How to Leverage Behavioral and Gamification Design Principles to Boost Ecommerce Sales

Set Intelligent Defaults

Defaults are the options that are automatically selected for users unless they choose otherwise. By setting intelligent defaults, you can influence users’ behavior and guide them towards desired actions. 

For example, set the default shipping address to the user’s billing address, making it easier for users to check out and complete their purchase. Another option is to set the default payment method to the user’s most recent payment method, saving users time and hassle during the checkout process.

Within the Monetate personalization platform, it is easy to create Javascript actions that take advantage of your data layer, using the information available to set defaults in dropdowns and the like.

Offer Incentives

Offering incentives is a powerful way to persuade users to take specific actions, such as signing up for a newsletter or spending more money. 

For example, you can offer a discount for signing up for a newsletter, encouraging users to stay up-to-date with your latest promotions. You can also offer free shipping on orders over a certain amount, incentivizing users to spend more on your site.

Making use of exit intent lightboxes can significantly increase not just email sign up, but also session retention, by offering discounts to users about to leave.

Create a Sense of Urgency/FOMO

Creating a sense of urgency can encourage users to take action quickly. For example, you can display a countdown timer for a sale, which creates urgency and encourages users to buy now before the sale ends. Alternatively, offer a limited-time discount, motivating users to buy before the discount expires.

There are many ways Monetate can be leveraged to add a sense of urgency. One popular way is, as in the example above, to use our built-in countdown times to notify customers of upcoming events, or soon to be closing events. Even more powerfully, we can use our Social Proof actions to inform customers of low stock levels or fast-selling items. 

Make the UX Easy

The easier it is for users to navigate and complete actions on your site, the more likely they are to make a purchase. Ensure that your checkout process is simple and straightforward, and offer multiple payment options to cater to various user preferences. Additionally, optimize your site for mobile devices, as an increasing number of users shop on their smartphones and tablets.

Monetate makes it easy to make changes to your site and then test them. It offers multiple testing methods such as A/B testing to compare two versions of something to determine which performs better and Dynamic Testing, using our machine learning engine to optimize tests in real time.

Automated Personalization

Personalization involves customizing your website or marketing efforts to cater to individual users’ preferences and needs. By recommending products based on users’ past purchases or browsing history, you can show them items they are more likely to be interested in. Additionally, sending personalized emails with special offers can help you stay top-of-mind with your customers and encourage them to buy from you again.

Our personalization strategies make it quick and simple to create recommendations that will feel unique to each customer, drawing from recent behavior on the site to show them the most relevant items at just the right time. 

These can also be used with your email management system to send personalized recommendations direct to your customers.

We can take that a step further and utilize machine learning-based Automated Personalization. 

With Automated Personalization, customers are presented with the most optimal experience possible based on data. By data we are referring to the context available from your data combined with the data we have about their visit. 

Make It Fun

Making the shopping experience enjoyable and engaging can drive user engagement and increase sales. Add games or interactive elements to your site, turning shopping into a fun activity. You can also run contests and giveaways to create excitement around your brand and encourage users to participate.

With Monetate, it is easy to add new and engaging elements to a page. If your organization is looking at gamification and have built fun widgets for your customers, you can use the platform to insert them into the relevant parts of the user’s journey and then test the effectiveness.

With a little imagination, you can also create your own elements of fun with the platform. 

Hide special items on the site that only the most curious customers might find. Create simple treasure hunts, inserting clues and prizes across the site to encourage deeper exploration of the store. Surprise and delight regular customers with unexpected discounts and offers. 

The possibilities are endless.

This blog is by Monetate’s Sr. Digital Experience Consultant, Andrzej Marczewski.