Gift-giving is a year-round activity that can stump shoppers in finding the right gift. Retailers and brands are helping customers with that through guides and quizzes on their websites. As our mystery shoppers combed through 115 websites, testing functionalities and features for the 2022 Omnichannel Retail Index report, they took several quizzes along the way.
Finding the perfect gift for Mother’s Day or graduation can be tricky and overwhelming. Trying to select the best item for yourself can even be stressful! Lucky for consumers, guided selling can alleviate the stress. Guided selling can be found in different forms with different goals. Either way, it helps engage the consumer. Our consultants found experiences that helped find a specific product to meet a need, and the experience was very personalized to the shopper. They also had experiences that helped them discover new products and view a broader selection of offerings, a tactic known as digital suggestive selling.
Give the Perfect Gift
Target offers multiple ideas to guide the customer toward the perfect gift. The shopper can select a gift by price, pick-up option, and curated gift kits. Category options are also available to help guide shoppers to an area to choose something that fits the gift recipient.
Best Buy gives shoppers more opportunities to search by the recipient or by popular gift lists. Helping the shopper find a personalized gift benefits the giver and the receiver. The giver can feel more confident in the selection and invested in the gift, and the receiver hopefully is happy that the gift matches their interests. A win-win!
Let’s Get Personal
Some retailers use guided selling and quizzes to help narrow down products and get consumers what they want more efficiently.
Brooks Running has an excellent 10-question shoe selector. The questions get specific and ask the shopper to engage by doing certain tests/exercises during the quiz. Videos are embedded in the quiz explaining what to look for during the exercise. A pop-up displays after an answer detailing the science behind a selection. When the quiz is complete, it generates recommendations based on the results. Our mystery shopper was impressed and felt the quiz questions were spot on with what a runner would consider when buying running shoes. She was equally pleased with the recommended shoes and felt they reflected her specific needs.
From head to toe or, in this case, feet to face, several cosmetic sites offer quizzes to help shoppers find the perfect foundation color or select the best AM/PM regimens for healthier skin. Several cosmetic companies also provide virtual try-on technologies to actually see if you’re choosing the right color before buying.
Let’s Have Fun!
Making the shopping journey convenient to find the right fit or best gift is great, but having fun is important, too. For example, Bluemercury helps shoppers find fragrances. Through a series of unique questions that range from the type of vacation, zodiac sign, or smell of breakfast, the site generates a list of fragrances that would be appealing based on the answers. One mystery shopper commented that the quiz was fun and offered some scent options she had not tried before but was interested in trying. Some exploration, discovery, and fun!
Guided selling and quizzes were offered by a good share of retailers this year. They helped consumers find the perfect gift, narrow down selections, meet specific needs, and allow for fun and discovery. What type of guided or suggestive selling features do you have on your website to engage your shoppers?
Want to read the entire Omnichannel Retail Index? Access the report.
