By Nibble
As the retail world ramps up for Black Friday, customers and retailers alike are talking about deals, discounts, and sales galore. However, amidst this seasonal hype, misplaced messaging has taken hold of product pages. Online retailers are potentially jeopardising their biggest sale of the year by employing the wrong sales messages at the most critical stage of the customer journey.
Misplaced messaging at the point of purchase
A recent study by Nibble, the AI-powered negotiation chatbot for ecommerce, reveals a concerning trend: only 30% of sales messages at the point of purchase are geared towards nudging the customer over the finish line to commit to a purchase.
This is alarming, especially considering that for many retailers, the Black Friday period is not just another sales event — it’s the biggest sale period of the year and a deciding factor in their annual performance.
But what’s going wrong? It turns out that the majority of messages at the checkout stage are focusing on aspects like item quality, sustainability, or the retailer’s local roots. While these are important factors, they belong to the ‘top of funnel’ phase of the customer journey, where creating awareness and interest is key. When it comes to the point of purchase, customers are instead looking for that final push — something that directly encourages them to hit ‘add to basket.’
Nibble’s six-month deep dive into online conversion data across 400 retailers indicates that the most effective add-to-basket results stem from emphasizing user reviews, showcasing product popularity, or highlighting expedited shipping options. These ‘bottom of funnel’ messages are twice as effective as their top-of-funnel counterparts, in some cases showing an increase in add-to-basket conversion rates by as much as 148%.
Rosie Bailey, co-Founder and CEO of Nibble, underscores the urgency of this issue. “Messaging around sustainability, provenance, and independence may build traffic and loyalty, but at the moment of purchase, the customer’s needs are more basic. Retailers will needlessly miss out on sales on Black Friday if they don’t re-examine whether they are using the right messages in the right places at the right times.”
Which messages resonate the best at the point of purchase?
Data analysis by Nibble has shown that drawing attention to reviews and social proof at the point of purchase can improve add-to-basket conversion rates by 148%, whilst highlighting next day delivery option improves this conversion rate by 93%.
This improved conversion rate can largely owe to showcasing an element of trust. By providing reviews and presenting social proof, customers will view the brand as more honest and reliable as they will be reassured that other people have received and enjoyed the products.
Customers enjoy convenience and conversion becomes easier when retailers signpost how convenient the brand is across integral customer touchpoints. Highlighting next day delivery options is particularly important for retailers in the lead up to Christmas when many customers will be worried about receiving their order on time.
In contrast, misplaced ‘top of funnel’ messaging does not detract from conversion rates, but it is simply not as effective. Pointing out your longevity as a brand only improves add-to-basket conversion by 16%, whilst highlighting sustainability practices and product quality improves conversion by 34% and 35% respectively.
Similar brand values with slightly different wording can have a surprising impact on conversion rates, too. Stressing that you are an “Independent business” to customers on the product page can see a 44% improvement in conversion rate, but saying that you are a “local business” improves conversion by 53% – using the right language can make all the difference to a customer who is undecided about their purchase.
For the greatest impact at the moment when messaging matters the most, it’s crucial that retailers highlight these more tangible ‘bottom of funnel’ reasons to buy.
How AI Negotiation collected this data
Nibble is an AI chatbot that negotiates prices and offers win-win deals to customers on the product or cart page.
Retailers can give the chatbot on-brand messaging to use in negotiations with customers. Nibble found that through hyper-relevant messaging on PDPs, retailers can become finely tuned to their customers’ values when they are at the point of purchase, helping to secure better margins and close more sales.
Nibble looked at this data and categorised the on-brand messages their retailers were deploying and identified which types of messaging had the biggest impact on Add-to-Basket conversion rates.
Time for a messaging review?
As Black Friday looms, retailers will start to re-examine their messaging strategies. The potential to transform a customer’s hesitation into a confident purchase is immense — if you deploy the right message at the right time in the customer journey.
Why Nibble?
In a fast chat that generally takes less than 60 seconds, customers can share their concerns and values with Nibble and engage in a two-way, direct conversation with the retailer that highlights on-brand messaging to quickly find a win-win price for both parties. For more insights and to see more of Nibble’s AI Negotiation technology, visit www.nibbletechnology.com.
Published 16/11/2023
