It's happened again. Your cookies have tracked what seemed to be an engaged, potentially high-spending customer across your website. They lingered the appropriate amount, clicked suitably quickly, examined the full, carefully-crafted description your copywriter had two fits of screaming profanity, three breaks to cry in the loo, and one episode of throwing a hardbacked version of the Oxford English Dictionary at a colleague's head before their words were finally approved.
The customer's virtual basket shows enough variety to suggest new marketing angles, but not so much that your software can't categorise them effectively. It will be possible for the software to prompt the tried-and-tested selection of marketing approaches that (mostly) work with their demographic. To appeal to their ambitions, their glittering image of themselves, their fears, their hopes, their prejudices, and, in doing so, get more money from them.
Then - disaster! They've left your website! They went into checkout, and then just...left!
The software is programmed to remember to breathe. Maybe they just need to get their physical bank card from a physical wallet for some reason. They'll be back.
Hours pass. The software runs its processes. A reminder email is sent - perhaps the customer got distracted by a phone call, or the doorbell ringing, and just forgot that they'd been about to make a purchase? They'll be back.
Except...they don't come back. They don't even open the auto-generated email which has been carefully programmed to address them by name, and to avoid sounding accusatory.
Why does this keep happening?!
The customer's virtual basket shows enough variety to suggest new marketing angles, but not so much that your software can't categorise them effectively. It will be possible for the software to prompt the tried-and-tested selection of marketing approaches that (mostly) work with their demographic. To appeal to their ambitions, their glittering image of themselves, their fears, their hopes, their prejudices, and, in doing so, get more money from them.
Then - disaster! They've left your website! They went into checkout, and then just...left!
The software is programmed to remember to breathe. Maybe they just need to get their physical bank card from a physical wallet for some reason. They'll be back.
Hours pass. The software runs its processes. A reminder email is sent - perhaps the customer got distracted by a phone call, or the doorbell ringing, and just forgot that they'd been about to make a purchase? They'll be back.
Except...they don't come back. They don't even open the auto-generated email which has been carefully programmed to address them by name, and to avoid sounding accusatory.
Why does this keep happening?!
1. Because you assume every customer is there specifically to shop, with the intention of acquiring new things.
They're not.
Many customers are simply 'passing the time', engaging in a brief fantasy where they don't have to worry about budgets, bills, the cost of living crisis, or any of the very real constraints they face in their real lives.
Instead of forcing them to engage with online stores that have become as bland, irritating, ubiquitous, and depressing as their bricks and mortar counterparts, and then blinking in AI surprise when they ditch their virtual cart, rather than dropping a weeks' pay with you, provide these "fantasy play spaces" to your customers. Get your concepts into iterative, limited production fast, get them on a "Living the Dream?" site, which is just about customers exploring, and, where possible, engaging with virtually-accessible elements of, the things your company is thinking of offering.
It lets customers do what they most want to do with online shopping, but currently can't, and it saves you money by giving you the clearest possible communication on what your customers actually want.
People lie to people with clipboards.
They get bored halfway through online surveys.
The younger generations are increasingly engaged with deliberately 'rigging' online algorithms by engaging in misleading activity to distract AI from their core interests and identities.
But when people play, free from even the possibility of buying, they show you who they are, and what they want.
Let them play.
Suggest ready-to-buy products that connect closely to the concept items they've shown most interest in.
Send emails that include a short video replay of their interactions when concepts enter full production, and include a prominent buy link.
DON'T categorise items by gender - use personality, instead.
Eg: "Spikey, but with a cute edge? You'll love these."
"All about elegant insanity? Check this out..."
"Bookworm with attitude? We've got you."
"Introverts who prefer to let their wardrobe do the talking, walk this way."
Have as much interactivity as possible. Relate your concepts to products already on the market. Use diverse, but real, models. Allow customers to have conversations with each other about your concepts, on your live site. (You might get some free marketing hooks!)
They're not.
Many customers are simply 'passing the time', engaging in a brief fantasy where they don't have to worry about budgets, bills, the cost of living crisis, or any of the very real constraints they face in their real lives.
Instead of forcing them to engage with online stores that have become as bland, irritating, ubiquitous, and depressing as their bricks and mortar counterparts, and then blinking in AI surprise when they ditch their virtual cart, rather than dropping a weeks' pay with you, provide these "fantasy play spaces" to your customers. Get your concepts into iterative, limited production fast, get them on a "Living the Dream?" site, which is just about customers exploring, and, where possible, engaging with virtually-accessible elements of, the things your company is thinking of offering.
It lets customers do what they most want to do with online shopping, but currently can't, and it saves you money by giving you the clearest possible communication on what your customers actually want.
People lie to people with clipboards.
They get bored halfway through online surveys.
The younger generations are increasingly engaged with deliberately 'rigging' online algorithms by engaging in misleading activity to distract AI from their core interests and identities.
But when people play, free from even the possibility of buying, they show you who they are, and what they want.
Let them play.
Suggest ready-to-buy products that connect closely to the concept items they've shown most interest in.
Send emails that include a short video replay of their interactions when concepts enter full production, and include a prominent buy link.
DON'T categorise items by gender - use personality, instead.
Eg: "Spikey, but with a cute edge? You'll love these."
"All about elegant insanity? Check this out..."
"Bookworm with attitude? We've got you."
"Introverts who prefer to let their wardrobe do the talking, walk this way."
Have as much interactivity as possible. Relate your concepts to products already on the market. Use diverse, but real, models. Allow customers to have conversations with each other about your concepts, on your live site. (You might get some free marketing hooks!)
2. Because you don't take the customer's payment method.
Always offer a buy-now-pay-later option, even if it's your OWN option, and as simple as "Check out now, but choose the date we collect your payment" (if you allow up to 30 days ahead, it saves you the expense of refunding returns: customers can just send the item back, in a particular condition and time frame, and have the total deducted from the money that's collected on their chosen date.)
Always offer a buy-now-pay-later option, even if it's your OWN option, and as simple as "Check out now, but choose the date we collect your payment" (if you allow up to 30 days ahead, it saves you the expense of refunding returns: customers can just send the item back, in a particular condition and time frame, and have the total deducted from the money that's collected on their chosen date.)
This takes the risk of failed payment, and uses it to mitigate the risk of abandoned carts. People do not look at online shops when they have a full bank balance - often, the time people are most likely to go 'virtual shopping' is in the week-10 days before their payday; they're stressed at work, the benefit of money in their bank account feels very, very far away, they're wondering what the point of it all is, and they just want to cheer themselves up. If you let them select the day after their payday as the date the money for their diversion activity will be taken from their account? They're more likely to proceed through checkout.
Accept prepaid cards. While retailers, governments, and the comfortably-off present them as the mark of "irresponsible, undesirable" people who are a "bad credit risk" and who "don't have the kind of lifestyle you want associated with your products", they're actually often the only option available for people from marginalised communities - who not only have money, but often come from cultures where visible displays of wealth are desirable, and respected. If you make it possible for them to spend their money with you, they'll spend a lot more of it than Katherine with her gold card.
Normalise split payments, and include weekly, fortnightly, and monthly options. If people can split the cost across multiple paydays, they're much more likely to spend more with you, and much less likely to have second thoughts when they get to the checkout.
3. Your customers are not adding things up as they go.
Accept prepaid cards. While retailers, governments, and the comfortably-off present them as the mark of "irresponsible, undesirable" people who are a "bad credit risk" and who "don't have the kind of lifestyle you want associated with your products", they're actually often the only option available for people from marginalised communities - who not only have money, but often come from cultures where visible displays of wealth are desirable, and respected. If you make it possible for them to spend their money with you, they'll spend a lot more of it than Katherine with her gold card.
Normalise split payments, and include weekly, fortnightly, and monthly options. If people can split the cost across multiple paydays, they're much more likely to spend more with you, and much less likely to have second thoughts when they get to the checkout.
3. Your customers are not adding things up as they go.
This means that, when they get to checkout, the total is a shock. They can't afford it, or they can't justify it.
Show (prominently, in high contrast) a running total, as the customer adds more to their basket. British grocery retailer Iceland do this, a softly sympathetic acknowledgement that most of their customers are very much constrained by financial considerations; they're paying for it with their actual, real money, not whacking it on a credit card.
Increasingly, consumers are trying to move away from a reliance on credit. But very few retailers are recognising that, sticking to an outdated assumption that the total cost won't matter, no matter how high it is, because "flexible friends" will take the burden, and the customer can pay them back at £50 a month.
4. Give your customers the same payment terms you enjoy.
People are very well-informed in 2024. They know that, if they were a Ltd company with a VAT number, they could order whatever they liked, and pay for it in 60 or 90 days - sod this pussyfooting '30 days as an absolute maximum, and a privilege for people who could probably afford to pay now anyway' stuff (that the UK government keeps trying to shut down for everyone the minute enough people default, and claim they're not actually competent adults, and "shouldn't have been allowed" to have things on credit...) Your suppliers have taken a risk on you - take a risk on your customers.
"But what if they don't pay?!" - just like your suppliers can take you to court if you don't pay them, you can take your customers to court if they don't pay under extended terms.
Or, more usefully, you can put them directly in touch with an independent debt support agency, so that you get something from them, over time, and they're less at risk of just running up bills with everyone, and not being able to pay any of them.
Retail is full of risks and what-ifs:
. What if your suppliers don't deliver on time?
. What if the stuff you've ordered doesn't sell?
. What if the new hire is completely useless?
Why not add customers not meeting extended payment term agreements to your risk register, with the mitigation of intervening in a way which actually breaks the cycle, and benefits the whole of society.
Interested in what you've read? We can work with you to put it into a practice that works for your business.
Drop us an email: theproductivepessimist@yahoo.com, or call us: 0748 2017 927 (Tues-Fri 8.30am-6.30pm, Sunday 9.30am-1.30pm)
Show (prominently, in high contrast) a running total, as the customer adds more to their basket. British grocery retailer Iceland do this, a softly sympathetic acknowledgement that most of their customers are very much constrained by financial considerations; they're paying for it with their actual, real money, not whacking it on a credit card.
Increasingly, consumers are trying to move away from a reliance on credit. But very few retailers are recognising that, sticking to an outdated assumption that the total cost won't matter, no matter how high it is, because "flexible friends" will take the burden, and the customer can pay them back at £50 a month.
4. Give your customers the same payment terms you enjoy.
People are very well-informed in 2024. They know that, if they were a Ltd company with a VAT number, they could order whatever they liked, and pay for it in 60 or 90 days - sod this pussyfooting '30 days as an absolute maximum, and a privilege for people who could probably afford to pay now anyway' stuff (that the UK government keeps trying to shut down for everyone the minute enough people default, and claim they're not actually competent adults, and "shouldn't have been allowed" to have things on credit...) Your suppliers have taken a risk on you - take a risk on your customers.
"But what if they don't pay?!" - just like your suppliers can take you to court if you don't pay them, you can take your customers to court if they don't pay under extended terms.
Or, more usefully, you can put them directly in touch with an independent debt support agency, so that you get something from them, over time, and they're less at risk of just running up bills with everyone, and not being able to pay any of them.
Retail is full of risks and what-ifs:
. What if your suppliers don't deliver on time?
. What if the stuff you've ordered doesn't sell?
. What if the new hire is completely useless?
Why not add customers not meeting extended payment term agreements to your risk register, with the mitigation of intervening in a way which actually breaks the cycle, and benefits the whole of society.
Interested in what you've read? We can work with you to put it into a practice that works for your business.
Drop us an email: theproductivepessimist@yahoo.com, or call us: 0748 2017 927 (Tues-Fri 8.30am-6.30pm, Sunday 9.30am-1.30pm)
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