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Perspectives

Exceptional Experiences are Vital: How to Stop the Digital Bleeding

October 22, 2018 By: Chris O'Dowd

I come from a bit of a different background than most technology reps, so some of my philosophies and methodologies tend to be atypical.  A part of my experience resides in tactical operations where the threat of losing one’s life while helping to save another was just part of going to the office.

That being said, if you’ve ever trained with a gun or a knife you should be prepared to deal with the not so great results of new holes and big gashes. Okay, so you are probably wondering how does this translate into digital intelligence and ecommerce insights?  Bear with me one sec…

When dealing with wounds, knowing the acronym M.A.R.C.H. could mean the difference between life and death: M – Massive Bleeding; A – Airway; R – Respirations; C – Circulation; H – Head.  The first letter, “M” for massive bleeding, is by far the most serious and important factor in the entire process.  But here’s the good thing, most bleeding can be easily stopped once you know the source of the problem.  The same thing goes for preventing massive revenue loss on the digital “battle field.”

Digital triage is very similar and equally as preventable as real-life triage, you just have to know where the massive “blood” loss is, how to use the right tools, and then plug the hole.  The challenge with digital triage is finding the source of the problem. However, there are technologies that can proactively identify issues and the resulting severity (annual revenue loss), so you know where to apply the bandage.

There are three vital areas you should guard, prioritize, optimize, and keep as healthy as possible.  These also happen to be the foundation of a Digital Intelligence Platform:

1. Performance – The result of highly performant websites is pretty clear.

Faster websites = Better experiences = More conversions = More revenue

Here is an example of one of our US-based retailers prior to using Quantum Metric – a 200MS slower experience meant actual millions of dollars in lost annual revenue.

PageLoadConversion

As we have noted before, no one has the patience to wait for pages to load. Plus, Google now uses mobile page speed as a factor in ranking mobile search results. Make sure you are tracking your performance metrics to stay on top of page load optimization and recapture any lost conversions.

2. Errors  – Search and Destroy, take no prisoners!

Actively searching for errors and making corrections should be part of your weekly routine. Tip:  If your customer ever experiences an error without a “call to action,” immediately change the error message. Customers should always be provided with a choice or a clear path to follow.

Do you know the errors your customers are experiencing and the associated annual revenue loss?  An error like this can cost you millions:

SORRYSOMETHINGWENTWRONG-635165-edited

Do you understand these errors as an indicator of an issue?  What is my option as a customer?  Where can I go? The journey has hit a dead end.

ErrorOrder

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For you as the product owner, you need to understand the severity of the issue. How long has this unavailable video been on your landing page? How many customers have tried to play it?  And why hasn’t your UX team received notice of it via an alert?

VideoUnavailable

Tip:  If the error affects only a small percentage of customers, don’t ignore it.  That small segment could be your most loyal and high AOV customers.  Always try to determine actual revenue loss when triaging your errors.

 3. Customer Journeys and UX Design – Are you 100% confident you’re providing a clear path to check-out?

Have you tested every possible platform, OS, and browser combination? This requires hours of human analysis, tagging, and research—but with a Digital Intelligence Platform, underperfoming segments and issues can be automatically brought to your attention.  Tip:  Use A/B testing tools to target your most important landing pages, product pages, and UX theories.  Once you’ve determined the “winner” do additional research to locate any errors within the winning segment, compare AOV and total revenue of both segments, and then repeat.

Here’s a simple example – Are product choices and selection messages helping or confusing customers?  Do your customers even see the required choices or are they instantly drawn to a big red ADD TO CART button.  Does all of this cause preemptive purchase attempts resulting in unnecessary errors and frustration?

AddtoCart

In the end, increasing page performance will increase revenue and search engine rankings. Locating and fixing errors is essential to good customer service and ensuring an easy and fluid customer journey prevents the digital bleeding of revenue. Want to prevent massive loss on your site? Ask to test out Quantum Metric.

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