Ren Buenviaje

When I was in high school and e-commerce was becoming increasingly popular, I would read articles written by technophobes about the impending doom of brick and mortar stores. Fast forward ten years, and brick and mortar stores are still thriving. Studies have found that the average conversion rate for a retail web site is still about 2%. This means that for every 100 unique visitors a retail site has, only 2 of them will actually make a purchase.

What makes consumers reluctant to hit that Check Out button? There may be better deals and items online, but shoppers today still want to try before they buy. Case in point: I love browsing for handbags on 1154 Lill Studio’s online store. They allow users to select from a variety of fabrics to create a custom handbag of their choice—perfect for choosy individuals like myself. But in the five or so years I’ve known about their site, I have never actually made a purchase. They deliver a high quality product, but I’ve never quite felt confident enough that what I see online is what I’ll get on my doorstep. And on the days that I do want to make a purchase, it takes so long for me to find what I’m looking for that I eventually give up.

1154 Lill and other online retailers cannot offer the same shopping experience that a brick and mortar store does. But by improving on the areas below, retailers can enable visitors to make buying decisions more easily and begin turning more of them into customers.

1. Product filtering. Filters allow users with specific goals to log in, find their item, and check out quickly. The best filters usually reflect consumer patterns in product selection (i.e. color, size)  and have descriptive, straightforward options (i.e. red, green, small, large, etc). Currently, 1154 Lill’s site allows users to filter products by category. However, some of the options in the drop down menu are either too descriptive, or too ambiguous. Terms such as “Messenger Bags,” “Totes,” and “Clutches” make it easier for shoppers to meet their shopping goals than vague options like “Barbecues,” “Chic Mom,” and “Sight Seeing.”

2. Product sorting. Users who are just browsing are usually interested in a store’s most popular items, their best deals, or maybe they just want to take a quick glance at all the options they have. By providing a variety of sorting options (i.e. price, popularity, # of items per page), casual site visitors are more likely to find the things that pique their interest and become customers. On one of my recent visits to 1154 Lill, I was hunting for a Christmas present and was disappointed to find that I could not sort all available items by price.

3. Image previews. Since online shoppers don’t have the ability to see or feel the product they are purchasing in person, product photos need to give shoppers as much information as possible. This includes shots of the product from multiple angles, scale shots that show the product next to an object of a more familiar size, and zoom images that allow shoppers to examine a product’s quality thoroughly. On a site like 1154 Lill, where users are most concerned about the quality and texture of fabric options, the latter is particularly important.

4. Shopping cart. The shopping cart reminds site visitors that they have a purchase to complete. On larger retail sites, some carts display item counts, while others display order totals. 1154 Lill’s shopping cart displays neither, which can make it easier for potential customers to leave the site without making a purchase. Within the shopping carts themselves, image previews can also be helpful. People are inherently visual thinkers, and it is easier to commit to purchasing a product when you “see” it in your “cart.”

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