It’s a never-ending cycle. As technology progressively allows us to get more done in a shorter period, we’re expected to get even more done with that extra time.
I’m addicted to convenience. Some call it laziness, I call it efficiency. If there’s a product that will make my mornings with a 2-year-old easier (like maybe a machine that would feed him), I’m sold.
Convenience has become a necessity for consumers. Why do you think Amazon Prime’s free two-day shipping has accumulated 63 million subscribers? By visiting one site, a person can have almost anything they want or need to be delivered to their doorstep in just a couple of days (in some areas, just a couple of hours). This kind of convenience has given Amazon a leg-up as they celebrate being the top e-commerce retailer in the world.
Convenience appeals to customers. It’s a big factor in purchase decisions. So one way you can make your products or services stand out is to highlight their conveniences so they don’t have to search for them.
Many people will forego purchasing the base model of cars to add convenience. Why do you think that people buy luxury cars? Luxury is just a fancy word for convenience. It’s hard to turn down heated seats if you have to face the brisk Northern Utah winters.
Highlight the convenience of your products by prominently displaying them on your site. For example, Shopper Approved makes collecting ratings and reviews and displaying and syndicating them completely automated. Bam, convenience. What convenience does your product offer?
Make your website easy to read and navigate. People will start leaving web pages if they take four seconds or longer to load. Keep the website design appealing, but quick-to-load, easy to navigate, with a straightforward menu at the top, and include a search bar so they can more conveniently find what they are looking for.
Allow customers to create a profile that saves their information so they don’t have to re-enter it each time they log in or purchase from you.
Keep the check-out process to one section per page (name, shipping info, payment info, etc.). Display a progress bar at the bottom of the checkout screens so they know where they are in the process and what they have left to complete. Also, remember the easier and faster your checkout process is, the higher the completion rate.
Your website, checkout process, advertisements, etc. should all be optimized for mobile viewing as well. The trend is moving to mobile commerce! Make sure you are accommodating this change in the market by making it as easy for your mobile users as it is for your non-mobile users.
Check out this article for help with mobile optimization.
If consumers have an issue with your product, respond promptly so they can continue using it with little to no interruption. Provide contact information in easy-to-find places on your website and in your emails or other contact methods with your customers. Live chat is a fantastic function for customers with questions or issues that want immediate help.
In addition, a FAQ section on your website that addresses common concerns or issues makes problems easier to solve for your customers and creates less work for you.