Meeting Consumers on their Terms

For all the potential of the Web, there has been a disconnect between how consumers make purchases in the offline world and how they make purchases online. Increasingly, consumers are expecting the Web to function the way they function – to anticipate their needs, react in kind to their gestures, and help and understand them at a basic level. Yet for the most part, online interactions have been limited to the system acting and the user reacting. This linear, system-user-system-user flow is restricting and can be detrimental to making the sale online, particularly for highly considered products and services that arouse a complicated range of emotions. To succeed, companies must break out of the linear approach to the online decision-making and buying process and create an online experience with a more natural flow.

This perspective looks at how companies can bring empathy and dialogue into the online purchase process to deliver an experience that satisfies both the rational and emotional components of  decision-making.  It also explores how Rich Internet Applications, or RIAs, can help to bridge this emotional gap and provide the reassurance consumers need to purchase more confidently online.

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