SimplicityDX has announced new social commerce research, “The Cost of a Bounce,” which included a survey of 1,000 randomly selected U.S. online shoppers that started their shopping journey on a social media platform within the last 90 days.
In analysing the survey findings, the SimplicityDX Academy team quantified the average cost of a customer bouncing off a brand website to be US$5.11 and gave fresh insight into why online shoppers bounce and what they are not telling brands about their experience.
“The math of customer acquisition is broken,” explained Ruth Peters, co-founder and CMO at SimplicityDX. “Brands are literally leaving money on the table as their customers click through from social to product detail pages. Our research found that 73 per cent of shoppers do not end up buying after a bounce, so there is a big opportunity to change the economics of customer acquisition by focusing on the post-click experience.”
Today, in the U.S. alone, 90 per cent of the population — or approximately 302 million people — use social media for an average of 2.5 hours a day. It is no surprise, then, that brands are on a constant quest to master social media, both as a new customer acquisition tool and to inspire returning customers to buy again.
“However, it is dangerous to make too many assumptions about a shopper’s social shopping preferences, particularly when it comes to checkout,” added Peters. “SimplicityDX Academy research has consistently shown over time that 65 per cent of consumers describe social as a great place to discover new products, but only 15 per cent of consumers check out on social media, preferring to buy on the brand’s website.”
SimplicityDX conducted research with 1,000 U.S. online shoppers to recall a recent purchase that they had clicked through to but then bounced off the page immediately.
The total cost per bounce is calculated based on the advertising cost to get each visitor to the site and the lost revenue opportunity when they bounce.
- $4.89 is the lost opportunity cost when a new customer bounces.
- $5.24 is the lost opportunity cost when an existing customer bounces.
- $5.11 is the lost opportunity cost due to a bounce averaged across all customers.
“When a customer clicks through to the brand site from social, it’s a clear sign of intent,” explains Charles Nicholls, analyst and commentator for SimplicityDX Academy. “But poor landing experiences are leading to sky-high bounce rates, typically over 70 per cent and sometimes as high as 90 per cent-plus. So, for every 10,000 visitors, if 80 per cent bounce, the average lost revenue cost to the brand is $40,880. Fix the bounce, and you’ll fix the math.”
Key Findings
How frequently do shoppers use social media?
- 66 per cent of respondents now use social media every week for shopping.
How frequently do shoppers bounce?
- 76 per cent of shoppers bounce 50 per cent of the time or more from social media.
- Only 3 per cent of shoppers surveyed say they never bounce.
What is the impact of a bounce?
- 73 per cent of the respondents were lost and did not buy from the brand at a later date.
- 62 per cent of shoppers felt frustrated and/or annoyed with the brand when they bounced from the brand site.
- 24 per cent of the respondents are less likely to shop with the brand again, showing the impact of poor experience goes beyond the bounce to revenue performance.
- 13 per cent went on to buy from a competitor, a double blow to the brand.
Why do shoppers bounce?
The top three reasons shoppers bounced were (multiple answers allowed):
- 55 per cent reported the product was not found on the brand site.
- 37 per cent reported the product was too expensive.
- 31 per cent reported the product was out of stock.
The disconnected experience that shoppers encounter as they click through from social to the brand site causes customer frustration and loss of revenue.
Sharing their frustration
39 per cent share their frustration with friends or on social media, meaning one bounce experience can have a ripple effect.
Surprisingly, only 9 per cent choose to share with the brand.
Advice to brands from shoppers
The responses from the SimplicityDX Academy survey audience were strong and clear:
- 60 per cent of shoppers want the landing experience to show greater relevance to the original social media post and include all products depicted.
- 39 per cent want retailers to only promote products that are in stock.
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