Does Your Website Speak To Your Customers Like Amazon?
When was the last time Amazon asked you who you were? Probably when you first signed up for your Amazon account, right? How long ago was that? That’s what I figured!
As soon as you sign into your Amazon account (or visit their site if you’re logged in), it immediately greets you in the right-hand corner. Not only does Amazon greet you, but it immediately shows you relevant items: product suggestions based on your interests, browsing history, and even your wish list. There’s a reason why Amazon is an e-commerce powerhouse. It talks to you like a human, and NOT like a website… and it’s something many brands should be integrating onto their own websites.
In case you haven’t noticed, many websites have an extremely short-term memory. No matter how many times you visit a particular website, you might find yourself inputting your information over and over again. Even if you’ve downloaded an e-guide from an organization (after filling in your information), and you get an email inviting you to download the next e-guide, you’re probably finding yourself having to fill out your information again. It’s just… awkward. It’s the equivalent of asking a friend for a favor and then saying to them Who are you again? Website visitors obviously aren’t insulted in a literal sense — but many are certainly agitated.
Like many folks, I’m really good at remembering faces, but awful at remembering names — so I make a concerted effort to recognize them for the future. If I’ve found that I’ve forgotten their name, I’ll jot it down in my phone. I also do my best to jot down additional information in my contacts, like favorite foods, birthdays, kids’ names, etc.—anything that’s important to them. It prevents me from having to ask them over and over again (which is rude) and, in the end, folks appreciate the effort. If something is meaningful to someone, I wanna make sure to remember it. Your websites should do just the same.
Now, let’s be honest with ourselves — even if you write everything down, you’re not going to remember every single significant detail. However, you do stand a far greater chance at remembering more details if you attempt. Websites should do just the same — especially if they want to better engage with consumers, gain their trust, and see more transactions.
Although they’re the most obvious example, Amazon isn’t the only website that’s both forward-thinking and conscientious. There are plenty of organizations that have recognized how crucial it is to make their online experiences even more engaging and considerate. Here are a few I can rattle off pretty easily:
AskNicely
1 For our purposes, we want to understand better what consumers honestly think of our product. A simple 2-part survey gets sent out to each of our customers. The 1st part asks a customer to rate their likelihood of referring us on a scale of 1-10. The 2nd part allows for open-ended feedback — basically asking why that customer chose that rating, how we can do better, or who they would recommend. They hit submit, and that’s it! There’s no field to enter their name, email address, or anything like that. Why? Because we JUST emailed them and should already know who they are!
Would you really go up to a customer you’ve been working with for 6+ months and ask who they are? No! Even though these aren’t face-to-face interactions, it just doesn’t make sense to ask them for information you already have. As someone who’s been on the receiving end of such emails, I can tell you that when I have to provide my information to them AGAIN, it almost feels like I’m being sold to… and mind you, I’ve already purchased your product. Don’t ask me who I am when you already know me.
So, going back to AskNicely, a customer clicks the email, selects a rating from 1 to 10, and then provides additional feedback. That information is then sent to the organization conducting the survey, so they can better cater to that individual customer’s needs in the future. Their score is immediately appended to their customer profile.
Formstack
If you’re a marketer or you own an e-commerce business, chances are pretty good that you know who Formstack is. If you don’t know, Formstack is a platform that allows companies to design their own online forms and manage the data collected. Those are the layman’s terms, at least. The platform is far more complex than that (just like AskNicely is), but I’ll go over some of the features that make it a great engagement tool.
Over time, Formstack has made efforts to integrate technology that makes static forms less plain. Along with the platform’s visual customization, businesses can also customize how forms are displayed to users. For example, depending on how a user has filled out a previous form (or a previous section of a form), Formstack would leverage conditional formatting to display questions that make the most sense for that user to answer. In fact, some questions can be skipped altogether. Conditional formatting is used to help streamline the form-filling process and increase completion rates. Pretty cool, right?
Now, regarding engagement with current clients, Formstack offers the option to implement Pre-Populating Form Fields. As I mentioned previously, it’s super awkward to ask folks you have a relationship with who they are. It’s weird. And even if you don’t necessarily think it’s weird, website visitors don’t like having to fill in all of their contact information over and over and over again. For folks who are already engaging with your business, you can set it up so that consumer contact information is copied from one form to another. It’s not quite the same as not having the form displayed at all, but it is indeed a great start.
Another option is to send unique form URLs that attribute the form to a specific user or customer. These URLs are commonly found in Thank You emails, and they often direct to Follow-Up surveys. Instead of an area to enter a name, email, or phone number, it jumps into the first question. There are no introductions — just meaningful interactions.
Xbox
While I’m not personally an Xbox user, I know lots of people who are. One of my team members, Felicia (PERQ’s Content Specialist), is a pretty frequent user. Besides the extensive choice in games, Felicia likes the Xbox One’s current user interface, which is both highly engaging and personalized.
When using an Xbox (or even a PlayStation, for that matter), it’s customary to create a gamer profile — both for the purpose of distinguishing different users and for online gaming. What’s nifty about these gamer profiles is that the Xbox interface treats you just like a human. As soon as you log on, you’re literally greeted with Hi, Felicia! or Hi, Muhammad! on the screen (and it’ll tell you Goodbye! when you leave). It’s talking to you as if it truly knows you — and honestly, it really does.
Your Xbox user profile possesses a unique dashboard with all of your apps, all of your gaming scores and a list of all your current friends. What’s particularly cool about this platform is that, in addition to showing you everything that makes the experience unique and fun, the software aims to make it EVEN BETTER.
One thing Felicia found interesting was that she was receiving game and app suggestions, NOT so much based on her own usage, but based on what her friends were currently using. Because there’s a sense of community around most video game consoles, and so many users have similar interests, it makes sense to branch out and show users something new. If Felicia sees that a good portion of her friends are playing Halo Wars 2, for example, she might want to buy the game so she can play with them. She could then click the game image, use the card saved on her profile to buy it, download it, and start playing.
We’ve come a long, long way since the days of repetitive form fills, but we’ve still got a long way to go. There are still so many businesses out there that have a habit of taking the money and running. They’re getting the information, stats, and business they need to sustain themselves—but they’re not actively trying to retain those consumers. If I’ve learned anything over the last few years from working at PERQ, it’s that consumers feel more comfortable when businesses develop relationships with them. Consumers want to feel welcome — but more important, they want to be understood. The more we know our consumers, the more inclined they’ll be to continue doing business with us.
