With nearly half (44 percent) of today’s online shoppers using a smartphone as their device of choice, consumers are more often than not multi-tasking while making purchase decisions—which is creating puzzling new barriers for brands to overcome in retaining attention and converting online browsers.
Customer journey enhancement firm Namogoo revealed this and other findings in its Online Consumer Behavior 2018 Study, based on a survey of 1,300 online shoppers.
The majority of consumers today are engaged in other activities while shopping
Fifty-seven percent of respondents indicated they make purchases while at work, 51 percent are actively shopping while conducting household chores, and a significant number of respondents are shopping while dining out, running errands or commuting to work.
“This data further confirms the importance of making every online journey as seamless as possible in order to capture and retain the attention of today’s consumer,” said Ohad Hagai, SVP of marketing at Namogoo, in a news release. “With so many offline distractions surrounding consumers, any barrier in the online experience can act as an exit point and result in a lost transaction for the retailer. While it’s almost impossible for e-commerce brands to control their customers’ offline distractions, there are many online influences crippling conversion rates that are avoidable.”
The survey also reveals for the first time how consumers behave when exposed to unauthorized ads, a phenomenon called Online Journey Hijacking
Over 55 percent of consumers are likely to click on ads appearing on retailer sites that offer the same product they’re looking at for a lower price. Eighty percent of respondents who stated they’d buy the product from the site that lured them away also indicated they would return to that site in the future, highlighting the risk invasive content poses to customer lifetime value (CLV) for online businesses.
Seventy-eight percent of consumers exposed to unauthorized ads while shopping on an eCommerce site, commonly in the form of pop ups, indicated they view that retailer in a negative light because of the distractions. Furthermore, 62 percent of these respondents feel these ads mean the customer experience is not a priority for the retailer.
“We conducted this survey to shed light on what causes and deters purchase decisions for today’s shopper,” said Hagai. “From consumer feedback, it’s clear that retailers have more competition than ever in holding consumer attention, and journey optimization is key.”