How personas improve the customer journey in e-commerce

Since the turn of the millennium, online retail sales have eighty-fold - to almost 90 billion euros a year. This is another reason why e-commerce retailers are using increasingly sophisticated methods to attract potential customers. The next stage is data-driven personas of online customers, which sellers use to gain important insights in order to personalize the shopping experience.

What are e-commerce buyer personas?

If you know the behavior and wishes of your customers, you can act in a target group-oriented manner and offer a first-class shopping experience online. Data-based online shopper personas enable the desirable, precise customer understanding, because: The more you know about your customers, the better you can give them what they expect.

Online shopper personas work in the same way as other personas - there are just a few extra considerations. In general, B2C (business-to-consumer) buyer personas provide a detailed representation of the ideal customer based on data and B2B (business-to-business) personas provide information about typical buyers or decision makers from relevant companies or organizations.

When developing personas for e-commerce, specific aspects of the online purchasing environment must also be taken into account. In addition to demographic characteristics, information about online behavior, for example, refines the result: Which end device and which social media platforms does my customer prefer? What is the motivation behind their purchasing behavior - are they looking for convenience, special offers or product reviews? data-driven personas breaks down customer expectations in terms of product research, purchase decision, checkout, shipping, returns, customer service and security. With the help of this precise information, sellers can create a positive shopping experience (customer journey) and build customer loyalty.

How to retain customers with personas

 Speaking of customer loyalty: According to e-commerce personas, the special features of online retail are that shoppers are rarely loyal due to the huge range of products on offer or shy away from shipping costs. There is also a problem of trust among first-time buyers when purchasing on a new website.

As an e-commerce retailer, you can use this knowledge to customize the shopping experience in the best possible way and persuade potential customers not to buy from the competition. In this way, you can provide social proof that shows what good experiences other customers have already had. It is also helpful to make it easy to complete the order process without asking for unnecessary information. Free gifts or loyalty points are just as convincing as a fast loading speed of the website.

What personas teach: What to look for on an e-commerce website

Once you have obtained helpful information about the identity of your buyers with the help of the data-based persona, you can motivate them to buy in the next step. Targeted, non-dispersive campaigns attract customers to the website, where the optimized e-commerce visit is converted into a purchase or the first-time buyer is turned into a repeat buyer.

With these 5 tips, you can guide potential customers through the buying process:

1. use high quality images

High-quality images in the web store give the site a professional and aesthetically pleasing appearance, they improve the customer experience and promote the brand image. According to studies, good images play a decisive role in sales promotionas they have the Customer confidence in the products and convey quality. They also contribute to search engine optimization and increase the likelihood that they will be shared on social media, which in turn increases the reach of the website.

2. optimize check-out process

A smooth Checkout process is crucial for the success of online purchases is crucial, as it increases the conversion rate and prevents the purchase process from being abandoned. If the check-out takes too long, for example because too many questions and fields have to be answered, the probability of shopping cart abandonment increases. According to a study, prospective buyers want to Shopping process in a maximum of five stepsend.

3. offer guest checkout

80 percent of mobile device users abandon the purchase early if a long registration process is necessary before the purchase is completed. Because not everyone who stores online wants to become a regular customer, an uncomplicated guest checkout leads to the completion of the purchase and leaves a good feeling. This was also the result of a study: 62 percent of Germans prefer to pay as a guest.

4. sell trust

As described above, online customers have a trust problem that you as a seller must counteract with trust signals that show that the website complies with industry-standard security measures. These include the SSL encryption protocol, the certainty of a responsible data handling or several secure payment options. For example, if online stores do not offer the right payment method, they risk 37 % of customers to be lost. In addition, testimonials and reviews increase credibility and therefore the conversion rate: according to a study, the Purchase probability 270 percent higher for a product with five reviews than for a product without ratings.

5. personalization is key

Buyer personas make it much easier to individualize the customer experience. The importance of personalization is demonstrated by the Adobe report "Digital Trends 2024"If you want to remain competitive, you need uniform data in order to personalize the customer journey. Customers also believe that companies still need to learn more about personalizing experiences. In addition to personas, tools can help to personalize the customer journey of webshop visitors in the second step by adapting content, offers and interactions to the individual needs, preferences and behaviours of the personas.

A positive e-commerce sales process therefore begins with precise knowledge of the buyers. This is where data-driven personas, which defines the behaviour and wishes of the target group, helps the seller to optimize the online sales process. Because only if communication, advertising and content are optimally adapted to the users can a positive customer journey be generated, which ultimately leads to satisfied buyers and sellers.

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