Welcome to the latest episode of “Testing the Experience.” In today’s episode, we’re diving deep into the world of e-commerce, specifically focusing on retailers who sell gift baskets online.
We’ll be discussing the top three essential UX elements that gift basket retailers should include on their websites to create a seamless and unforgettable shopping experience for their customers. If you’re looking to boost your sales and improve your website’s order conversion rates, you’ve come to the right place. Click “play” to unravel the secrets to success in the world of online gift basket retail.
Podcast Highlight
0:00 Intro
1:30 Gifttree.com
2:23 Gourmet Gifts Basket
3:53 Shipping
4:45 Gifting
5:15 Conclusion
Transcript
Podcaster 0:02
Welcome to today’s episode of Testing the Experience. This video is for those of you that are spending the time and the money to get traffic to your site, but are just not seeing the return on it. I’m here today with our founder and CEO of Experiment Zone, AJ, and we are going to talk about a few test examples. But first, AJ gives us an overview of why we test.
AJ Davis 0:23
We see time and time again, that both big and small changes can impact how customers behave on sites and ultimately have an impact on conversion. We have tests that will have 1-2% lifts to orders and then we see tests with 10%, 20%, and 30% increases. Everything that we test helps us understand our customers better and helps us drive more revenue.
Podcaster 0:29
Okay, got it! Let’s just jump into it. What types of products are we going to look at today?
AJ Davis 0:54
We are going to take a look at some companies selling gift baskets online.
Podcaster 0:56
All right! We are going to talk about the top things that they should be concerned about messaging to customers. So, what’s the first thing?
AJ Davis 1:06
One of the first things that matters to customers in particular when selling is looking for gift baskets to send to friends, family, and colleagues. We need to help them find the right product and the right fit. So we are going to look at two examples today: the first example is gifttree.com. What we are looking at here, and what we’re looking out for customers is can they figure out who to shop for? Let’s look for some inspiration based on the type of gift we’re giving and who we’re giving it to. So they have a section pretty far down the page called shop by gift type, but that’s still very centric to the product and not about the customer.
What I’d be looking for here is something that marks who the person is, or the recipient is, because we might send something different to our employees versus our grandmother. They have “shop by occasion,” which is a good start. But I’d love to test out the “shop by person” and highlight who the person is that would be receiving the gift.
Podcaster 2:06
All right, let’s look at another homepage.
AJ Davis 2:15
So with Gourmetgiftsbaskets.com, we see that they do have the gifts by type in that far right section. And they are highlighting right away the different occasions, but they still have that same opportunity: Who are we selling this gift basket to? Who is it going to be gifted to? And it’s a little bit hidden here, they do have that shop by recipient down at the bottom of the gifts by type section. I’d like to test out their shop by recipient in the primary navigation, which increases visibility, and helps people understand where to get started for the gift, and the person who’s the gift recipient.
Podcaster 2:51
Okay, so the first thing is findability. And what’s the second thing these sites should think about?
AJ Davis 2:57
Customers are going to be concerned about delivery options. Is this going to arrive on time? When is it going to arrive within the day? How does it arrive? And even what does that cost? Let’s take a look at Harry and David. On their site, they clearly are saying it’s available to ship now. That’s a reassuring message that is available today, this product is available at these three different price points. But as you scroll down, I’m not getting a lot of assurance here that this is something that will arrive for a specific occasion, whether it’s a holiday or a birthday. I would expect to see once I add to the cart, and hopefully on this page as well, some more details about the shipping cost and the timing for delivery.
And even when we do add it to the cart here, there’s not a lot of reassurance that this is something that’s going to arrive quickly or affordably. So again, instead of waiting to talk about shipping later on or not talking about the options for shipping here, we’re just adding some inconclusive information. Customers are going to start wondering, they might not be willing to kind of click through and get the answer, and they might leave for somewhere else where it’s more clear.
Podcaster 4:11
Okay, so that’s the second delivery option. And then what’s the third thing that these sites should think about?
AJ Davis 4:16
I think the last thing with gifting is we’re sending a gift to a person, so we want to be able to personalize it for them or send a message alongside it. And it’s not always clear early on what is available. Can I add a card? Can I add a personal note? So if we go to Wine Country Gift Baskets, we’re not seeing anything jumping out on this page, letting us know how this is going to be received. What does that look like to the gift recipient if I order this for them? So potentially under shipping or potentially under content, you might find that kind of information, but nothing’s clear here. What does it look like to receive this as a gift?
If we go ahead and add to the cart and get into checkout. We are kind of not getting any information about this. We can ship it to multiple recipients, which could be helpful in some contexts. But again, I don’t see an option here to add a gift message or to hide the price which is something people can be very sensitive about when they’re giving a gift. So those are some definite areas of improvement that should be addressed through some testing.
Podcaster 5:30
Okay, so just to review, the top things are findability, showing delivery options, and then having access to gift messaging. But those are just the big ones, right? What are some other things that these sites can test?
AJ Davis 5:42
I mean, the real key is to get into an experimentation mindset. So as soon as we start identifying customer needs, there’s a bunch of different ways we can solve it. And the only way we know what’s effective for our customers is by putting it out there, collecting data, and validating that the approach is moving things in the right direction. So this is how we help our customers, we help teams make experimentation the driving force for their stores, so they can be confident that they are making the right decisions that are both customer-centric and going to drive more revenue. And we see customers get 10x or greater ROI from working with us.
Podcaster 6:19
That is an ROI that I think we can all get behind. Well, thank you AJ, for walking us through that. If you are looking to increase your site’s revenue, you can go to experimentzone.com and get your free conversion report card. It’s three conversion takeaways to improve the revenue for your site. The link will be in the comments and of course, please subscribe to our YouTube channel for all of the upcoming Testing the Experience videos.