In our last blog post we described a problem people face when having to make a purchase decision. In this blog post we’re going to explain the psychological aspects behind your users’ behavior.
Making a decision is not an easy process. A study done in Britain by Alexandra C.H.Skelton and Julian M.Allwood (2017) shows that 82% of adults have regretted a purchasing decision, AKA “Buyers remorse”. Buyer’s remorse is that feeling you get after making a purchase and thinking “was it too expensive?” or “do I actually need it? “ (yup, we’ve all been there). The fear of the up-and-coming “Buyers Remorse” might be stopping your potential customers up from making a decision and buying your product.
Among our users, we saw a whole different turn of events than the experience described above. We have created a social shopping tool for eCommerce websites looking to give their users a better user experience. By using the Joyned social shopping platform, users can simply invite their friends to join a wishlist they create, using our platform. The invitees can react, comment, and edit the wish list on-site, meaning – a group of friends can easily shop together and make a decision. Our data shows that our users are more likely to make a purchase decision when using the social shopping tool, the overall conversion rate of our users actually increases by 390% when using Joyned.
But why?
So, here’s where it gets interesting:
In order to fully understand what exactly it is about the social shopping experience we offer that manages to increase our customers’ conversion rate, we asked the users of our product about their experience. The interesting thing we found out is that we made the process of group decision-making easier because we created a space where each member of the group is more likely to make a decision. We found an explanation for that in an article – “Shared responsibility in collective decisions” (2019) where Marwa El Zein, Bahador Bahrami & Ralph Hertwig explain the behind-the-scenes of decision making. Making a decision with other people minimizes the material and psychological burden of an individual’s responsibility. When a person has to make a decision with other people he feels protected from the “risks”, which are the negative feelings he may be having due to the decision he made – regret, punishment, and stress. The fact that a whole group of friends is on the same website, at the same time, trying to make a decision together – makes it easier for each individual to make his own decision and also take an active part in the decision-making process. That way the users are more likely to make a decision and act upon it, meaning – a better conversion rate, since a decision has actually been made.
Furthermore, there’s a smaller chance for cart abandonment, since the group is on-site, no one has to leave the site to consult, and every eCommerce owner knows – when a user leaves your site, they’re much less likely to come back and make a purchase.
To sum up
Giving people the option to invite their friends to their shopping list, consult with them in real-time, online, and shop together, increases the chances of actually making a decision and purchase not only because the consulting process is easier, but because it’s easier for each member of the group to decide on his own. The customers are happier and the conversion rate is better. It’s not only true, it also rhymes.
To learn more, contact us or try a demo of Joyned today.
