WTF Are Hedonic Shoppers and Why Should You Care?

67.89% of online shopping carts are abandoned, in keeping with the Baymard Institute.

Throughout the online, we see toolmakers capitalizing on this quantity, and selling the concept poorly optimized carts are costing retailers two-thirds of their gross sales.

However is it actually true?

Sure, many ecommerce corporations are letting gross sales slip by the cracks as a result of their checkout course of isn’t optimized.

However retailers aren’t shedding 67% of gross sales just because their purchasing carts suck.

Merely put, not each fish that nibbles your line is the “one which received away.”

Yeah, yeah, it was the largest fish you’d ever seen, proper?

And never each person that ditches your purchasing cart does so as a result of your checkout CTA is the flawed color.

Procuring cart abandonment charges are inflated by a bunch known as hedonic consumers, and so they fill carts for a lot completely different causes than regular utilitarian consumers.

The dangerous information is you gained’t seize gross sales from most hedonic consumers by A/B testing your checkout course of.

However by understanding hedonic motivations, you’ll be able to construct a relationship with these consumers and ultimately convert them to beneficial clients. It simply takes a little bit of effort and creativity.

On this submit, we’ll talk about:

1. The variations between hedonic and utilitarian consumers
2. Why hedonic consumers inflate cart abandonment charges
3. Methods and instruments for changing hedonic consumers

So let’s tuck in.

Hedonic vs. utilitarian purchasing

In response to analysis, folks have two major purchasing motivations: hedonic and utilitarian.

Utilitarian purchasing is all about precise want and performance. We want garments, we’d like meals, we’d like dental floss — and utilitarian motives drive these wants. (My dentist lately suggested me to “solely floss those you wish to preserve.” Good one, dentist).

Our utilitarian motives for purchasing embody: meeting our basic needs, finding greater convenience, seeking variety, in search of better high quality of merchandise and looking for higher costs. For these consumers, purchasing is a problem-solving activity that follows a collection of logical steps.

Alternatively, hedonic purchasing is driven by our desire for fun, entertainment and satisfaction. It’s derived from the perceived enjoyable or playfulness of purchasing experiences.

We don’t do it as a result of we have to. We do it as a result of we’re big jerks.

Hedonic purchasing stirs emotional arousal inside us — both physiological and psychological. The person is deeply concerned within the satisfaction of purchasing, and the upper the extent of involvement, the better the extent of hedonism skilled by the consumer.

Sort of makes us sound like a pack of lunatics, doesn’t it? There’s really a extra harmless rationalization.

Of their 2003 paper, “Hedonic purchasing motivations”, Mark Arnold and Kristy Reynolds argue that there are six categories of hedonic shopping:

1. Journey looking for stimulation and pleasure
2. Gratification purchasing to reinforce temper
3. Social purchasing to expertise pleasure from interacting with others
4. Thought purchasing to remain present with developments
5. Position purchasing to realize pleasure from shopping for for others
6. Worth purchasing to realize pleasure from discovering offers (although not essentially performing on them)
7. Hedonic purchasing predates ecommerce, however it’s amplified on the net.

On-line, hedonic consumers are free to meet their motives with out the inconvenience, distance obstacles, embarrassment and time constraints of conventional brick-and-mortar purchasing.

Hedonic purchasing and digital cart abandonment

The online is a playground of escapism for hedonic consumers. And inside this playground, web sites present the stimuli they’re on the lookout for.

This stimulation means the hedonically motivated shopper doesn’t want to finish the transaction. The purchasing expertise itself was the result they desired. They don’t want to purchase to get satisfaction; they want solely browse.

Due to this, the consequences of hedonic purchasing manifest themselves most noticeably in purchasing cart abandonment.

Regardless of inserting objects in purchasing carts, nearly all of web shoppers are fast to desert carts with no second’s hesitation.

Typical knowledge tells us cart abandonment outcomes from breakdowns within the buying stage. However hedonic purchasing idea counters that many carts are deserted as a result of the buyer is happy — they’ve had their enjoyable.

To dig deeper, let’s have a look at the most typical causes clients give for abandoning purchasing carts, as per a 2013 Shopify survey.

Appears like the standard suspects, (i.e., a listing of utilitarian motivations). However wait…

Oh you had been simply looking had been you, you wicked little hedonists!?

Sure, we all know your recreation. Abandoning your cart as a part of some twisted charade, laughing as web site house owners wrack their brains for solutions.

However maybe there’s extra to it. Right here’s one other attention-grabbing survey of purchasing cart abandoners:

Taking a better look, we are able to establish three important teams of purchasing cart abandoners: course of abandoners, utilitarian abandoners and hedonic abandoners.

In each surveys, we see a hedonic motive seem second on the listing, with numerous utilitarian motives close to the highest. Additional down, we see that course of points are cited much less ceaselessly. Since hedonic abandoners appear to go away carts no matter worth and performance, what can web site house owners do to seize worth from them? Aren’t they sure to go away it doesn’t matter what?

The reply is sure and no. Sure, hedonic consumers are more likely to abandon on their first go to. However no, that doesn’t imply they will’t be transformed to clients.

Though 70–95% of first-time visitors to a site abandon the page with out taking your required motion — a quantity that features purchasing cart abandoners — that doesn’t imply they’ve given up on the thought.

And if you can fulfill their motivations, you will convert them. Hedonic shoppers can be some of your most valuable customers, so it’s worth putting in the effort to engage them. Like any potential sales lead, there’s value to capture.

It just takes a little longer.

Extending your engagement with hedonic shoppers

So the question now is obvious: How do we engage hedonic shoppers beyond that initial joyride?

To extend the engagement — and build a mutually beneficial relationship — you must:

1. Get an email address or other means of contact
2. Remarket to hedonic cart abandoners through triggered emails
3. Promise hedonic shoppers more of the rich, engaging experiences they desire within your emails

Let’s tackle email first.

No matter what type of hedonic shopper frequents your website (and bloats your shopping cart abandonment rate), you must be able to stay in contact in order to build the relationship.

Email is key. According to MarketingLand, 77% of us prefer to receive our marketing messages by email, and second place isn’t even shut.

However entrepreneurs are behind the eight-ball. BizReport states that 80% of online retailers fail to send triggered emails after purchasing carts are deserted.

These entrepreneurs are lacking out on an amazing alternative. A survey by ExactTarget confirmed that 78% of marketers experienced “good to excellent success” with cart abandonment emails.

Publish-abandonment emails present fertile floor for persevering with the story you started telling hedonic consumers in your web site, and carrying that momentum towards establishing a buyer relationship.

Take each alternative you’ll be able to to construct your e mail listing. Promise consumers extra of what they need — participating purchasing environments, new concepts, nice worth — by signing up for normal updates.

The second a part of the equation is engagement.

Engagement is defined as the standard of person expertise as a measurement of Targeted Consideration, Perceived Usability, Endurability, Novelty, Aesthetics, and Felt Involvement.

These 6 elements are crucial to participating all consumers. The distinction is how these automobiles work. Novelty, for instance, means one thing completely different to completely different consumers.

To achieve success, entrepreneurs should deal with these motivations on their touchdown pages. However when coping with hedonic consumers, it’s not fairly sufficient — you’re going to wish to get a bit extra artistic and enchantment to those motivations all through your entire remarketing course of.

When an journey shopper receives your triggered follow-up e mail, for instance, you should convey an thrilling purchasing expertise to come back.

With novelty consumers, you must promise a sure measure of exclusivity, one thing not everybody has entry to already.

So accounting for the six hedonic purchasing motives, listed here are some concepts you’ll be able to make use of to have interaction these consumers and lengthen the connection.

1. Journey consumers

Key engagement driver: Aesthetics

Journey consumers search stimulation and pleasure. If journey consumers are frequenting your web site, you’re seemingly providing a enjoyable purchasing expertise.

To increase the interplay, you might:

• Check teasing the person with extra pleasure to come back in your follow-up emails
• Create touchdown pages and emails with wealthy graphics and imagery
• Check utilizing wealthy multimedia experiences for customers with movies, infographics and podcasts

With the promise of stimulating their want for journey, journey consumers could also be enticed to return to your web site to proceed the method, quite than discovering enjoyment elsewhere.

2. Gratification consumers

Key engagement driver: Aesthetics, felt involvement

Hedonic consumers who store for gratification functions are sometimes doing so to enhance temper. For the web retailer, the purpose right here is to make the consumer really feel higher.

• Make the consumer really feel snug, don’t push the promote too laborious
• Encourage and help the consumer all through the decision-making course of
• Check utilizing encouraging and complimentary language (for instance, “5 new candle scents you deserve”)

After a gratification shopper abandons your cart, concentrate on constructing the connection. Strain ways aren’t comforting or reassuring.

3. Social consumers

Key engagement driver: Felt involvement

Any such hedonic shopper likes to convey others alongside for the trip. In a standard brick-and-mortar situation, they’d store with mates or chat with salespeople.

On the internet, it’s a bit completely different, however that doesn’t imply a pleasant, social purchasing setting can’t be created:

• Urge consumers to assessment your merchandise and/or learn evaluations from fellow consumers
• Strive together with a chat hyperlink the place consumers can depart feedback and interact with workers
• Embrace an embedded Twitter and/or Fb feed with discussions associated to the merchandise
• Create a pleasant, people-focused design that depends on imagery of individuals utilizing and having fun with the product with mates; stress the social elements of merchandise you promote in your copy

4. Thought Consumers

Key engagement driver: Novelty

Thought consumers prefer to be trendsetters. They worth staying present and the novelty of recent and thrilling concepts.

Strive testing these concepts:

• Play to the motivations of thought consumers by implying they’ll be the primary to leap on new developments comparable to tech developments, vogue concepts or meals developments
• Embrace a publication signup with a powerful callout field to seize e mail addresses, and publication content material that performs to the thought shopper’s motivations
• Focus your headlines and e mail topic strains on concepts and creativity; keep in mind that novelty is the important thing engagement driver for these consumers

5. Position consumers

Key engagement driver: Felt involvement

Position consumers are stimulated by the act or thought of buying for others. To extend engagement with them, take a look at out these concepts:

• Give attention to focused messaging; examples may embody “Choose one up for the youngsters” or “The in-laws will find it irresistible”
• Strive utilizing imagery reflecting the fun of gift-giving and sharing
• Create a pleasant, people-focused design that depends on imagery of individuals utilizing and having fun with the product with mates; stress the social elements of merchandise you promote in your copy

6. Worth Consumers

Key engagement driver: Novelty, felt involvement

If there’s any group of customers completely suited to an e mail marketing campaign, it’s worth consumers. Groupon constructed their total empire off this technique, and one may argue nearly all of their clients are hedonically motivated worth consumers.

Promising worth consumers a gradual stream of unique offers is a good thought for appeasing worth consumers.

You’ll completely want a powerful e mail signup technique, as the scale and high quality of your listing will dictate success.

Electronic mail is the important thing revenue driver

Capturing e mail addresses is crucial to extending the connection with hedonic consumers, and thus decreasing cart abandonment charges.

With no robust listing, you gained’t have the ability to remarket successfully or make the most of your customers’ preferred marketing channel.

PRO TIP: Some nation’s anti-spam legal guidelines require you to acquire express consent earlier than sending prospects promotional emails. Be sure to’re abiding by your native laws.

The instruments you utilize to construct e mail lists rely upon your online business, however listed here are three that must be a part of each marketer’s toolbox:

1. Touchdown pages

Not like dwelling pages, touchdown pages concentrate on a single conversion purpose, whether or not to heat guests as much as make a purchase order or to gather their e mail addresses in trade for one thing they need, comparable to an e book, white paper or coupon code.

Touchdown pages don’t have all of the leaks discovered in your typical dwelling web page, so the attention ratio is 1:1. That’s, there’s just one purpose and subsequently just one name to motion on the web page. Within the phrases of Unbounce co-founder Oli Gardner: “One web page. One function. Interval.”

Check after take a look at has proven the conversion advantages of touchdown pages, making them an indispensable software to construct your e mail listing.

2. Exit-intent expertise

An exit-intent software measures customers’ mouse actions to detect abandoning guests. When an abandoning person is detected, an exit overlay is activated to have interaction the person one final time to persuade the person to stay round, make a purchase order, or enroll.

Exit overlays (pushed by exit-intent expertise) are notably efficient for constructing cart abandoner e mail lists as a result of they a) solely activate when the person is about to desert the web page, and b) might be focused at cart abandoners particularly.

Key Takeaways

• Hedonic consumers make up a major share of purchasing cart abandoners thereby bloating abandonment figures.
• Relatively than bemoaning the consumer who fills your cart however doesn’t convert, deal with abandonment as an expression of curiosity, an invite to make contact.
• There’s an amazing alternative to observe up with hedonic consumers (and cart abandoners) by way of e mail; nevertheless, 80% of entrepreneurs don’t make the most of this chance.
• To successfully market to hedonic consumers, you should enchantment to their motivations all through your entire advertising course of (together with in emails).
• Constructing a powerful e mail listing is crucial; touchdown pages, value-driven signup types, and exit-intent expertise are all efficient instruments for making this occur.

Lastly, reframe the duty in a optimistic context. As an alternative of attempting to cut back your purchasing cart abandonment price, attempt growing your engagement of consumers who abandon your cart.