Welcome!
This is the first series of interviews with eCommerce industry experts about how they are becoming more intent-led in what they’re doing – to understand what they’re doing within their businesses to make their products more discoverable online, and create eCommerce shopping experiences built more around customer intent.
We’ll then be publishing more of these over the coming weeks and months as we build a movement of eCommerce professionals who are focusing more on customer experience and intent, and less on acquisition and offers.
Q&A with Speero’s Johnny Longden
Jonny Longden is a pioneering leader in experimentation-led growth and one of the early advocates of A/B testing. With a track record of helping top-tier companies like Sky, Boohoo, Intuit, O2, GHD, and Zalora, Jonny has been instrumental in driving measurable, data-driven success for digital experiences across industries.
Jonny joins FoundIt in conversation to share this perspective on why meeting customer expectations is more important than ever before…
How have you seen the e-commerce market change in the last five years?
The demand for customer-centric marketing has intensified hugely. Only five years ago, many businesses merely paid lip service to this concept; today there is real business need and a genuine shift towards deeply understanding customer behaviour to drive engagement and loyalty. This has called for a move beyond surface-level metrics towards embracing a more holistic view of the customer journey that includes subconscious aspects that can be easily overlooked. It’s no longer sufficient to simply drive conversions; building meaningful, long-lasting relationships with customers is vital.
What are the biggest challenges you face online, in terms of meeting e-commerce customer expectations today?
The key balance to strike is between the need for rapid innovation and the imperative to truly understand customer needs. It can be very tempting to chase trends or focus on quick wins, but that can often be detrimental to the overall customer experience. At Speero we guide our clients to rigorously validate their ideas and iterate based on real customer feedback, not merely internal assumptions. Customer expectations are in constant flux so you need to be agile and adaptable to meet them where they’re at.
What are the key strategies that your business is using to win in today’s market?
We champion an approach that deeply understands customer needs and then uses that insight to inform every aspect of our clients’ product strategies. We are also strong advocates for personalisation and leverage data to anticipate the customer needs of the future to get ahead of the game. This has led to us establishing a robust product discovery pipeline that allows for continuous testing and iteration. It’s a never-ending process.
How do you currently enhance the shopping experience for your customers?
We work with our clients to enhance their shopping experiences through various tactics, including personalised recommendations, carefully curated product collections and a seamless checkout process. We also assist them in building a sense of community and engagement through social media and other channels.
Are there specific pain points you’ve observed in your customers’ journey, such as difficulties finding relevant products?
Exactly that – a common challenge that we are faced with time and time again is ensuring customers can easily find what they are looking for on our clients’ sites. With extensive and diverse product catalogues, it can be extremely easy for items to become lost in the “dark aisles” of e-commerce. That’s why we work closely with our clients to improve their search functionality and product discovery mechanisms to combat this.
What strategies have you implemented to improve product discovery for your customers?
We take a multi-faceted approach to product discovery which includes optimizing search algorithms, implementing AI-powered recommendations and creating more intuitive navigation and filtering options. We also guide clients in experimenting with new ways to visually merchandise their products and enhance discoverability.
How do you utilise customer data to inform decisions about product placement, recommendations, or user experience?
We use a blend of quantitative and qualitative data to understand both customer behaviour and the unique preferences for our clients. This includes analysing website traffic, search queries, purchase history and customer feedback. We also conduct user research to gain deeper insights into customer motivations and pain points.
What strategies do you use to reduce “dark aisles” or irrelevant search results that lead to customers drop-off when they don’t find what they want?
We help clients tackle this through a combination of improved search algorithms, better product tagging and metadata and more effective visual merchandising. We also advise on using AI to dynamically personalise search results and product recommendations based on individual customer behaviour.
How do you measure the success of these strategies in terms of customer satisfaction and conversion rates?
We firmly believe that prioritising the long-term health of customer relationships ultimately drives sustainable growth – so while of course we track traditional metrics like conversion rates and revenue for our clients, we also place a strong emphasis on customer satisfaction and engagement. This includes monitoring metrics like customer lifetime value, repeat purchase rates and Net Promoter Score (NPS).
Are you familiar with the term intent-led commerce?
Yes, I am familiar with the concept of intent-led commerce and in agreement with it. It is an approach that resonates with our focus on understanding and anticipating customer needs.
Have you explored intent-led strategies to anticipate customer needs? If so, what results have you seen?
We actively guide our clients in exploring intent-led strategies. By analysing search queries and website traffic patterns, we have assisted them in identifying emerging customer needs and proactively developing products and content to address those needs.
How important is it to anticipate customer needs before they explicitly express them, and what role do you see intent-led strategies playing in achieving this?
Anticipating customer needs is paramount in creating a truly customer-centric experience. Intent-led strategies provide a powerful framework for achieving this, enabling us to move beyond reactive responses and proactively shape the customer journey. By understanding the “why” behind customer behaviour, we help our clients create more personalized and relevant experiences that foster loyalty and drive growth.
–
Are you ready to get intent-led with your approach to commerce? Join our intent-led community and receive the latest updates by following FoundIt on LinkedIn – and for regular tips and insight delivered straight into your inbox, you can subscribe to our newsletter too.