Is Amazon Making You a Lazy Shopper?

Let’s face it – in this age of convenience it’s easy to cut corners, and as a working parent of young kids, I welcome any opportunity to be ‘lazy.’ I’ve also noticed that over time I’ve continued to return to the products and businesses that make my life easier.

For example, I’m a huge fan of Target. I could spend hours in their store buying all sorts of things I may or may not need. But when it comes time to purchase a household item online, my default is always Amazon.

Why, if I love Target so much, wouldn’t I consistently choose Target as my retailer of choice? Their prices are comparable, they offer free shipping, and Target also has product reviews and comments.

My answer is simple – Amazon is easy. I can reach my end goal with the least amount of time and effort when I shop with Amazon. And let’s be honest, I’d much rather spend my time with my children then spend hours of time researching purchases online.

 

Why has laziness become so important?
“Busy” is the most common answer to the age-old question “how are you doing?” I hear that response so much that I try not to use it myself. Busy is the new normal, and according to Nielson, our quest for convenience is driven by two primary forces – new consumer challenges and changing lifestyles.

We are busier, more connected, and more on-the-go than ever. As a result, we are stressed, receive too much information, and constantly fatigued by the amount of complexity surrounding us.

While over time all these challenges have changed our lives, one thing has remained the same — we still have only 24 hours in a day and seven days in a week. As we work to prioritize our precious time, we need to reserve our mental and physical activity for the things that matter most. And, outside of big-ticket items like a home or car, that doesn’t include most of our purchases.

So going back to my earlier example, while I may be brand loyal and have an emotional connection to the Target brand, if it means spending more time with my loved ones, I’ll choose convenience (and Amazon) every single time.

 

How does a company like Amazon make my life easier?
While the definitions of ‘easy’ and ‘convenient’ are somewhat subjective, our research at The Verde Group suggests that most people view them similarly.

When we measured the ‘ease of doing business’ for a partner logistics company, we then segmented the results by age but found no statistical differences. The amount of perceived effort necessary to work with our client did not vary appreciably by age or gender.

This is good news for CX executives wanting to deliver a frictionless experience across their entire customer base. And they need to look no further than Amazon for ways to offer that simple purchase experience:

 

  • Customers want trustworthy information and Amazon provides that by encouraging customer reviews. They offer programs (the newest being the Amazon Influencer Program) that make it easy for social influencers to showcase and promote Amazon products.
  • Shoppers can quickly weigh their purchase options and can see all competing products on one page, with prices, features, and reviews. As a result, they feel a sense of confidence when making purchases, knowing that they have done their due diligence.
  • 1-Click ordering. Enough said.
  • Accessibility of customer support. In one place, customers can track their package, make a return, seek technical help, or report a problem. It’s easy for them to find help and to navigate to their end goal.

This last point is an important one. Our research has reported that customer service is a critical component of assessing ‘ease of doing business.’ In fact, we’ve seen up to 50% of all loyalty risk coming from customer support issues.

And that makes sense. If there’s a need to reach out to customer service, then most likely something has already gone wrong with a product or service. If a customer is already upset before speaking to someone, it’s easy to see how a poor experience (like a long hold time or information repeated over and over) can increase their frustration.

Knowing the potentially high impact this service interaction can have on customer loyalty, it’s critical that customer service receives the attention and resources needed to achieve satisfactory problem resolutions.

 

The lazier I get to be, the more I’ll buy from you. Am I alone in this evolution?
Don’t worry, you and I aren’t alone! When it comes to service, companies create loyal customers primarily by helping them solve their problems quickly and easily.

In the book “The Effortless Experience,” the authors report that four of the five drivers of disloyalty involve additional effort that customers are compelled to put forth. The Verde Group’s research confirms this as well. If a customer feels it is easy to do business with our selected client, then they are most likely to be a promoter of that company. And if the customer believes that the company is not easy to do business with, there is a high chance that the customer will be a detractor.

With that in mind, here are three steps to improve your customers’ laziness:

  1. Identify the points of friction in your purchase experience and develop a plan to improve those areas. Prepare to spend significant time diving into the customer service experience. Is that experience helping your customers solve their problems quickly and easily? What about your return policy?
  2. Learn what your customers are doing before, during, and after their shopping experience. Are they leaving your site or store to compare prices? To help your customers to make easy purchase decisions, you must start with understanding what they are doing today.
  3. Make “simplicity” the mantra of your customer experience. Across touchpoints, both online and brick and mortar, ask yourself: “is this experience simple for the customer?” If the answer is no, then go back to the drawing board.

These types of improvements in your customer experience are likely to increase loyalty, positive word of mouth, and customer recommendations. As consumers, we’re all “busy” and overwhelmed. The last thing we want is to have to jump through hoops to give a company our money.

If you’re like me, just keep letting me be lazy, and I promise I’ll keep coming back.