Some Things You May Not Know About Online Shoppers

If you're a member of the Linkshare network and were unable to attend the Linkshare 2008 Summit last week, you might want to check out Lisa Picarille's notes. Here are a couple statistics she shared that caught my attention: *High value customers (those spending $800+ online each year), are particularly diligent in their online research of specific products and services (when bought either online or offline). *87% of all online buyers visited multiple Websites before purchasing a product. The role of social media is growing among young online shoppers: *1% of online shoppers ages 18-24 are aided in their purchase decision process by social and community sites. *78% of these younger shoppers think that adding elements of social/community features would improve the sites they use. If you're an online business who targets high value customers, you may want to think about how you present products and services to potential customers. As a consumer in this category, I tend to visit several websites before I decide to purchase. I pay more attention to those websites or blogs that offer thorough and honest reviews. If you can present yourself as a trusted resource, you're more likely to attract repeat visitors who buy from you. Adding social networking features to your website adds more value to your business. Social features can include polls, customer ratings, forums, or even a MySpace page. Although these social and community sites don't really aid in young shoppers' purchase decisions, I would guess based on my own online shopping experience that older shoppers tend to rely on the opinions of the online community when making decisions. If you liked this post, please consider making a donation... Discuss this post in the forum... Subscribe to Online Business Resources!