Tech

Industry snapshot: average frustration, low engagement

There’s no surprise a highly innovative global information technology (IT) industry is projected to hit $5.2 trillion this year with 3.7% growth. As consumers and businesses grow more reliant on tech, the ways in which they browse, shop, and access these offerings transitions to an ever-more digital-first buyer’s journey with limited human interaction. With this paradigm shift, it’s on tech businesses to deliver seamless digital experiences to every user – or they could be left in the dust.

DIGITAL FRUSTRATION

Tech’s biggest user frustrations

What exactly is the cost of highly-frustrated user experiences? It’s more than you may realize, as 76% of users will go to a competitor if they have just one bad experience. It’s clear user frustration is a digital experience killer, which in turn can drag down engagements, conversions and revenue.

With 6.5% of page views containing instances of user frustration, tech generally performs in line with the 6.5% average of other industries. It has a higher occurrence of bird’s nest behavior, which refers to when a user rapidly shakes their mouse in confusion, and unresponsive multiclicks, which typically occur on broken links or buttons. However, it has a lower incidence of repeated device rotation, the result of content not fitting the screen, as well as rapid scrolling per user session, which in certain contexts signals user frustration.

3 ways to reduce frustration in tech

01

Design intuitive navigations

With often a large number of products and services offered by tech vendors, users could quickly find themselves lost or confused. It’s best to truncate these journeys for easy navigation and minimal frustration.

02

Offer automated assistance

Given the often pricey or technical nature of some IT products and services, providing automated assistance is a must. Whether a chatbot or automated phone service, these tools can help answer common questions to keep users frustration-free.

03

Create detailed product pages

Given the often expensive nature of tech products and services, users will want complete clarity on the pricing options and features available to them. Make sure product page content is thorough and transparent to avoid purchasing frustrations.

With low focus time on both text and images, there’s a big opportunity in tech to increase user engagement with more compelling online designs and content.

Seb Thakar | Global Team Lead of Insights Services, Decibel

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DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT

Tech’s biggest user engagements

Consistent digital experiences are the key to driving user engagements. Research shows 75% of users expect a consistent experience wherever they engage, so if you fail to meet experience expectations on your website, engagements will inevitably drop off among other metrics.

With sessions having an average Engagement Score of 3.97/10, tech performs significantly worse than the 4.6 average of other industries. It has more incidences of both reading behavior, which refers to users following content with their mouse, and select and copy behavior; but performs poorly on responsive multiclicks, which refers to users clicking through a responsive element like an image carousel.

3 ways to drive more engagement in tech

01

Personalize buying experiences

Delivering specific and personalized experiences – from content to promotions – can keep users engaged, and even loyal. Ensuring digital experiences match a user’s history and interests can keep them in the user journey engaging with new offerings.

02

Streamline common buying journeys

If you’ve got a few hallmark products or services in high demand, it’s best to prioritize the state of those user journeys. Creating better access and visibility to those offerings will keep engagements high, with less user effort to convert.

03

Provide informative content

With so many innovations in tech features and capabilities, providing highly educational content on your website or app can keep users from abandoning due to vague or missing details.

USER JOURNEYS

Tech’s user journey trends

Not all user journeys are created equal; those most travelled require the most attention. Since tracking customer journeys in real time is key to delivering on customer expectations, it’s concerning 2/3 of organizations lack this capability.

With an average Navigation Score of 9.3/10, tech performs in line with the 9.3 average of other industries. Per page view, the on-page refresh rate is high at 18.4%, suggesting performance issues. However, in terms of the journey, the revisit rate of pages is just 25.6% against the 32.8% average of other industries – suggesting tech customers are generally finding what they need on each page, without having to look twice or cover old ground.

EXPERIENCE & CONVERSION

Tech’s correlation between digital experience and conversion

Could perfecting online experiences be your key to conversion success? Research shows visit-to-lead conversions can be 400% higher on sites with top notch user experiences. While promising findings, the tech industry is a unique environment, so to really turn users into customers you’ll want a data-driven understanding the relationship between digital experiences and conversions in the industry.

Generally, the goal conversion rate for tech is lower than in other industries, but its correlation to DXS® is higher, which could mean tolerance for mediocre experiences is lower in tech than elsewhere – rendering the quality of the overall experience vitally important.

3 tech digital experience trends and tips to look out for in 2021

01

Big opportunity for experience leaders

With low user engagement across the tech industry, there’s a big opportunity for experience-minded tech companies to make their mark.

02

Competition set to increase

As demand shifts online, digital services offered by tech companies will be more widespread, so expect a rise in competition for eyeballs and loyalty.

03

Optimization will be critical

With expectations for digital experiences always rising, investing in digital experience optimization has never been more crucial for tech companies looking to beat the competition.