Online shoppers bypass search engines in hunt for deals

E-commerce websites are likely to see diminishing returns from their search marketing spend this year, as 63 per cent of shoppers know the site's URL off by heart, according to a report by Redshift research and Maxymiser.

Mark Simpson, managing director of Maxymiser, said online businesses should shift their marketing focus from acquisition to improving the functionality of their site.

"Online businesses continue to focus heavily on customer acquisition marketing, but by redirecting the same level of investment into improving your conversion performance, organisations stand to see far greater returns," he said.

Ecommerce websites also run the risk of permanently losing customers if their purchasing process fails, with 69 per cent of respondents saying they will not return to a website if the purchasing process has been unsatisfactory.

Alarmingly, 82 per cent of shoppers have abandoned shopping baskets in the past year, with one third saying it was because the site was too slow.

Simpson said ecommerce sites need to "wake up to leakage" and consider what can be done to improve customer retention.

"The majority of e-commerce websites are losing customers who have actually spent time on the web site and have selected goods that they are willing to buy," he said. "If customers continue to abandon their shopping baskets at this rate then it will represent a significant lost revenue opportunity for online businesses."

The survey questioned 1000 users of e-commerce websites in the retail, travel, finance & insurance and hospitality markets.

This article was first published on revolutionmagazine.com