7 UX Research tips for e-commerce (in times of COVID-19)

The physical contact points with customers or potential buyers have been limited to the maximum with the restrictions and confinements to which the strategies of the States to combat the COVID-19 pandemic have led us. In this context, it is expected that when we talk about researching with users, conducting UX Research to optimize your e-commerce and innovate, the words difficult or impossible come to your mind and you even feel overwhelmed.

But do not despair, here we will show you some actions that you can carry out by doing what we call Desktop Research, which you can also practice to carry out the advice we shared in our previous article 8 tips on SEO positioning and UX Research for your e-commerce.

Desktop UX Research. How's that?

Desk research or desktop research is a widely used method that uses data that is available from now on and is useful for conducting an inquiry. These are reports and documents published openly with data obtained from research, surveys, interviews, etc., which you can access from different sources.

And what fonts can we use in the current context? There is the internet with an almost unlimited amount of information published in web page format or available for download. You can reach it through:

• the sites of government agencies and NGOs,
• public libraries,
• universities,
• information media such as newspapers and magazines,
• the millions of sites, blogs and audiovisual channels of companies and professionals who share their findings,
• and , of course, social media.

It is a very profitable method in terms of monetary cost and time invested since you do not have to travel through your city or country to reach the sources. And this method is totally valid to carry out a UX Research that allows you to understand your potential customers and thus respond appropriately to their needs.

7 tips for conducting desktop UX Research for e-commerce

Understanding that we can continue investigating even in a context of partial or total quarantines, we now go with the tips to practice UX Research from your computer and without leaving your desk

1. Learn to observe the market and your competition.

Integrate research and observation into your e-commerce discipline. Maintain a permanent attitude of curiosity to be inquiring what are the current market trends and looking at what your competition is doing to attract their customers. With the latter, we are not telling you to dedicate yourself to copying others, on the contrary, we want to show you one of the many ways to approach a UX Research and convey to you the importance of being aware of what other e-commerces of your industry, and then adapt and experiment with those actions that you see are effective in reaching people.

2. Understand the language of your users.

Before writing your content for the web, product sheets, social networks, emails, advertisements, etc., you need to understand how your potential customers communicate. Through UX Research you can study people who are looking for solutions on the internet to satisfy needs and desires, to understand how they communicate, what language they use and what kind of messages they are captivated by. By observing those who follow your e-commerce and the competition, you will know how you should offer them your solution. Facebook groups can be a good place for in-depth research, in addition to the interactions that occur on different social networks.

3. Understand the expectations of your potential customers.

Assumptions do not serve to improve the experience of your e-commerce site and there is UX Research to investigate and obtain evidence of what potential customers want, like or expect. Again, Facebook groups and interactions on different social networks are a good field for research. You could also search for data in the messages that have arrived through the contact form of your e-commerce site.

4. Hear what customers are saying.

Evaluations about your products and the shopping experience are a good source of feedback to understand people, especially when you discover a trend in their opinions. Display your UX Research in the spaces for evaluations on your e-commerce site, also observe what they have spontaneously published on social networks about your brand and products, and take advantage of the feedback they have provided through the contact forms. How to encourage them to publish evaluations? Use your email marketing strategy, automating messages that are sent after the product is delivered, inviting them to evaluate the purchase, and use the packaging of each shipment to put similar messages. If you can, offer a discount on your next purchase in exchange for an evaluation on your e-commerce site.

5. Identify your target customer and validate your assumptions.

Don't shoot the flock. Each segment reacts differently to the same message. Experiment with two variants of a communication for a very limited segment and see which one works better, before launching your campaign on social networks or email marketing. Facebook segments are a good guide to understanding how audiences behave.

6. $ 1 invested in UX can generate $ 100 in returns.

Making small changes to your e-commerce site, based on reliable information provided by UX Research, will help you increase the conversion rate and sales. But not only that, because in terms of metrics and impact on the business you will also see a decrease in the bounce rate, improved findability and greater customer satisfaction that will translate into loyalty to your brand. As you can see, return on investment in user experience (UX) fully justifies allocating permanent resources to this area in your e-commerce.

7. Nothing works forever in e-commerce.

The trends and algorithms of Google, marketplaces and social networks are constantly changing, so don't linger with your latest learning. That is why we previously told you to maintain a curious attitude and to always be inquiring through UX Research. Now we add another tip: let the data tell you what works and what doesn't, and never stop experimenting.

What do you think of these tips? If you put them into practice, you will be doing UX Research work that will undoubtedly allow you to make improvements in your e-commerce. If you think you need help in this task, evaluate the UX Research solution that we offer to entrepreneurs in the e-commerce world.

If you know more tips about UX Research for e-commerce that can be applied in the current context, leave us your comments.

Images

By Thought Catalog and lilzidesigns on Unsplash.