Slow site and lack of information would turn people away from e-commerce, research finds
A slow site is the biggest turn-off for consumers looking to buy via e-commerce, research from The Wee Agency has found, with 58 per cent naming this as their biggest bugbear.
On the B2B side, 52 per cent ranked a lack of information as something that would deter them from buying.
The research of 2,000 Brits, carried out by One Poll, found that when buying a product for a personal need, the majority of people preferred to shop in store (31.5 per cent), or via email (31 per cent) – with e-commerce only getting 15 per cent of the vote.
However, when buying for a business purpose, email came out on top (35 per cent), while only 25 per cent prefer buying in person and 15 per cent favouring the telephone.
Nathalie Agnew, PR and marketing director at The Wee Agency, commented: “We commissioned this research because we recognise that there is still a great deal of confusion about the opportunities presented by digital marketing and the value it represents. Traditional marketing agencies have been slow to respond to the new opportunities that digital communication presents. Smaller, specialist agencies have sprung up to address this new market and, as a result, in-house marketing teams are often dealing with many suppliers.
“These results show that by understanding these preferences and expectations and adapting digital communication strategies accordingly marketers will be able to secure real competitive advantage. We hope that, instead of competing with traditional offline communications, organisations will have the information they need to leverage the best of online and offline to create a cohesive and compelling communication strategy.”
In terms of social media, it was found that 52 per cent of people who use social cite offers and discounts as a key factor in their engagement with brands on social media, with 42 per cent also naming both quick response to enquiries and interesting content as important factors for engagement.
Too much spam (46 per cent), slow response to enquiries (40 per cent) and irrelevant posts (38 per cent) were the main complaints made against social media.
Retail, food & drink and technology were named the sectors best at digital communication.