What are High Consideration Products?

E-commerce in recent years has supplanted brick-and-mortar stores for increasingly varied and non-traditional products. While the advent of online retail introduced consumers to wider product availability, the first wave of e-commerce largely included lower consideration products, such as phone chargers, books and home décor.

High consideration products are increasingly garnering a greater market share of online retail sales. 

Such high consideration purchases include large or expensive items like mattresses, jewelry, designer clothes, cars, or even home renovation services. Your e-commerce website or platform is the key to attracting consumers to these products.

Key Takeaways 

• Purchasers of high consideration products invest more time and energy researching the product and its competitors before making a decision.

• An interactive and user-friendly website interface enables potential consumers to educate themselves on your product.

• Successful sellers of high consideration products recreate the in-store experience for online consumers.  

• “High consideration” does not necessarily mean expensive – it refers to a consumer’s deliberation on a given purchase. 

High Consideration Products: An Overview 

Early consumers of the first generation of e-commerce retail are likely familiar with resell websites like eBay and other online marketplaces allowing them to order generally inexpensive products directly to their homes. Even Amazon began as an online retailer of print books. 

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But today, the online marketplace has exploded so much so that consumers can purchase virtually any product they can imagine.

Potential customers can now make important purchase decisions on even the most complex purchases by interacting with just a few touchpoints. The pandemic only accelerated high consideration purchase journeys, and now consumers are comfortable making large purchases that once required an in-person visit to the store entirely online.

Consumers of high consideration products may be:

• In the market for a new car? Choose your make and model, customize the options, and have it delivered to your front door. 

• Purchasing a mattress? Order that new pillow-top and try it out for thirty days. If you don’t like it, send it back – return with shipping free. 

• Needing new eyeglasses? Use the e-retailer’s virtual try-on tool or have your favorite designs shipped free for an at home try-on. 

What do the sellers of each of these products have in common? A platform that enables ease of purchase, customer service that makes consumers feel comfortable making a large purchase online, and purchase options that create a catered consumer experience. 

The key to selling high consideration products online is instilling confidence in your consumers that they will have the experience they want. 

Motivations of Purchasers of High Consideration Products

To cater your product to interested consumers, you need to understand their motivations. Are they:

• Cost Driven? The consumer knows what they want but needs to compare and evaluate options. Educate the consumer and provide comparison tools.

• Seeking Alternatives? The consumer is searching for an online alternative to an expensive offline product, such as a mattress or eyeglasses. Quality matters.

• Intrigued by Online Sales? The consumer is surprised that this product is offered online. Convenience and product quality play important roles.

But no matter your product or consumer base, you can market your high consideration product with an intentional strategy.

Marketing Your High Consideration Product 

Purchasers of high consideration products research their options and contemplate the various products. This is why if you’re selling big-ticket items, your digital marketing efforts need to reflect anticipated consumer behavior. A holistic digital marketing strategy will not only boost conversion rates along with other key metrics, it will drastically improve the customer experience.

No matter your particular market, sellers of these products should focus on the following themes.

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1. Customer service is market development. 

With online retail, there is no traditional salesperson to guide the consumer through your various products. You instead must rely on a highly trained and competent customer service team capable of standing in for the offline salesperson. 

Some online retailers develop a customer service training program dedicated to teaching its representatives the ins-and-outs of the retailer’s particular product. When consumers search for a high consideration product, they expend a lot of energy researching options. 

The more precisely your customer service reps can describe your product’s specifications, the better the reps instill confidence in the consumers that this product is right for them. You may also consider your customer service team as an inbound sales team instead. 

2. Your website and its interface represent your product.

No matter whether your product is a car or jewelry, the extent to which your website accurately and unambiguously describes the product enables the potential consumer to visualize themself using your product. 

For example, one study found that about 90% of consumers cited product descriptions as their primary source of attribution during the buying experience.

Also, just as important as the messaging used to describe the product, the photos play a key role in the decision-making process. While this may seem like common sense, incorporating high resolution photos from multiple angles and depths recreates the in-person shopping experience in the comfort of your customer’s home.

3. Reduce consumer apprehension. 

When purchasing a high consideration product, consumers are prepared to expend financial and/or time resources.

The customer journey is going to lead them toward all sorts of touchpoints from product review sites, to social media pages, to B2B case studies, to search engine retargeting, to marketing websites and everything in between.

This entails assuming risk and making a commitment to the product. However, you can reduce a consumer’s apprehension regarding the good through various methods, such as offering a lower cost or low deposit, at-home try-on, free shipping, a generous warranty and favorable return or exchange policies.

Optimizely Can Assist Your Online Sales Platform 

No matter the stage of your digital platform, our specialists at Optimizely have the experience to get your high consideration product to consumers. We provide content creation, commerce support, and artificial intelligence-backed optimization products to e-retailers, in addition to a cloud-based digital platform experience and real-time experimentation.

If you’re ready to discuss how Optimizely can work with your platform, contact us to get started today.