Online shopping is an experience, fraught with many questions, if you consider it from a user perspective. Although ecommerce has come a long way, it still has a lot to offer to the consumer, considering the new-age boom of social shopping.

Social shopping: what it is

Social shopping is primarily an offset of the social media boom. With the influx of social media sites like Facebook, MySpace and scores of others mushrooming everyday, consumers now have a platform to discuss products, share reviews and talk about their favorite shopping sites. Basically, it is an informal yet very powerful way to influence online shopping decisions. When users post reviews about a product or site they have used, it can signal a ripple effect in the way the brand will be perceived by an entire community! If a majority of people have had a bad user experience on a shopping site it can quickly backfire on the sales statistics of the company. Consider the same effect multiplied across numerous social media sites and you see the enormous amount of damage it can cause your brand, credibility and sales.

User experience – the paramount factor

When it comes to ensuring a fantastic user experience there are many things, which do the trick. However, defining the exact parameters of a superior ecommerce experience online can be dicey, especially since criteria for defining ‘good’ or ‘superior’ user experiences are typically subjective. Thus, while one ecommerce site maybe able to accomplish it through just interactive product videos and demos, the same concept may not work for another ecommerce site selling cosmetics. The target audience also plays a crucial role in determining how you want to position you online shopping experience. For example, a woman would typically shop based on colors and themes while men tend to opt for brands. The factors that determine user experiences are subjective and differ based on demographics, age group and gender.

How ready are we?

Customers tend to evaluate ecommerce products thoroughly especially for the high involvement variety of products. High involvement refers to those products, which require plenty of research and ‘trying out’, reviews and other statistics to base a decision on. For such research-based purchases the consumer needs more than just videos and thumbnail images of products. It has to go beyond that, maybe even further than the stretch of conventional Web 2.0 strategies. In terms of the current state of ecommerce and the kind of online shopping experience that exists, we are definitely not there yet! But we can get there, if we try some of the below-mentioned approaches.

Product comparison tools

A lot of statistics on user experiences online will reveal that sites, which have product comparison tools tend to score more on sales than others. Customers like to evaluate ecommerce products as we mentioned before. By providing the ability to compare products across brands, you give them a chance to evaluate products based on various parameters. If a product’s price is lesser, does it compromise on the quality aspect, or if the brand is well-known, does it also imply a flexible returns policy. Even factors like freebies or extra items provided free to the consumer score brownie points with the consumer when defining user experience.

Complementary products

Another thing that works to up the user experience quotient is suggesting associated or complementary products along with ones already purchased. If a female customer has come to your ecommerce store to buy a lipgloss, you might want to suggest associated products like lip balm, or lipliner or some similar product. Your chances at getting more sales are doubled just because of this single tactic. It may seem obvious but like all things obvious, tends to be overlooked when devising ecommerce user experience strategies.

Engaging content

Too much research and information has been written on how to create functional and simple checkout pages. In the process, while many ecommerce stores have started creating simple checkout processes, the fun of exploring the site is lost. This is a vital component of user experience and even defines how often a user will come for online shopping to your site! By investing in immersing content and Flash you can create a superior online shopping environment for your user. Keeping your customer in your store is very difficult. Therefore, the need arises to invest in charming content, easy navigation and superior images. In terms of technicality, there isn’t much of a limitation nowadays and ecommerce sites can hope to stretch the user experience and heighten it as much as they wish to. As they say, the sky is the limit, the same concept applies to online shopping and derived user experiences as well!