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Internet shoppers need ready access to information
The internet has "transformed the way consumers shop", according to a new report from Harris Interactive.Almost half (48 per cent) of respondents said they had increased their online shopping habits "a great deal" or "somewhat" over the last five years.
Apart from being terrific news for online advertisers, this means that companies need to develop new strategies in order to meet the needs of these consumers.
Internet users - especially men - are likely to abandon an online transaction because they could not get a question answered during the buying process. In fact, 48 per cent of men had abandoned a virtual shopping cart due to this.
The report also showed that online consumers are extremely well-informed, with 57 per cent of customers "always" or "often" researching products and services before pressing the "buy now" button.
In general, website owners must ensure that the information that customers might want is easily accessed. Keywords, natural language queries and category-based browsing are all methods that can be used for this.
More than 40 per cent of consumers wanted to be able to find the answer to their question right there, rather than having to wait for an email response.
To optimise your site, use link building.
Corporate Internet news posted on 29 May 2007
