These customers are in their first session and are likely to abandon without taking any meaningful action.
They are embarking on a journey of consideration that spans multiple visits. This behaviour signals a deliberative approach to purchasing, where decisions are mulled over time rather than made on the spur of the moment. Your job here is to facilitate this behaviour, not capitalise on it. Don’t jump to the conversion, but to really captivate these users, you need to nurture.
Remember your objective; remind and persuade. Remind these users about, your brand, their product selection, and persuade them to increase their intent or go to the next buying stage of their journey.
The aim with First Time Bouncers is not merely to prevent their exit but to lay down a breadcrumb trail that leads them back; and then, ready to engage further. Strategies to achieve this involve both on-site adjustments and off-site communication tactics, tailored to respect and enrich their decision-making journey.
Email capture: Collect user email address (low intent)
Email capture: Collect user email address (low intent)
Recognising that this segment may not be ready to make a purchase in their current session, off-site engagement strategies become crucial.
Think about how you’re going to get this data from this segment first and foremost. What reason are you giving them to sign up to your newsletter? (don’t say “an offer” - that’s short termist and lazy).
Encouraging newsletter sign-ups or some form of email exchange with the promise of new product announcements, exclusive offers, or insightful content can keep the dialogue open. Or tailor these communications to reflect the brand's values and product strengths so, when the time comes, your audience are ready to narrow down their choices, your brand remains top of mind.
Execution examples:
What? You’re asking for a personal piece of information; an email address. What value exchange can you give them that helps them give up that information? This could be a functionality like saving items for later or back in stock announcements. As part of a competition or giveaway. It could be a valuable piece of content, or something exclusive that they need in their lives. Perhaps the hope of getting something in the future oppose to right now?
What? Using this as part of a loyalty program. In some instances it might be a bit too soon to promote loyalty programs, so what might be the benefit of asking for an email address now, to sign up for a loyalty program, for the hope of future benefits?
Where? The method of asking this information can be sticky on the site somewhere. It could be in a popup either centrally or off to the side somewhere. Or it could be as a component on the site (eg. below the product call to action, as part of the product grid). This email address collection could occur anywhere on site, thinking about your highest engagement areas and utilise it there. If the majority of users land and bounce on your product page, it might be worthwhile collecting the email address in a component on that page.
When? Use exit intent popups for email address collection, opposed to just landed popups for lower intent users
Re-engage off-site: Brand-based re-marketing
Re-engage off-site: Brand-based re-marketing
These users haven’t reached a stage where they are aware of what product they are interested in - yet. They have barely explored your proposition and as someone who is likely to immediately bounce, haven’t had the time to delve into the details.
It is your job to create hype around your brand, or showcasing your product set, not necessarily showing the user a single product.
Execution examples:
For low intent users, exclusion from remarketing might be beneficial. Considering using “low intent” as a threshold, perhaps with other data such as “low momentum” and “browsing” to test excluding from re-marketing campaigns
Emailing these users with brand based messaging to get your brand known; create hype around the brand to elicit emotional attached and / or reminding them that you exist
Using hype-based techniques in remarketing campaigns; customer testimonials, product outcomes, brand story, USPs and narrative
Re-engage onsite: Personalise the experience on the customers return
Re-engage onsite: Personalise the experience on the customers return
Remember, remind … and then persuade. An integral part of encouraging return visits is fostering a sense of trust and excitement about the brand and its products. Showcasing user-generated content, customer reviews, and highlighting community engagement can humanise the brand, making it more relatable and trustworthy. Moreover, illustrating how products fit into the lives of similar customers can ignite excitement, drawing Session Hoppers back with a renewed interest in what you offer.
Execution examples:
Regardless of where the user lands, remind them of their recently viewed products
On the product listing page, highlight those products that have been viewed before. Using your search and merchandising rules to bring these up to the top of the page and / or just highlight these within the listing to make them stand out. This could be done either by prioritising these product cards, or adding a small tab on the product card of “recently viewed” or, indeed, making these products stand out in some way
Highlight items already in someones basket. Usually the little notification in the top right isn't enough, especially on a mobile device. Its worthwhile taking up some real estate when the user lands to pop out a mini basket, or replace the banner with the fact that they've got an item in their basket; personalisation 101
If they are ready to purchase eg their last known intent was high, analyse their last point of hesitation and streamline their path to purchase. If they exited at the payment stage, for instance, highlighting various payment options or offering payment flexibility might address their concerns. Question whether users need to go through the basket page to reach your checkout? Or whether they have an account and can login to pre-fill out the checkout?
Your job is to then persuade to take the next action. Use scarcity techniques to highlight stock or availability, or social proof techniques to capitalise on the popularity of the product
You can also reaffirm why the user liked this product in the first place by highlighting some of the product features, or outcomes of the product. Using customer reviews or testimonials in a way that really sells the product, reminding the customer what they liked about the product in originally. Really sell it - you know the customer is into it in some form.
Provide Expert Assistance: Offering live chat or virtual consultation services can replicate the in-store experience of seeking advice, giving them the confidence needed to proceed with their purchase. This might be a case of prioritising or re-highlighting the live chat functionality to show users that you are willing to help when needed - similar to a real life store, right?