Consumers are buying products & services online more than ever before. From daily meals to big-ticket items like washing machines, loans & financial planning product. This is because e-commerce in India is booming exponentially.
This growing preference for online shopping is backed by recent studies. It predicts online retail in India to touch $170 billion and in turn capture 8% of the Indian retail market by 2030.
We can classify these purchases into 2 broad buckets based on the “consideration” criteria and they are namely low consideration purchase and high consideration purchase.
Low Consideration Purchase
Imagine you’re purchasing your “atta”. What are the factors you’re considering while buying the same? While ordering online, there are probably things on your mind.
- Do I buy the same brand that I use every time or I need something different
- Quantity
- Speed of delivery
- What are the offers/discounts
While low consideration purchase has been cracked by the leading e-commerce players, high consideration is a separate beast and has a much larger market opportunity if done right!
Consider, you’re purchasing a term insurance scheme for your family. How long do you think you’re going to take to purchase this item? What are the factors in your mind? The answers are definitely more than a day and three factors, respectively. This is because it’s a high consideration purchase.
High Consideration Purchase
A high consideration purchase is the procurement of ‘big ticket’ items like financial products, technical products, vehicles, appliances, and real estate. So anything one invests a lot of time to research before purchase falls under this category. Unlike low-cost goods, high-consideration products require more time, contemplation and commitment from the consumer’s end. Let us look into a customer journey to understand the customer pain-points and potential solutions that we can provide.
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Our experience in crafting the journeys for leading e-commerce players globally we have arrived at following principles that can be leveraged.
Design Principles
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Simplify the language
Technical products have a lot of technical jargon. The first step of the process should be simply the language to a 5th grader level and allow for easy comparison among products from various brands.
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Guided Journeys to the Rescue
Having to analyze multiple criteria and make a decision is an intensive process that requires a lot of brainpower which leads to abandonment and procrastination. Assisted journeys can be crafted to handhold the user in making the purchase.
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Contextual Assistance
It’s expensive to provide assistance using call-center. It’s imperative digital journeys to have just-in-time assistance. This assistance is based on context. These deliverables are micro-content, interactive help, and chat-bots.
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Plan for Touch & Feel
What online lacks is the ability to provide for the touch & feel. What can be done to simulate the touch & feel? A good example of this “Can we simulate the remote control operation?”
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Avoid Buyer Remorse
- They worry about making the wrong purchase.
- Fear of finding a better product later after they have made the purchase.
- They worry about looking bad in front of friends and family.
A journey design should ensure that users have an opportunity to make confident purchase decisions after having compared similar products, have gotten the best deals and in their mind, they’re assured about the post-purchase returns, warranty, and services.
INKONIQ has built expertise in converting a complex “High Consideration purchase” to a “Delightful & Educating High Confidence journey” for shoppers. Reach out to us to discuss design solutions for your high consideration journey now!