Category: User Experience

Article

Dec 22, 2025

13min read

How To Build A Customer Journey Map?

Emily Healy

Understanding your customers’ paths? Not easy. Each person arrives with their own reason for visiting your site and takes their own route through your pages.

So how do you gain real insights to improve usability and spot buying trends?

Start with building a customer journey map.

In this blog, we’ll walk you through what a customer journey map is, how to build a customer journey map, which templates work best for your customer journey map, and how to put them into action. Let’s get started!

What is a customer journey map?

A customer journey map is a visual tool that shows how customers interact with your business or website—from start to finish.

It helps you spot where things aren’t working and improve the overall experience.

Think of it as a story told visually. It maps out:

What customers do
What they think
How they feel

At the heart of the map are touchpoints—specific moments where customers interact with your brand. Maybe they’re researching a product, making a purchase, waiting for delivery, or requesting a return.

Each touchpoint can be positive, neutral, or negative from the customer’s perspective. Your job? Make more of them positive.

Customer journey mapping requires a mix of hard data, customer feedback, and creative thinking. No two maps are the same—and that’s the point. Every business is different.

7 Reasons Why Use Customer Journey Maps

Customer journey mapping isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a strategic tool that drives real business results.

Here’s why it matters:

1. See Through Your Customers’ Eyes

Journey maps help you step into your customers’ shoes. You’ll understand their motivations, expectations, and frustrations at every stage—not just what they do, but why they do it.

That empathy translates into better decisions, smarter strategies, and experiences that actually resonate.

2. Spot and Fix Pain Points Fast

Every journey has friction. Your checkout process might be too complicated, your search function delivers the wrong results, or customers can’t find help when they need it.

Customer journey mapping reveals these bottlenecks so you can address them before they cost you customers.

3. Build Loyalty That Lasts

When customers feel understood and valued, they stick around. By removing barriers and meeting needs at every touchpoint, you strengthen the emotional connection between your brand and your audience. That connection drives repeat purchases and long-term loyalty.

In fact, a 5% increase in customer retention can lead to a 25% increase in profits.

4. Personalize at Scale

Not all customers are the same—and your experience shouldn’t treat them that way. Journey maps highlight individual preferences and behaviors, enabling you to tailor messaging, product recommendations, and support to each person.

Personalization increases purchase likelihood and makes customers feel like you actually get them.

5. Align Your Entire Team

Customer journey mapping breaks down silos. When marketing, product, sales, and support all work from the same map, everyone understands the customer’s perspective and how their work impacts the overall experience.

That shared understanding leads to better collaboration, faster problem-solving, and a more cohesive brand experience.

6. Make Smarter, Data-Driven Decisions

Journey maps aren’t just pretty visuals—they’re strategic tools backed by real data.

They guide decisions about where to invest, what to test, and which initiatives will have the biggest impact on customer satisfaction and business growth.

7. Drive Innovation and Stay Ahead

Customer needs evolve. Markets shift. New competitors emerge.

Regularly reviewing and updating your customer journey map helps you spot emerging trends, changing preferences, and new opportunities before your competitors do. It keeps your brand agile, innovative, and ready to adapt.

The Heart of Customer Journey Mapping: Buyer Personas

Buyer personas are fictional characters based on real customer data. They represent your audience in a way that’s relatable and actionable.

Most projects create between three and seven personas—and each one gets its own customer journey map. Why? Because different customers have different needs, goals, and pain points. A persona helps you walk in their shoes and design experiences that truly resonate.

Personas aren’t perfect replicas of real people. They’re broad representations that guide smarter decisions.

Who Benefits from a Customer Journey Map?

Short answer: everyone.

Customer satisfaction drives loyalty more than ever. People are more informed, more demanding, and more willing to shop around.

A well-designed customer journey map helps you:

Highlight problems customers face
Build stronger relationships with your brand
Keep customers at the center of every decision

Once your map is ready, your entire team—from marketing to product to support—can use it to stay aligned and customer-focused.

Bringing Your Whole Business Together

Customer journey mapping isn’t just for your customer-facing teams. It brings everyone together.

When you map out touchpoints, departments that don’t usually interact with customers start to see how their work affects the experience. That’s powerful.

For example:

How easy is it for someone to find return instructions on your site?
How fast do they get a response when they need help?
What happens after the purchase?

Traditional marketing often stops at checkout. But the customer journey doesn’t. Post-purchase experience matters just as much—and your map should reflect that.

How to Map the Customer Journey Visually?

A customer journey map gives you a clear picture of your customers’ experiences from their point of view.

To create one, focus on two things:

Defining customer goals – What are they trying to accomplish?
Understanding their nonlinear journey – Customers don’t move in straight lines

By mapping every interaction, you’re identifying opportunities to delight your customers and craft smarter engagement strategies.

According to Aberdeen Group, 89% of companies with multi-channel engagement strategies retained their customers—compared to just 33% of those without one.

You can build your map using:

Excel sheets
Infographics
Diagrams
Illustrations

Customer journey maps also help with:

Retargeting with an inbound mindset
Reaching new customer segments
Building a customer-first culture

All of this leads to better experiences, more conversions, and stronger revenue.

Want to go deeper? Check out our digital customer journey resource kit →

Types of Customer Journey Map Templates

There are four main types of customer journey maps. Each highlights different behaviors and serves different goals.

1. Current State Template

Shows what customers currently do, think, and feel. Great for spotting pain points and making incremental improvements.

Current state template for building a customer journey map

2. Future State Template

Focuses on what customers will do, think, and feel. Useful for planning new products, services, or experiences.

Future state template for building a customer journey map

3. Day in the Life Template

Similar to the current state map, but broader. It looks at how customers behave with your brand and your competitors. Perfect for uncovering unmet needs.

Day in the life template for building a customer journey map

4. Service Blueprint Template

Starts with a simplified current or future state map, then adds the internal processes, people, and tech behind the experience. Helps you see the full picture—front and back.

Service blueprint template for building a customer journey map

How to Create a Customer Journey Map in 7 Steps ?

Creating customer experience journey maps takes time, but the payoff is worth it. Here’s how to do it.

Step 1: Create Buyer Personas

Start with a clear objective. Who is this map for? What are you trying to learn?

Building personas is the most time-consuming part—but also the most important. You’ll need:

Demographics: age, gender, occupation, income, location
Psychographics: preferences, motivations, pain points

The more detail, the better. Use surveys, interviews, analytics, and customer feedback to build realistic personas.

Collecting concrete data on your customers helps you serve them better and deliver a more personalized user experience.

Step 2: Select Your Target Customer

Pick one persona and go deep. Trace their first interaction with your brand and map their journey from there.

Ask:

What questions are they trying to answer?
What’s their biggest priority?

Step 3: List Customer Touchpoints

Touchpoints are every interaction someone has with your brand—your website, social media, ads, emails, reviews, and more.

List them all. Then ask:

Which touchpoints get the most engagement?
Which ones need work?

Remember: customer journey mapping is unique to your business. What works for one brand won’t work for another.

Step 4: Identify Customer Actions

Break the journey into individual actions. What do customers do at each step?

By zooming in on micro-engagements, you can:

Spot obstacles
Reduce friction
Move people forward faster

Use your personas to troubleshoot problem areas and predict what customers will do next.

Step 5: Understand Your Available Resources

Your map shows how every part of your business supports the customer experience.

Use it to assess:

Which touchpoints need more support
Whether your resources are enough
How new investments will impact ROI

Step 6: Analyze the Customer Journey

Now it’s time to put it all together. Look at your data, touchpoints, and goals.

Ask:

Where is the experience meeting expectations?
Where are the gaps?

Mapping what’s working well is just as important as spotting problems. Some elements can be applied to other areas.

Walk through the journey yourself—with each persona. Test it across social media, email, and your website. See where things break down.

One of the best ways to find issues? Customer feedback—through surveys, support transcripts, and reviews.

Watch our webinar to learn how master the user journey through A/B testing →

Step 7: Take Action

Your map is only valuable if you act on it.

Use it to:

Address pain points
Test new ideas
Continuously improve

A great way to validate changes? A/B testing.

AB Tasty is a best-in-class experimentation platform that helps you test variations, personalize experiences, and convert more customers—fast. With AI and automation built in, you can optimize the digital experience with confidence.

Once your map is live, review and update it regularly. Customer journeys evolve—and so should your map.

How to Collect Journey Mapping Data?

Great customer experience journey maps are built on solid data—not assumptions. You’ll need a mix of qualitative insights (the “why” behind behavior) and quantitative metrics (the “what” you can measure).

Here’s how to gather both:

1. Qualitative Data: Understanding the “Why”

Qualitative research helps you uncover motivations, emotions, and pain points that numbers alone can’t reveal.

Customer Interviews

Have real conversations with your customers. Ask about their experiences, what frustrates them, and what they love. These in-depth discussions provide rich, nuanced insights.

Surveys

Use open-ended questions to gather feedback on specific parts of the journey. Keep them short and focused to get honest, actionable responses.

User Testing

Watch how people interact with your website or product in real time. Tools like usability tests reveal where users get stuck, confused, or frustrated.

Mystery Shopping

Experience your own customer journey firsthand. Walk through every step—from discovery to purchase to support—and see what works and what doesn’t.

Support Transcripts

Review customer service conversations to identify recurring issues and common questions. These transcripts are goldmines for understanding pain points.

2. Quantitative Data: Tracking the “What”

Quantitative data gives you measurable, trackable insights that help you validate assumptions and monitor progress over time.

Website Analytics

Tools like Google Analytics show you how customers navigate your site, where they drop off, and which pages drive the most engagement.

Session Recordings and Heatmaps

See exactly how users interact with your pages—where they click, how far they scroll, and where they hesitate. Tools like Hotjar and Contentsquare make this easy.

Conversion Funnels

Track how customers move through key stages of the journey and identify where they abandon the process.

Customer Satisfaction Scores

Metrics like Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) measure loyalty and satisfaction at different touchpoints.

CRM Data

Your CRM system (like Salesforce or HubSpot) holds valuable information about customer interactions, purchase history, and behavior patterns.

Social Media Listening

Monitor what customers say about your brand on social platforms. This reveals sentiment, trends, and unfiltered feedback.

Email Campaign Metrics

Analyze open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates to understand how customers engage with your messaging.

Support Ticket Volume

Track common issues and complaints to identify systemic problems in the customer journey.

Best Practices for Journey Map Data Collection

Combine Both Types of Data

Qualitative insights explain why customers behave a certain way. Quantitative data shows you what they’re doing. Together, they give you the full picture.

Test Your Assumptions

Don’t rely on guesses. Validate your hypotheses about customer behavior through research and real data.

Involve Stakeholders

Gather input from marketing, sales, product, customer service, and leadership. Each team has unique insights that make your map more accurate and actionable.

Keep It Current

Customer behavior changes. Markets evolve. Your journey map should too. Update it regularly to stay relevant and effective.

Customer Journey Map Examples

Customer journey maps come in all shapes and sizes. Some look like works of art. Others are simple sketches. What matters is clarity.

Here are some real-world examples of customer journey mapping in action:

1. David Jones: Simplifying Account Access

David Jones, a major Australian retailer, mapped their customer journey to understand how shoppers interacted with their account features during the buying process.

Through testing and personalization, they made it easier for customers to access their accounts, track orders, and manage preferences.

Infographic showing the customer journey mapping David Jones implemented

Explore the David Jones strategy →

2. WWF: Making Donations Feel Natural

WWF used customer journey mapping to understand why desktop users weren’t completing donations.

By testing different layouts and messaging that made giving feel more intuitive and less transactional, they removed barriers in the donation flow.

Infographic showing the customer journey mapping WWF implemented

These examples show that even small changes—when guided by customer journey mapping—can drive meaningful results.

Read the full WWF report →

These examples show that even small changes—when guided by customer journey mapping—can drive meaningful results.

Get The Expert’s Personalization Playbook to learn how to tailor websites and apps to individual users →

The Truth About Customer Journeys

Customer journeys are always changing.

Customer journey mapping helps you stay close to your customers, address their needs, and adapt as they evolve.

Maps give you a visual understanding of your audience. They help you stay customer-focused and make smarter decisions.

With regular updates and a commitment to removing roadblocks, your brand can:

Stand out
Deliver meaningful engagement
Drive real business growth

Try, learn, iterate—then go again.

Conclusion

Customer journey mapping isn’t a one-time project—it’s an ongoing practice that keeps you connected to your customers.

When you understand what people need, where they struggle, and what delights them, you can create experiences that truly resonate.

The best part? You don’t need to be perfect. Start small. Test often. Learn continuously.

With the right tools, a customer-first mindset, and a commitment to iteration, you’ll build journeys that drive engagement, loyalty, and growth.

Ready to go further? Let’s build better experiences together →

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Dec 15, 2025

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How to Optimize Your Customer Experience Strategy?

AB Tasty

Customer experience optimization (EXO) used to be your secret weapon. Go the extra mile, win the customer. Simple. But the game has changed, and now everyone’s optimizing. It’s no longer about gaining an edge; it’s about staying relevant in a market where a solid customer experience strategy isn’t just nice to have, it’s the baseline for survival.

What does that actually mean? It means shaping every interaction a customer has with your brand across all touchpoints, from website browsing and mobile app experiences to in-store interactions, chatbot conversations, and tablet interfaces. Every touchpoint matters because these interactions don’t just influence purchasing decisions; they shape loyalty, trust, and whether someone comes back or walks away for good.

Why Does EXO Matter Now More Than Ever ?

Deliver solid experiences, and you’ll build a reputation that sticks. Conversion rates climb. Customer loyalty strengthens. But here’s the catch: you can’t stop moving. Stand still, and you’ll get overtaken. Fast. So what does it take to stay ahead?

You need to:

Figure out what your customers actually want – not what you think they want
Find the sweet spot between their needs and what you offer
Keep evolving your interactions on an ongoing basis

That’s where superior experiences live. That’s where business success happens.

Optimization isn’t a one-time project. It’s the bare minimum. To stay competitive and stay ahead, the work never stops.

You need a continuous feedback loop:

Test hypotheses
Gather behavioral data
Analyze results
Iterate improvements

This is how you maximize customer experience and hold onto your edge. Not through one big launch. Through brave, ongoing iteration.

Why Must You Optimize Your CX Strategy Continuously ?

Technology shifts every second, and customer attitudes evolve even faster. The only way to keep pace is by adapting continuously. Your optimization practices need to respond to customer demands in real time—unlocking value, building loyalty, and staying relevant.

When teams work together, everything clicks. Living and breathing this approach means your teams collaborate seamlessly:

Marketing teams understand user behavior
Product teams prioritize features that matter
Tech teams implement changes efficiently

They share the same mission. They work from the same experimentation roadmap. And when they do resources unlock, improvements roll out at the right time and, most importantly, your business stays on the road to success.

Why Is Digital Customer Experience Optimization Essential?

At the core, every business—no matter the product or sales channel—tries to satisfy customers. Customer centricity isn’t new.

But customer experience optimization really took flight when technology advanced and brand touchpoints multiplied. Add in the fact that data is everywhere—collectible, analyzable, actionable—and suddenly you have the means to understand your customers better than they understand themselves.

Still not convinced it matters? The numbers tell the story. According to PwC’s Customer Experience Survey and Future of CX research:

One in three consumers will walk away from a brand after just one bad experience
73% of consumers say their experience with a brand is a major factor in purchasing decisions
Customers will pay up to 16% more for products and services from brands that deliver better experiences

Think about your own habits. Pause for a moment. Think about your own online shopping:

Which brands do you gravitate toward? Which ones leave you cold?
Do they see you as a person—or just another transaction?

It only takes a second to realize: optimizing customer experiences isn’t just important. It’s essential.

How to improve digital customer experience: 10 Proven Strategies

Improving digital customer experience isn’t a one-and-done project—it’s an ongoing commitment to making every online interaction better. Whether you’re optimizing your website, mobile app, or omnichannel strategy, these proven tactics will help you deliver seamless, personalized experiences that keep customers coming back.

1. Map the Digital Customer Journey

Start by understanding every touchpoint your customers encounter—from discovery to purchase and beyond. Customer journey mapping helps you identify pain points, friction, and opportunities to improve the experience.

Use tools and frameworks to visualize each phase of the journey, then prioritize the touchpoints that matter most to your audience. Resources like AB Tasty’s Digital Customer Journey Kit offer practical guidance for mapping and optimizing these paths.

2. Personalize Every Interaction

Personalization is the foundation of exceptional digital CX. In fact, 66% of consumers say they’ll stop buying from a brand if their experience isn’t personalized. Use behavioral data, preferences, and analytics to tailor content, product recommendations, and messaging to individual users.

Advanced segmentation—including emotional and behavioral insights—can help you address different customer needs and motivations more effectively. Learn how AI-powered personalization works in AB Tasty’s EmotionsAI case studies.

3. Optimize UX Across All Devices

Your website and app should be intuitive, visually appealing, and easy to navigate—especially on mobile. Mobile optimization is non-negotiable, as more customers interact with brands on smartphones than ever before.

Streamline navigation, simplify checkout processes, and remove any friction points that slow users down. A well-optimized UX directly impacts conversion rates and customer satisfaction.

4. Test, Learn, and Iterate Continuously

A/B testing and experimentation are essential for digital customer experience optimization. Continuously test different layouts, messaging, CTAs, and features to discover what resonates best with your audience.

Use the results to refine your digital experiences over time. Remember: even small improvements can lead to big wins in engagement and conversions.

5. Ensure Omnichannel Consistency

Provide a unified, seamless experience whether customers engage via desktop, mobile, app, social media, or chat. Omnichannel customer experience builds trust and makes transitions between channels effortless.

Consistency in branding, messaging, and service quality across all digital touchpoints is critical for customer retention and loyalty.

6. Leverage AI and Automation

AI-powered tools can transform how you deliver digital experiences. Use AI to automate personalization, product recommendations, and customer support—boosting both efficiency and satisfaction.

Automation frees up your team to focus on higher-value activities while ensuring customers get fast, relevant responses at every stage of their journey.

7. Collect and Act on Customer Feedback

Regularly gather feedback through surveys, reviews, and direct interactions. Use tools like Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), and Customer Effort Score (CES) to measure digital CX performance.

More importantly, act on what you learn. Customer feedback is one of the most valuable resources for continuous improvement.

8. Simplify Processes and Reduce Friction

Make every process—from sign-up to checkout to support—as simple and fast as possible. Reducing friction means removing unnecessary steps, providing clear guidance, and ensuring smooth, intuitive flows.

Speed and ease of use are non-negotiable for modern customers. The easier you make it, the more likely they are to convert and return.

9. Use Data and Analytics to Drive Decisions

Data-driven insights are critical for shaping exceptional digital customer experiences. Track user behavior, conversion funnels, and engagement metrics using tools like Google Analytics and heatmaps.

Analyze performance regularly, identify trends, and use these insights to inform your optimization strategy.

10. Foster a Customer-Centric Culture

Improving digital CX isn’t just the job of one team—it requires cross-functional collaboration. Share data, insights, and goals across departments to align everyone around the mission of delivering better experiences.

When customer experience becomes an organization-wide priority, the results speak for themselves: higher satisfaction, stronger loyalty, and sustained growth.

Read our strategies and tips on EXO →

3 Key Ingredients to Supercharge Your Customer Experience Optimization Strategy

1. Optimize Your User Experience (UX)

Know your customer journey—and dial it up. When a customer lands on your site, they’re on a mission: searching for products, comparing options, learning more about features, and making purchase decisions.

Each step they take is part of a path—one filled with opportunities and pitfalls. The more you understand that journey and remove friction along the purchase funnel, the better your site performs.

Here’s how to make it happen:

Gather data about customer behavior and preferences
Run experiments using A/B testing to find the optimal setup
Test everything – calls-to-action, landing page configurations, product images, navigation structure, form length

Not sure if your CTAs have the best wording? Test them. Trying to nail the perfect landing page? Run an experiment. Debating whether product images should be cropped or full body? We can examine that too.

Ultimately, you’re aiming for one thing: more conversions. Driving UX optimization on an ever-changing customer pathway keeps you ahead.

2. Improve Your Personalization Efforts

Know your customers—and tailor to their needs. Personalizing digital brand interactions builds loyalty and drives repeat business. In the experience economy, you’re not just selling a product—you’re selling the interaction, the purchase moment, the entire journey.

The user experience when acquiring and consuming your product is just as important as what it does. So personalizing these digital exchanges is key to long-term retention.

To understand customers on a personal level:

Build a solid data foundation to collect behavioral insights
Identify their needs through analytics and feedback
Deliver personalized experiences that keep shoppers returning
Iterate based on results to refine your approach

Because personalization is about getting to the root of what customers have shown you they want—and delivering against that.

As with your customer journey, responding to ever-changing desires can be challenging. Knowing your customers intimately is crucial. Get it right, and the impact is huge. So don’t leave any stone unturned when exploring improvement opportunities.

3. Implement Server-Side Testing and Feature Management

Bring in the tech teams to expand your optimization activities. This is where we bring in the heavy hitters.

While A/B testing can be rapidly implemented by marketing teams, server-side experimentation requires the buy-in and expertise of tech teams and developers. Collaboration between the two is essential to deliver seamless customer experiences.

Think of it this way:

The front-end (client-side) lures customers in with compelling design
The back-end (server-side) runs smoothly to ensure effortless shopping

For instance: presenting a promotional offer (front-end) only delivers results if the payment gateway runs glitch-free and page loading times are fast (back-end).

Lukas Vermeer, director of experimentation at Vista, champions testing both sides:

“A lot of the value from experimentation comes from two things: One is not shipping the bad stuff—a huge value point. The other is figuring out strategically, going forward, what you should invest in.”

Server-side testing expert Lukas Vermeer on AB Tasty 1000 Experiments Club Podcast

Listen to the insightful Lukas Vermeer episode on our podcast, The 1000 Experiments Club →

If your business has reached a certain level of maturity, maximizing both client and server-side testing ensures your optimization efforts work as hard as they possibly can.

Customer Experience Optimization Across Industries

E-Commerce Optimization

Drive transactions and boost conversion rates through continuous experimentation. Test and optimize:

Product page layouts
Checkout flow
Cart abandonment recovery
Product recommendations
Search functionality

Goal: A smoother purchasing experience that caters to your users’ every need.

Discover how Ulta Beauty drives results in this experimentation case study →

B2B Lead Generation

Not every website is for purchasing right then and there. Sometimes site visits are the first step on a longer journey.

Optimize for lead generation on big-ticket purchases—automotive, bedroom furniture, holiday rentals—by focusing on:

Site layout and navigation
Call-to-action placement
Access to product information
Store locator functionality
Contact forms and lead capture

Travel and Hospitality

Travel offers a range of solutions—from individual bookings (hotels, transport) to comprehensive packages. When bundling items together, finding that pricing sweet spot is key.

Server-side testing is particularly relevant here. It helps you:

Curate product offerings based on user preferences
Optimize pricing strategies
Test package combinations
Improve booking flow
Increase conversion rates

Check out AB Tasty’s EXO Travel Kit to gain a deeper understanding of our approach →

Conclusion

Experience optimization isn’t optional anymore—it’s how you stay competitive. Every test you run, every insight you uncover, every iteration you make moves you closer to experiences that truly resonate.

The path forward is clear: map your customer journeys, personalize boldly, test continuously, and let data guide your decisions. Whether you’re optimizing e-commerce checkout flows, refining B2B lead generation, or perfecting travel booking experiences, the principles remain the same—understand your customers deeply, remove friction relentlessly, and never stop improving.

Here’s the truth: your competitors are already optimizing. The question isn’t whether to start—it’s how fast you can move and how brave you’re willing to be with your experiments.

Ready to go further? Let’s build better experiences together →

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Jun 17, 2025

7min read

From Search to Checkout: 10 Data-Driven E-commerce Trends for 2025

Maddie Ostrander

E-commerce has completely changed the way shoppers interact with their favorite brands.

From the continued rise of mobile commerce to virtual-reality try-on tools and AI customer service, some consumer trends have proven to be evergreen while others fall out of fashion in a season. As e-commerce marketers, it can be hard to know when to chase a trend or stick to being consistent.

To help you better understand the mind of today’s consumers, we’ve broken down 10 key insights for e-commerce from our 2025 global report. Based on feedback from 4,000 consumers across the U.S., U.K., France, Italy, and Australia, this snapshot reveals how people discover new products, engage with AI, make purchase decisions, and much more.

1. Google Search is the first place for discovery

When it comes to starting an online shopping journey, Google Search is still king. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of global shoppers begin their hunt for a new product or service with a Google search.

This underscores the ongoing importance of SEO for e-commerce brands. If your product pages aren’t optimized, you risk missing out on a massive audience at the very first step of their journey.

2. Mobile takes over, but desktop still matters

By the end of 2024, smartphones accounted for nearly 80% of global retail site traffic and over two-thirds of online orders. Mobile is now the primary device for browsing and purchasing in categories like clothing, cosmetics, and entertainment.

However, desktop still plays a significant role in sectors such as travel and utilities, especially among older generations. Brands should continue to prioritize mobile-first design, but not neglect the desktop experience—especially for high-consideration purchases.

3. Millennials vs. Gen Z: Mobile app habits

Generational differences are shaping the future of e-commerce. For Gen Z, mobile apps are the second most popular starting point for shopping (48%), just behind Google. Millennials, on the other hand, split their preference between apps and brand websites (both at 35%). This means younger shoppers are more likely to use apps for discovery, while Millennials are equally comfortable with apps and direct website visits.

Brands need more than just a mobile presence to capture Gen Z’s attention. They need apps built for exploration, speed, and flexibility. With Feature Experimentation and Rollouts from AB Tasty, teams can continuously test and optimize in-app experiences without a full redeploy, ensuring their app evolves alongside user expectations.

4. Comparison shoppers lead the pack

Not all online shoppers are the same. Our research found that the most common shopper persona is “comparison-oriented”—30% of respondents compare multiple products before making a purchase. Only 11% identify as “speedy” shoppers who want to check out as quickly as possible. The rest fall somewhere in between, with 21% being “review-oriented,” 20% “confident,” and 18% “detail-oriented.” This diversity highlights the need for flexible site experiences that cater to different decision-making styles.

If one size doesn’t fit all, then understanding your audience is the first step to building experiences that truly convert.

5. Reviews are more influential than discounts or brand names

When it comes to influencing purchase decisions, high-quality reviews top the list globally. Shoppers trust peer validation more than discounts, convenience, or even brand names. Written testimonials and customer photos are especially valued, providing the authenticity and detail shoppers crave.

Make sure your reviews are visible, filterable, and packed with real customer insights to boost trust and conversions.

E-commerce moves fast. Get the insights that help you move faster. Download the 2025 report now.

GET THE REPORT

6. The pop-up problem hurting conversions

Think you’re converting more by hitting new visitors with an email sign-up pop-up right away? Think again.

Too many pop-ups are the number one frustration for online shoppers worldwide, followed closely by slow-loading websites and difficulty finding products. While pop-ups can be effective for capturing leads or promoting offers, overuse can drive customers away. Use them strategically and ensure your site is fast and easy to navigate to keep shoppers engaged.

7. Loyalty is the key to better personalization

Personalization is more than just a buzzword—it’s a key driver of customer satisfaction and loyalty. The top way to make online shopping feel more personal, according to 35% of respondents, is by rewarding brand loyalty. Remembering preferences and suggesting relevant products also rank highly.

Brands that recognize and reward repeat customers with exclusive perks or early access to new products can turn shoppers into advocates.

8. AI adoption is growing, especially among younger shoppers

AI-powered tools like chatbots and virtual assistants are gaining traction, but there’s still room for improvement. Just under a quarter (23%) of shoppers have used AI tools and found them helpful, while 32% haven’t tried them but are open to it. Younger generations are more receptive: 32% of Gen Z and 30% of Millennials found AI tools helpful, compared to just 13% of Baby Boomers.

To win over skeptics, brands need to ensure AI support is fast, relevant, and seamlessly integrated with human assistance.

9. Shoppers just want frictionless experiences

When asked what would most improve their online shopping experience, the top answer was simple: removing frustrations like pop-ups, bugs, and broken pages. Tracking shipping, improving product search, and speeding up the shopping process were also highly valued.

Before investing in flashy features, brands should focus on getting the basics right—smooth, intuitive journeys are what keep customers coming back.

10. The gap between personalization and perception

Personalization is supposed to make shoppers feel seen—but only 1 in 10 consumers say their favorite brands truly “get” them. In fact, the most common answer was “somewhat,” as 39% of respondents said the messages and offers they receive are hit or miss. Another 34% said brands mostly deliver relevant content, but not always. For the majority, the digital experience feels inconsistent.

When personalization doesn’t land, it can come off as surface-level or even off-putting. The takeaway? Personalization isn’t just about using data—it’s about using it meaningfully, so relevance feels intentional, not accidental.

Conclusion

The bar for digital shopping experiences keeps rising, and today’s consumers are quicker than ever to click away when expectations aren’t met.

From discovery to checkout, each step in the customer journey has the potential to shape customer loyalty and long-term value. Our 2025 E-commerce Consumer report dives even deeper into generational trends, regional differences, and actionable strategies for optimizing your digital experience.

Ready to future-proof your e-commerce strategy? Download our report “Decoding Online Shopping: Consumer Trends for E-commerce in 2025” now.

GET THE FULL REPORT

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The Mobile Playbook: Personalization, Performance, and Profitability

John Hughes

Mobile commerce has revolutionized how consumers interact with brands — from browsing products on the go to researching the latest trends. Yet, despite mobile usage soaring, the full potential of mobile commerce remains untapped. While traffic from mobile devices continues to rise, conversion rates still trail behind other channels. What’s driving the gap between browsing and purchasing on mobile?

In this post, we’ll explore key mobile performance stats, delve into the challenges behind these numbers, and showcase how Quantum Metric and AB Tasty collaborate to help brands close this gap. If you want the your own mobile playbook, the insights shared here are based on data from Quantum Metric’s eBook, How Mobile Performance Builds Consumer Confidence.

1. Mobile is everywhere, but conversions lag.

Mobile traffic is not just a trend, it’s the backbone of online shopping. Consumers are increasingly using their phones for everything from discovering products to making final purchase decisions. However, despite this surge in mobile traffic, conversions still don’t match the volume of visits. So, what’s going wrong?

Insight:

Mobile accounts for 73% of monthly traffic, but only 47% of sales.
Travel sees the highest mobile traffic (73%), but the lowest sales share (39%).

Challenge:
Consumers love to browse on mobile — reading reviews, comparing prices, and window shopping. But when it comes time to make a purchase, they often shift to desktops or other channels. This disconnect between browsing and buying is a critical challenge.

Solution:
Quantum Metric delivers real-time insights to identify where users drop off in their mobile journeys, helping brands pinpoint key friction points. Armed with this data, AB Tasty can run A/B tests and experiments to optimize mobile conversions by improving layouts, simplifying checkout, or personalizing offers based on user behavior.

2. Personalization drives engagement (and sales).

With so much information available at their fingertips, consumers expect personalized experiences that speak to their unique preferences. But while mobile apps can deliver these tailored experiences, it’s not always the case that mobile users receive the level of customization they desire. So, how can brands keep up with the demand for hyper-personalized mobile experiences?

Insight:

39% of consumers prefer mobile apps, but 33% have reduced app usage.
Conversion rates on mobile apps are 3X higher than on mobile web.

Challenge:
Consumers are increasingly expecting experiences that are customized to their preferences. Whether it’s personalized product recommendations or location-based offers, users demand content that resonates with them on a deeper level. But how do brands manage to provide this while maintaining convenience and ease of use?

Solution:
Quantum Metric provides detailed session data, revealing exactly what users are engaging with and where they’re dropping off. AB Tasty then uses this data to create personalized experiences through hyper-targeted experiments, ensuring that each user sees content that’s most relevant to them — ultimately boosting engagement and driving conversions.

3. Building confidence in mobile transactions.

Even with mobile traffic growing, many consumers are still hesitant to make purchases — especially larger ones — on their phones. Trust is a major factor in whether or not a consumer feels confident enough to complete a mobile transaction. But how can brands overcome the hurdles of security concerns and poor mobile experiences?

Insight:

59% of consumers only feel confident making purchases of $50 or less on mobile.
Desktop AOVs are 70% higher than mobile for retail and nearly 2X higher for travel.

Challenge:
Security concerns and clunky mobile experiences can drive away customers before they even hit the checkout button. Many consumers feel more comfortable making purchases on desktops, where they associate higher transaction values with a more secure, familiar environment.

Solution:
Quantum Metric identifies friction points — slow load times, security concerns, or error messages — that can erode trust. AB Tasty uses A/B testing and experiments to address these pain points, creating smoother, more secure user flows that enhance trust and improve conversion rates.

4. Performance matters more than ever.

With consumers’ expectations for speed at an all-time high, mobile performance can make or break the user experience. From slow loading times to app crashes, mobile performance issues are a significant barrier to conversions. So how can brands ensure their mobile experiences are fast and seamless?

Insight:

59% of users have experienced slow performance; 43% have faced app crashes.
API error rates are 2-3X higher on mobile than desktop, with issues like long spinner rates causing 48% higher friction.

Challenge:
Users have little patience for performance issues. A slow-loading page or app crash can lead to frustration and, ultimately, abandonment. The pressure to deliver fast, smooth mobile experiences is higher than ever.

Solution:
Quantum Metric’s real-time data quickly highlights performance issues, from slow page loads to API errors. Once identified, AB Tasty can experiment with various solutions, optimizing mobile performance and delivering a smoother, faster user journey.

5. Turning data into action.

In the fast-paced mobile landscape, time is of the essence. Consumers expect quick, efficient mobile experiences, and if a transaction takes too long, they won’t hesitate to abandon it. So, how can brands ensure they are responding to user behavior in real time?

Insight:

55% of consumers will abandon a mobile transaction if it takes longer than 3-5 minutes.

Challenge:
The pressure to scale innovation without losing sight of the customer is real. Mobile transactions need to be fast and seamless, or customers will simply walk away — especially when it comes to on-the-go transactions.

Solution:
Quantum Metric empowers brands with real-time behavioral data that shows where and when users drop off during their mobile journey. AB Tasty then helps turn this data into action by running targeted experiments that address specific friction points, reducing abandonment and improving the overall mobile experience.

Conclusion: turning mobile commerce into your competitive edge.

Mobile commerce isn’t just another sales channel — it’s a key competitive advantage. To succeed, brands must focus on delivering fast, personalized, and secure mobile experiences that build consumer trust. By combining Quantum Metric’s real-time behavioral insights with AB Tasty’s experimentation platform, brands can close the gap between browsing and buying, unlocking the true potential of mobile commerce.

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How The Contentsquare & AB Tasty Integration Improves Testing & Drives Results

John Hughes

The Contentsquare & AB Tasty integration helps you optimize your A/B testing lifecycle, driving high-value outcomes with low-risk scenarios. Let’s dive into how this integration will help you improve your customer experience (CX) and boost your growth metrics.

A side-by-side comparison of 2 webpages using Contentsquare analysis

An overview of the integration

When Contentsquare and AB Tasty are used separately, you only get half the success of your test results. Say you want to test a hero banner. Using AB Tasty, you test 2 versions, and find there’s no improvement to your conversion rate. But, perhaps one of the versions increased customer engagement? Without the help of Contentsquare, you’re limited in your view of how your tests impact your entire customer experience.

Or, let’s say you’ve analyzed your customer journey using Contentsquare and discovered one of your conversion pages has a high drop-off rate. You come up with a hypothesis as to why this might be the case and hard-code a change, but this leads to more drop-offs, not less. Without AB Tasty, you’re unable to test your hypotheses, which results in wasted time, resources, and a potentially worse customer experience.

But, it doesn’t have to be this way. By integrating Contentsquare and AB Tasty, you can dive deeper into your customer experience to pinpoint and prioritize the most critical friction points or opportunities to experiment. You can also build better hypotheses based on key metrics, create and run data-informed tests, and better understand why variations perform well (or not).

With Contentsquare, you gain a more comprehensive understanding of your customer experience, enabling you to conduct more informed, data-driven tests with AB Tasty.

Benefits of the Contentsquare and AB Tasty integration

Where Contentsquare provides deep and meaningful insights into your customer behavior, AB Tasty empowers you to act on those insights, in real time.

“AB Tasty is a technology partner with Contentsquare. We facilitate A/B testing, experimentation, personalization, and audience segmentation. We help facilitate activation of the data that you get out of Contentsquare to fuel that endless cycle of experimentation.”
Mary Kate Cassh, Head of Growth Marketing, North America, AB Tasty

Using Contentsquare and AB Tasty together, you get

Unparalleled insights into customer behavior
Hyper-personalization features to deliver tailor-made experiences to boost conversion rates
A simplified, streamlined workflow that eliminates data silos by having data accessible across easy-to-understand dashboards
Greater business impact by uncovering hidden opportunities in your customer journey and testing your hypotheses before hard-coding changes
Comprehensive experiment analysis with easy-to-understand visuals and side-by-side comparisons of your control and variation
Continuous improvement to your digital strategy

Want to know the fundamentals of how the Contentsquare and AB Tasty integration works? Learn more.

How Contentsquare can inform your testing in AB Tasty

Let’s look at how this works in practice, using the framework of a continuous testing cycle. There are 5 stages to the continuous testing cycle—here’s how the Contentsquare and AB Tasty integration works to optimize each step along the way:

Stage 1: analysis phase

This first stage involves finding friction points or opportunities at each point of your customer journey. Then, it’s about generating test hypotheses to help solve or optimize the points that need the most attention.

You can break down this stage into 2 forms of analysis.

Innovation analysis, where you work out whether your content is optimized for the best customer experience you can provide

2. Troubleshooting analysis, where you uncover errors or friction points in the customer journey, preventing users from moving forward.

With Contentsquare’s Experience Analytics, you can find out how your customers are behaving page by page, from entry to exit, and why. With a suite of capabilities, you can deep-dive into your customer experience and analyze areas that need the most improvement.

Screenshot of Contentsquare’s Experience Analytics dashboard, open on the Heatmaps capability.

Use Session Replay to find out

What are the behaviors of customers at critical conversion points?
What’s causing rage clicks or other frustration behaviors?
Where are customers encountering errors?

Rage clicks are when customers click on an element (clickable or not) of a website or app multiple times in frustration or anger. They’re often caused by technical issues, confusing navigation, or a cluttered design.

Use Journey Analysis to find out

What are the top landing pages?
What is the lowest-performing landing page?
What is the highest-performing journey to reach your goal?
What are the most popular journeys?
Where do customers drop off or bounce?

Use Heatmaps to find out

What’s the most attractive content/category on the page?
What’s leading to the most conversions? Is it visible enough?
In what order do customers consume the page?
Are there any frictions or rage clicks on the page?

Stage 2: analysis resolution

Now you’ve got a few hypotheses to test, it’s time to work out how to prioritize what to test first.

The focus should be on tests with low effort, high reward and those with the biggest impact on your key performance indicators (KPIs).
Contentsquare’s Impact Quantification can help you prioritize your tests and make better decisions by assessing the impact of each test. All you need to do is clarify your goal and then segment users based on whether they completed the goal of your A/B test.

Contentsquare’s Impact Quantification in action.

Impact Quantification can then be used to compare these segments and confirm how much revenue the success of the test will likely generate.

Stage 3; experimentation roadmap

Once you’ve established which hypotheses have the greatest potential to impact your KPIs, it’s time to start fleshing out your testing roadmap.

This roadmap will help guide every step of your testing process—from the build to the design and copy and finally, the execution. This roadmap is where you detail who’s doing what and when, giving you an overview of your site. This is especially useful if you’re running tests on multiple pages.

The dos and don’ts of your testing roadmap

Do’s

✅ Run your tests in at least 2-week increments to account for site traffic cycles and seasonality.

✅ Color-code your roadmap for the different stages of your experimentation so it’s easy to quickly see where each test is at.

Don’t

❌ Have 2 tests running on 2 pages at the same time—it can muddy the data and lead you to potentially misread your results.

❌ Don’t run multiple tests on the same page independently—use multivariate tests to see how changes to multiple sections interact with one another.

Stage 4: start A/B testing

All that hard work has finally paid off—it’s time to put your hypotheses into action and start running tests with AB Tasty.

Using your roadmap as a guide, start building out your tests in AB Tasty to optimize, personalize, and improve your customer experience.

Stage 5: analysis and results

Get site statistics directly through AB Tasty and couple that with Contentsquare’s customer behavioral insights.

From AB Tasty, get direct reports based on page statistics—giving you a snapshot of what’s going on in your campaign testing period.

From Contentsquare, as soon as your test goes live, you can watch how your customers behave in the control and variation, side-by-side using Heatmaps and Session Replay. Get a visual understanding of why and how your customers behave differently in your variation and use these insights to inform your next testing phase.

How the partnership works in real life

Now that you know how the Contentsquare and AB Tasty partnership works, it’s time to see what it’s like in the real world.

Here’s how 2 leading brands have embraced the integration of experience analytics and experimentation into their CX to drive real growth outcomes.

Clarins

Global skincare company Clarins wanted to find out whether a “wishlist” option on their site would help to increase pageviews and conversions.

Using the Contentsquare integration with AB Tasty, they tested adding a heart icon to their product listing pages (PLPs) and product description pages (PDPs). This heart allowed users to save their favorite products to potentially purchase them at a later stage.

This test increased the overall number of transactions and resulted in

+1.54% increase in basket page views

+1.83% increase in transactions

“We are really passionate about continually optimizing what we’re already doing well plus also testing new theories to drive a great customer experience and continue to drive the commercial priorities of our website.”—Roisin O’Brien, Ecommerce Trading Manager at Clarins UK

Hotel Chocolat

British chocolate manufacturer Hotel Chocolat wanted to optimize its digital presence and improve its brand and on-site customer experience.

Rather than focusing on conversion rates, Mel Parekh, Head of ecommerce at Hotel Chocolate and his team wanted to focus on engagement and clickthrough rates.

Recognizing the importance of layout and user experience on customer engagement, the goal was to create a more visually appealing and intuitive homepage.

WithContentsquare’s integration with AB Tasty, his team redesigned the homepage, focusing on the category tiles, which were found to be the most attractive elements on the page.

By optimizing the homepage, they saw a

-10% reduction in bounce rates
+1.67% increase in visiting time
+0.54% increase in overall conversion rates, +7.24% increase on desktop

Mel Parekh, Head of ecommerce at Hotel Chocolate talked about customer loyalty at a recent Contentsquare CX Circle event.

Smarter insights with Contentsquare

Contentsquare is the all-in-one Experience Intelligence platform designed to be easily used by anyone that cares about digital journeys. With our flexible and scalable platform, you quickly get a deep understanding of your customers’ whole online journey.

Our AI-powered insights provide those “ah ha” moments you need to deliver the right experiences. You get to work faster and smarter with the confidence to know what to do next to improve your digital experiences. Leading brands use Contentsquare to grow their business, deliver more customer happiness and move with greater agility in a constantly changing world. Our insights are used to optimize the experience on over 1.3 million websites worldwide. For more information, visit: www.contentsquare.com

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CX Optimization Webseries APAC: Episode #3 – The Importance of Continuous Optimization in A/B Testing

Ross Salveron

Testing as well is such a benefit from de-risking that decision making.
– Tom Shepherd, UX Lead at David Jones

Hosted by Serena Ku, Senior CSM at AB Tasty

Featuring Tom Shephard, UX Lead at David Jones

In the fast-paced world of digital commerce, A/B testing and continuous optimization are important processes allowing brands to refine strategies, improve customer experiences, and increase conversion rates over time.

One huge pitfall many businesses face is they look at what their competitors are doing and assume that it will work for them too. But remember, things are not always as they appear.

In this third episode of our CX Optimization Web Series, Tom Shepherd, UX Lead at David Jones joins Serena Ku, Senior Customer Success Manager at AB Tasty to discuss the importance of Continuous Optimization in A/B Testing.

Discover how a business perspective can shift from “we think” to “we know”.

Episode #3:

Why is it important for brands to run A/B tests?

The main benefits are improved content engagement, increased conversion rates and reduced bounce rates.

If you’re not A/B testing, you may already be behind your direct competitors. This by itself is a compelling motivation for why brands should start testing. Speeding up the time it takes to bring an idea or a concept to market is another benefit worth considering A/B testing.

Take note, businesses need to level up and be able to keep up with behavioral changes and look for opportunities where experiences are not achieving the results they should be.

The Role of AB Tasty to empower David Jones’ CRO strategy

In a traditional UX setting, it is quite frustrating when you invest a lot of time mocking up experiences, taking those to customers, and later finding out that they just don’t work.

The Australian luxury department store, David Jones, takes experience optimization seriously. They look closely to understand their customers in all facets. Using GA4 and FullStory, they can draw out ideas and build solutions that will make an experience more seamless, removing friction. With AB Tasty, they launch these experiences quickly and expose them to their customers to gather valuable insights.

As a discipline within the user experience team, David Jones leverages AB Tasty and analytics tools to marry quantitative data with qualitative insights delighting every customer.

Winning customer loyalty

Customer loyalty is all about the experience. Its essence in the e-commerce landscape is where the digital store has made each customer feel highly valued.

Perfecting the art of customer loyalty requires both creativity and precision.–That is why, like your local store attendant, EmotionsAI helps brands understand the emotional needs of audiences to bolster your Experience Optimization roadmap with effective messages, designs and CTAs that activate your visitors.

Factors to consider when testing?

Truly knowing your customer demographics and understanding their behaviors online will allow you to create a well-formulated hypothesis. Consider the time of the year when you launch a test. Is it an off-peak season, are you running promotions, or clearing stocks? Analyze your data and focus on where your conversion points are.

Tom suggests iterating and running as many follow-up tests as possible. If you tested something that worked, you might be up to something even greater. So test more iterations to unlock more results.

The wrap:

The strongest path to customer loyalty, higher conversion, and a customer base nobody can touch is having ‘differentiated experiences’. Start with a deeper knowledge of your industry and beyond. Know your customers and empathize with them. Be mindful that behaviors and preferences are ever-changing. Continuous optimization helps you adapt, execute strategies, and stay ahead of the game.

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CX Optimization Webseries APAC: Episode #2 – A/B Testing Strategies for Revenue Optimization

Ross Salveron

Personalization is a hypothesis that needs to be tested
Ben Combe, Data Director, Optimization & Personalization APAC at Monks

Hosted by Julia Simon, VP APAC at AB Tasty

Featuring Ben Combe, Data Director, Optimization & Personalization APAC at Monks

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is a user-centric approach that emphasizes long-term benefits over just leading customers to click on certain elements or CTAs. To achieve this, understanding your data through the use of experimental and scientific methods is key. In this episode, Ben Combe, Data Director, Optimization & Personalization APAC at Monks joins Julia Simon, VP APAC at AB Tasty to discuss CRO techniques and best practices. They find answers to where companies should start, what to prioritize, which methodologies to use, and how to execute a compelling optimization roadmap.

Whether you’re just starting your CRO journey, or you’re already a CRO expert, this session is for you!

Episode #2:

Where do you start?

Ideas flow from everywhere in the business as data collection happens perpetually. Knowing what your top priorities are is where you should start. You don’t just change the color of your CTA from blue to red because it’s Valentine’s Day and you have a gut feeling.

Ben points out to first take a look at how the business is doing and where you can focus on for the most impact. Should you focus on acquisition, retention, or loyalty? Identify what and where are the pain points that need solving. Secondly, dive into your customer data by looking at your conversion points. Draw a parallel to where your customers are dropping off and mix them with your qualitative insights. Thirdly, brainstorm with your team to come up with ideas.

Prioritization Frameworks: PIE or ICE?

In CRO, time and resources are finite, therefore every experiment counts. You need clear guidelines to choose what ideas to test and what to leave behind. So it’s essential to prioritize – but should you use PIE or ICE?

If you’re just starting your experimentation journey, Ben recommends taking a look at traffic, value and ease. It’s basically like answering how many people are visiting a webpage, what is it worth in dollars, and what are your development resources. If you’re mature in CRO, a bespoke checklist tailored towards your business needs is recommended.

The importance of UX

Running A/B tests is a great way of conducting UX research while your product is live. It helps you decide on what works and what doesn’t work for your customers. By testing different design options, designers are able to gather valuable user feedback. This can then be used for design improvement that is more user-centric, and that leads to increased user engagement and satisfaction. Keeping the UX Team in the loop is essential for continuous learning and improvement.

The Quick Wins

Looking into easy, quick wins in the beginning of your experimentation strategy will bring you good results. Once you pick all the low-hanging fruit, Ben encourages you to shift your mindset towards a more innovative approach. Think outside the box, analyze your segments deeper, and iterate.

Synchronizing AB Testing and Personalization

AB testing allows you to understand the effectiveness of your personalization strategies by comparing various content, design elements, and offers. This insight allows you to deliver an experience that resonates best with customers, leading to higher engagement. It’s important to take note that no personalization goes live without being tested. Behaviors change and it’s necessary to continuously experiment in order to validate that your personalization is still relevant.

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CX Optimization Webseries APAC: Episode #1 – CRO Trends in 2024

Ross Salveron

The opportunity cost of NOT testing is never knowing how much revenue you are losing from not knowing.
Dave Anderson, VP Product Marketing and Strategy

We are living in a time where people treat products and services as commodities. Customers of today expect an experience alongside whatever they have purchased. Optimizing digital experiences can directly impact a company’s bottom line by improving conversion rates, reducing customer frustration, and enhancing brand sentiment.

Hosted by Julia Simon, VP APAC at AB Tasty

Featuring Dave Anderson, VP Product Marketing and Strategy at Contentsquare

In this episode, Dave joins us to discuss various facets of customer experience and experimentation trends in Asia Pacific. They unravel key insights regarding the impact of Customer Experience (CX) Optimization on revenue generation, the widespread adoption of optimization practices across industries, the importance of collaboration between teams, and the value of continuous experimentation.

Dive deep into Episode #1

1. Impact of CX Optimization on Revenue:

Businesses that focus on understanding the needs of their customers increase revenue by making new buyers loyal and loyal customers purchase consistently. Providing a great customer experience directly impacts a company’s bottom line by improving conversion rates, reducing customer frustration, and in the long run increasing customer lifetime value.

2. Adoption of Optimization Practices Across Industries:

Virtually every industry including education, finance, retail, and telecommunications is now embracing CX optimization as a means to meet evolving customer expectations. They discuss how companies leverage social proof, countdown banners, personalisation strategies and more to enhance digital experiences and stay competitive in today’s market.

3. Importance of Collaboration Between Teams:

Collaboration between different teams in an organization is key to driving a successful CX strategy. The need for alignment between UX, product, tech, and marketing teams is important to ensure that optimization efforts are cohesive and well executed.

4. Value of Continuous Experimentation:

Continuous experimentation is the cornerstone of a successful optimization strategy. Our content also underscores the importance of testing hypotheses, analyzing results, and iterating based on insights to drive ongoing improvements in digital experiences. Closing up this section, they determined that organizations need to adopt a culture of experimentation and data-driven decision-making to remain agile and responsive to evolving customer needs.

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How to Rebrand Your Site Using Experimentation in 5 Easy Steps

AB Tasty

We invited Holly Ingram from our partner REO Digital, an agency dedicated to customer experience, to talk us through the practical ways you can use experimentation when doing a website redesign.

Testing entire site redesigns at once is a huge risk. You can throw away years of incremental gains in UX and site performance if executed incorrectly. Not only do they commonly fail to achieve their goals, but they even fail to achieve parity with the old design. That’s why an incremental approach, where you can isolate changes and accurately measure their impact, is most commonly recommended. That being said, some scenarios warrant an entire redesign, in which case, you need a robust evidence-driven process to reduce this risk.

Step 1 – Generative research to inform your redesign

With the level of collaboration involved in a redesign, changes must be based on evidence over opinion. There’s usually a range of stakeholders who all have their own ideas about how the website should be improved and despite their best intentions, this process often leads to prioritizing what they feel is important, which doesn’t always align with customers goals. The first step in this process is to carry out research to see your site as your customers do and identify areas of struggle.

It’s important here to use a combination of quantitative research (to understand how your users behave) and qualitative research (to understand why). Start off broad using quantitative research to identify areas of the site that are performing the worst, looking for high drop-off rates and poor conversion. Now you have your areas of focus you can look at more granular metrics to gather more context on the points of friction.

Scroll maps: Are users missing key information as it’s placed below the fold?
Click maps: Where are people clicking? Where are they not clicking?
Traffic analysis: What traffic source(s) are driving users to that page? What is the split between new and returning?
Usability testing: What do users that fit your target audience think of these pages? What helps them? What doesn’t help?
Competitor analysis: How do your competitors present themselves? How do they tackle the same issues you face?

Each research method has its pros and cons. Keep in mind the hierarchy of evidence. The hierarchy is visually depicted as a pyramid, with the lowest-quality research methods (having the highest risk of bias) at the bottom of the pyramid and the highest-quality methods (with the lowest risk of bias) at the top. When reviewing your findings place more importance on findings that come from research methods at the top of the pyramid, e.g. previous A/B test findings, than research methods that come at the bottom (e.g. competitor analysis).

Step 2 – Prioritise areas that should be redesigned

Once you have gathered your data and prioritised your findings based on quality of evidence you should be able to see which areas you should focus on first. You should also have an idea of how you might want to improve them. This is where the fun part comes in, and you can start brainstorming ideas. Collaboration is key here to ensure a range of potential solutions are considered. Try and get the perspective of designers, developers, and key stakeholders. Not only will you discover more ideas, but you will also save time as everyone will have context on the changes.

It’s not only about design. A common mistake people make when doing a redesign is purely focussing on design and making the page look ‘prettier’, and not changing the content. Through research, you should have identified content that performs well and content that could do with an update. Make sure you consider this when brainstorming.

Step 3 – Pilot your redesign through a prototype

It can be tempting once you’ve come up with great ideas to go ahead and launch it. Even if you are certain this new page will perform miles better than the original, you’d be surprised how often you’re wrong. Before you go ahead and invest a lot of time and money into building your new page, it’s a good idea to get some outside opinions from your target audience. The quickest way to do this is to build a prototype and get users to feedback on it through user testing. See what their attention is drawn to, if there’s anything on the page they don’t like or think is missing. It’s much quicker to make these changes before launching than after.

Step 4 – A/B test your redesign to know with statistical certainty whether your redesign performs better

Now you have done all this work conducting research, defining problem statements, coming up with hypotheses, ideating solutions and getting feedback, you want to see if your solution actually works better!

However, do not make the mistake of jumping straight into launching on your website. Yes it will be quicker, but you will never be able to quantify the difference all of that work has made to your key metrics. You may see conversion rate increase, but how do you know that is due to the redesign and nothing else (e.g. a marketing campaign or special offer deployed around the same time)? Or worse, you see conversion rate decrease and automatically assume it must be down to the redesign when in fact it’s not.

With an A/B test you can rule out outside noise. For simplicity, imagine the scenario where you have launched your redesign, in reality it made no difference, but due to a successful marketing campaign around the same time you saw an increase in conversion rate. If you had launched your redesign as an A/B test, you would see no difference between the control and the variant, as both would have been equally affected by the marketing campaign.

This is why it is crucial you A/B test your redesign. Not only will you be able to quantify the difference your redesign has made, you will be able to tell whether that change is statistically significant. This means you will know the probability that the change you have seen is due to the test rather than random chance. This can help minimize the risk that redesigns often bring.

Once you have your results you can then choose whether you want to launch the redesign to 100% of users, which you can do through the testing tool whilst you wait for the changes to be hardcoded. As the redesign has already been built for the A/B test, hardcoding it should be a lot quicker!

Step 5 – Evaluative research to validate how your redesign performs

Research shouldn’t stop once the redesign has been launched. We recommend conducting post-launch analysis to evaluate how it performs over time. This especially helps measure metrics that have a longer lead time, such as returns or cancellations.

Redesigns are susceptible to visitor bias, as rolling out a completely different experience can be shocking and uncomfortable for your returning visitors. They are also susceptible to novelty effects, where users can react more positively just because something looks new and shiny. In either case, these effects will wear off with time. That’s why it’s important to monitor performance after it’s deployment.

Things to look out for:

Bounce rate
On-page metrics (scroll rate, click-throughs, heatmap, mouse tracking)
Conversion rate
Funnel progression
Difference in performance for new vs. returning users

Redesigns are all about preparation. It may seem thorough, but it should be with such a big change. If you follow the right process you could dramatically increase sales and conversions, but if done wrong you may have wasted some serious time, effort and money. Don’t skimp on the research and keep a user-centred approach and you could create a website your audience loves.

If you want to find out more about how a redesign worked with a real customer of AB Tasty’s and REO – take a look at this webinar where La Redoute details how they tested the new redesign of their site and sought continuous improvement.

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Nov 6, 2023

10min read

Overcoming the Challenges of Customer Experience Optimization (EXO): Strategies and Tips

AB Tasty

The combination of intense competition and rapidly evolving technology requires businesses to prioritize customer experience optimization (EXO) to stay ahead.

The fact is, the cost of poor customer experience is high. According to a PWC survey, a third of consumers would stop using a brand they love after just one negative interaction.

In this article, we look at some common EXO challenges businesses face and strategies to overcome them, including practical insights for enhancing the digital customer experience. By implementing these strategies, you can ensure your business takes a customer-centric approach to optimizing the customer experience and building brand loyalty.

What is customer experience optimization?

Customer experience optimization refers to everything your business does to improve the customer’s experience at every touchpoint of their journey. It entails deeply understanding your customer’s needs and preferences and leveraging these insights to develop strategies to improve their interactions with your brand.

In today’s digital landscape, customers are flooded with choices across most categories of products and services. As a result, if you fail to deliver a positive experience, your customers will simply switch to a competing brand. EXO strategies are designed to keep customers satisfied and engaged, build brand loyalty, and reduce churn.

With EXO, it’s essential to deliver an experience that surpasses customers’ expectations and provides them with a seamless experience across all touchpoints and channels, including websites, mobile apps, social media accounts, and email.

Why customer experience optimization is important for business growth

First and foremost, EXO streamlines the customer’s path to purchase. Offering customers a frictionless, positive journey that makes it easy for them to get the information they need to make their purchase decision increases the likelihood of a successful transaction.

Customer EXO is also an ideal way to foster brand loyalty. Customers who have a superior experience with your brand are more likely to become repeat buyers. In fact, Deloitte research shows that a high-quality customer experience makes a customer 2.7 times more likely to keep buying from a business than a low-quality experience. Not only are customers likely to return, but they will also pay up to 16% more for an optimized experience, depending on the product category.

Positive experiences also trigger word-of-mouth recommendations, enhancing your brand’s reputation. Recommendations don’t entail the same acquisition costs as traditional marketing methods, making EXO a comparatively cost-effective way to boost sales and expand your customer base.

Challenges and solutions to customer experience optimization

We recognize there are challenges associated with EXO that may prevent you from delivering the best possible experience to your customers. Here are some strategies for tackling these challenges.

Compiling the right data for accurate measurements

Thanks to the various technologies available, we can now access a wealth of customer data. If interpreted and applied correctly, this data offers invaluable insights into the customer experience and ways of enhancing it. However, the sheer volume of these metrics can lead to information overload. It’s easy to get distracted or focus on the wrong metrics, including pitfall metrics that result in misinformed conclusions when considered in isolation. Some metrics, like cost of sale or cross-sell, don’t offer any meaningful insights into EXO.

The solution is to prioritize the metrics that matter. These include:

Customer satisfaction (CSAT)
Churn rates
Bounce rates
Customer retention rates
Trust ratings, conversion rates
Customer journey analytics
Repeat purchases
Customer segmentation
Buyer personas
Customer lifetime value (CLV)
Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Keep in mind that this data may reside in various departments across your organization, extending beyond sales, marketing and customer service teams. Consolidating this disparate data is essential to gaining a complete and accurate picture of customer experience in your organization.

Developing the right hypothesis

Experimentation is a powerful tool for delivering an optimal customer experience. However, randomly choosing hypotheses to test is a quick route to overlooking optimization opportunities. For example, simply changing the location of the checkout button in response to low conversion rates may not address the underlying issue.

Effective experimentation requires a considered approach to develop the correct hypothesis to test. The first step is identifying the genuine problem that needs addressing. You can then formulate a hypothesis to test to uncover the root cause of the issue and identify a concrete solution.

This second step requires a critical analysis of your current site and potential improvements from the customers’ perspective. Sourcing a range of data, including web analytics, user tests, and customer feedback, can help guide your analysis. You should also consider the psychology of the prospective customer. Getting in their mindset can guide you toward potential solutions.

If we continue with our checkout button example, the core issue may extend beyond conversion rates to a more specific concern: high cart abandonment rates. A hypothesis with a potential solution to this issue may be: “Many customers exit the checkout process at step 5. Reducing the number of steps in our checkout process will reduce cart abandonment rates.” Crafting the right hypothesis is a crucial step in optimizing customer experience.

Resource constraints

Ideally, businesses would have unlimited resources to optimize customer experiences. However, in reality, EXO usually competes with numerous other business priorities, all vying for time, human, and financial resources. Investing in the infrastructure and technology for EXO can be costly. Hiring and retaining people with the necessary skills to implement effective optimization strategies can also be challenging. Data availability is another common resource issue, especially for businesses with lower website traffic who feel they need more information for optimization.

The good news is you can tailor your approach to EXO to align with your business’s circumstances. This includes starting with smaller-scale initiatives and expanding your efforts as your optimization strategies gain traction or more resources become available. Another option is to outsource EXO by engaging the services of a specialist customer optimization agency.

It’s also important to note that high-volume website traffic isn’t a prerequisite for identifying and implementing effective EXO strategies. While a 95% confidence level is often cited as the magic number for drawing meaningful conclusions from your data, you can still optimize websites with less traffic by lowering the threshold. Focusing on optimizing the top of the funnel, where there may be greater opportunities for EXO, is another useful strategy for low-traffic websites.

ROI tunnel vision

When a company works on improving EXO, its main focus is often on immediate ROI in experimentation, sometimes at the expense of other important metrics. While the bottom line is relevant to any business strategy, focusing solely on the financial outcomes of EXO can lead to short-sighted decision-making, jeopardizing longer-term sustainability.

Prioritizing immediate revenue gain above all else can negatively impact the customer experience. It makes it almost impossible for an organization to adopt a customer-centric approach, a fundamental requirement for EXO.

Experimentation isn’t always neatly quantifiable. Experiments are typically run within complex contexts and are influenced by various factors. While measuring ROI may be a criterion when assessing the success of your EXO strategies, it should never be the primary or sole one. Instead, shift your focus to the broader impacts of experimentation, like its contribution to better, more informed decision-making.

Not knowing what your customers want

A customer-centric approach is vital to delivering an optimal customer experience. This requires an in-depth understanding of who your customers are, their needs and preferences, and precisely how they interact with your business. Without these insights, you’re in the dark about what your customers want and when they want it. Meeting—let alone exceeding—customers’ expectations is impossible.

Customer wants and needs are as diverse as your customer base. They may include a desire for higher levels of personalization, seamless online interactions, flexible payment methods, faster customer support, better pricing, transparency or increased mobile responsiveness. What customers want also evolves as their journey progresses. If your EXO strategies fail to align with your customers’ desires at the right time, they are unlikely to succeed.

While there are several ways to uncover customer needs and wants, one of the most effective methods is to go directly to the source. Collecting customer feedback at each stage of their journey—via surveys, feedback management systems, voice of customers, and user interviews—lets you tailor your EXO strategies and deliver the improvements your customers truly want.

Lack of customer experience optimization tools

Successful EXO relies on quality data for insights into your customers’ journeys, needs, and preferences. To achieve this, you need the right tools to capture and analyze accurate data in real-time across multiple channels.

These tools include:

CRM systems to track historical customer behavior and relationships
Customer feedback and survey software to collect individual feedback for deep insights into what your customers want
Behavior analytics tools to interpret your customers’ interactions and identify opportunities to improve their experience
Experience optimization platforms, like AB Tasty, to design and deliver digital omnichannel customer experiences via experimentation

It’s important to review the needs of your EXO strategy and the available tools to choose the ones that best align with your customers’ and business’s needs.

How to improve the digital customer experience

Observe user behavior patterns

A robust data foundation lets you observe and understand customer behavior individually and identify broader trends. This information serves as a compass, guiding your EXO efforts.

Customer insights may reveal common pain points. For example, a frequently searched term may highlight a topic customers want more information on. These insights also help you understand how users interact with your site, how that impacts their journey, and potential improvements. Is there a particular page where customers spend a lot of time? Do they have to navigate back and forth between pages to find the details they need?

Behavior patterns also reveal customer preferences, allowing you to personalize touchpoints within their journey and identify what triggers customers to complete their purchases. These insights serve as a powerful foundation for developing EXO strategies and hypotheses for A/B testing.

Create a journey map to understand the user flow

EXO involves optimizing every customer interaction with your business. A common pitfall to avoid when addressing EXO is approaching it narrowly from a specific touchpoint rather than considering the entire customer journey. A holistic approach delivers more impactful insights that help you manage the root causes of negative or neutral customer experiences.

A great way to understand your user flow and how it affects customer experience is to create a journey map, setting out every touchpoint during the buying process. Navigate your website like a potential customer, systematically stepping through the user journey and noting your findings.

Putting yourself in the customer’s shoes ensures you don’t overlook opportunities to optimize customer experience. This approach can also help you prioritize measures that make the user journey frictionless, improving customer experience and your site’s performance.

Develop a roadmap and set parameters to measure success

The list of available EXO measures is endless. Aligning your strategy with your business objectives requires a considered approach to implementation. To do this, develop a roadmap that outlines your goals, priorities and milestones.

A well-structured roadmap gives your team clear direction and deadlines while guiding decision-making to ensure the greatest impact on customer experience. Everyone understands their role, guaranteeing accountability in the execution of your EXO strategy. It also helps you prioritize initiatives and allocate the necessary resources, including EXO tools.

In your roadmap, you can list the specific metrics and KPIs to measure and track your progress. Doing this allows you to evaluate your EXO measures, readjust those not delivering results, and build on particularly effective ones.

Experiment and re-challenge your past experiments

You’re unlikely to unlock the secret to EXO in your organization on the first try. Instead, you’ll need to run continuous experiments using different hypotheses to find the right combination of strategies that work for your business.

The customer experience is dynamic and your EXO strategies should be equally adaptable. Continue to review your previous experiments to see what more you can learn from them, especially in terms of customer preferences. This process enables you to identify emerging opportunities for improvement and further refine the measures with the most impact to deliver an optimal customer experience.

Customer-centric EXO

Acknowledging that your business must prioritize customer EXO is just the beginning. By understanding the customer experience definition, common EXO challenges, and practical strategies to overcome them, you have the tools to deliver a consistently superior customer experience. By integrating a customer-centric ethos with your EXO strategies, you’ll not only strengthen current customer relationships but also cultivate enduring brand loyalty.

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