How Online Businesses Can Stand Out By Understanding Their Customers Using Digital Experience Insights

Giving Customers a Real Voice in Brand Evolution

“Digital experience” is one of those oft-cited phrases whose meaning has become more vague over time. How do you differentiate a “good” digital experience from a “bad” one? Data shows that more than one in three website experiences frustrate visitors – not a good sign if your website is a mainstay of your brand.

Contentsquare recently published its annual Digital Experience Benchmark Report, which breaks down digital experience trends from over 35 billion sessions and 161 billion page views. The report revealed learnings regarding the experiences businesses provide via their digital presence.

A few core tenets help define “good” digital experiences, and there’s real value in leveraging user data to determine how best to anticipate, meet, and exceed customer expectations. Defining the compelling moments throughout the customer journey empowers brands to better deliver experiences that leave customers feeling inspired and understood.

Here are five areas Contentsquare data has identified as priorities for brands looking to deliver experiences that delight.

Abandon the one-for-all site strategy

Traffic segmentation is an excellent means to examine the composition of your site visitors and how the share of traffic and conversions change by source, device and industry. Relying on traffic alone to carry growth is a sisyphean feat: just because someone visits your website doesn’t mean they’re going to convert. Add a universal 50% bounce rate to the mix, and it becomes clear why focusing on the journey beyond the entry point is key.

Site segmentation must be a pillar of your customer experience. Treat every visitor – whether new or returning – uniquely. You can demonstrate that you understand their wants and needs by highlighting tools and guides for newcomers, and reminding returning visitors of their search history or previous pages viewed.

No one lands on your site without a goal; catering to these objectives should be the first mantra of any personalization strategy.

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The top frustration factors

When a user experiences a moment of frustration, they’re more likely to navigate away from your site. Report findings revealed the following as the top factors that lead to frustrated visitors:

Visitors have a proven need for speed: when customers must wait more than two seconds for a page to load, bounce rates reach 49%. That’s nearly half of all visitors bouncing because a page took too long to load completely.

No one likes to waste time. Not offline, not online. There are plenty of best UI practices you can follow to speed up your site — from improving hosting to optimizing the content assets on your site.

Consider implementing A/B split testing to determine which content performs best – and with which types of users. For instance, by segmenting A/B test results by new visitors vs. returning users, travel arrangements company On the Beach was able to determine which language resonated best with which customer segments, thereby driving more personalized engagement. It’s crucial to test and measure in real time to understand which elements are creating delays and how this negatively impacts your customer journey.

Mobile vs. desktop

Across both mobile and desktop devices, Contentsquare saw a -3.1% decline in conversion rates. Further digging revealed that despite increased mobile traffic, desktop conversion actually increased by 2.5%. But because most traffic now comes from mobile devices, mobile’s -4.2% drop had detrimental effects overall.

With more traffic share coming from paid sources, the lower mobile conversion rate means customer acquisition costs are skyrocketing. With new visitors preferring mobile (55% of all mobile traffic came from newcomers), businesses need to prioritize understanding what their mobile customers are trying to achieve and, just as importantly, how they want to achieve it. These different consumption types should inform your strategy: regardless of how users access your site, achieving their goals for doing so should be intuitive and frictionless.

Accounting for decreased session durations

Every customer journey consists of the “atomic unit” of digital experience: page views. Time spent exploring branded sites is trending downwards, with session durations falling -7.5% overall. Scroll rates are decreasing YoY as well, which means half of any given page will go unseen and untouched by visitors.

As you optimize your digital experience, account for shortened attention spans. Identify your highest performing content, then place it at the top of each page with a CTA placed above the fold. This will ensure visitors aren’t missing information that could be useful to them because they stopped scrolling.

Furthermore, consider emphasizing the following to keep customers engaged the moment they land on one of your pages:

1. Relevance: Provide customized and contextual content beyond basic recommendations.
2. Wayfinding: Offer clear guidance to help visitors navigate your site beyond a simple search bar.

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Activity unlocks greater outcomes 

Activity is the share of time a user spends interacting with your site during a visit. It quantifies their engagement across the journey, and peaks when visitors have both choice and assortment. High activity sites see the best results, driving 19% more conversions, 20% fewer bounces, and 47% deeper sessions. Businesses should focus on bolstering engagement across the three most trafficked page types: product, category, and checkout.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to creating a superb digital experience. That said, you can encourage activity across the customer journey by measuring what matters most to your users, personalizing their experience, and ensuring your most compelling content is the first thing they see. Actively seek out opportunities for customers to become co-architects of their online experiences, and you’ll have a much higher chance at long term trust and loyalty.