Have you seen The Customer-Focused Marketing Playbook?

This comprehensive and practical guide to the latest ideas in customer-focused marketing hands you over 200 packed pages of strategy, best practices, do's and don'ts, practical know-how, facts and figures, and ideas to optimise your marketing strategy, boost sales, market share, increase ROI and profit.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)

E-retailers' customer engagement still at risk

The web sites of most UK retailers are currently failing to meet customer expectations, the survey found. While retailers are succeeding at the fundamentals of e-commerce (such as providing clear product images and effective search facilities), they are not providing the engaging online shopping experience that consumers really want.

The majority of retailers were also found not to be taking advantage of social commerce, with many neglecting powerful features such as recommendations, reviews and social media sharing links.

The average score achieved by retailers was a mediocre 63%, with the majority losing marks with regard to value-added and social features. Despite 88% of consumers saying user reviews were vital or important to their e-commerce experience, only 42% of retailers provided them.

And when it came to product recommendations like 'other shoppers also bought', only 20% of retailers included these despite 80% of consumers stating they were important.

However, retailers generally performed well against the two elements that were ranked top by UK consumers, with 97% having a site that was easy to navigate and 96% having an effective search function. Retailers also scored well in other areas such as providing high quality images (96%), immediate email confirmations (96%) and swift product delivery (96%).

The differences between consumer expectations and retail delivery were marked. When it comes to having "a pleasurable online experience", 89% of consumers expect this, while only 63% of retailers deliver this requirement. Having "a wide range of customer service options" is sought by 84% of consumers, but delivered by only 60% of retailers.

Many consumers said that they were looking for "something a bit special" from their online shopping experiences, and it was here that UK retailers slipped up. Only 68% of retailers provided loyalty schemes, 35% failed to display clear returns policies, and only 50% provided the ability to compare products on their web site.

At the same time, the survey found that retailers were generally failing to use social media features that would give consumers the opportunity to involve their peers in the shopping process. Only one in five (20%) provided the option to share links or products via social networks and only 32% featured blogs or articles.

Recommendations (such as 'other shoppers also bought...') were also cited as important by 58% of consumers, being deemed to be more valuable than other more widely used features such as wish lists, but only 20% of retailers provided shoppers with recommendations based on what other customers had purchased.

"This shows that consumers are not getting the experience they expect when shopping online," concluded Maria Wasing, vice president of marketing for EPiServer. "Retailers need to develop their web sites to provide more engaging and social features, as well as content that will keep consumers on the site until the point of conversion - or at least entice them to return if they leave the site."

The report, entitled 'Developing your e-commerce strategy, has been made available for download from EPiServer's web site - click here (free registration required).

Have you seen The Customer-Focused Marketing Playbook?

This comprehensive and practical guide to the latest ideas in customer-focused marketing hands you over 200 packed pages of strategy, best practices, do's and don'ts, practical know-how, facts and figures, and ideas to optimise your marketing strategy, boost sales, market share, increase ROI and profit.

Learn the insider's tricks and techniques to turn every customers into a 'super spreader' for your brand. It's better than free advertising. Once you start this ball rolling, your brand can grow rapidly through word-of-mouth, advocacy, influencers, and customer loyalty. Super-charge your company's marketing strategy, build up your market share, and make more sales through repeat business and customer loyalty.

Find out what works - and what doesn't - and who's succeeded, and how they did it. See how the world's top brands keep their competitive edge against all odds.

The Customer-Focused Marketing Playbook walks you step-by-step through the techniques, metrics, reporting, analysis, marketing models, technologies, tools and innovations for successful marketing strategies - both traditional and emerging - with expert guidance from thought leaders in every major market. Find out the best ways to gather, analyse, and act on customer data to increase profitability, build your brand, empower your customers, beat the competition, reduce churn, and increase customer profitability. This is a marketing book you simply can't afford to be without.

This book aims to hand you all the facts, figures and research data you need for the best decisions for a more profitable, more engaging marketing strategy. It also highlights all the facts, forecasts and trends identified by our experts from the global Marketing Factbook's vast database of market data, news, studies, research and articles, and presents you with an invaluable library of ideas and practical support you can call upon at will.

With The Customer-Focused Marketing Playbook at your side, you'll have instant access to a true goldmine of easily adaptable and up-to-date strategies, walk-throughs, trends, research and market data, plus all the supporting arguments you need to build a solid, profitable marketing strategy.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)