Solicit Online Questions to Fit Shoppers

Providing a question-and-answer page for your ecommerce shoppers leads to more positive item ratings from eventual customers. A prime explanation, say the Boston University researchers, is that a Q&A page enables a better fit of the item with characteristics of a purchaser.
     The timing, content, and tone of a Q&A page are different from that of customer reviews. A Q&A page is generally used by a shopper before a purchase, describes item attributes, and includes limited emotional tone. Customer reviews are posted by users after purchase and often include emotional sentiments.
     In the studies, the Q&A availability decreased the frequency of negative comments about the fit of the item with customer requirements and tastes. I’d expect that to result in more repeat business.
     Average ratings improved by only a fraction of a star. Still, in addition to other measures, such an improvement could make a difference in a shopper’s purchase decision. In an email to me, Prof. Shrabastee Banerjee, the primary researcher, wrote, “The size of the effect depends on how much fit uncertainty consumers have about the product in the first place. So products that are more prone to mismatched purchases show the largest increase in ratings after Q&As come in.”
     Product forums and virtual fitting rooms also can help resolve shopper uncertainty about item fit. Other studies have shown that these convert shoppers into buyers, build basket totals, and reduce item returns. However, virtual fitting rooms are often expensive to develop. Product forums, with their continuing contributions from item users, become unwieldy unless scrupulously edited and indexed. A Q&A page is a simpler solution than either of those alternatives.
     Consistent with the Q&A allowing shoppers to select an item fitting them, be prepared for questions from shoppers about being able to customize the item for better fit. The “IKEA Effect” refers to the finding that consumers are willing to pay more for a product they’ve had the opportunity to customize. IKEA encourages shoppers to select among sets of options in configuring a purchased item. Studies at Tulane University, Harvard University, and Duke University attributed the IKEA Effect to reinforcement of self-identity experienced via the choice of options, plus the value to a consumer which comes from validating their competence in assembling the personally-selected components.
     Yes, the “IKEA Effect” name for this does carry irony, considering that many people think their degree of IKEA assembly skills qualifies as incompetence.

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