E-commerce sites strive to outrun their competitors in their respective industries or niche in several aspects. One of the most crucial elements of these would be getting people’s attention. Turning prospects into actual buyers is becoming more and more of a challenge, since the target audience has less time, a shorter attention span, and higher standards towards brands. Gen-Z’s are especially prone to these factors, and you can’t afford to ignore this generation, as it’s the current consumer base with the rising spending power. But what moves the needle in improving engagement and sales? Well, the answer lies in devoting special attention to the buyer’s journey on your website.

In case you’re engaged in e-comm in any form, chances are you’re familiar with expressions such as bounce rate, click rage, or cart abandonment. Boosting these numbers really isn’t something you should aim for, especially when you could enhance conversions instead. And it all boils down to shortening the customer’s purchase path.

What Happens Once The Consumer’s Route Is Trimmed?

Buyer journey stages include awareness, consideration and decision. In more simple words, it’s how a user proceeds from becoming aware of your product through thinking it over, to actually making a purchase. According to UX consulting firm Nielsen Norman Group, visitors generally leave a website anywhere between 10-20 seconds. As you clearly don’t get a second chance at making a positive first impression, it’s of utmost importance that your interface is transparent enough for quick navigation and browsing. Purchasing your products shouldn’t take more than a handful of clicks.

Let’s see the top advantages of simplifying the shopping experience:

• Consumers are less likely to begin browsing for the same item on your competitors’ site
• Prospects won’t have time to arrive at the psychological stage where they start feeling unsure about buying your goods and eventually changing their mind
• The risk of forgetting about their purchase intent is minimised

The most important thing to remember: Every step in the buyer’s journey has the potential for drop-offs. In simpler terms, the more steps there are to get to purchase, the higher the chances you will lose customers along the way. It’s crucial to keep the entire sales transaction as short and as seamless as possible

5 Tips To Shorten The Buyer’s Journey

1. Use Video Content in Your Strategy
   
   According to Wyzowl's Video Marketing Statistics 2022, 88% of buyers declared that they've been persuaded to purchase an item or service by watching a brand's video. Also, the latest online purchase trends support that people prefer more video content over conventional materials, such as images and blogs, and demand an interactive virtual shopping experience. Being a versatile marketing tool, videos allow for people to see and hear you, which establishes trust and a stronger connection. You can showcase your products or services in a way that builds on the effect on viewers' emotions. Moreover, it’s a refreshing and entertaining substitute for endless and dull item category browsing
2. Create a Transparent Interface For Products
   
   It’s time to say goodbye to never-ending and disorganised category pages, menus that seem like a rabbit hole, and breadcrumbs so long they only fit in multiple rows. Aim for including your goods in only a few collective spaces for increased visibility. Nothing’s more annoying than losing potential clients because they got lost halfway towards their desired item. Simplifying menus and the line of products results in quicker decision making and prevents extra traffic to your competitors’.
3. Provide Adequate Communication
   
   Sooner or later along the buyer's journey, questions will arise. Whether the concern is the product, payment, warranty, shipping or returns, among others, you're expected to answer ASAP. Otherwise, your competition will do it for you. Vendors tend to deploy FAQs, contact forms and chatbots for communication purposes; however, these are not only limited in efficiency but also outdated. What's the ultimate solution then? Read on to find out.
4. Play Out The Urgency Card
   
   An excellent tactic for cutting down on the buyer's journey is inducing a feeling of urgency in the prospect. If you have products/services constantly on offer, people know they will be available anytime they come back to your site. How can you encourage them to make a purchase right away? Include limited-time bonuses and discounts, or indicate how many items are left in stock. Definitely an easy strategy that goes a long way.
5. Make The Checkout Hassle-Free
   
   This is undoubtedly a crucial point. Based on Capterra’s 2022 Online Shopping Survey, customers expect checkout to happen within 4 minutes – otherwise, they start growing impatient, which is the root cause of high cart abandonment rates. Therefore, selecting the desired goods, putting them into the shopping cart, and providing payment details must be a simple and straightforward process to maintain good conversion and purchase rates.

Your All-In-One Solution: Smuc Video Shopping Tool

Whether it’s bounce or exit rates, cart abandonment, or a confusing structure that causes the bottleneck in the sales process of your website, we’ve got the solution. Smuc is a video shopping platform that merges all the elements that are indispensable for shortening the buyer’s journey.

With real-time livestream broadcasts that can be started on your website and shared across other websites and up to 50 (yes, 50!) social media channels, you can reach more viewers than ever. Your streams will come with a customisable, built-in and clickable product feed that is visible on the screen throughout the whole session. Plus, the live chat feature allows you to conduct a continuous discussion with your audience and answer their questions immediately.

Create a sense of urgency through the visual depiction of special offers and discounts with product cards that enable your audience to purchase in one click. All the stages of the customer buying journey happen within the stream seemingly in fast-forward motion, so you can bid farewell to lost opportunities, and say hello to increased conversions and sales!
If you’re ready to take your business to the next level, give Smuc a try. Sign-up will take no longer than a minute, then you can start streaming immediately after. There is no need for upfront fees; you can think about subscribing to paid packages when your video needs grow. Good luck!