5 Types of Online Shoppers, and How to Get the Most Out of Them

Posted: November 2021

There’s a funny phrase that references peoples’ sentiments on having strange or, for a lack of a better term, unpleasant, relatives: You can’t choose your family.

The similar logic goes when you’re running a business and aiming for your target market’s attention. You can’t choose your customers.

The slight difference is in the nature, though, because it’s not like you can afford to survive without it. When you’ve invested time, money, and effort, any customer is better than not having one.

In this piece, we will identify some of the most distinctive types of online shoppers, ones who have been causing all the tweaking and jumbling of marketing strategies, prices, and whatnot. Then, we’ll give some tips on how to deal with each.

Let’s dive in.

Loyal customers

We ought to start with these guys, obviously. They are the cream of the crop. They return often, trust your brand, and help keep the ball rolling.

What’s great about loyal customers is you already have a certain connection, which most likely means they are easier to entice. As a merchant, you just have to make sure things are maintained neatly.

The proven way to get the most out of your best repeat buyers is to employ a loyalty program. That rightfully places them in an exclusive, VIP group, where they are privy to discounts and various other offers. In doing so, you let it be known that they are highly valued and their affection for your products isn’t going unnoticed.

What’s a good loyalty program? Peep our recent post about electronic vouchers and promo codes to get some ideas going.

Reluctant shoppers

Reluctant shoppers… A.K.A wanderers and borderline window shoppers. They’re there all the time but rarely buy anything. If they do, it doesn’t really move the needle in the ‘ol cash register.

These guys, however, give good traffic and help bring in some solid SEO points, so there’s at least a redeeming quality.

Nevertheless, the key thing here is to put them at ease, that purchasing items in your store is safe and they’ll have an easy time doing it. To do that, make sure your interface is clean or simple (preferably both), especially the checkout process.

Many reluctant or wandering shoppers are concerned about the security of their data, and not so much about the legitimacy of the product because if something’s sideways for them, they’ll be out of your page soon, or they’ll just look for other items.

See to it that the fields are easy to understand and the steps for checking out are not too daunting.

Discount vultures

Ah, yes. The relentless promo seekers. “Vulture” might be a harsh word, but in online shopping (or shopping in general), no one’s really apologetic of being one. Buying stuff is fun, and it’s even better when it’s discounted. That’s the name of the game.

The way to approach discount vultures isn’t always to minimize their chances of getting discounts. Because they’re all about availing awesome deals, make them understand the bigger perks of being a loyal customer.

Address it through your marketing activities. Put an emphasis on how you reward repeat buyers and why having a consistent set of special offers is better than tagging along occasional discounts.

Impulse buyers

These guys are the easiest to deal with. There’s no rhyme or reason for the most part because they just love to buy things. They’re like the cooky version of loyal customers. The trust factor may or may not be present, but either way, they come in, add stuff in their cart, and checkout.

Still, there are some things that may slow them down. Though impulse buyers can suddenly buy anything, they also want to know the latest, and there’s a chance they’ll lose interest if they are not informed regularly.

So, to keep these customers coming, craft a weekly or monthly newsletter that will put them in your store’s loop. They can be very receptive to recommendations so it’s where you can also promote other recent or old items that you want to get more eyeballs at.

Meticulous shoppers

As the polar opposite of impulse buyers, meticulous shoppers are a hard egg to crack. Many won’t even check their cart out even if they really like the items.

These guys may be the most informed in the list too because they know exactly what they want and researched every aspect of the items. They are immune to call-to-action buttons and clever, flowery taglines. What they want are detailed information about the product, whether it’s through text or video. They simply thirst for a more concrete preview.

All that may sound tedious but catering to meticulous shoppers allows ecommerce stores to have a certain level of authenticity, and ultimately, better content. It guides the needed balancing act between hyping a product and being upfront about what it does and looks like, as well as managing other expectations.

The common thread

Despite all the differences in each, there’s still one common thread in all of those shopper ‘personalities.’ In the end, you, as a merchant, need to make sure that the entire shopping experience is easy and worthwhile, from browsing to checking out.

Be reminded that checkout pages are a MUST in ecommerce websites. It adds legitimacy and allows more payment options, thus welcoming more sales opportunities for your business.

Head on over to VeritasPay Checkout and explore

---

As VeritasPay continues to provide high-quality payment solutions and promote cashless transactions, the company is also dedicated in bringing in fresh and informative content. We’ll be continuing to share new articles about our products, services, and varying subjects within the industry as we move forward.

Contact us here to know more.