basket conversion, where the number of checkout journeys started, ends in a sale.

SUMMARY

Not all eCommerce websites are the same - but these four principles are usually good barometers to evaluate how your website addresses your customer’s mindset and help them make the best choice for them. 

At Spotless we offer customer experience research and design services, including Expert Reviews and Usability studies, to help optimise your online and offline channels.

Photo by Hamed Taha on Unsplash