According to recent research from McKinsey & Company, roughly 44 percent of shoppers are using their smartphones while shopping.
As mobile shopping becomes second nature for consumers, retailers need more than just demographic information about their customers to create engaging mobile experiences that will result in repeat visits and transactions.
Retailers have relied heavily on users’ explicit responses and feedback on mobile applications to determine whether their mobile commerce efforts hit the mark. However, with so many external variables and preconceived notions weighing on people’s responses, traditional research methods, such as surveys and focus groups, can’t always be relied upon as a means to evaluate usability.
To determine what users were feeling and paying attention to at each stage of the purchase journey, Plastic Mobile conducted a study with research partner True Impact Marketing to measure the impact of mobile usability and design on mobile commerce purchase path and user engagement. The study identified some surprising insights around optimizing each stage of the purchase process. Here are some of the key takeaways for mobile retailers to consider:
The Pizza Pizza app elicited a steady level of interest over the course of the journey averaging 64% attentional engagement, which can correlate to the 79% of users that expressed that they ‘would definitely use again’. Whereas the Best Buy app elicited a steady level of disinterest (attention below median line) at an average of 19%, which also corresponds to only 24% of users expressing that they ‘would definitely use again’. That’s 63% fewer than users that experienced a steady level of positive attentional engagement.
The study illustrated that usability and design are critical to a mobile user experience conducive to driving commerce and transactions. By delivering convenience through an intuitive and engaging mobile app journey, brands can benefit from incremental revenues generated through the mobile channel. These insights can shape the consideration that mobile marketers pay to mobile user experience and design of transactional applications.
The shopping experience, even for the most devoted mobile shopper, often begins on the desktop, moves to a mobile device and follows the shopper to local stores where goods are examined, tried on and selected. Ensuring the user experience of a shopping app Is consistently engaging and relevant throughout the online to offline (O2O) shopping journey is critical.