While e-commerce is experiencing its golden age, increasing competition is challenging e-commerce companies. Companies that want to stand out from the competition are trying to differentiate themselves with the customer experience they offer. E-commerce companies can offer great customer experience by using the technological acceptance model. In this article, Wiseback Consumer Behaviours Consultant Aysun Şabanlı shares details about the application of the technological acceptance model in e-commerce.
E-commerce is now a part of our lives
We have witnessed the inevitable rise of e-commerce during the pandemic. Online shopping has become an ordinary part of our lives. According to the report published jointly by TÜSİAD and Deloitte in February this year, e-commerce volume in Turkey in 2021 increased by 69 percent to 381.5 billion TL and the number of orders increased by 46 percent to 3 million units. According to the same report, Turkey ranked 23rd among 94 countries in e-commerce volume per capita.
As it can be understood from these figures, during online shopping, which has become a part of daily life for many consumers, consumers’ perceptions, motivations, learning styles, attitudes and beliefs about online shopping or the site they will purchase play a major role in their purchasing decisions.
Again, many experts and academics agree that customer relations and customer experience play a major role in shaping customer perceptions and attitudes, as well as personal data privacy and security concerns, in the development of e-commerce. It is also widely believed that customer relationships and experience will increasingly become the most decisive brand differentiation elements in the ever-evolving e-commerce market.
Security concerns influence purchasing decision
In academic studies, although the security concerns and user experience perceived by consumers in e-commerce do not affect the traffic on shopping sites, they constitute an important risk factor in front of the conversion of traffic into purchases. Therefore, it is an undeniable fact that customer experience and satisfaction for e-commerce sites are prominent issues for both the development of the sector and competitive advantage.
Each segment has different needs
Customer experience for e-commerce is generally understood as interface ease of use, and intellectual and financial investments are usually focused on technological interface development. However, when developing interfaces, it should be equally important to create a customer-centric experience and design a customer experience that can address the different needs of different segments. Just as in traditional marketing and retailing, designing the customer experience according to the different expectations, perceptions and motivations of different segments by applying a customer-oriented strategy is important for the development of e-commerce and the development of the sector as well as providing a great competitive advantage to stand out in the competition.
Technological Acceptance Model for E-commerce
Some studies reveal that the ease of use perceived by consumers about the e-commerce site and the perception of the benefits offered by the site are important in terms of customer satisfaction and loyalty. Ease of use and benefit perception of technological innovations such as e-commerce may also vary from person to person. In the e-commerce customer journey, which will be designed to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, it may create positive results for brands to develop a strategy by segmenting their target audience for ease of use and perception of benefit. Although basic demographic characteristics are important in segmentation studies to be carried out for the adoption of e-commerce and the formation of usage intention, according to the figures revealed by We Are Social, e-commerce purchasing reveals that the adaptation of each age group to e-commerce is close to each other. However, in order to create a customer-oriented experience, other segmentation criteria need to be taken into account. Considering these criteria, the Technology Acceptance Model, which was developed by Fred D. Davis in 1989 as a model for the acceptance of technological innovations, can be applied to e-commerce to create a positive customer experience for different segments.
According to the model, intention to use a technological product, perceived usefulness of the product/system and perceived ease of use are three important elements that trigger the behaviour of using the product. Perceived ease of use can be explained as the consumer’s evaluation of the effort required to use the e-commerce site. It should not be forgotten that people tend to minimise the effort they spend while shopping. Perceived usefulness, which is the other factor affecting the intention to use e-commerce sites, can be defined as a helpful tool that will enable the consumer to do that job better while fulfilling a shopping requirement. On the other hand, for some consumers, there are also risks they perceive in front of shopping from e-commerce platforms. These risks primarily include the possibility of lack of face-to-face communication and risks that may lead the consumer to increase his/her effort, risks that may negatively affect the consumer’s perceived ease of use, as well as the perceived risks of the consumer in terms of product, financial, delivery, time spent, privacy. Therefore, perceived risks can be added to the model as a fourth factor that may affect the behaviour regarding the use of the e-commerce site.
According to many studies, it has been revealed that the consumer’s perception of risk, perceived ease of use and perceived benefit affect customer satisfaction and loyalty towards the use of e-commerce sites.
Therefore, in order to increase the intention to use the site by creating a positive customer experience, e-commerce sites should segment their customers according to the perceived ease of use, perceived benefit and perceived risk, and design their strategies, interfaces and communication messages.
Accordingly, it is important for e-commerce sites to create new segments by accurately analyzing consumers’ perceived risks, ease of use perceptions and perceived benefits, and to design the customer experience to increase the usage intentions of these segments. For example, according to perceived risks; placing detailed product descriptions and images, improving logistics processes, providing assurances about privacy, and adding tactics to eliminate these risks, especially by adding applications similar to face-to-face sales processes from the new visitors’ familiarisation process to the site, will positively affect the perceived ease of use and benefit of the e-commerce site and increase the intention to use the site.
For perceived ease of use, it is important to keep in mind that everyone has different perceived abilities to use a technological product. Accordingly, tactics such as easy payment applications, in-site navigation, detailed product comparisons, and a registration system that can facilitate the user’s use can positively affect perceived ease of use. Increasing the availability of online sales representatives (sales avatars) or live help, which we have started to see from time to time, may also create a positive satisfaction for consumers who are used to the comfort of face-to-face shopping.
Remembering that perceived benefit will be influenced by perceived risk and perceived ease of use and will reinforce the customer’s intention to use the e-commerce site, emphasising these two factors in communication messages will not only increase the image of the site positively, but will also increase the likelihood of increasing the perceived benefit of shopping on the site.
As a result, e-commerce sites should segment their consumers according to perceived risks, perceived ease of use and perceived benefits to increase customer satisfaction, and review their strategies in terms of site strategy, interface design and communication messages, rather than just focusing on price, product and variety messages or trying to increase traffic with trigger ads, which will also allow them to adopt a more customer-oriented approach.
Listen to your customers
Listening to your customers is the key to learning your brand perception and creating a seamless customer experience. Provide feedback to your customers after every transaction at all physical and digital touchpoints. Choose the right communication channel; listen to your customers with an omni-channel approach across email, SMS, mobile app, website, kiosk and QR code channels. Measure your customer experience using NPS, CES and CSAT metrics.
Contact us to get information about our solutions that will move your customer experience processes forward.
