How great product data helps Shoppers Buy
Great Product Data helps Shoppers to
Search & Find > Understand > Decide & Buy
Make it easy for your shoppers to decide to buy
The smoother and faster you can make it for shoppers to go through their 3-step buying process, the more they will:
- Visit your site
- Buy on your site
- Return to your site
And the more money you will make.
Product data is often a dramatically underused resource in making it easier for shoppers to decide to buy. Great product data can boost your sales significantly.
How Shoppers Buy
However simple the purchase, shoppers go through a 3-stage process before buying:
- Search & Find
- Understand
- Decide & Buy
If they’re buying every day or low priced items, this process is
Fast & Sequential.
But if what they’re buying is expensive or unfamiliar, shoppers can go around and around so the purchase becomes
Slow & Circular.
Imagine the difference between buying a ream of printer paper for $3.99 and buying a new upscale refrigerator for over $1,000. Huge!
How Great Product Data Helps Your Shoppers to Buy
Great product data makes shoppers’ 3-step buying process as easy as possible and can speed up “slow & circular” purchases to “fast & sequential.”
Great product data helps shoppers at each stage of their buying process:
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In Search & Find, great product data:
- Ensures that the results shoppers see either by browsing or searching always match their needs or interests.
- Powers the filters in faceted navigation that quickly reduce the number of search or browse results to a manageable number.
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In Understanding, great product data:
- Helps shoppers to evaluate the pros and cons of products.
- Does more than just describe product features - it explains their benefits.
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In Deciding & Buying, great product data:
- Helps shoppers weigh the pros and cons of alternative choices
- Identifies the key differences between products that account for greater or lesser price.
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The help shoppers need with Understanding and Deciding & Buying varies with product type:
Great Product Data – when Search & Find is not enough
Cuisinart® makes 3 coffeemakers of 12-cup capacity that both grind and brew coffee. They range in price from $99.99 to $199.99. Choosing between them is confusing
| All 3 products have similar product names and 2 have identical names. |
| Product features are described differently and their benefits are not clear. |
| What you get for paying more is not highlighted and explained. |
Imagine how quickly shoppers could make a decision if they knew choices are:
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Base model:
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$99.99 |
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Add burr (instead of blade) grinder for better tasting coffee:
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+$70.00 |
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Add thermal (instead of glass) carafe to keep coffee hot without burning:
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+$30.00 |
The Business Impact of Great Product Data
Great product data turbocharges the 3-step purchase process, especially when shoppers need help with more than searching & finding.
If you applied the principles demonstrated in the Cuisinart® example to your own ecommerce site, imagine how much:
- Easier it would be for your shoppers to get through the purchase process, and
- Lower your bounce rate and higher your traffic, conversion rate and average-order-value would be.
What’s Next for Great Product Data
This section has covered what great product data does. Next, learn about:
- What great product data is (coming soon!)
- What great product data is not (coming soon!)