Online Customer Expectations

Do website users really know what they want?

Well actually this depends on quite a few factors. However what we do know is that there is a pressing demand from the general web browser (that is, a person not a program) to get things done quickly and to get it done right. So does quick=speedy page loading? No. Speed means access to information. Get the customer through your shop door and to the shelf or rail with the product they want ASAP! This is of course obvious but how many websites do you know that do this?

Lack of Information Vs Information Overload

Getting the balance just right is the most difficult task but offers the most reward. The e-commerce site I’m currently managing has quite a sizable number of pages (4 digits). So is this enough? Well relatively speaking the customer speaks the loudest. Analysis has shown that whilst we have as much as 10 to 15 times the information contained in our brochures, customer are still not satisfied. Afterall, it is the customer that knows what they want, not us! Or do we? Analysing traffic through your website can seem like walking through a maze.

The Little Big Brother Approach

Whilst web analytics can tell you the what and when, how do you work out the why? You can either ask them directly, in focus groups and lab tests – let’s be honest, how many participants can we really capture in full-flight – or you can install some clever software that will actually allow you to play-back customer journeys through your website! Clever? Well not as clever as being able to set ‘triggers’ to record certain journeys. Saves a fair amount of time working out why exactly your attrition levels are so high. You thought the page was so simple that it must be the users that are doing something wrong. Well set a trigger to alert you when someone hits this page and play back the sessions. You might just be surprised.

Customer Expectations

Customers are more and more expecting to spend less time searching and more time consuming information online. Go ask Google. That’s why it is key to reduce any ‘low-hanging fruit’ issues with your site as possible and concentrate on a strategy to streamline your customer journey for the mid-term. Information is key, but make it relevant, easy to find and don’t make your customers think too much!

Depesh Mandalia

The Key Customer Journey

The Customer Journey is Key

So what is the Customer Journey? This depends on your KPIs, the setup of your site, your path-to-purchase and many other things aside. Web analytics allows you to drill down on the journey your customers are taking. But is this your key Customer Journey?

What is my key Customer Journey?

Your key customer journey is a path through your website defined by you as an end goal. Buy a product. Book a holiday.  These are both key customer journeys; to your business. So how do you define your Customer Journey? Look at your KPIs. This is always a good starting point. What is the aim of your website? Are you selling something? Are you an informational portal? Think about this. Google’s key Customer Journey is to get you to click off of their website as soon as possible. Their measure of success? How little time you spend on their site amongst other things. The key here is to determine what you want people to do on your site.

The Customer Journeys

The Customer Journeys actually undertaken within the website are key for the success of your website. Are users doing what you want them to do? Are they achieving their goals? Using analytics tools within your website will be key in allowing you to drill down to what your [potential] customers are doing. Combine your key Customer Journeys (what you want your visitors to do) with your Customer Journeys (what they are actually doing) to determine your success rate. Only then can you begin a program of optimisation and improvement to continually ensure your website offers the best customer experience and increases propensity to complete a goal.

Depesh Mandalia

Setting KPIs for non-transactional websites

Measuring non-transactional websites

Welcome to Depesh Mandalia’s Weblog. So first thoughts? Well 2008 has been an interesting start. First challenge. Measuring non-financial KPIs. Many companies and individuals I’ve met have expressed a view on non-transactional websites and the difficulty in measuring success. A transactional website is traditionally primed at focusing on look-to-book conversion ratios and revenue streams. There are always measures available for data collection but how else do you measure success?

So there are tools out there, such as Webtrends Marketing Labs 2 allowing you to unleash enterprise level data collection around your customer, all available for analysis. However, there is a far cheaper and pain-free way in which to achieve a measure of current success, allowing you to analyse direct feedback from your customers, the most important people out there in the online cosmos.

An online site survey. So what’s the big deal? Instigate the most appropriate questions pertaining to your business and you’ll uncover some interesting home truths. Think that the design of your site is great? Have you really spent enough time on the Information Architecture? There are no better direct responses en-mass than a site survey. Set up a selection of questions based on what you want to learn about your site, your customers, their views, their preferences and you’ll open a Pandora’s box of feedback. Please your customer and you’ll please your boss!

But how do we measure the success of non-transactional websites?

Benchmark, analyse, improve, measure. By using a survey to benchmark results of your non-transactional KPIs, you can plan a programme of continual improvement to ensure a) you improve the customer experience and b) you continually engage the success of your website.

Measuring the success is simple. Deciding what to ask is not so easy. Using an expert such as Neil Mason (search for him online) , vastly experienced in data collection and analysis is a viable option! However if you wish to do things yourself, pick up a free or cheap survey tool, attach it to your homepage and take a look around the web to see what others are asking to guide you down the path of discovery. Each business is different so there’s not much value in explaining our particular approach.

So how do we measure the success of non-transactional websites?

The measure of success is based on analysing the monthly results to gauge the rise or fall of your ratings. How well your visitors have rated your website experience. This does rely on the following however:

• Give the visitor the option to opt-out. If they opt-out don’t ask them again.
• If the visitor opts-in and completes the form, don’t ask them again

Setting a cookie threshold of 6-12 months allows you to ensure that each month you obtain a fresh batch of results to ensure an unbiased view of your website. This has the drawback of effectively continuously changing the goalposts, however this also ensures that your website improvements are effective enough to keep the majority happy. Use the 80/20 rule. Or 90/10. You decide.

There is far more to it of course than this but this should be enough to give food for thought for those that are interested. Watch this space for more on this in the coming months.

Depesh Mandalia