Catalyst Notes pt 1: The Customers Are Speaking, STHU and Listen!

Written by John Comments
Last Updated May 4, 2009

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The first session out at CA Catalyst last week was probably one of my favorites from last year and I am SO HAPPY that they brought it back again this year.

They have a panel of 10 randomly selected internet shoppers brought out on stage to answer audience questions. Some people will poll them and get them to respond on how they shop, what they look for in a online shopping experience and what is most important.

This is some of the most insightful information you can get to make your site experience POP, in the customers eye. What makes a buyer buy? How do they find your sites? Are coupons important? All this and more was address and the the results are MORE than shocking on a few of the responses.

Greg

Great information there, thanks John. I am just getting started as an etailer so this is great information to plan how I will go forward.

I thought the #2 factor being who the business is was important. I feel that way too personally and if a company seems that they don't care or if they don't paint a picture of who they are I am more hesitant to buy from them.

Cliff Aliperti

Hey John,

Great stuff, I almost don't regret missing this now! And more to come, really looking forward to it.

Hey, now I apologize if I missed this, but the cross-section of 10 buyers--how were they chosen? Are they 10 experienced, savvy shoppers? Or are they just 10 random people who shop online at different levels?

Biggest revelation seems to be creating some sort of club with a perpetual discount. The newsletter is a great hook, though a similar idea would be an Amazon Prime type set-up with an annual subscription rate leading into an offer (free shipping and the like).

Excuse me again if I missed this but regarding the part where 8/10 people used PayPal, but the same 8 used PayPal almost exclusively for eBay purchases (at least that's how I interpreted that). Assuming your off eBay eCommerce site offered PayPal and/or other online payment methods, but not a direct channel to pay through Visa/MC/etc--do those same 8 pay with PayPal, or do they abandon cart?

Thanks again, will probably have more questions ... unless I get distracted by your next entry in this series!

Cliff

John

People are picked via an ad on Craigslist that simply asked for people that shop online. Completely random and that is the only qualification. No indication or differentiation is made by volume of shopping or habits.

As for your question on Paypal, there is no answer. They did not ask them that question. However I will make this comment, only 5% of our online shoppers use Paypal on our website. Would they use Paypal IF there was no other option?!? I don't know.

However, as a consumer, I like options personally. If a site does not have my preferred payment method outside of Paypal or Google Checkout I do not consider that vendor to be at "real"entity.

Visa and Master Card (formally BankAmericard and Master Charge) have been around since I was BORN! That speaks to the validity of a online business and its trustworthiness IMHO. Anyone can have a Paypal account, few go the extra mile to establish a vendor account with the "big boys". I thing that should be considered when choosing payment options for your business.

So would these people abandon cart? I do not know, BUT I personally would not even begin shopping if all a retailer accepts is just Paypal. You know I have a critical eye, so that could be just some consumers. I know that a business must take the extra measures to qualify for a merchant account.

Given a choice on a site (Paypal or Visa/MC) that I do not know there is a nice choice to use Pp since I do not share personal info with that vendor. But given a site with ONLY Paypal makes me somewhat suspicious.

GOOD QUESTION!

john