This is the second in a series of posts looking at findings published in Paco Underhill’s books on shopping (see below), in order to understand how these findings might be applied to websites. The series was announced a week ago, and subsequent posts in the series will appear weekly.
The first in the series discussed giving visitors a reason to return.
The discussion point for today: Interception Rate.
Mr. Underhill points out that successful retailers have a high interception rate: the number of customers entering the store who are contacted in some fashion by an employee is high.
What does “interception rate” mean in an online context? How can websites create a high interception rate?
One of the usual characteristics of online interaction is asynchronicity. Generally speaking, we don’t expect a live person to be available behind the screen. A well-written FAQ helps. A live chatroom is much less frequent because difficult to staff 24/7. Community forums are difficult to jumpstart and to monitor.
Much more common is the interaction taking place in email and comment boxes. Civil email and comments should be encouraged ahead-of-time by solicitations, and after-the-fact by a pertinent response.
Do you have another suggestion? Let me hear about it! Post a comment below, or send me email.
This series of posts is based on Paco Underhill’s books on shopping:
For my purposes, the second book, Call of the Mall
See you next week for article #2.
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