Why pre-purchase optimization is critical for ecommerce brands
Let’s say a shopper clicks on an ad for your shoe company and starts thinking about buying a pair of boots.
But don’t get too excited: there’s a long journey between landing on the website (Point A) and a completed checkout (Point B). The vast majority of shoppers won’t make it to that endpoint: Only 2.5% to 3% of ecommerce sales convert.
So what will convince them to hit the “buy” button? Trust in the brand.
Trust doesn’t come easy, though – it needs to be earned. In order to convince shoppers to take a gamble on them, brands need to demonstrate that they care about the customer and their ecommerce experience through every interaction.
Want to build consumer confidence in your brand? Then pay attention to the anxiety-inducing parts of a purchasing experience, and take action to improve the experience. By focusing on pre-purchase optimization, you’ll be able to build trust in your brand that results in higher conversion rates and increased customer loyalty.
Let’s take a look at how to optimize your customers’ pre-purchase experience with the right tools and workflows.
What is pre-purchase optimization?
Pre-purchase optimization refers to the process of developing a refined pre-purchase customer experience that leads to more sales and higher average order values.
Pre-purchase optimization encompasses everything from your website design, to your customer support, to the checkout experience. Every brand interaction should be thoughtfully designed to cultivate trust in your brand, and overcome customers’ objections to making a purchase.
For example, shoppers often face anxieties such as:
- What if the shipping cost is too high?
- What if my order won’t arrive by the time I need it?
- Will I have a hard time returning this item if I don’t want to keep it?
By providing transparent answers to these questions upfront, you’ll be able to resolve their concerns and nudge them towards making a purchase.
Protect your P&L and grow revenue with Checkout+
Eliminate return software and shipping costs, while growing top-line revenue on every order.
Learn moreHow to optimize your pre-purchase experience
Now, let’s look at how to build a highly-optimized pre-purchase experience that will help your shopper feel confident in buying from your brand. By creating a smooth customer experience at every turn, you’ll be able to boost your conversion rate.
- Focus on your online presence: Whether your customer is visiting your social feed, app, or website, make sure every element of your ecommerce experience is on-brand, aesthetically pleasing, and easy to navigate. Your product description pages should include high-quality photos and comprehensive descriptions of the products – ideally, including a customer reviews section where shoppers can share their feedback and photos, so that shoppers can get a better perspective of the products as they’re used in the real world.
- Personalize product recommendations: Buyers don’t resonate with a generic shopping experience. Instead, learn from their browsing behavior and zero-party data (such as information provided on their email signup form) to deliver highly personalized product offers that are tailored to their preferences. If they’ve shared their shoe size, showcase available inventory in their size that’s similar to the products they’ve viewed in the past. By providing customized recommendations, shoppers aren’t just more likely to make a purchase – they’re likely to spend more, with revenue increasing by up to 15% for brands that use personalized product recommendations.
- Prioritize customer support: Make sure that if a shopper has a question about a product, or about your brand’s policies in general, they can find the answer fast. By using a chatbot, you’ll be able to surface answers from your FAQ instantly in response to customer questions – or, pass the shopper along to a live agent for hands-on support if needed. By ensuring shoppers can get the answers they need, they’ll be prepared to continue their journey.
- Provide shipping information upfront: Shipping costs and timeframes are two of the biggest question marks around making a purchase, so by answering these questions before a shopper has added an item to their shopping cart, you can expedite the decision process. Using Loop’s Delivery Promise, you can encourage shoppers to enter their zip code to get accurate shipping costs and delivery estimates for any item on your site, so they’ll come to the checkout page already confident that the product will arrive on time and at a price that works for them.
- Make your return policies generous and transparent: Seventy-seven percent of shoppers routinely check a brand’s returns policy before deciding to make a purchase. By including a link to your returns policy from every product page, and spotlighting a generous, hassle-free returns process, you’ll be able to build your customer’s confidence in your brand. When shoppers know that they have a reasonable time to make a return (at least 30 days), and can return the product for any reason, they’re far more likely to make a purchase. Loop makes it easy to build customized return policies, so that you can automate returns management based on pre-set conditions, such as item type or sales event.
- Offset customers’ return shipping costs: One element of your returns policy that customers will pay attention to is whether they’ll need to pay for return shipping. While shoppers prefer free returns, brands are increasingly charging for returns to cover their bottom line. Consider a smart middle ground that protects profits without disrupting the customer experience: Loop’s Checkout+. Our Checkout+ tool presents customers with the option to pay a small fee upfront at the time of purchase, in exchange for a free return later. This solution costs the customer less than paying the full returns cost, guarantees them a convenient returns experience, and helps your brand recover revenue that you can use to offset the costs of return shipping and subscription fees.
Why pre-purchase optimization matters
By taking steps to personalize the buying experience and alleviate your shoppers’ concerns, you’ll be able to put them firmly in control – giving them far more confidence around completing a purchase. When your customers have a clear picture of the total cost, delivery window, and returns policy for their purchase, they have all the information they need to feel comfortable in their investment. And that not only means that they’re more likely to buy an item – they’re also more likely to add additional products to their cart, increasing their total order value.
Having had a positive checkout experience also means they’re much more likely to come back – just as long as your post-purchase experience is on point, too.
Leveling up the post-purchase experience
While we’ve previously covered the importance of the post-purchase experience, it’s worth touching on here briefly. Everything that happens after the purchase confirmation matters just as much as everything that happened before that point – including shipping confirmation, order tracking, the unboxing experience, and access to a seamless, hassle-free returns experience.
Loop helps you build customer confidence through the entire shopping journey, with tools like Order Tracking dedicated to keeping shoppers informed throughout the shipping process. At the same time, your brand can reduce risk and protect margins with automated fraud detection, Checkout+, and automated returns management tools. Our solution makes it easier to balance the importance of delivering a stellar customer experience against the need to protect your margins, helping you build a great customer journey that’s also sustainable for your brand.
Ready to learn more? Get a demo of Loop.
In this article
Stay in the loop
Subscribe for product updates and Loop's biweekly newsletter.
How ecommerce evolution in 2025 has changed pre-purchase expectations
Retain more revenue with Loop today
With Loop, your brand can offer everything from refunds to direct exchanges to shopper incentives and more. Even better? These exchanges build your business.