The second phase of the eCom Customer Journey is where shoppers evaluate and consider your product
The job is not done yet. Creating awareness and generating interest in your product is just the beginning. To truly win over shoppers and make your product the top bargain, you need to excel in the consideration phase.
“ACCORDING TO A SURVEY REPORT, 85% OF CONSUMERS COMPARE PRODUCTS BEFORE MAKING A PURCHASE ONLINE”
This is the phase where shoppers evaluate your product for their purchase decision. They go beyond the product description and start asking questions like: Is the product available? Does the price suit their budget? What are other customers saying about the product? When will it be delivered?
These are the key questions that need to be addressed during this phase.
Checkpoint I: Quest for the perfect price
Pricing plays a crucial role in a shopper’s decision-making process. It is essential to analyze and determine the perfect price point for your product. Conduct thorough market research and competitor analysis to ensure your pricing is competitive and attractive to potential customers. To optimize their performance with the right pricing brands need:
- Identify and monitor pricing & discount trends
- Boost market positioning with the better pricing decision
- Identify MAP violations across platforms
“ACCORDING TO A SURVEY REPORT, 57% OF CONSUMERS CITE PRICE AS THE MOST IMPORTANT PURCHASE CRITERION”
Checkpoint II: Stock it up
Product availability is a significant factor influencing purchase decisions. Nothing turns away a shopper more than finding their desired product out of stock. Implement a robust inventory management system to track and ensure sufficient stock levels. Anticipate demand patterns and replenish stock accordingly to avoid missed opportunities. Being aware of their stock situation across geography and platforms brands need:
- Insights on competitors Out-of-Stock (OOS) gives for pushing own brand on such geographies
- The optimized stock status also ensures that competition does not eat up their brand market
- Upswing buy-box wins with improved availability across geographies
“44 PERCENT OF CONSUMERS CHOSE TO PURCHASE THE PRODUCT AT A DIFFERENT RETAILER WHEN THE PRODUCT WAS OUT OF STOCK.”
Checkpoint III: Lend Your Ears
Listening to your customers is vital in the consideration phase. Analyze customer feedback, reviews, and ratings to gain valuable insights into their experiences with your product. It helps brands address any concerns or issues promptly and make necessary improvements based on their feedback. This not only builds customer trust but also helps in product refinement. To understand customer sentiment brands need:
- Provide actionable insights for every department in the company to improve product pricing, packaging, and logistics
- Optimize product experience for the customer and thereby reviews and ratings
- Insights unraveling what’s working for the brand and where need to improve in terms of price, quality, quantity, packaging, taste/flavor, genuineness, delivery, etc.
“ABOUT 70% OF CONSUMERS HAVE CHANGED THEIR PERCEPTION OF A BRAND BASED ON IF AND HOW THE COMPANY REPLIED TO AN ONLINE REVIEW”
Checkpoint IV: Seller Check
Collaborating with reliable sellers is crucial for maintaining a positive brand image. Regularly monitor and evaluate the performance of your sellers. Ensure they meet your brand’s standards in terms of product quality, customer service, and adherence to pricing policies. Take appropriate actions if any issues arise to maintain consistency and reliability. To stay updated on seller activities your brand need to:
- Monitor Best performing brand in the sub-category
- Actionable insights for making effective decisions to upswing product into being a best seller
- Boost the brand’s positioning in the market
Checkpoint V: Deliver on time
Timely delivery is a key factor in customer satisfaction. Monitor and optimize your delivery process to ensure that orders are fulfilled promptly. Set realistic delivery time frames and communicate them clearly to customers. By consistently delivering on time, you build trust and enhance the overall customer experience. For uplifting delivery performance and build customer trust your brand need to:
- Optimize delivery time/TAT
- Ensure faster delivery across product categories especially for the best sellers
- Upswing Amazon Buy Box win percentage
Checkpoint VI: Stay SKU healthy
Each stock-keeping unit (SKU) represents a unique product variant. It is crucial to track the performance and health of your SKUs. Analyse, identify underperforming SKUs, and take necessary actions such as promotions, marketing campaigns, or discontinuation of low-performing SKUs. By optimizing SKU performance, you maximize profitability and align your product offerings with customer preferences. Understand your SKUs and optimize performance through:
- Deep Insights into Perfect Page Analysis of SKU
- Monitoring inventory, and financial analysis at the SKU level
- Find new ways to push products based on perfect page scores and better the product experience
Final Thoughts
To be on top of the competition, brands need an extra impetus to stay ahead. Digital commerce intelligence provides that edge by optimizing every touch point across the customer journey. The consideration phase is a make-or-break moment for brands as customers evaluate and make purchase decisions. Imagine a scenario where your product goes out of stock during a holiday season sale, or your competitors are driving more sales through dynamic pricing and discounts. To avoid such scenarios, it is crucial to optimize the consideration phase using mScanIt digital commerce intelligence and rewrite your brand’s success story.
Wait! It’s not over yet the final phase purchase phase is still due. Follow up and discover what your brand needs to optimize the customer journey and boost efficiency across the three phases.
