[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/02\/11\/friction-points-in-the-customer-journey\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/02\/11\/friction-points-in-the-customer-journey\/","headline":"Top 10 friction points in the customer journey and how to fix them","name":"Top 10 friction points in the customer journey and how to fix them","description":"Friction points in the customer journey can lead to immediate site abandonment. Learn how to optimize the digital customer experience to improve CX and conversion.","datePublished":"2020-02-11","dateModified":"2023-11-29","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/april-tomlin\/#Person","name":"April Tomlin","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/april-tomlin\/","identifier":398,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7bb0667a876e878ab4b2b629cb09e3f4f7acde0fb373ea0625ae1323b30e4e6c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7bb0667a876e878ab4b2b629cb09e3f4f7acde0fb373ea0625ae1323b30e4e6c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/thumbnail-8c044d4179d5a1d9f2f47c16008447ea.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/thumbnail-8c044d4179d5a1d9f2f47c16008447ea.jpeg","height":375,"width":1200},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/02\/11\/friction-points-in-the-customer-journey\/","about":[{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/","name":"Commerce","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Commerce","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q26643"]},"Customer Journey","Future of Grocery Retail","Retail Trends, Data, News"],"wordCount":909,"keywords":["Customer Journey","Frictionless Commerce"],"articleBody":"As a retail professional and enthusiast, I\u2019m consistently presented with some critical friction points in the customer journey that, if removed, would:Drive better experiencesIncrease conversion ratesBetter overall financial performance in the digital spaceSo what are the friction points in the digital customer experience, and how can you fix them?Rough road ahead: 10 Friction points in the customer journey10. Remember the 3 Click Rule:\u00a0The customer should land on a shopping (or list) page within 3 clicks at most. Recently I was on my phone shopping for some new shoes \u2013 when on the navigation menu, I clicked on women\u2019s, then footwear, with the following options being New Arrivals, Boots, Ankle Boots, etc.Any of these, when clicked, sent me to a shopping page. This is proper execution of the 3-click rule. The point is to get customers to a shopping page as quickly as possible \u2013 don\u2019t force them to make too many choices, dig for products, or dive down into too many subcategories to find what they want.Conversion is predicated by a frictionless experience. The less friction in the experience, the better customers will respond by converting.9. Generic Email Execution:\u00a0Like most consumers, I despise being bombarded by a plethora of emails that don\u2019t relate to my interests or recent browsing history. This is a significant miss by many retailers, and it can lead to massive unsubscribes.Instead, use email subject lines that will resonate and content designed to encourage click-through. Recently browsed items that are now on sale or similar product recommendations within the same category are simple ways of doing this.8. Lack of Inventory Visibility:\u00a0Today customers want their products immediately, so being able to filter by product availability for their store is important. Otherwise it inhibits customers\u2019 ability to properly filter and search and get to products quickly.7. Poor Customer Service:\u00a0More than half of Americans have forgone a planned purchase or transaction due to bad customer service, according to a survey conducted by American Express.If a customer has a product or delivery question during their online shopping journey, they want it answered immediately. Chat functionality should include seamless product suggestion\/ sharing capabilities, allowing agents to provide personalized product suggestions and excellent service.6. Minimal Product Content: This is table stakes in retail today, with product content style guides necessitating what information is required for publishing on site (generally inclusive of a description, specs, materials, dimensions, number of images, image angles, etc.).However, one subindustry within retail where product content requirements are evolving quickly – and rightfully so – is in grocery. From a best practice perspective, grocery product detail pages should include nutritional information, ingredient lists, solid product descriptions, and at least 2 product specific images.These are the expectations of customers, anything less presents friction points in the customer journey and results in lost customers and business.5. Unclear Delivery Information:\u00a0Like me, more consumers shopped online this season and what we all want to know is \u201cwhen is my package going to arrive? Tell me! Don\u2019t make me guess about shipping business days, packing days, just tell me on what exact date my package is going to arrive on \u2013 and make it so!\u201dBest practice when it comes to communicating delivery dates is to do it early and do it often \u2013 so that there is no confusion or friction for the customer around delivery expectations.4. Inaccurate & Dysfunctional Search:\u00a0Searchers are different from browsers. For this reason, customers utilizing search should be presented with extremely intuitive, easily found, predictive and accurate search functionality with suggested product images.3. Lack of Customer Reviews:\u00a0According to Gartner L2, customer reviews can increase conversion by 133% – they are a big deal! Without them, customers may be inclined to abandon their purchase and\/or shop elsewhere.Following best practice when it comes to ratings and reviews requires that sortable\/searchable functionality be included along with an overall rating summary.Most importantly, customers should be able to upload user generated content, showing the products being worn or in use.2. Multi-Page Checkout:\u00a0While this may seem minor, the impact that this friction point can have on conversion rates is significant. I know from experience that optimizations here can have a 15% or more positive impact on checkout conversion rates.Best practice is to have all fields (shipping, billing, payments, review) included on a single page, broken down by steps. You should make the checkout process as seamless and as FAST as possible for your customers.They\u2019ve already committed to making the purchase at this point – don\u2019t make them click multiple times, confuse them, or present new information in this step to distract them from completing their purchase.1. Poor Site Performance:\u00a0 Brands large and small continue to struggle with being able to deliver performant sites during peak traffic hours of holiday.Our friends at Akamai tell us that when mobile site load time increases from 1 second to 3, conversion rate reduces by half and bounce rate increases by 6%. These are pretty staggering numbers, backed by the frustrations we all experience in our personal shopping experiences.Thanks for checking out my list of top friction points in the digital customer journey. And please, let me know if you think I missed something that you think should be in the top 10!  Every digital moment matters.Are you making the most of them?1,000 business leaders dish on how to stand out from the crowd with a great CX. Get the details\u00a0HERE.\u00a0"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2020","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"02","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/\/02\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"11","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/\/02\/\/11\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Top 10 friction points in the customer journey and how to fix them","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/02\/11\/friction-points-in-the-customer-journey\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]