Why People Buy Online? 5 Factors that Influences Consumer Purchase Decision

Recently, Amazon launched its unstoppable tide of automation, its dream project, Amazon Go in Seattle, and the people went crazy. It was written on the cards. With a cashless, cashier-less, register-less shopping experience where you just get into the store, pick what you like and move out just like that, people are bound to go crazy.

Over the years, shoppers' perception of a shopping experience has changed drastically . With the advancements in technology and the immense growth of online stores, these days the customers have more power than ever.

As an online business owner, it is very important to understand what your customers want , why do they need it and what influence them to buy it from you. Let us discuss about some of these influencing factors that can make or break your online store.

Reviews - Don’t Let Them Go!

This is certainly a no-brainer. Studies conducted in the past years have confirmed that people do not decide on buying without reading online reviews. While businesses are hell bent on gathering positive reviews, make sure that you do not delete the negative ones (especially when there are only a few of them, and are put forward in a good way). 

Free Shipping & Easy returns

What is it that shoppers love? Free stuff!! Free shipping is something which major brands across the globe incorporate in order to draw customers. But this free shipping or free returns do not work every time! The buyer or the customer has to be in a certain phase of his "buy cycle"for your free shipping to show some magic! I mean, you can't expect someone to purchase your product (even when he doesn't want to) by just saying "free shipping!!"

Social Media - Show Your Magic

Social Media is a little a tricky. It is a slow process to build relationship with your customers in order to impact purchase decision. A recent study concluded that trends, ads and promotions observed on social media play a huge role in influencing people's decision, indirectly. From "buy" buttons or the "like" buttons to "order now", social media affects a major part of the online purchase decisions. A research by the Miami Business School examined the role of these buttons and found that for certain products (especially sportswear) the presence of button increased the chances of people making a purchase by 15%. As the popularity increases, social media is going to play a huge role in direct purchases.

Information - Your Weapon

The era of smart phones has made a huge impact on the way people pursue information. A study says that more than 50% of the shoppers own a smart phone and check out ads, videos or other information about the product before deciding to buy. It is quite evident that customers are hungry for information, an this can be your key resource. Videos, social media ads and other promotional content can hook your customers , who end up buying your products.

Easy Checkout - The Final Nail

For an online store, a checkout page is equally important as a product landing page. With 27% of the shoppers abandoning their cart because the checkout process was too long, it is worth saying that "keep your checkout simple." It is all about making the ordering process convenient, and easy for your customers so that they don't end up deciding it is not worth the trouble and just close the window.

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