Contentsquare, a leader in digital analytics, reveals today that, with an activity rate of 32.7%, category pages are the most engaging pages of any page on a site. With increased activity linked to better outcomes for engagement and conversion, ensuring these pages are optimised and friction-free should be a priority for retail brands preparing for the busiest season of the year.
Understanding how customers behave online and why is key to a successful customer experience strategy and remains a priority for brands as they firm up their year end plans.
As the busy peak holiday shopping season nears, Contentsquare recommends four actions that brands can take now to help prepare their sites for increased traffic and drive additional revenue:
- Peak season = peak customer experience – The true “peak” of Peak Season globally only comes once a year, so it’s critical to take every step possible to optimise the experience of your customers to maximise conversions. Monitoring and measuring content performance is key to optimising user journeys and ensuring customers are engaged every step of the way.
- Follow the lead from campaigns to conversions – Most retailers allocate significant spend on campaigns to drive traffic during peak shopping season, so it’s important to make the connection between campaigns and on-site activity. Integrating Digital Experience Analytics with web analytics and campaign tracking can help brands maximise the ROI from campaign spend by creating experiences that engage and convert.
- Embrace real-time analysis – With increased traffic comes increased possibility of errors and other obstacles that can impact peak season results. Contentsquare’s analysis of 2.6 billion user sessions during last year’s peak season showed a +21% increase in the number of sessions with errors compared to normal. Setting up real-time alerts is key to identifying and fixing issues quickly, before conversions are impacted.
- Check your speed — When customers are forced to wait for pages that take more than 2 seconds to load, bounce rates reach 49%, with nearly 1 in 2 visitors bouncing, according to Contentsquare’s 2023 Benchmark report. And slow loading times have a negative effect on content consumption, too. Customers exposed to slow page loads view 1 fewer page on average.
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The slew of online shopping events including 10.10, Singles Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday leading up to Christmas bring huge opportunities for brands to gain wallet share and stand out from the competition.
Despite a challenging macroeconomic climate this year, investing in a holistic digital strategy has never been more important. And with high web and app traffic and on the horizon, making a great first impression is the first step to winning over customers and boosting retention.
“Designing a customer-first experience that drives conversion is a critical step for APAC brands ahead of the peak shopping season. The failure to find and fix customer frustrations on their journey will lead to massive volumes in lost revenue, not to mention customers who opt for a better experience at a competitor’s site,” said Albert Nel, SVP Asia Pacific & Japan, Contentsquare.
