Online Behaviour Reports Cross Channel Hopping!

If there’s one clear lesson to be learnt from the explosions caused by Smartphone and netbook accelerating online search is that business marketing strategies need to stay on top on top of user channel switching behaviour driving webwatchers dizzy!

Savvy business owners and their website design boys and girls keep close to website analytics. They know that nothing stays the same from minute to minute and if a PPC adword or newsletter email marketing campaign is to bring in the desired results then they must stay in touch with their target market niche segment.

In other words, in 2010, online marketing means engaging with every single visitor and knowing what they are looking for and how they try to find the object of their search.

A recent Cross-Channel Commerce study reports that increasingly online consumers are switching between channels when both researching and making purchases, with the overwhelming majority using at least two channels in their purchase decisions.

Although just under 25% remained with one channel from research through to purchase, nearly 50% used two channels, a quarter used three and 6% used four or more.

With the rapid spread of iPhone and similar access enabled phones, unsurprisingly, 27% of all consumers now used their mobiles to access and browse websites to research products with the 18-34 age group, the most active users at 41%, who research and make purchases via mobile every month.

78% of consumers still use catalogues for product research but 41% not for completing a purchase. 29% said they would redeem coupons with discounts that they still enjoy receiving via email with 54% claiming they would browse the site and see if the promotion suited them.

However, concern should be raised that still in 2010, the findings suggest that businesses are still not getting their website accessibility correct with 43% calling customer service because they were unable to find all the information they needed online, 19% calling to complain that they found the website too difficult to use or else encountered an error, while 15% wanted to ask about delivery options.

It cannot be stated enough that if your brand identity is to succeed online, then a serious commitment to ongoing investment is essential and your website must be placed in the hands of the professionals who will optimise maximum user-friendly performance for visitor and search engine, alike.