E-commerce sites should reconsider search strategy

Maxymiser has released research that suggests that e-commerce websites are still failing to maximise online revenues, with a high percentage of respondents reporting unsatisfactory experiences.

The study, carried out by Redshift Research in conjunction with Maxymiser, found that 82 per cent of respondents have abandoned their shopping basket in the past year, while 69 per cent of respondents would not return to a website if the purchasing process had been unsatisfactory.

When asked why they had decided to abandon their shopping baskets, one in three respondents cited one of the following reasons: the website was too slow; a desire to find the products cheaper elsewhere; or simply because they had changed their mind.

Significantly, 63 per cent of respondents also said that they now know the web address of their favourite websites, rather than having to use a search engine, meaning that online businesses are likely to see diminishing returns from their search marketing spend this year.

The research shows that online shopping continues to grow in popularity across all vertical sectors.

In the retail sector, 57 per cent of respondents now regularly purchase products on entertainment websites (music and DVDs, for example).

41 per cent of respondents now regularly purchase products on electrical goods websites, 33 per cent regularly purchase on clothing websites, and 19 per cent of respondents regularly purchase on grocery websites.

In the travel sector, 48 per cent of respondents now regularly purchase holidays and weekend breaks via the internet, while in the finance and insurance sector 53 per cent of respondents regularly purchase products online.

In the leisure and hospitality sector, 36 per cent of respondents regularly do online shopping.

The research also found that 56 per cent of respondents felt security was the most important factor when shopping online, while 31 per cent believed cost to be the most important criteria.

Other responses included ease of use (nine per cent), stock availability (three per cent) and speed of processing (two per cent).

Mark Simpson, managing director of Maxymiser, said: 'Any business that is running an e-commerce website needs to wake up to the appalling leakage that is taking place as visitors move through their web pages.

'As this research has clearly highlighted, the majority of e-commerce websites are losing customers who have actually spent time on the website and have selected goods that they are willing to buy.

'If customers continue to abandon their shopping baskets at this rate then it will represent a significant lost revenue opportunity for online businesses.

Simpson added: 'The research has demonstrated that consumers will abandon their shopping baskets for a variety of reasons.

'However, in our experience it is often the smallest and least obvious details that make the difference between conversion and abandonment, such as copy, images, calls to action and product offers presented online.

'The need for these subtle modifications is unlikely to come out of the traditional approach to website redesign - which involves closed-door meetings of a company's key strategists and web designers.

'It will only come to light following live testing with actual website visitors.

'A truly personalised web experience will be one that offers customers web page layouts, sequences and content that have been dynamically put together based on that user's demonstrated preferences.

The research also reveals that online businesses may need to re-think their search marketing strategies this year, as 63 per cent of respondents now go directly to the web address of their favourite websites rather than using a search engine to find what they are looking for.

Simpson said: 'Online businesses continue to focus heavily on customer acquisition marketing, but by redirecting the same level of investment into improving your conversion performance, organisations stand to see far greater returns.

'The average uplift in conversion following regular testing and small iterative improvements has shown itself to be in the region of 34-35 per cent, which could have a huge impact on the bottom line.

Another research study conducted by Maxymiser found that even online marketing professionals were unable to correctly identify winning web content by eye.

Of 452 marketers that had a go at guessing the best-performing web content from an A/B/C/D test, only 21 people were able to get it right.

Simpson added: 'Some preconceptions of what works well online must be guiding marketers' decision-making processes as the results of this study are so far below even what random selection would produce.

'We don't know what those preconceptions are but it would appear that they get in the way of selecting the best content and page layouts online.

'Ultimately it should be the visitors themselves who design your website, based on the live choices they make on your pages.

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