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Online retailing is a complex and at times over- analyzed business.  Due to the nature of the medium, every last piece of data is tracked and picked apart by retailers and vendors alike.  Buzz-phrases like “path to purchase” “visual hierarchy” and “suggestive selling techniques” abound in our business.  Retailers are constantly on the lookout for the next magic bullet that will give them the edge over their competitors and provide the ever-elusive customer loyalty that eludes so many these days.

But as with many complex problems, the cure can be worse than the disease, and make us lose site of what’s really important. Case in point: I recently purchased a PDF of Marketing Sherpa’s Landing Page Handbook. It is a document designed to provide research data and first hand best practices on page design, e-mail marketing campaigns, etc.  At least that’s what I think it’s about, because they have made it EXTREMELY difficult for me to even read the thing!

The document itself, once purchased, comes password protected -- requiring a code for entry.  Ok, fine, understood – I will just grab the code.  But where is it?  Not on my buyer’s landing page, not in the confirmation e-mail…but in an obscure link within the online receipt.  I am forced to read through two pages of largely useless information from the vendor (I am singularly focused on getting that code now), where finally, almost as if by chance, I come across my code.  So, I save the document to my hard-drive and move on with my life.  Until of course, I want to access the document again – and AGAIN I am prompted for the code…you can probably guess how the rest of this goes…and why it has resulted in a frustrated consumer.

Despite much advancement over the past 5 years, the buying experience of many online stores has lots of room for improvement.

Moral of this little story?  Make it easy for your customers to BUY!  Having a good product, advanced customer acquisition campaigns and detailed data tracking tools is all fine and well, but the process begins and ends with allowing the consumer to buy and begin using, your products.  

Posted at 01:58 PM in eCommerce Strategy | Permalink