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We’ve all heard this maxim about websites: you’ve got less than 10 seconds to impress (or is that 6 seconds, or 3? It all depends on which blog you read). But have you ever stopped to think that websites aren’t alone in this?
First impressions count. We all have seconds to make an impact before a) interest wanes b) a person makes assumptions about you or c) a person falls in love with you(according to Hollywood).
This maxim occurred to me again recently, as I wandered in and out of clothing stores. It took only seconds for me to recognise whether a store had any merchandise that appealed to me.
Sure, I might politely wande
r around for a few more seconds, say hello to the shop assistant, touch some fabric - but I would know almost immediately whether I was going to spend any money there.
On websites, when visitors leave quickly it’s often called your site’s “bounce rate”. How long they stay can be referred to as a site’s “stickiness”.
I haven’t worked in the retail sector, but I’d love to know if there is research on their stores’ stickiness. I’m sure there is.
In supermarkets, they do try to influence this. They stock the essentials right at the back of the store, ensuring you spend more time there as you traverse your way down the aisles. (Think about where the milk, eggs and bread is stored in your local supermarket).
Websites clearly shouldn’t be burying their useful information. But what lessons can websites take from supermarkets – if any? “Dressing your storefront” to appeal to customers is an obvious one.
Websites have one clear advantage over the physical stores. Website analytics. It’s easy to show how many users leave after a few seconds. I wonder if shop assistants are taking any notes?
Have you ever worked in retail? Any stories to share?
Seconds to impact
Posted by Prakky ... | 10:46 PM | analytics, bounce rate, first impressions, page duration, retail, shopping, stores, websites | 3 comments »
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The analogy between physical and virtual is interesting but isn't applicable for the most part as the arrival methods are different and some factors are skewed.
If you're wandering around the mall looking for something specific like food, shoes, panties, a budgie etc - you go to a store/area which you already know has that item - it's relevance is pre-determined, now it's just whether it has something suitable, which you judge based on what else is around etc.
With interwebs it's backwards - you go searching and usually land on the long-tail of what you were searching for immediately and let the developer of the site be the one to battle for SEO supremacy to grab your eyeballs - then it's a matter of discerning the relevance of the site to your query AND the suitability of the item.
Eg, my site (about cars) gets a bunch of hits from people searching for shoes (an article about a "hoon in high heels") - this page has an almost 100% bounce rate because the item isn't suitable, and the site isn't relevant. The people who DO stick around the site probably have no idea this content exists as you don't have to get past it to get to the stuff they're interested in. OTOH you're unlikely in real life to stumble into a car showroom looking for shoes - you'll go somewhere that has it's relevancy already established - THEN search for a suitable item.
I can never figure out one thing about supermarkets, at least in SA
If you go in to buy cigarattes, you immediately get your own queue, you get served before anyone else, you take your drugs and you go.
It would make more sense to put them at the back, given the reasons for milk, bread etc.
Under curremt legislation, there's no reason for supermarkets to do it the way thay do, even tough that's the excuse. They could place a small kiosk at the very back of the store.
The fact is that cigarettes are a huge part of a supermarket's turnover, has some influence here.
But imagine a website that said "We make most of our money out of x, so if you want to buy y, head off to an inconvenient side site'
Thanks for your comments, Ash and Robert.
Ash: hoon in high heels?
Robert: great observations about the ciggie counter. Why is it so prominent? Maybe tobacco legislation says it can't be "in store"? I dunno ...