With Black Friday and Cyber Monday nearly upon us as marketers ramp up their customer engagement and customer experience efforts, customers will shop online more if brands engage them more often, according to a new study commissioned by Moxie Software.
“Brands can deliver consistent, digital customer engagement channels across devices to better support consumers on their online journey,” Rebecca Ward, Moxie president and CEO, said in a release. “To increase conversion, companies can anticipate customers’ needs and provide them the right engagement at the right time to help consumers accomplish what they are trying to do.”
According to the study, the No. 1 reason why some consumers avoid online shopping is the lack of in-person assistance and proactive engagement from brands.
Proactive engagement has a major effect on customer engagement, the study shows.
What’s more, 72% of survey respondents indicated that they want brands to proactively engage with them online, especially when they are struggling on a website. Digital engagement is a critical componentfor retailers this holiday season as two out of three shoppers say if they were offered proactive engagement, they may do more of their shopping online.
When encountering issues while shopping online, nearly 40% of those surveyed felt that each of the following would be equally helpful:
Receiving relevant information proactively offered by a website based on where the consumer is and what he/she is trying to do on a brand’s website;
Having the ability to connect with a brand representative via chat or video chat session to answer questions; and
Sharing screens with a brand representative to help complete a complex form or task.
This holiday season, more than half of shoppers will conduct the majority of their holiday shopping online. What’s more, 75% of the survey respondents indicated that they plan to spend $200 or more and 25% percent plan to spend $500 or more, when shopping across devices (desktop, tablet and smartphones). With such high traffic, the online holiday shopping experience could dictate whether retailers meet or exceed their sales targets this season.
The survey shows that 20% indicated that they will shop on a mobile device this holiday season. Of those, 33% are planning on spending $500 or more when buying on their tablets and smartphones, a large chunk of change that retailers won’t want to lose as consumers expect the convenience of shopping on the go.
The survey is based on responses from 2,500 respondents from across the U.S. and the U.K. who took Moxie’s survey online from Nov. 3-Nov. 6, 2014.