3 Stats That Prove Why FAQs Are Important to Customers

Among the most important, and often neglected, parts of any business’s online presence is the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. It’s here that the business has a chance to anticipate common questions, and to provide immediate answers to them. Generally, customers have navigated to the website in search of product information or support, and the FAQ provides an easily-navigable means of providing it.

Thanks to a new survey from Feefo, we now have yet more proof of the importance of the humble FAQ. 2,000 British shoppers were asked several questions related to their online shopping habits, the process that they typically go for, and the factors that contribute to their buying decisions.

The key takeaway as far as FAQs are concerned is that a clear majority of customers use and appreciate the FAQs page. 80% of those questioned claimed to visit an FAQ when considering a purchase. Given this, it’s worth lavishing particular attention on this part of the site, as it’ll be the part that receives a great deal of attention from customers.

If you’d like information about a given product, then not being able to find that information is going to be annoying. More importantly from the retailer’s perspective, it might form a barrier between a customer and a purchase – 53% of those questioned claimed that not being able to find answers to questions is the most common frustration experienced when shopping online in 2020.

A sizeable minority of customers (30%) will readily switch to a competitor after just a single poor experience. This being the case, it probably follows that a still larger proportion will make the switch after just a handful of experiences. Of course, a poor experience that occurs as a result of a purchase might be aggravating – but not being able to find key information prior to a purchase will be similarly so.  Therefore, by not providing an FAQ when doing so would be simple and effective, firms risk alienating customers before they’ve made a purchase in the first place.

According to the survey, 38% of customers visit Amazon prior to making a purchase, which puts it just behind Google at 41%. Making an FAQ part of a product’s Amazon listing, then, would seem to qualify as a simple way of bolstering its appeal to would-be customers.

Feefo’s Head of Digital, Richard Tank was keen to highlight the importance of the platform. ‘While Google’s online monopoly on the web has long been documented, it’s clear that Amazon is now just as prominent as the search engine, even though it’s technically an online retailer. It’s important to recognise why consumers start their search on these websites, for example it might be because of a special offer for Amazon that they found on Raise which would encourage them to shop there. However it might also be for the advanced search tools, and after they have found the product they are looking for they often end up buying from somewhere else for one reason or another. Today’s digital landscape is ever-changing and businesses have to meet the needs of their customers across the whole purchase journey in order to maintain sales and brand loyalty. The findings of this survey emphasize that.

Source: www.feefo.com