The ideal customer experience intertwines these concepts of flow: the user flow paths that we design should avoid disrupting the customer\u2019s flow.<\/p>\n
The consulting firm Bain & Company<\/a> understands this difference as the delivery gap<\/em>. Their research indicates that only 8% of online store customers feel that the user experience delivers to their needs.<\/p>\n Imagine a customer who is absorbed by the idea of undergoing a makeover for the December holidays.<\/p>\n Having been inspired by several Fashion Influencers on Facebook and Instagram, our customer envisions her ideal December holiday look. She types the keywords \u201cred velvet trousers\u201d in Google\u2019s image search and finds images that link to various online store offers.<\/p>\n Analogous to solving a puzzle, our customer visits several online stores and browses their collections to discover different angles to complete the look she has in mind: Can she combine the offers with her wardrobe items? Does she have the budget to purchase that particular look from the online store she\u2019s currently browsing?<\/p>\n The key to maintaining the customer\u2019s flow lies in the design of the landing page. A customer\u2019s flow state is characterized by its creativity and joyful, curious exploration of an idea. The landing page should, therefore, be frictionless to the customer\u2019s flow experience.<\/p>\n A good practice landing page design should be able to facilitate the customer\u2019s creativity by placing the online store offers in the light of the customer\u2019s vision and making the relationship between that vision and the offers browsable.<\/p>\n Online stores with unoptimized user flows are likely to present items that are unrelated to the customer\u2019s vision of completing this particular fashion style, potentially disrupting the customer\u2019s flow and therefore missing out on good conversion opportunities.<\/p>\n But how do you know what vision this customer has in mind and what strategy they\u2019ll use to act upon this knowledge?<\/p>\n Customers don\u2019t arrive on a particular page on your site from nowhere. Their interests can be determined by the route they\u2019ve taken to your online store. Your banner advertisements, email newsletters, and social media posts, all contain a link to your website.<\/p>\n Adding UTM tags to these links can help you determine the customer\u2019s origin. Also, if a customer clicks on an image in Google\u2019s or Bing\u2019s image search, then that individual is clicking on a link to that particular image on your website. Each of these sources can be paired with a landing page that intends to maintain that customer\u2019s flow.<\/p>\n Searches with a strong emphasis on fashion and design tend to have an image-oriented customer journey.<\/strong><\/p>\n Customers start off by typing a text description in Google or any other search engine. In turn, the search engine displays several key results:<\/p>\n The customer\u2019s image-oriented journey does not stop at the search engine\u2019s results page.<\/p>\n Bing, Microsoft\u2019s search engine competitor to Google, has a \u201csimilar products\u201d section on their image results page.<\/p>\n This section links the presented images to online store offers that have similar visual features.<\/strong><\/p>\n Customers can further specify their queries by using the \u201cvisual search\u201d function. This feature enables customers to select specific features of the image they\u2019re viewing.<\/p>\n If, for instance, the image is a head-to-toe photo of a person, the customer can select the jacket, shirt, trousers, or shoes, and the \u201csimilar products\u201d section will update accordingly.<\/p>\n Once the customer lands on the product page of the selected product, a good practice approach is to have the browsability of your offers set up in a manner that is empathetic to the characteristics of an image-oriented journey.<\/strong><\/p>\n The customers’ flow can be maintained by ensuring that the product page presents the same image:<\/p>\n These improvements to the customer journey will lead to a more professional appearance of your online store and increased conversions.<\/p>\n Particularly in the fashion, beauty, and travel verticals, businesses seek to reach their potential customers by forging relationships with influential people on Facebook and Instagram and orienting their marketing activities around them. An ordinary individual cannot become an influencer overnight.<\/p>\n Fashion Influencers often started their careers as fashion models.<\/p>\n Travel Influencers often had occupations that required frequent travel, such as management consultants, photographers, and English teachers.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve grown into their Influencer role due to their lengthy personal investment in intertwining and sharing their professional and personal experiences as blogs, Facebook posts, or Instagram pictures.<\/p>\n The reason why Influencers have the trust and loyalty of their audiences is due to their authenticity. Their voice is inclusive of their lifestyle, philosophy, view on aesthetics, and their opinion on world events, and they use this voice to present their subject matter expertise.<\/p>\n The flow, in this regard, is characterized by the emotional involvement in the influencer\u2019s personality and the empowerment brought upon by their message. The landing page could include a small interview, a comment or a guest blog post that is related to the product, quotes or recommendations based on Influencer\u2019s aesthetic views.<\/p>\nUnderstanding Your Customers’ State of Mind<\/h4>\n
How to Satisfy Your Customers’ Flow Experience<\/h3>\n
Determine the Route Your Customers Have Taken to Your Online Store<\/h3>\n
Learn How Your Customers Use Search Engines<\/h4>\n
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![\"understand-customer-flow-search-engines\"](\"https:\/\/www.bloomreach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/understand-customer-flow-search-engines.jpg\")
<\/p>\nHow to Maintain Your Customers’ Flow [Strategy 1]<\/h4>\n
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![\"customer-flow-product-page-strategy\"](\"https:\/\/www.bloomreach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/customer-flow-product-page-strategy.jpg\")
\nThere are two commonplace bad practices among online stores that are highly disruptive to the flow:<\/p>\n\n
![\"customer-journey-bad-practice\"](\"https:\/\/www.bloomreach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/customer-journey-bad-practice.jpg\")
\nSocial Media Influencers as a Part of the Customer Journey<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nIn turn, these Influencers present themselves as ambassadors of these businesses. This form of marketing derives its value from:<\/p>\n\n
Understand the Impact Influencers Have on Your Customers<\/h4>\n
How to Maintain Your Customers’ Flow [Strategy 2]<\/h4>\n
\nTherefore, in order to maintain the customers’ engagement on your online store\u2019s landing page, its design would need to be grounded in features that represent the influencer.<\/strong><\/p>\n