– 2-step opt-ins for ecommerce, which ask for email and phone number during signup, should be eliminated in 2023.
– Phone number collection during signup creates friction and leads to a drop in conversion rates.
– Brands should focus on collecting data on subscribers’ intent to buy and personalize their customer journey based on that information.Eliminate the use of 2-step opt-ins for ecommerce and focus on collecting relevant data to personalize the customer journey and improve conversion rates.2023 should be the death of 2-step opt-ins for ecommerce, asking people for their email and phone number during signup. SMS should still exist, but during a secondary or post-purchase part of the journey. Phone number collection requires you to move to a different device and leave a website to claim an award. People don’t like providing phone numbers as much as they like providing emails, especially before buying from a brand. We’ve seen upwards of 20% of phone numbers submitted just not be real ones. We’ve also seen upwards of 70% of people who subscribed choose not to double opt-in. We also see a ton of unsubscribes. But most telling, we’ve seen in accounts where it’s required, that the subscription to conversion rate drops by upwards of 10% or more by requiring it. It creates a friction point. So if you’re a brand right now using a 2-step opt-in, know that even if you allow them to skip it, you’re pushing people away and creating a poor customer experience by 25%. For those that force it, the drop-off is 50% or more. You’re wasting an opportunity to learn more about your visitors during their peak time of intent to buy something. This data can be used to improve your ads, emails, website content, landing pages, etc. And yet, brands are squandering it, not even aware that it’s hurting their overall conversion rates. Data shows that 75% of purchasers convert within 4-8 hours of signing up. A phone number isn’t going to help you convert; their mind is already made up. It’s not your magical first email or SMS that is causing the purchase. Phone number collection is a KPI with a correlative bias towards conversion, not a causal one. But it’s empty in terms of context. The KPI worth tracking is the subscription rate to conversion. Turns out that the highest converting subscribers are the ones that are looking to buy “Today,” and that’s only about 50% of the people who are signing up. And they only convert between 40-60%. It’s the other 50% that don’t convert and the 50% on top of that you need to sway. There’s a big difference between having data on 95% of them to personalize that journey v. 65% and maybe a phone number. If it were me, I’d take a 30% higher chance of converting someone based on being able to talk to them in a manner relevant to why they signed up in the first place. I’d also use that 30% more data to create a better customer journey for everyone that visits. But for most stores that’s 100% more data than they are currently collecting that they can leverage. Who knows the amount of brands that would probably have got me to convert if they just spoon fed me reviews relevant to what mattered to me in a product rather than force me to receive generic emails. I still haven’t provided a phone number to any brand and the experience of a two step continually pisses me off. I’m just glad data sees it the same way I do. Customer journey v. company journey #data #ecommerce #smshttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jivanco