Bite-Sized Insights: How Parents Experience Irish Websites

Each week we ask our trusted Insights panel of parents a key question. This week we were interested in finding out parents’ experiences with Irish websites. Are they easy to navigate? How could they be improved? Take a quick read of this week’s bite-sized insights to find out what parents are saying about navigating Irish websites.

Would you like business-transforming insights for your brand? Use our tailored panels of engaged parents and our dedicated private platform to gather critical insights to help your decision making and activate customers. Contact us now to find how we can help.

We asked our Insights panel of parents to tell us about their experiences with Irish websites and here’s how they answered:

When asked how Irish retailers could improve their website experiences, comments from our panel members included:

“Sometimes I feel the delivery prices are excessive.”

“I would really appreciate free delivery, as I would order more items and spend more money on Irish websites therefore protecting Irish jobs.”

“Free delivery would encourage to shop online with Irish retailers more frequently and spend more money on items.”

“Correspondence on when order has been dispatched and when you can expect delivery. Also who is delivering the item would be very helpful.”

“Include contact details should you wish to contact the retailer including email address, phone no. and social media contact details if applicable.”

“Clearer descriptions and more photos. Sometimes it’s unclear on things like the size of an item.”

“Highlight they are Irish and that items will ship from within Ireland. It’s not always obvious. Give different shipment options: regular post, express delivery, courier etc. Also I think it’s important to give accurate shipping timelines – If you order by 2pm guaranteed next day delivery etc.”

“A lot of them don’t pop up when you’re Googling something to buy.”

“Free delivery should be offered on a lower spend.”

“I would like to see more Irish retailers offer sale prices on their websites, as at the moment it only seems to be mainly clothes shops which do so.”

“More advertising to promote themselves, so more people buy from them.”

“Delivery charges are usually more expensive than items coming from abroad, which I can never understand.”

“I find that lots of Irish retailers don’t have reviews of products on their website. Reviews are very helpful for purchasing products. Also when it comes to clothes, I like to know what they are made from, this information is often overlooked on smaller retailers. Same with ingredients for cosmetics or food.”

“Stock levels are sometimes an issue, so making sure that it is quick and easy to see that you have stock and what sizes items come in for clothing and shoes.”

Actionable Insights for Online Irish Retailers:

We’ve seen it before and we’ll likely see it again – parents really value free delivery when ordering items online. If you can’t offer free delivery, is there a way you can work delivery costs into the prices of the items being sold? Even the illusion of free delivery will have an impact with consumers.
If your business isn’t appearing on the first page of search engine results, it’s worth looking into your website’s search engine optimisation, both from a paid and organic perspective. You need to make sure you’re employing an effective keyword strategy to attract your target audience. If parents are one of your key demographics, ParentsandBrands can help you establish what parents are searching for.
If you’re shipping products from within Ireland, make sure to highlight wherever you can. You might think that it’s obvious to consumers if you’re an Irish business, but as one parent noted above – this is not always the case.

Would you like business-transforming insights from parents for your business? Use our tailored panels of engaged parents and our dedicated private platform to gather critical insights to help influence consumers to deliver long term profitability. Contact us now to find how we can help.