In its 2023 Digital Experience Benchmark Report, Contentsquare, the global leader in digital experience analytics, underscores the importance of engagement and dynamic experiences online, highlighting areas brands must improve in order to bolster conversion and customer satisfaction. 

The year’s report is based on an analysis of 35 billion sessions, and 161 billion page views across 2942 global websites, uncovering consumer trend data showing that brands are losing customers when it matters most: when they’re trying to convert, particularly on mobile devices.

On the contrary, brands that offer seamless cross-device customer experience (CX), particularly on the top three high-trafficked website areas – product detail pages, category pages, and the checkout page – are experiencing the most significant digital outcomes: lasting customer interaction, a boost in online conversions, a significant reduction in bounce rates, and better overall website performance across both desktop and mobile devices.

Here are the key highlights from the report: 

• Poor website performance is a real problem, with 36 per cent of users reportedly having frustrating experiences on most websites – mostly attributed to slow page loads – leading to a sharp decline in engagement and retention.
• Another leading cause of frustration, rage clicks (when users repeatedly click on the same area of a website), affect 6 per cent of browsing sessions.
• However, high-activity sites (calculated by time spent interacting divided by total session time) are driving better outcomes for businesses — including major boosts in conversions (up 19 per cent) and session depth (up 47 per cent), and a decrease in bounce rates (down 20 per cent).
• With activity tied to higher conversions, businesses should focus on improving engagement across the three most trafficked page types — product, category and checkout.
• Sustained engagement is key to digital success, as buyers consume on average more than 20 pages of content before conversion. But data shows a concerning trend that overall consumer patience and consumption is waning: session depth (defined as page views per session) per visit has dipped 2.3 per cent, and overall time per session dropped 7.5 per cent year-on-year.
• Many brands are losing customers at the checkout page, especially on mobile devices: 19.7 per cent of mobile visits include time spent on a checkout page, but mobile conversions overall have dropped more than 4 per cent year-over-year. In contrast, 18 per cent of desktop visits include a checkout page and overall conversions on the device have jumped nearly 3 per cent year-on-year. 

Best practices: Give customers a reason to stay, convert, and return

Digital experience success is defined by three areas: capturing attention, reducing friction, and ensuring page content is relevant across the entire website. Merging paid channels and organic search to increase visibility, all the while prioritising content that encourages interaction and engagement boosts the overall performance of a website. The average visitor journey is not deep – around five pages per session at a 50 per cent scroll rate – companies need to identify high-performing content and pull these assets, offers and CTAs higher up on the page. Additionally, knowing which content is never seen and which under versus over-performs, enables teams to invest in content more effectively, while improving conversion rates.

Providing clear information with speed, and obvious prompts directing customers to the next stage of their journey by signalling pathways for search and discovery, and ensuring content is aligned with their intent gives brands a clear competitive edge. 

Blend experiences across devices

Seamless cross-device CX is a bigger priority than most brands realise and the importance of blended experiences is defining an emerging area of opportunity, according to the data. Consumers are exploring web pages through two primary devices – mobile and desktop – with conversion preferential to desktop. Browsing is typically relegated to mobile, where consumers ‘graze’ before making buying decisions.

Fifty-five per cent of all mobile traffic are new visitors, meaning losing customers due to poor CX can have a detrimental effect on revenue. While checkout pages are still highly important for both desktop and mobile, mobile conversion rates are down year-on-year by 4 per cent, and any attention paid especially to these final moments before conversion could minimise abandoned carts and frustrated customers.   

Across devices, brands must prioritise delivering seamless end-to-end tailored experiences that focus on customer value. A May 2022 consumer survey revealed 88 per cent of customers say the experience a company provides is just as important as its products and services, an 18 per cent increase from the year prior, proving that getting a customer to your website is only the beginning. 

Lasting relationships are defined by understanding customer intent and desired experiences

Positive experiences don’t start and end with great products or prices – smart brands are uniquely tapping into emotions, too, focusing on bringing joy to the overall CX. Forrester Customer Experience index data from June last year cites the most trusted way to determine customer expectation, happiness, and satisfaction can be found in digital experience data. As customers evolve, so does their online behaviour, which are the breadcrumbs they leave that tell a bigger story – every click, scroll, search, mouse hover, page forward or backward, and time spent on a brand’s website are valuable insights for brands looking for meaningful ways to improve the digital experiences they deliver.

Contentsquare customers that have focused on leveraging digital experience analytics to improve CX throughout the customer journey have realised significant results: 602 per cent ROI, an average of $6.6 million in recovered income and additional income, and Contentsquare’s solution pays for itself in less than six months, according to a commissioned, in-depth Total Economic Impact (TEI) Study from Forrester Consulting.

For more information and insights into how to optimize CX for better results, download Contentsquare’s full 2023 Digital Experience Benchmark report here.