During the purchase stage, visitors will take the steps to convert on your website. The good news is that many of these visitors are willing to put up with many of the headaches and hassles a website throws their way. For an ecommerce website, the visitor will add item(s) to the shopping cart and go through the checkout process. For a lead generation website, the visitor will click on the contact page and start filling it out.
Only 10% to 20% of website visitors are in the purchase stage. They are highly motivated to complete the buying process. Since these visitors require the least amount of persuasion to convert, they should have the highest conversion rate among the different buying stages. However, these visitors might abandon your website due to a process breakdown, usability issues, lack of trust indicators, or increased level of fears, uncertainties, or doubts (FUDs). For now, it is important to know that it is typical for unoptimized websites to convert into customers only 10% to 15% of visitors in the purchase stage. Optimized websites, on the other hand, can convert anywhere from 50% to 60% of these visitors into customers. To put things into perspective, a study by A.T. Kearney states, “Only 2 out of every 10 attempts to make purchases online result in a sale.”[41]
We all have been there. You get excited about finding an item, you order the item from an online store, and before the item arrives, you start getting buyer’s remorse. This post-purchase dissonance is a typical feeling of regret and remorse that takes place after many purchases. These feelings are exaggerated the first time a customer places an order with a website. The customer does not know the site, or whether the company is going to deliver the order on time, or at all.
Although this stage of the buying process does not have an impact on the conversion action that just took place, it does impact the possibility of the customer placing future orders with your website. There is also the possibility that the customer will cancel the order or return the item. The consumer could also spread bad word-of-mouth feedback about your business. Since customer retention is an important goal for most businesses, it is important to pay close attention to this stage of the buying funnel.
When a visitor places an order with your website, she has two different types of expectations:
There are three possible outcomes when a customer compares her expectations with the benefits of the product. These are:
If the received benefits (product and service) exceed the customer’s expectations, the customer will be satisfied and is likely to do business with your website in the future.
If the received benefits (product and service) meet or match the customer’s expectations, the customer will be in a neutral state and might do business with your website in the future.
If the received benefits (product and service) do not meet the customer’s expectations, the customer will be dissatisfied and most likely will not do business with your website in the future.
Since the post-purchase evaluation impacts the possibility of getting future business, you should aim—at a minimum—to get the customer to the neutral state.
Most companies are aware of the need to address customers’ post-purchase expectations through reasonable return and exchange policies and customer support. It is equally important to address these concerns through careful messaging. Customers are highly aware of your communication with them during this stage. Offline, many companies use follow-up calls to ease the minds of customers. We do not generally recommend that approach online, since most customers expect a certain level of privacy and do not expect to receive a follow-up call from an online retailer. It is best to follow up on online transactions with emails designed to fulfill each of the following points: