Optimizing Mobile Experiences: Interview With Bobby Chucas of Babylon Health
Summary
With over 2.5 million users, Babylon utilizes 21-century tech and a robust mobile strategy to fulfill their mission: to place an accessible and affordable health service in the hands of every person on the planet. From tackling challenges of form completion to designing a purposeful and compelling mobile platform, Babylon draws on behavioural insights to create a seamless experience. We sat down with Bobby Chucas, Senior Product Manager, to uncover how to optimise for a mobile-first world.
Intro
At the heart of every great mobile experience is a team that understands its users’ needs. Since 2013, Babylon has worked with partners like the English National Health Service, Samsung, and Tencent to revolutionize the GP experience. Named one of Europe’s hottest startups by Wired in 2016 and the Mobile App of the Year at the UK IT Industry Awards 2015, Babylon takes the mobile approach to democratizing healthcare.
A pioneer in health informatics, Babylon uses artificial intelligence to place accessible healthcare in the palm of your hand. However, it’s Babylon’s robust mobile strategy that places the user at the center of attention. From tackling challenges of form completion to designing a purposeful and compelling mobile platform, Babylon draws behavioural insights from its 2.5 million user base to create a seamless experience.
We sat down with Bobby Chucas, Senior Product Manager, to uncover how to optimise for a mobile-first world.
What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to optimising your mobile experience?
You’d think mobile experience would be an easy thing to get right, given how much less space you’ve got to work with! However, mobile’s more complicated than being just about screen size, and is as much about understanding your users’ context and intent – given that mobile users could be literally anywhere when interacting with you – when they’re interacting with your product as it is about design. The biggest challenge we have is that what we’re offering requires focus and time: my product is a free, quick health assessment available through an app that gives you a detailed view of your risks of high profile diseases. This assessment is up to 15 minutes long, and many of the questions are quite specific, ranging from family history of certain diseases through to questions around sexual health and drug taking. We’d obviously love our users to get as much value out of the product as possible, so one of our biggest challenges is ensuring that users understand that the assessment takes time and focus, but that the payoff in terms of the insight you receive from the product is well worth the effort.
What can mobile commerce sites learn from Babylon, and vice versa?
Babylon isn’t really presented as a commerce app – while there are services users can pay for to get tests, insights, appointments etc., that’s not the focus, and that’s not what we’re trying to prioritise. Often our users come to us when they’re experiencing symptoms that they’re worried about, and of course our priority is to provide a seamless experience that gets them the information and support they need. By focusing on the needs of the user, we hope to build trust and reassure the user that Babylon is a service they can rely on. It’s difficult to translate this across to pure commerce, but focusing on the user’s immediate needs and priorities is hugely important for us.
That said, many commerce sites have very well structured conversion funnels, and I’m sure there are many insights we can take from those kinds of experiences to better convey what kind of offerings we provide to our users of our private service.
What’s the most surprising behaviour you’ve seen from mobile app visitors?
The most surprising behaviour we’ve seen is that we’re getting around 75％ of our users to complete the assessment. Most equivalent assessments see conversion rates in the low single figures, so the fact we’re getting that rate is really valuable. We tested out a number of different ways of framing the assessment, in terms of conveying the value of the insights to users before they started, and we also experimented with the format – we provide a conversational chatbot experience rather than a standard form to fill in, which helps to engage users. It will be interesting to see how this evolves as we increase the range of diseases we provide, as they will be accompanied with more questions, and so we’ll need to decide whether users are still happy to take the assessment all in one go, or whether breaking it out more clearly would make sense.
What are the most important factors in an optimal mobile experience?
In general, people hate it when their screen gets too busy. The experience when you tap on a link to a site, which then fills the screen with multiple prompts for GDPR, cookie consent etc., is frankly awful. Whilst some of that is of course required by regulation, some sites can be tempted to grab the user’s attention by fitting as much information above the fold as possible, in the hope that one of the many items catches their eye. While in some situations this may work, most research shows that the far more compelling experience is a more sleek, refined, experience based around a single intent or purpose. Not only does that provide a clear purpose to the content you’re presenting, it also provides you with a clear metric of success that you can use to research and test how to add incremental value to your product.
What are the common mistakes most brands make when it comes to mobile strategy?
Criticising businesses for not being “mobile-first” has become a bit of a trope over the past few years, but it’s certainly true that it’s very difficult to get right. Often teams can evangelise enthusiastically about mobile, but when it comes to their development process they still build their desktop screens first, then essentially condense them for mobile. It’s not as simple as tweaking the design, and is much more dependent on research into understanding why the user’s interacting with you, and what they’re trying to do. By understanding that and ensuring that you’re expediting that as much as possible, you’ll keep their attention and stop them getting frustrated and resorting to searching elsewhere.
We’re potentially seeing a similar type of trend now with voice interaction – as smart home devices like Alexa and Google Home become more commonplace, more products will become available through the voice medium, and I’d happily bet that many of them will take the same approach and try to shoehorn their existing offering into a voice experience, rather than reconsider it from the bottom up. The first few products to get that experience right will create an incredible opportunity and reach for themselves.
Is Mobile First Becoming Mobile Only? Where is the Digital Space Heading?
Currently, most brands design with the mobile experience in mind, if not with a completely mobile first strategy. As for the digital landscape at large, current trends and experiences point to an environment verging further towards an expanding smartphone reliance. This will continue as mobile innovates ease of use and facilitates better user experiences.
However, a mobile-only digital environment will likely never materialize. Instead, the digital space will make headway in lesser-used areas of technology: AR/ VR (Augmented Reality/ Virtual Reality) and the IoT (Internet of Things).
Despite the widespread adoption of mobile technology, there are several challenges intrinsic to mobile. Also, the steady shift from desktop to mobile does not mean there is a looming end to desktop usage either.
Let’s look at how mobile dominates and how it’s lacking. The latter will show the limitations that mobile has to surmount to truly rule the digital space.
Lack of Internet Connection Impedes Mobile First
Firstly, mobile is hampered by the lack of a continuous internet connection, consequently facing the issue of reliability, especially for users on the go. A no-wifi or shoddy wifi zone will either completely block or impede internet use, which will negatively affect users’ mobile experience.
With desktop, which is bound to one place, internet connectivity is rarely an issue, as long as one’s internet provider has decent coverage. Mobile cannot thrust forward unless there is more internet connectivity, since accessibility can make or break the mobile user experience.
Mobile Vs Desktop
Mobile is more geared towards instant interactions, and is therefore used whenever and wherever. Desktop however, also has its advantageous moments, such as when users have more time to spare and are in a comfortable environment.
Desktop also leads in more difficult and laborious tasks, such as working and conducting research. It is safe to assume that offices are not going to install mobile phones for work-related tasks, at least not as employees’ main workstations.
Therefore, aside from its reliable wifi connectivity, desktop rules in time-consuming tasks, as well as in those that require a larger screen, such as for watching shows and films. However, mobile now accounts for nearly 70％ of digital media consumption, so the jockeying for entertainment dominance has no definite victor.
Although more people sign up for Netflix via mobile, 70％ of Netflix subscribers watch the programs on their TVs. This essentially proves that although users consume more entertainment on their phones, the desire to enjoy entertainment on larger screens still prevails, evidenced by the popularity of large-screen TVs.
Thus, even though mobile use is increasing, it faces challenges in how to be more reliable, practical and pleasurable to truly lead ahead of desktop and even TV.
The Edge of Mobile First
Despite these conditions, mobile still has the edge and ability to dominate digital.
Mobile has immense potential because it is more physically accessible; it is always in your hands or in your immediate vicinity.
This is especially important for e-commerce, as there is a greater consumer presence on mobile. For example, even when browsing in a store, customers check their phones to see if they can find better deals or delivery options elsewhere.
Additionally, some brands, like retailers Kohl’s, Macy’s and CVS offer app checkout for customers in-store, streamlining the buying process with a mobile-first approach.
With this virtually unlimited availability, there is a larger pool for potential sales. Mobile easily trumps desktop in this regard. However, even with a growing traffic of mobile marketplaces, mobile carries a lower conversion rate than desktop, as over 80％ of mobile users who reach the cart don’t complete their purchase. It needs to obtain a shrinkage in the conversion gap to truly dominate.
Mobile continues to grow for specialized use cases. For example, certain services, such as e-hailing are only available for use on mobile. This is because these services were designed for apps; while desktop versions of these brands exist, their capabilities are far more limited.
Usually, the desktop versions do not include the basic services of these apps. (Think Lyft and Uber). This is because when there’s a linkage to mobility, there is no need for an additional desktop capability, as most of these apps are tailored for people on-the-go.
There are plenty of apps branching out of desktop almost entirely. For example, with Instagram and Snapchat, users can only post via the mobile apps. Apps are a hot digital tool, and their popularity isn’t waning any time soon. As more of them are developed, following suit of current mobile-first companies, the need to have their capabilities available on desktop will be diminished if not killed off.
The Rise of AR/ VR, the Internet of Things & Omnichannel Use
As technology advances at lightning speed, there are plenty of other alternatives giving mobile a run for its money. For example, IoT technology has advanced to a larger presence through virtual voice assistants in houses, smart refrigerators, smart mirrors, etc. There’s also the innovation of augmented reality, wherein real-world objects and elements are modified by computer-generated perceptual information.
For example, in e-commerce, augmented reality allows customers to use their own bodies and environments and add something virtual to them, such as to try on clothing from a store or visualize virtual furniture in their homes. These capabilities allow potential customers to assess products without the need to be physically present at a store. Instead, the store comes to them via AR.
Aside from these innovations gaining ground, people also switch their usage on channels. In a recent survey of grocery consumers on digital, we found that there are high conversion rates and session duration averages on both desktop and tablet. Conversion rates on desktop and tablets were at 8.86％ and 6.84％, vs only 1.46％ on mobile. Session duration averages were 7.1 and 6.7 minutes on desktop and tablet, while only clocking in at 3.7 minutes on mobile.
A Mobile-First World with Other Technologies Mounting
In conclusion, mobile has been growing at a gradual pace and brands have caught on, optimizing their mobile experiences, if not designing completely for the mobile experience first, as the name suggests. But despite this mobile-first approach, there is still a gap many brands face between user willingness to be on mobile and converting on mobile.
As such, mobile still has an uphill battle to climb regarding usability challenges it hasn’t yet cracked, despite its rise in use each passing year. (And despite the creation of more apps and higher website traffic on mobile.)
Conversely, there are also plenty of AR/ VR innovations in the works, which will continue to expand their presence beyond the sphere of the tech world and into people’s homes. It is only a matter of time before they become household names, and perhaps one day…staples.
Everything You Were Too Afraid to Ask About Mobile Optimization
M-commerce is big. And it’s getting bigger.
Using revenue as a metric, m-commerce has already passed web eCommerce. According to Statista, m-commerce will represent 67.2％ of all online commerce by the end of 2019 and 72.9％ by 2021.
Much of the growth in m-commerce is coming from emerging markets which, due to the proliferation and low cost of mobile devices, tend to be mobile-first economies. These engines of growth are pretty much operating in a post-web world.
Also according to Statista, users spend in the region of just 4 minutes in the average m-commerce app. That’s a reduction from 6 minutes in 2017!
So that’s just 4 minutes to convince the user to make that purchase.
Keep it bitesize
One important aspect to UX design is friction. Friction is anything that prevents the visitory from accomplishing a task in the app. Friction is bad. Friction can lead to app exits, frustration and drop in overall conversation rates.
One way to reduce friction is the design principle known as chunking. Chunking was developed by the psychologist George Miller in 1956. It’s the cognitive psychology theory that states the number of objects the average human can process at any one time is 7+ or -2.
App and mobile web designers use Chunking to group together related objects into logical groups. This technique can be used to organize single screens and also to break up complex tasks in to sub-tasks, like signup forms and presentations.
Simple, right?
Marketers love to talk about the challenges that mobile presents, but few provide practical, actionable advice, based on real data, that marketers and digital teams can use to improve their mobile user experience.
For our latest report, Everything You Were Too Afraid to Ask About Mobile Optimisation, we analyzed millions of user sessions across mobile and desktop, and turned our findings into practical advice on how to create a bigger impact for your business on mobile web and app.
In the report, we cover:
- Mobile myths
- Retention strategies
- Quick tips to boost mobile conversion
- Best practice when designing for mobile
- Building a mobile-first methodology
France’s Answer To Black Friday Drives Increase In Mobile Traffic
In spring 2018, six French eCommerce brands launched their own riposte to Black Friday — the one-day retail extravaganza that kicks off the US holiday shopping season. More than 200 brands took part in the first ever Les French Days, a five-day event designed to boost sales during the post-winter/pre-summer sales lull. Building on the success of the first event, retailers decided to repeat the operation this fall, slashing prices on thousands of items between September 28 and October 1.
ContentSquare analyzed 68 million user sessions before and during this latest round of Les French Days, to understand the impact of the event on digital consumer behavior. We also compared these findings to our analysis of 29 million user sessions captured just before and during Black Friday 2017 — a record-breaking day for US eCommerce.
Impact of eCommerce sales events on mobile traffic
The majority of retail traffic during this latest iteration of Les French Days came from mobile, with the device accounting for 48％ of all digital traffic from 09/28 to 10/01 — a 6％ increase from the period immediately preceding the sales. This pushed desktop into second place, with traffic from the device dropping from 48％ to 45％. Tablet traffic remained constant at 6％ throughout the event.
While the increase to mobile traffic during Black Friday 2017 was noticeably smaller (only 2.44％), the trend does support the argument that sales campaigns encourage more on-the-go shopping. By streamlining their mobile UX, brands can capitalize on the sense of urgency generated by major seasonal sales campaigns.
Conversion rates spike during Black Friday sales events
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Black Friday and its new French sister event are a tonic for conversion rates. In 2017, Black Friday triggered an impressive 28.57％ increase in mobile conversion rates and a 44.44％ CVR increase on desktop. Not to be completely outdone, Les French Days led to a 19.15％ conversion rate increase on desktop and more timid 6.5％ boost to mobile CVR.
Seasonal sales events attract a more committed consumer, with reduced bounce rates observed across all devices. The biggest drop is attributed to Les French Days, which result in 9.56％ fewer bounces on desktop.
Les French Days also get the medal for the highest increase in page views, with desktop users viewing on average 16.54％ more pages than before the event. Mobile visitors view 12.56％ more pages during the same period, proving that consumers on all devices are keen to engage with the new sales content. Black Friday saw its biggest page view increase on mobile, with users viewing 9.37％ more pages during the weekend event. In fact, the only decrease observed when it comes to content consumption is a 4.09％ drop in the average session time of mobile shoppers browsing les French deals.
Data shows that seasonal sales increase thrifty consumers’ willingness to engage with promotional content while on the go. During the sales periods, retailers have their customers’ attention — analyzing navigation patterns to pinpoint where users hesitate, or abandon their navigation is key to developing successful buyer journeys. Intuitive paths that get customers from point A to B in fewer screens, shorter forms and streamlined checkouts — there is much retailers can do to keep mobile users engaged all the way to conversion.
Look out for our Black Friday coverage!
What Surprised Us Most About Fashion Week 2018: Quick Takeaways On User Behavior
ContentSquare data experts analyzed more than 11 million user sessions during the course of a month, across 6 global luxury fashion sites. They examined sessions captured between 09/01 and 09/24 — coinciding with New York, London, and Milan fashion weeks, and the week leading up to the shows.
Here are some of their findings:
1. Homepage traffic increases by almost 20％ during fashion week.
Our data analysts found that the number of visitors entering luxury fashion sites through the homepage increased from 26.03％ to 31.22％ at the start of fashion week. And while the majority of users are still coming in through the digital side door (product pages, category pages, etc), numbers show that many consumers are primed for an introductory brand experience. Also noteworthy was a 42％ spike in the number of visitors entering a site through a page dedicated to showcasing inspirational content.
Our analysts also noticed that more than 1 in 2 inspirational pages get updated at the start of September, confirming the expectation that more visitors will be reaching these pages around this time. So, is this seasonal content push working as a strategy to boost consumer loyalty?
2. Users who consumed inspirational content returned to a website on average 233％ more times on desktop than the average visitor, and 160％ more on mobile.
And it’s not just inspirational content that is getting users coming back for more. Our analysts found that users who viewed ‘new arrivals’ content returned to a site on average 227％ more often on desktop and 163％ more often on mobile — suggesting the buzz around new collections and campaigns does indeed foster ongoing interest in a brand.
Read the full mini-report to find out what other user behavior trends we learned about when we analyzed millions of fashion lovers’ browsing sessions.
Contentsquare Unveils Immersive Analytics Plugin For CX Insights
ContentSquare Launches Augmented Reality Tool for Brands Seeking Instant Digital Customer Analytics
CS Live Allows Companies to Glean Instant Best Practices Insights in the Time it Takes to Browse Their Site
New York, N.Y. (September 26, 2018) – Continuing to provide marketers and brands with deeper analytics and insights into how and why online users do what they do, ContentSquare, a digital experience insights platform, today announced a new solution – CS Live – that delivers customer experience (CX) information in real-time with one click.
“Because digital is a mission critical channel today, we want to make sure that, for companies we support, key stakeholders can access customer experience insights as easily as they can walk into their brick and mortar stores, and observe where customers are going, which display they are looking at, where they hesitate, where they might experience frustration, etc. In particular, we believe senior executives needs to access this data directly, without needing to rely exclusively on expert analysts,” said Jonathan Cherki, CEO and Founder of ContentSquare. “Relying on a handful of experts is neither efficient nor scalable. Enterprises — many of which are overwhelmed with data — need to make their website optimization decisions based on insightful experience data that drives conversions instead of on their gut feeling.”
Now, by simply downloading ContentSquare’s CS Live browser plugin from the Chrome Web Store, users can browse their respective sites for instant CX analytics. With CS Live, entire teams can easily access customer experience insights, get answers to their CX and visitor engagement questions as quickly as it takes to browse their website, and complement their existing website testing strategies. From CEOs to analysts, internal teams can now benefit from advanced CX and visitor engagement analytics with no training required.
“CS Live helps GoPro immediately identify engagement metrics without having to load and sift through reporting data – this reduces time required for analysis and accelerates our decision making process,” said Eumir Nicasio, Head of Product, Digital & eCommerce of GoPro.
“Universally, web users have grown to have zero tolerance when it comes to searching for and receiving information online,” added Jonathan Cherki, CEO of ContentSquare. “CS Live is a practical solution for brands seeking immediate feedback – like Amazon one click buying or Uber one click taxi – on how customers are utilizing their sites. We refer to it as AR analytics because it augments your site with actionable behavioral metrics that can be understood and shared across teams, enabling a true democratization of data. It’s a bit like having a real-time performance review with your website. CS Live has an array of use cases, from a conversion manager needing answers as to how her visitors are engaging with a new checkout process to an ecommerce manager inquiring about which piece of content has generated the most revenue on his company’s site, even in a particular region like France, that month.”
CS Live can be used to perform side-by-side site comparisons and discover how a brand’s A/B test strategy drives customer engagement. It can also be used to analyze dynamic content and influence content marketing strategies. Allowing for deeper insights, CS Live can also easily attribute customer experience KPIs from engagement to return on investment (ROI) for all active content elements. Further, it does not require a tagging plan, and is compatible with ContentSquare’s zone-based heat maps to compare and contrast content performance regardless of where the content is placed on the site or what device was used to view or access it.
ContentSquare is a digital experience insights platform that helps businesses understand how and why users are interacting with their app, mobile and web sites. They compute billions of touch and mouse movements and transform this knowledge into profitable actions that increase engagement, reduce operational costs and maximize conversion rates. Using behavioral data, artificial intelligence and big data to provide automatic recommendations, ContentSquare empowers every member of the digital team to easily measure the impact of their actions and make fast and productive data-driven decisions to optimize the customer journey. ContentSquare offers its services to a range of companies including Walmart, L’Oréal, Tiffany’s, Clarks and Unilever.
For more information about ContentSquare, please visit: contentsquare.com
About ContentSquare
ContentSquare is a digital experience insights platform that helps businesses understand how and why users are interacting with their app, mobile and web sites. We compute billions of touch and mouse movements, and transform this knowledge into profitable actions that increase engagement, reduce operational costs and maximize conversion rates.
Using behavioral data, artificial intelligence and big data to provide automatic recommendations to marketers, ContentSquare empowers every member of the digital team to easily measure the impact of their actions, and make fast and productive data-driven decisions to optimize the customer journey.
Learn more at contentsquare.com.
Contact
Jason Heller
(212) 584-4278
[email protected]
Good UX Is Always In Fashion: Two Influencers Share Their Pet Digital Peeve – gb
With fashion week upon us once again, brands are focused on pushing the latest trends, and keeping their digital audience engaged around the season’s must-have looks and accessories.
And it’s not only styles that are changing fast and furiously — throughout the past decade, the fashion sector has experienced a great deal of transformation. Digital innovation, the rise of social media, and the emergence of new standards for customer experience have all impacted digital buying behavior.
We reached out to two experts in all things fashion to hear their thoughts on how brands can make their mark and stay ahead in this rapidly-changing industry.
Photo: Gitta Banko, Blondwalk
GOOD UX VERSUS BAD UX
In this age of instant choice, where consumers have access to hundreds of competing stores right at their fingertips, digital convenience and hassle-free shopping have become a key factor of brand loyalty. If you have a winning product but a terrible digital experience, you’ll still lose customers.
Gitta Banko, a stylist, fashion blogger and digital influencer who showcases the latest styles on her sartorial diary Blondwalk, agrees that the customer experience is make or break. “The worst online shopping experience, even if I love the clothing, is when the site is not working properly,” says Gitta.
Long load times, broken links, lack of information — today’s consumers have a very low tolerance for any friction along the digital journey. If even one part of the digital journey seems confusing or difficult, it only takes a few seconds to switch to a competing brand.
Today’s consumers have a very low tolerance for any friction along the digital journey.
For Gitta, navigation turns problematic when “the images load too slowly, or it (the site) keeps showing errors.” Frustrating delays in-site will not endear you to customers – particularly when shoppers are flicking through multiple product images or viewing inspirational content. In fact, ContentSquare data shows that digital shoppers make their minds up very quickly, with 40％ of e-Commerce buyers converting on the first visit.
An intuitive path through the site is also a must-have. “What I feel is also annoying is when the page navigation is not well done, meaning it redirects me to the landing page when I have already clicked my way through product page 16,” explains Gitta. Imagine walking through a museum — you want to walk from one section to another seamlessly without having to go back to the main lobby to ask for directions. The same goes for shopping online.
Shipping is also a key component of the customer experience. Like many fashion fanatics, blogger Jessica Windle, who shares style pics and stories on Jeans & a Teacup, is always on the market for a good deal on delivery and some sort of promotion.
“If shipping is too expensive or the return process is difficult, I won’t go through with a purchase,” says Jessica. “I like a deal, too, so sometimes I won’t go through with a purchase if an item isn’t on sale or I can’t find a discount code.” Indeed, ContentSquare found that 28％ of shoppers abandon their carts due to unexpected shipping costs. Making shipping costs and discount codes known at the start of the customer journey can make all the difference between a conversion and a bounce.
Photo: Jessica Windle, Jeans & a Teacup
MOBILE FIRST — A TREND THAT’S HERE TO STAY
As more and more retail traffic shifts to smartphone (49.1％ versus 38.2％ desktop), fashion brands are allocating a bigger chunk of their marketing budget to connecting with their mobile customers. “A smartphone is great if you need to make an emergency purchase while you’re out,” says Jessica.
But while today’s fashionistas may be glued to their phones, ContentSquare data shows that a majority still switch to desktop to go through with purchases — 2.33％ CVR on desktop versus 1.16％ on mobile. “I like to browse on my smartphone but I usually end up purchasing from my laptop at home”, confirms Jessica, citing poor internet connection as one of the hurdles to mobile conversion. She also flags sites that “mobile-friendly” as a major frustration.
Gitta confirms the need for a mobile-first design when shopping on her smartphone. “If I use my mobile device I prefer using apps if the shops offer them, as they are better to handle than desktop versions on mobile devices.” She describes her pet mobile UX peeve as “pop-ups that are hard to close.”
Confirming that mobile users have little patience for anything less than a seamless journey are the higher bounce rate and cart abandonment rate on handheld devices. ContentSquare data shows that for fashion e-Commerce sites, the mobile bounce rate is 41.4％, compared to 33％ on desktop. “I usually use my laptop for online shopping as I can see everything better on there,” notes Gitta.
ContentSquare data shows that for fashion e-Commerce sites, the mobile bounce rate is 41.4％, compared to 33％ on desktop.
Brands that can crack the formula of inspiring on a small screen will be able to tap into this eager audience. And fashion lovers have very specific needs when it comes to information. For Jessica, that’s “great photos of the product and a detailed sizing chart so I know exactly how an item will fit.” Gitta says “the entire design” as well as the site’s “pictoral language” are crucial to her experience.
Understanding what matters to users is key to delivering the experiences that can help them meet their digital goals. AI-driven analytics can help brands decipher consumer expectations and needs, and keep pace in the world of fast fashion, ensuring all those runway looks get the digital attention they deserve.
See you in the front row!
Good UX Is Always In Fashion: Two Influencers Share Their Pet Digital Peeve
With fashion week upon us once again, brands are focused on pushing the latest trends, and keeping their digital audience engaged around the season’s must-have looks and accessories.
And it’s not only styles that are changing fast and furiously — throughout the past decade, the fashion sector has experienced a great deal of transformation. Digital innovation, the rise of social media, and the emergence of new standards for customer experience have all impacted digital buying behavior.
We reached out to two experts in all things fashion to hear their thoughts on how brands can make their mark and stay ahead in this rapidly-changing industry.
Photo: Gitta Banko, Blondwalk
GOOD UX VERSUS BAD UX
In this age of instant choice, where consumers have access to hundreds of competing stores right at their fingertips, digital convenience and hassle-free shopping have become a key factor of brand loyalty. If you have a winning product but a terrible digital experience, you’ll still lose customers.
Gitta Banko, a stylist, fashion blogger and digital influencer who showcases the latest styles on her sartorial diary Blondwalk, agrees that the customer experience is make or break. “The worst online shopping experience, even if I love the clothing, is when the site is not working properly,” says Gitta.
Long load times, broken links, lack of information — today’s consumers have a very low tolerance for any friction along the digital journey. If even one part of the digital journey seems confusing or difficult, it only takes a few seconds to switch to a competing brand.
Today’s consumers have a very low tolerance for any friction along the digital journey.
For Gitta, navigation turns problematic when “the images load too slowly, or it (the site) keeps showing errors.” Frustrating delays in-site will not endear you to customers – particularly when shoppers are flicking through multiple product images or viewing inspirational content. In fact, ContentSquare data shows that digital shoppers make their minds up very quickly, with 40％ of e-Commerce buyers converting on the first visit.
An intuitive path through the site is also a must-have. “What I feel is also annoying is when the page navigation is not well done, meaning it redirects me to the landing page when I have already clicked my way through product page 16,” explains Gitta. Imagine walking through a museum — you want to walk from one section to another seamlessly without having to go back to the main lobby to ask for directions. The same goes for shopping online.
Shipping is also a key component of the customer experience. Like many fashion fanatics, blogger Jessica Windle, who shares style pics and stories on Jeans & a Teacup, is always on the market for a good deal on delivery and some sort of promotion.
“If shipping is too expensive or the return process is difficult, I won’t go through with a purchase,” says Jessica. “I like a deal, too, so sometimes I won’t go through with a purchase if an item isn’t on sale or I can’t find a discount code.” Indeed, ContentSquare found that 28％ of shoppers abandon their carts due to unexpected shipping costs. Making shipping costs and discount codes known at the start of the customer journey can make all the difference between a conversion and a bounce.
Photo: Jessica Windle, Jeans & a Teacup
MOBILE FIRST — A TREND THAT’S HERE TO STAY
As more and more retail traffic shifts to smartphone (49.1％ versus 38.2％ desktop), fashion brands are allocating a bigger chunk of their marketing budget to connecting with their mobile customers. “A smartphone is great if you need to make an emergency purchase while you’re out,” says Jessica.
But while today’s fashionistas may be glued to their phones, ContentSquare data shows that a majority still switch to desktop to go through with purchases — 2.33％ CVR on desktop versus 1.16％ on mobile. “I like to browse on my smartphone but I usually end up purchasing from my laptop at home”, confirms Jessica, citing poor internet connection as one of the hurdles to mobile conversion. She also flags sites that “mobile-friendly” as a major frustration.
Gitta confirms the need for a mobile-first design when shopping on her smartphone. “If I use my mobile device I prefer using apps if the shops offer them, as they are better to handle than desktop versions on mobile devices.” She describes her pet mobile UX peeve as “pop-ups that are hard to close.”
Confirming that mobile users have little patience for anything less than a seamless journey are the higher bounce rate and cart abandonment rate on handheld devices. ContentSquare data shows that for fashion e-Commerce sites, the mobile bounce rate is 41.4％, compared to 33％ on desktop. “I usually use my laptop for online shopping as I can see everything better on there,” notes Gitta.
ContentSquare data shows that for fashion e-Commerce sites, the mobile bounce rate is 41.4％, compared to 33％ on desktop.
Brands that can crack the formula of inspiring on a small screen will be able to tap into this eager audience. And fashion lovers have very specific needs when it comes to information. For Jessica, that’s “great photos of the product and a detailed sizing chart so I know exactly how an item will fit.” Gitta says “the entire design” as well as the site’s “pictoral language” are crucial to her experience.
Understanding what matters to users is key to delivering the experiences that can help them meet their digital goals. AI-driven analytics can help brands decipher consumer expectations and needs, and keep pace in the world of fast fashion, ensuring all those runway looks get the digital attention they deserve.
See you in the front row!
All the Traffic But No Sales – 5 Things You Might Be Doing Wrong
Your website looks great. Traffic is on the rise. You’re running a few Facebook ads, and you’re sending out newsletters. Things are going pretty well – except that pesky sales column is still stuck at $0. What gives?
Your demographics are off
You’re clearly targeting well enough to increase your traffic, but something is going wrong if none of those visitors are biting. In this case, you might want to look at your demographics.
If you’re using fairly vague customer profiles, try zeroing in on a smaller, focused, and hopefully more engaged audience. Take a look at your CTR to see who is actually engaging with your posts on social media, and try targeting different niche demographics instead of a wide swath.
Doing this could help you find a more narrow and exact customer profile that has intention to buy.
IF YOU’RE USING FAIRLY VAGUE CUSTOMER PROFILES, TRY ZEROING IN ON A SMALLER, FOCUSED, AND HOPEFULLY MORE ENGAGED AUDIENCE.
Your keywords don’t match your goals
Take a look at what keywords are driving your traffic – there are a couple things that can go wrong here.
First, are your visitors just seeking out information? You may have an active keyword that’s drawing people in that have no intention to buy — “best laptop processors” vs. “cost-effective laptops.” If people are going to your site to find out more about a product they’re interested in, they are extremely unlikely to convert. Try ramping up the keywords that are more sales-focused.
Second: are you “tricking” people into visiting your website? Check the popular keywords to see if they’re directing your visitors to relevant pages for what they want. If they’re looking for a comparison list and being directed to a product page, they’re going to leave your site immediately, and that means you’ve found a successful keyword…but not for you.
You aren’t telling them what to do
This is a huge problem with social media campaigns in particular, but can be a problem with websites as well.
Take a second look at those social media ads you’re running. What is your viewer supposed to do? Visit your site? Sign up for a free trial? Download this whitepaper? Make sure you’re telling them to do that, clearly and immediately. Try experimenting with different copy for your call to action to see what works best.
If your CTR is high, meaning that people are engaging with your ad (either by liking, commenting, or clicking the link), they may like the ad but just not know what you want them to do from there.
On your website, make sure your call to action button isn’t too hard to find, and is as concise as possible.
Your website is not actually that nice
We know, your website is your pride and joy. But you’ve been working on it for too long, you’re too close to it, and you have no idea what a first-time user is experiencing. Things that seem obvious to you will not be obvious to your user.
If you’re getting visitors but no sales, it’s time to experiment with some A/B testing, and potentially invest in some site testers. You need to find out what they don’t like or don’t understand so you can fix it. Whether that means upgrading your checkout experience to involve less clicks or creating a smarter dynamic search feature that anticipates what customers are looking for, it’s a task that requires some elbow grease if you’re to improve sales.
But how do you figure all that out?
Well, that’s where the data comes in. You need to invest in a tool that can give you relevant and accurate data about where your visitors are bouncing or converting, how much time they’re spending on each area of your site, and how they’re navigating to different areas. All this data will help you see everything through the eyes of your user, so that you can make necessary changes to make their experience a positive one.
YOU NEED TO INVEST IN A TOOL THAT CAN GIVE YOU RELEVANT AND ACCURATE DATA ABOUT WHERE YOUR VISITORS ARE BOUNCING OR CONVERTING.
You don’t look good on mobile
As you know, mobile is the name of the game — clearly, because of those social media campaigns you’re running. But there is no faster way to alienate a mobile user than to not make your website optimized for mobile users.
Is it formatted correctly? Is there a clear way to get to the menu and navigate around the page? Are the buttons visible and not hidden behind weirdly-misplaced text? Is the clickable area of a button too small or too large?
All that increased traffic without the payoff could be because your mobile visitors love your ads but are bouncing because of poor design for tablets and phones.
Getting your website up and running and starting some ad campaigns is a great start, but there’s a lot more work to do. Getting an increase in traffic is the first step; the next one is to make more sales! Hopefully these tips helped you think about where you might be making missteps, and how to steer yourself back in the right direction.
Jake Rheude is the Director of Marketing for Red Stag Fulfillment, an ecommerce fulfillment warehouse that was born out of ecommerce. He has years of experience in ecommerce and business development. In his free time, Jake enjoys reading about business and sharing his own experience with others.