To enjoy a custom shopping experience, your visitors need more than an awesome website design.
A concierge is the person you go to when you want to get something done fast. They specialize in executing custom tedious tasks perfectly, so you can have an outstanding experience wherever you are. They hustle to find exactly what you’re looking for and sometimes even something extra they know you’ll like.
When it comes to eCommerce, many sites lack this personal level of service with their customers. In a physical store, you could at least have an employee on the floor assisting customers. But how do you provide this same (or better) service on a website?
The answer is twofold: use the right tools with the right mindset. Implement a marketing quiz, survey, strategic lightbox, and other experiences with a concierge mindset. Put yourself in the shoes of your visitors and seek to answer the questions that prevent them from making a purchase. Questions like…
- How does this product work?
- Is it effective? Is it better than other products I’ve seen?
- Which bundle or product line will help me reach my goals?
- What colors or styles are there and how do I find the ones I will like?
You can create an eCommerce concierge experience on your website and give your customers the high level of service they deserve. Here’s what we’re about to cover – choose your section or keep reading! This will be an extremely practical guide with a deep dive into how different products can be used from a concierge mindset.
- A Concierge Mindset
- Getting to Know You: Quizzes
- I Noticed You May Need Help: Lightboxes
- Exactly What You’re Looking For: Banners
- I Don’t Want You to Miss This: Exit-Intent Strategies
- Here if You Need Me: Sidebars
- Let’s Have a Concierge Conversation
A Concierge Mindset
When a customer enters your site, what do they see?
For many eCommerce sites, it’s a homepage stuffed with perfect product pictures, sales promotions scrolling at the top of the screen, and a newsletter sign up lightbox jolting up within <5 seconds of being on the page. Not the best first impression for potential customers.
Sales typically follow great customer experience. So how can you make your website more inviting and close more deals at the same time? Infuse everything you do with a concierge mindset.
A concierge creates the highest service and experience possible. Promoting a sale is a great way to sell more, but a custom coupon for what the customer is looking for? That’s great service. Exit-intent lightboxes or sidebars can be good: but are they coming off as a frantic effort to get someone to buy, or as a firm but helpful reminder or push?
Great marketing is backed by good psychology. Let’s take a look at eCommerce tools from a concierge mindset.
Getting to Know You: Quizzes
A great salesperson or concierge is going to get to know the person they’re working with. What do they want? And often more important, what do they not want? It’s extremely difficult to serve all customers exactly the same. The more you know about them, the better experience you can give them.
This sounds great in theory, but how on earth can you get to know and give a custom experience to thousands of site visitors? This is the great power in the eCommerce quiz.
The quiz isn't a mindless sales tactic to push someone to a product as fast as possible. Backed with a concierge mindset, it’s an excellent customer profile building asset. When used well, the eCommerce quiz can:
- Collect customer data to fuel your custom targeting and messaging going forward
- Display your company’s personality, expertise, and dependability
- Provide a great customer experience and show you care about your customers
Our favorite quizzes keep customer experience as their #1 priority. You don’t necessarily want your visitors to feel like they’re taking a quiz. It should feel like a friendly conversation with someone who has their best interests in mind. Like a concierge!
Quizzes are first because their powerful zero-party data collection, when properly tapped into, can fuel every other part of the concierge experience.
I Noticed You May Need Help: Lightboxes
Lightboxes, or pop-ups, sometimes get a bad rep. They are often programmed to jump up within seconds of a visitor entering. Before visitors even have time to understand what your site is about, they’re being told to “Sign up for our newsletter!” Like the overly eager salesperson with a table at the grocery store entrance, consumers are left feeling interrupted and frustrated.
Now, let’s look at the lightbox from a concierge mindset: I noticed you may need help.
Lightboxes are extremely flexible. You can promote…
- Sales / Coupons
- Newsletter Sign Ups
- Your Quiz
- Refer-a-Friend
- Exit-Intent / Cart Abandonment
- Multi-Step Forms
- Surveys
- And More!
The key is to time your lightboxes to appear at the exact moment your visitor needs help. When that moment is depends on the lightbox’s objective. Don’t design a lightbox with a specific goal and have it appear immediately just to get it seen. Time it carefully and your lightbox will be extremely successful.
Follow your customer’s journey on your site. Did they just take a quiz and say they wanted to buy a two-piece swimsuit? While they’re browsing the two-piece swimsuits, display a lightbox that promotes a coupon for the product they want.
Are they returning to your site for the second time? If you have a curious customer who’s spent some time with you, now might be the perfect time to display a newsletter signup lightbox.
Did they make a purchase with you? Display a refer-a-friend lightbox.
Don’t ditch the lightbox just because it wasn’t effective when shown immediately after someone enters your site. Give your lightbox a change to succeed, thrive, and serve your customer with the proper strategy and helpful concierge mindset.
Exactly What You’re Looking For: Banners
A lightbox can hold a lot of design: photos, multiple lines of text or form fields. A banner is small and simple by comparison. A banner typically exists to promote a sale, quiz, or other promotion. From a concierge mindset, a banner is here to show exactly what you’re looking for.
Use any customer data you’ve collected so far to make your banners dynamic and helpful. Instead of promoting a store-wide sale or coupon for any item, show them a coupon or sale for exactly what they’re here to buy. Our customers find dynamic coupon codes to be more effective than generic coupons.
And when you’re thinking like a concierge, this makes sense. Customers feel special when exactly what they’re looking for goes on sale. They’re more likely to seal the deal right away.
I Don’t Want You to Miss This: Exit-Intent
Exit-intent strategies can be extremely effective at closing a lingering sale or soon-to-be-abandoned cart. But they can also be overlooked without the right strategy. From a concierge mindset, exit-intent or cart abandonment strategies tell your visitor: I don’t want you to miss this.
Here are a few super effective strategies for exit-intent or cart abandonment targeting:
- Lightbox or banner with a timer ticking down to when an offer expires
- Sidebar reminding a user of the items in their cart
- An offer to save their cart to their email
- Remind them how close they are to free shipping with a banner, lightbox, or sidebar
Get creative with your abandonment targeting! Find a strategy that falls in line with your goals and company personality. At the end of the day, exit-intent should continue your concierge relationship. Show the customer you are on their side and you don’t want them to miss out on the products that are perfect for them.
Here if You Need Me: Sidebars
Like the banner and lightbox, the sidebar is another multi-purpose tool. You can do anything from promote a sale, coupon, or your quiz, to embedding a form or re-opening a lightbox. From a concierge mindset, a sidebar says I’m here if you need me.
A sidebar isn't as intrusive as a lightbox, but it has greater opportunity for customization than a banner. Give your visitors an opportunity to tell you they need your help. The assistance is there in the corner of their screen. If they need help, they can interact with your sidebar.
Let’s Have a Concierge Conversation
Optimizing your site with an eCommerce concierge mindset provides the support that’s often lacking from eCommerce sites today. Most eCommerce sites are designed with a huge emphasis on sales – because, of course, you need sales to run a business! At the same time, your level of customer service and experience will impact both sales and customer retention.
A concierge goes above and beyond to truly understand the individual they’re helping and present them with the best results possible. Customers who feel understood and who trust they business they’re shopping with will place larger and more frequent orders. Be smart with the tools you use, collect and own your own consumer-consented data, and make that data work for you.
What was helpful about this article? What insights would you like to see next? Let us know!
