How to Use Big E-commerce Brand Research to Grow Your ROI

We don’t always have the time or money to spend analyzing those critical pieces of data that lets us know the ideal ways to improve our customer experience.

However, there is another way.

One low-cost and quick method for enhancing business market research is by paying attention to how the big e-commerce companies are doing it.

Here we guide you through big e-commerce websites to find out how they’re reaching and retaining those customers that could be converting on your site as well.

The best way to get a true customer experience and learn from these top e-commerce sites is to make a purchase, so if you want to make the most out of your research start thinking of a product that your ideal customer would search for.

What images are they using and how do they have the text surrounding them

Look to specific products within your niche whether you go to Overstock, Amazon, Walmart, or another big e-commerce brand.

Notice how many images are available and how many angles you can view it from. Also, look at the content surrounding the image.

What seems like simple and thoughtless placements happen to be heavily researched based on split testing, consumer feedback, and expert web designer consultations.

While that may sound expensive and time-consuming (and it is), you have the advantage because you can model your site utilizing their research.

How easy is it to find products and adjust those items in the shopping cart

If you want to have a better idea of what your ideal customer wants, then take a look at how easy it is to find products on Amazon. They sell virtually everything and target all demographics of consumers.

Because they have so much to offer, they have to make it easy to find products and go back-and-forth between their cart and the online store.

You’ve probably cruised around on their site already, but this time pay closer attention to the transition from product to product, where button placements are, and how convenient it is to change the cart.

Once you’ve done this, do the same thing in your e-commerce store in that some consumer frame of mind and see how you compare.

What is the checkout experience like

Now that you have a product or two in your cart, go ahead and start the checkout process. Focus on aspects like whether they are up front about shipping costs and time frames, security badges, and if you get stopped at any point to give extra information.

Take notes and understand that all of the information required and click-through has a purpose behind it.

How quick does the customer service respond to questions and inquiries

You’ll notice that the biggest e-commerce stores are stacked in the customer support arena.

Buy a simple product from one of them, and then call to return it, complain, ask questions, or get directions for use.

You can record or document these calls so you remember the verbiage they used, how long the call took, and how you felt when the call was over. Because the big e-commerce businesses have spent the money to ensure their customer support is strong, you can model yours the same way.

Review your notes and ask yourself what you can do better

Now that you’ve gone through the motions of making a complete purchase on a big e-commerce store within your niche, you should have a pretty decent idea about what the research has told the top companies works best for conversions.

However, your job now isn’t just to replicate that experience – you want to do it better!

Look for gaps in the experience, even if you have to do it again to pay closer attention to details, and start making a list of what would improve your experience.

Once you’ve reorganized your web design to follow researched user-friendly model, then you can start doing testing on a smaller and less expensive scale.