Why High-Intent Shoppers Are Important for Your Ecommerce Store

Of the billions of people that shop on the internet worldwide every day, few of them have any real intention of buying something.

Startlingly few, in fact.

Just about 8% of online shoppers are high-intent shoppers. That means they're consumers with specific items in mind and a genuine intention to purchase them.

The other 92% are just browsing.

They're clicking on ecommerce websites like yours, glancing at some products, and then moving on to the next site.

And while these browsing types still have conversion potential, the overall success of your business relies on engaging with high-intent shoppers.

​As an ecommerce store owner, you know the importance of learning to capture high-intent shoppers and funneling them to your site.

In this article, we'll review the nature of high-intent shoppers, along with strategies and tools you can use, such as Google Smart Shopping, to best engage with them.

Who are your high-intent shoppers?

In order to know who your high-intent shoppers are, first understand how they are arriving to your site. 

The vast majority of high-intent traffic comes from paid search results. These are typically your Google display and banners ads.

Next are those from social media advertising, followed by organic Google Search traffic.

You might be wondering why so many come by way of paid search results. And that has everything to do with the nature of high-intent shoppers.

​They're laser-focused on what they want to purchase and they're looking for the quickest and easiest way to make that purchase. They might do some price comparisons, but they're not bargain shoppers. 

High-intent shoppers are simply searching for a reliable website from which they can purchase the items they need as quickly as possible.

How to best engage with high-intent shoppers

Targeted marketing through a platform like Google Smart Shopping is the best way to engage with high-intent shoppers. But first, let’s start with some strategies you can implement without spending any of your marketing budget.

          1. Reduce any unnecessary friction on your website, particularly relating to checkout. In other words, don't get in                       their way of trying to spend money on your products.

Some ecommerce stores make rookie mistakes like requiring a login or requesting an email before checkout. Adding additional steps will discourage customers from completing their purchases. Especially from high-intent shoppers who want products as soon as possible and without disruption.

Make your checkout process seamless. 

          2. Earn the trust of your online store's visitors.

Trust is established with the first impression: does your website look professional? Is navigating your website easy or confusing for your customer?  Can the customer find the products they are looking for easily? Does your site have any trust badges?

If you can answer "no" to any of these questions, it would be a good idea to look into updating your ecommerce store and branding. Customers want to feel safe and secure when shopping online and the appearance and ease of use of your online store can go a long way in helping to build trust with your shoppers.

          3. Display social proof from previous shoppers’ experiences with your ecommerce store and products.

After ensuring your brand and website both look good, reviews are the best way to build trust with high-intent shoppers. They give high-intent shoppers that extra assurance that other paying customers were satisfied with your products.

Google Smart Shopping campaigns to convert high-intent shoppers

After you've done everything you can to make your online store frictionless and trustworthy, consider using tools like Google Smart Shopping to better engage high-intent shoppers.

As it relates specifically to high-intent shoppers, Google's AI studies consumer behavior over time. It can identify which shoppers are likely to convert to a sale and when.

​In effect, Google Smart Shopping narrows down who your potential high-intent shoppers are and then funnels them to your site. For this reason, it's a must-have resource for ecommerce stores that want to stay competitive.

Smart Shopping campaigns might require a month or two to study your website's data sets, but they are wildly successful over the long run.

If you want to read more about Google Smart Shopping, you can check out our previous post, Tips to Make the Most of Google Smart Shopping Campaigns.

High-intent and the customer journey

Targeting high-intent shoppers means that the success of your business relies on shoppers who are in the buying phase of their customer journey.

High-intent is not so much a personality type as it is a temporary state or a phase. These are your shoppers who are past the research phase of their customer journey. So it would be a mistake to isolate individual customers and label them as high-intent. Rather, understand that everyone, at some point in time, is a high-intent shopper. 

With a tool like Google Smart Shopping, you can better understand when a prospective customer is in a high-intent phase and then market your products at that moment.

You can also identify high-intent keywords by utilizing Google Analytics. Incorporating SEO (search engine optimization) keywords in your product descriptions will give you a better chance of having your products seen by the right shoppers.

Google Shopping & Ads powered by Kliken to drive more high-intent traffic

With Google Shopping powered by Kliken, you can start taking advantage of the amazing benefits of Smart Shopping campaigns almost immediately.

And whether you’re just starting out or you want to take your existing ecommerce business to the next level, Kliken is here to help.

We make the process of syncing your store with the Google Shopping & Ads platforms seamless. So you can start running Google Smart Shopping campaigns almost immediately — we'll deal with the onboarding headaches.

There are many different avenues you can take in the world of ecommerce. Regardless of your individual goals, Google Shopping & Ads powered by Kliken can help you to meet them. 

We'll handle your Google Merchant account set up while you get started prepping for your next Smart Shopping campaign.

As the world’s #1 Shopping and Ads marketing platform, Kliken has helped over 1,000,000 small businesses worldwide grow their sales on Google and get a return of up to 7x their original ad spend. Its proven marketing solutions can help you to unleash the potential of your ecommerce business.

 ​Learn more about how customers use Kliken to grow their businesses online here. 

Author: Michael Arnold

Michael is a freelancer from New York City. When he isn’t writing about how Kliken unleashes the marketing, you can find him reading, writing for pleasure, or traveling the globe.