Here’s How ASOS Ticks All the Boxes for Ecommerce Success

The ecommerce business has been booming during the pandemic and brands in that space are now scrambling to make sure they maintain that lead in the post-pandemic world. The big question being whether the novelty of being able to return to physical stores will outweigh the price and convenience of online shopping.

Some brands were already disrupting the online world before ecommerce was even a word. Jeff Bezos was selling books out of his garage, and a small clothing brand was making celebrity fashion affordable and accessible through online selling. Founded in London, UK, ASOS – standing for As Seen on Screen – may have started out shipping cheaper versions of red carpet outfits, but the brand has since grown into a significant original fashion retailer in its own right.

ASOS has achieved its continued success by putting customer satisfaction first and making sure all its ecommerce innovations are built around that objective.

Customer Satisfaction

Recent research from YouGov has shown that ASOS has made significant gains in a number of key areas relating to customer satisfaction.

The retailer’s impressions scores, which track whether its customers have a positive or negative opinion regarding the brand, doubled during the first half of 2021 – rising from 5.5 to 11.4. This final rating is only a fraction lower than the peak score, recorded for the month of February, of 13.8. Not only that, but ASOS’ reputation scores, which ask customers to rate on a scale whether they’d be proud or embarrassed to work for the brand, also doubled during the same period, rising from 3.1 to 6.7.

Clothing retail has historically been quite resilient to the decline of the high street, as shopping for fashion has typically been a highly tactile experience, with customers preferring to see, feel, and perhaps most importantly, try on clothes. However, with the pandemic effectively taking this option off the table, ASOS has seen its value for money scores jump from 7.7 to 11.2 and recommendation ratings go from 5.5 to 10.1.

"Looking beyond people who bought from the brand, there’s evidence that more people are planning to do so in future," said YouGov. "Consideration scores rose from 11.1 to 14.9, while Purchase Intent – which asks consumers which brands they’d be most likely to buy from in future – rose from 4.8 to 8.1. Importantly, customers are also happy with what they’re getting from ASOS. Satisfaction scores, which measure whether consumers are a satisfied or dissatisfied customer of a fashion chain, went from 7.6 to 12.7."

The Secret to Success

At this point, you may be wondering how ASOS has managed to maintain such a momentum for such a long time. Well, the brand achieves its success by focusing on the basics and being really very good at them.

A visit to the ASOS webstore will inform you of this the moment you land. The portal is incredibly clean and clutter free and is incredibly simple and intuitive to navigate. Drop down menus and extensive filtering options provide customers with easy access to the products they are interested in and removes barriers between seeing that perfect piece and purchasing it.

The ASOS search bar also goes an extra step by adding a style matching tool to the process. When searching for something on ASOS, shoppers can enter the keyword Style Match, at which point customers are then given the option to upload a photo of themselves. Once they’ve done so, ASOS’ powerful AI and pattern recognition technology will go to work and suggest products it thinks will suit them – along with a percentage style match rating.

ASOS also helps customers make better purchasing decisions by, not only having professional high-quality images of its products, but by also providing videos. The video catalogue pages help customers see an item in motion and from all angles and makes the process of deciding whether the product is for them significantly simpler.

ASOS’ whole philosophy is providing a great customer experience, while simultaneously removing barriers between seeing that perfect item of clothing or accessory and making the purchase. Difficult to use websites and overly long checkout processes are two of the biggest causes of abandoned shopping carts and ASOS does a brilliant job of tackling both of these challenges together.

Final Thoughts

Ecommerce brands looking to boost their own customer satisfaction scores would do well to follow the lead set by ASOS. As one of the most tenured players in the ecommerce game, ASOS has been serving the ecommerce space for a long time and this absolutely shows in the way it conducts itself online.

Customer satisfaction is set to be a hot topic at eTail Europe 2022, taking place in April at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London, UK.

Download the agenda today for more information and insights.