BigCommerce 2022 State of Ecommerce report cuts to the heart of consumer trends and gives key insights into how to keep customers happy and what makes customers tick.
You can download the full report here.
Ultimately, everyone wants to know what works, right? After two years of super-charged growth, retailers are focusing on retention. How do they keep consumers not just engaged but purchasing?
BigCommerce’s report has successfully managed to answer those questions concisely. So, what are customers craving? Interestingly simple pleasures seem to be a running theme. They aren’t looking for overcomplicated or glitzy, just fast, efficient, reliable service.
For example, 95 per cent of customers surveyed revealed that free delivery is a selling point and keeps them invested in a brand. Considering that information, it’s probably not surprising that high delivery fees are a customer turn off.
But it’s not just free delivery that lures consumers in; they also want an effortless experience. Fifty per cent of participants were likely to leave a retailer’s website or purchase elsewhere if a website was too slow. Similarly, 36 per cent of participants admitted they were likely to abandon their carts if the checkout process was difficult or tedious.
Consumers are craving easy and looking for brands to do the work for them. But they don’t want to feel targeted. For instance, 90 per cent of participants found that pop-up ads did not encourage purchase behaviour. If you want to learn more about why pop-up ads aren’t resonating head to the full report.
Instead, consumers are more attracted to brands that create a more community-minded vibe. Personalised emails cut through, and perhaps surprisingly, in our social media soaked times, email was still the number one marketing prompt that caused customers to purchase, sitting pretty at 42.1 per cent.
Interestingly, the type of emails that won customers over the most contained sign up discounts that lured in over 71 per cent of participants, and FOMO was also a big purchase trigger at 51 per cent. Sixty-five per cent of participants also admitted that loyalty programs influenced their purchasing, for even more insights on what works via email head to the full report.
Facebook won the social media award, with more than half of those surveyed (54.7 per cent) admitting that Facebook had encouraged them to make an online purchase. Instagram’s conversation rate is also nothing to sniff at, with 27.2 respondents sharing they were influenced to purchase.
Consumers are also still pretty devoted to Buy Now Pay Later services, and Afterpay’s popularity has remained; 84.9 per cent of survey respondents have an Afterpay account, up from 81.8% last year. But, Paypal’s Pay in 4 is showing growth; last year, just 15.2% said they had a BNPL version of PayPal, whereas this year, the number increased to 26.6%’. This year-on-year growth is huge and shows that this trend isn’t going anywhere.
So, what does this all mean? Well, customers want efficiency, they crave community, and they are looking to buy, you just need to make it fun and easy for them.
BigCommerce’s report is just another clear reminder that it doesn’t just have the ability to turn impossible commerce experiences into reality but it is a thought leader in the local e-commerce space.
To get your eyeballs on even more insights download the full report.
