Retail, in the eyes of the everyday customer

Shoppers like to know other shoppers have purchased from an e-tailer before.  This is why customer reviews are so effective.  But, as Jared Spool eloquently demonstrated in his Revealing Design Treasures presentation roughly 1,300 purchases generate 1 review, so for many smaller e-tailers product reviews are often empty.  But that does not mean we can’t build trust in a visitor.  Lewisbamboo.com does something quite impressive.  First, if you scroll down on their orders page you’ll find this wonderful snippet:

And then, clicking the 722 cities link takes you to this page:

This is just a snippet, you can see the whole list here.

Do I have proof this strategy improves conversions? No.  Is it reassuring to someone about to pull the credit card trigger?  I’m pretty sure it is.

PS: I hope they update the date from 2006.

What I like about this execution is that eBags lists how many other people are looking at the 15 remaining bags– 653.

Purchase decisions are a dialog between two sides of your conscience; the side against it and the side for it.  To help resolve this struggle WD40.com lists 2,000 reasons to buy, grouped into eight categories and five functions.  Here is how they convince workshop customers:

The remaining 1,983 uses are listed here.

DogIDs.com’s security seal is accompanied with a video.  Smart idea.

I’m betting this sign subliminally influences the decision making process of a first time buyer, “Hey this guy is hiring, he must be doing well”

Wonder if anyone has done an A/B test on this?

Great landing page example from ThinkFastToys.com:

– The Google ad-

– The landing page-

The landing page gives quick bullets on why we should buy Hide & Seek Safari toys from this site.  Competitive shoppers can quickly scan through the five benefits.  Within scanning range is their BizRate rating, below that a customer testimonial and on top live chat.  What I don’t like is the up-selling going on (left of the page).  “Hide & Seek Safari Monkey” is a very specific query and I’d keep focus on that product.  Not sure if this is a practical suggestion but it would be even nicer if monkey was the highlighted product.

Yesterday I enjoyed a great hamburger at Patty Burger, but I’m not sure it’s make-10-trips-for-a-free-one great:

Patty Burger punch card

The idea of a punch card is to build loyalty.  The business is placing a carrot of a free burger for any customer willing to make 10 trips.  A new customer who makes 10 trips should be counted as a convert, so the strategy is great.  The problem I have is that 10 is too big a commitment.  I think make-five-trips-for-a-free-one would have the same financial impact while encouraging higher participation.  As a company new to the Chicago market early customer participation could be the difference between huge buzz and no buzz.

For years I’ve been going to the same barber shop and getting my hair cut by the same person, Dana.  Their service has never been complaint worthy but I’ve always found them a little expensive.  The accountant looking over my transaction history has no way to knowing I am dissatisfied, all he sees are monthly transactions of $25 through a card ending in 6849.

But then, one day, I didn’t go.  On my morning walk I discovered another shop (a few blocks away) with a neon light advertising a $16 cut.  When I walked in I definitely noticed a different vibe; it was a first-come-first-serve model and people were walking in and out pretty quick.  Their staff of six was bigger than the other place that had two people.  I was also used to a little bit of chit chat and the customary question, “So how’s your wife doing?”  After the cut I walked to the counter and paid.  When I tried to add a tip the owner said “ah, no need for tip”.  At first I felt guilty but then realized tips were not part of this new place’s business model.  In effect, the new place works out to be 46% cheaper.  The question is, what is Dana thinking?

I bet she’s not worried.  Here’s way, she probably surveyed the new place and said “nothing to worry about here.  They are cheaper but their shop looks horrible with gaudy designs.  They run the place like a factory and don’t assign stylists to customers.  Factoring in for our nice clean shop, superior products and personalized service anyone should understand why our price is a real bargain.”  Dana is right, all the added elements to her business certainly justify why she charges $30 but Dana would do herself a huge favor is she had a few steepness nights.  I don’t know the owner’s name (let’s call him Steve) of the new place but he’s a brilliant man.  He has managed to slash his price without eliminating a single item that I care about.  I don’t care about having the same barber cut my hair, I don’t care the store does high volume as long as I don’t have to wait and I certainly don’t care about chit chat.  Dana and Steve are price engineering from two entirely different perspectives.  Dana is looking at her price and then justifying it and Steve is reading external market needs to determine pricing.  In downtown Chicago most office people come down for a quick trim so they can go back and continue work.  And Steve gets that.

Engineering price-points based on ever changing customer dynamics is a key strategy for a retailer.  Only if you base your price-point on what’s going on at the customer’s end can you get a reading of trends.  Dana’s rent, two person cost of operation and shampoos are fixed numbers and since they determine pricing she will never know when a tectonic shift takes place, until it’s too late.

If a retailer can figure out a way to reduce price without diluting the customer experience they must either tweak their pricing or add to the customer experience.

Cover Plug is an innovative baby safety product and is available at the following etailers:

– thebabysgallerie.com
– chelseasroom.com
– wrapables.com

Each of these retailers has a different selling style.  Here are the three product pages:

– thebabysgallerie.com

– chelseasroom.com

– wrapables.com

Pick the design, layout and content you like best.  Now let’s see comparative traffic trends:

Now I know this is an isolated example and wrapables.com might have more traffic for a number of reasons (paid search spend, product depth, pricing strategy etc) but I am willing to bet that good design (and content) drives repeat visits.  Even if I didn’t buy the product today odds are I’ll remember wrapables.com over the other two.  That makes all the difference.

Related article: Same Product, Totally Different Brand Experience

For me, generating the first time sale trumps all metrics.  Therefore I would expect First-Time Buyer Free Shipping to be a popular strategy.  Unfortunately, I’ve never found a retailer that offers this.  Now, let me qualify, I typically spend 7-10 seconds on a store (this is what most first time visitors do, thus the title of my blog) so if free shipping is buried chances are I wouldn’t find it.  Backroad Hobbies Primitive Decor is an exception.