Two analysts at Forrester’s CXNYC 2016 advised brands to follow guidelines for optimizing mobile engagement and driving revenue – such as simplifying tasks, avoiding taunting error messages and removing unnecessary steps – instead of focusing solely on conversion rates when testing new features.
During the session, “Superior Digital Customer Experience Drives Revenue,” the Forrester analysts discussed optimal ways of inciting ecommerce sales, such as the ease of use exhibited by Starbucks’ mobile ordering application. While driving higher conversion rates may be the end goal of marketers’ digital initiatives, the best results will likely arise from following several steps to ensure seamless user experiences occur.
“I would encourage [marketers] to go beyond looking at conversion rates when you think about testing,” said Andrew Hogan, analyst at Forrester Research. “When you simply test against conversion, you run into some strange behaviors in how you design your page that may not be best for users.”
Identifying best brand examples Mr. Hogan named Starbucks as one retailer with an ideally optimized mobile app. Although the beverage giant’s Mobile Order and Pay service does occasionally encounter some loading issues, its geolocation technology and ability to remember favorite orders offers great convenience to users purchasing coffee and snacks while on-the-go.
Mobile Order and Pay constituted a modest four percent of total transactions for Starbucks in 2016’s first quarter, but makes up 10 percent of the chain’s busiest stores’ total transactions. Additionally, it consists of 20 percent of total transactions during peak consumption times at those busy locations.
“It’s not perfect, but it’s better than a lot of the options out there right now,” Mr. Hogan said.
Many apps suffer from sluggish response times and loading screens, a factor that can act as a turn-off to a time-strapped consumer wanting to make a quick purchase or find an answer to an urgent query. Brands must work to combat these issues, and also ensure they avoid taunting error messages when an app user incorrectly performs an action.
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