🎯 How customers find their best buy in your online store

In the early days, the internet was clearly the place you'd go if you were looking for the lowest price. In 2004, for example, “cheapest” was twice as popular as its opposite “best”. That has now completely changed. Potential buyers are now looking four times as often for 'the best product' instead of 'the cheapest product'.

But what does “best” mean? The cheapest product is quite objective, namely the lowest price that has to be paid for a purchase. But 'best' is actually enormously subjective. My best isn't your best. The best one depends on your needs, priorities, and preferences.

• Your best headphones differ when your budget is $100 versus $500.
• Your best headphones differ when you use them on public transport versus when you're planning to use them as a DJ.
• Your best headphones differ when you're a kid versus an adult.

Leading online stores use guided selling to help customers understand which is their best. After all, customers aren't experts. They would like to hear from a real expert before they make a decision.

Knowledge — and the lack thereof — is at the heart of the (online) customer journey. Potential buyers continuously collect and evaluate information. Pre-internet options were few and far between: you went to the stores and spoke to the staff, or asked some friends and family. Using an on-paper buying guide was rare and you watched the commercials on TV with interest.

Nowadays, information and opinions are always easily accessible. For a product review, the customer is no longer dependent on that one neighbor who owns exactly the stereo of his interest. For each product, a review is available in the correct language and format: blog, unboxing video, podcast, or reviews and ratings on the seller's site.

However, customers cannot go to one place for this. It's up to them to scour the internet in search of information that matches their specific situation and interest. Then they need to independently distill the right knowledge to make the right choice. This creates a huge number of dropouts when customers leave the site and continue their search on another site, time or channel. Or end their search altogether.

But people are lazy. They aren't in the mood to go through all of that. After all, they've already Googled it twice and still haven't found the perfect answer. Customers want a short cut. They want to know what's their best. Maximum results with minimal effort.

And that's where opportunities lie for companies that provide customers with relevant knowledge at the right times in their journey. Through guided selling, you offer customers a relevant helpline on your website so that they have all the information they need at their fingertips. And that's why guided selling works so well.

Ready to learn more? Book a demo and we'll show you what guided selling can do for your store, and your customers.