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Customers are present across all channels.
Any eCommerce business, small or big, wants to provide the customers with accurate product data across different channels to maintain a consistent brand image and earn more revenue.
It may seem like a tedious and time-consuming process. But I bet the result is worth putting effort into. But how can businesses achieve consistency?
Product Catalogs
Product catalogs play a vital role in improving the user's overall experience, especially when it comes to eCommerce businesses.
A study by Business2Community found that 30% of all online ordered products are returned compared to just 8% of orders from brick and mortar stores.
This is directly related to the poor product information that is displayed to the users.
Product catalogs that contain incorrect product descriptions, inadequate and unclear images, and wrong categorization are some of the reasons that lead a user to abandon their cart or return their product.
Consider a scenario where 2 eCommerce retailers are selling their products on Amazon. A user wants to buy a mobile phone from one of the 2 sellers, and the following information is displayed on the marketplace.
Most people would go with the second product.
It provides visually appealing product images and a detailed product description, improving their decision-making ability and making the product seem much more authentic.
Providing insufficient product information degrades the overall experience of the user. This affects not only the brand value of your products but also affects your overall revenue.
Some of the business impacts eCommerce retailers may face due to poor product catalogs include:
1) Customers jump ship and buy products from rival sites.
2) Customers engage less on your platform and leave it immediately.
3) Customers provide negative and poor reviews on social media about their experience, bringing a bad name to your business.
4) Customers buy wrong products and return them, increasing your operational costs.
5) Customers become hesitant to try your other products.
Product catalogs that display accurate information with visually pleasing images to authenticate your product can help users make informed purchasing decisions.
This also helps your brand maintain its integrity and helps in improving the overall experience of your customers. Good product catalogs bring in more traffic organically from search engines and offer a better understanding of the product to the users enabling you to do more conversions.
Here are 4 ways how good product catalogs can improve your customer's experience:
1) Real-time, Accurate, and Descriptive Product Data
When it comes to selling products online, the more descriptive the product data is, the more comfortable the user is purchasing it. Descriptive product content coupled with informative images helps the customers make an informed purchasing decision.
A good product catalog contains information that is not only descriptive but also accurate. But having accurate and descriptive data alone wouldn't do the trick. Maintaining data that is real-time is very much essential. A simple "Out of Stock" notification can easily dissatisfy the customer. Real-time product data updates help improve the overall experience of your customers.
A Product Information Management solution like PIMworks with product catalog management tools can help improve your customer's experience and automate your product data management.
2) Visually Appealing Product Images
Tell your users something, and they might believe you, but show your users the same thing, and they will buy from you. High-quality product images and digital assets help your users select the perfect product for their business in real-time. Product images that accompany the product details play a vital role in eliminating confusion among users.
Users generally cannot relate to some of the technical terms associated with a product. Product images help solve this jargon conundrum enabling the user to make quick and efficient purchasing decisions.
When good product catalogs with attractive and descriptive images are present, on the spot decisions can be made in sales meetings. Product images build trust and confidence, helping your customers not think twice about making a purchase and enabling you to earn more business profits.
3) Quicker Purchase With a Reduced Business Cycle
Imagine having endless email conversations with customers and sharing repetitive information, which leads to no positive outcome. It wastes your time and irritates the customer leaving them with a bitter experience.
On the other hand, good product catalogs share information that is necessary and needed by the customers, helping them with their purchase and helping your sales team move the deal from one stage to the other. The information available to customers efficiently reduces clogs within the business cycle and the time needed to purchase.
A customer’s experience is enhanced when product information is readily available in various forms, such as a PDF document or a web page with images, price details, and reviews. 90% of users buy products more quickly if the catalog contains detailed visual information, enabling you to reduce your business sales cycle efficiently.
4) Improved Brand Recognition and More Upselling Opportunities
When customers like what you are offering to them, they usually tend to buy more from you. Good product catalogs improve the upselling opportunities for your business. The chances of converting a satisfied user are much higher than converting a new user.
Product catalogs tend to have a ripple effect in making your customers purchase more with informed decisions. Sharing consistent information across all the different channels helps the customer remember your brand and creates a potential buying opportunity.
So, what are you waiting for? Start preparing great product catalogs and improve your customers' overall experience.