From digital growth to winning in the market

whitepaper

From digital growth to winning in the market

Discover how an unwavering focus on customer experience can take you to the top of the market.

The art of winning

Digitization has fundamentally transformed the relationship between businesses and consumers. Consumers now have more choices than ever, their expectations are evolving rapidly, and competition is just a click away. To improve their market position and become leaders in this digital landscape, brands must distinguish themselves throughout the entire digital customer journey.

Success requires focus Your digital team has ambitious goals—digital growth, increasing market share, and improving conversions. Ultimately, success depends on understanding and meeting customer needs. This requires ongoing effort and a sharp focus on the digital customer journey: what exactly are customers looking for and expecting? What do they find important? How do we ensure they choose us?

Consumers often visit multiple sites before making a final choice. Without insights into their experiences with competitors, you’re missing essential information, leading to structural issues in your digital strategy. This lack of insight often results in inefficient resource use, missed opportunities, declining conversions, and even a loss of market share. Without a clear view of the entire market—including the competition—you can’t truly understand what’s happening, nor can you overtake your competitors.

The best digital customer experience wins Hard work will take you far, but you need a clear goal to work toward. Companies often struggle to pinpoint exactly what’s needed to win in the online market. At your next management meeting, try asking what the organization needs to become the number one in the market. Chances are, you’ll hear a mix of conditions, techniques, and strategies—enough to fill a bingo card with marketing jargon.

The winners from 22 different online markets have one clear answer for you: an unwavering focus on customer experience. To fully understand the digital playing field, you must examine the entire customer journey with a consistent methodology that compares your website with those of your competitors. By doing this regularly, you can spot important trends in time and keep track of developments. This approach helps you uncover exactly what the customer is looking for, enabling you to make targeted improvements that demonstrably contribute to growth. Your digital strategy then becomes based on actual customer needs and experiences, enabling your digital team to make maximum impact.

Learn from the winners in 23 online markets This whitepaper provides an in-depth look at how these successful brands reached the top and how they remain there. You’ll learn how WUA Upsight helps navigate from insights to action, keeping your organization’s eyes on the ball. Whether you are an established player or a newcomer, this whitepaper offers practical tools and best practices to help you play in the premier league of e-commerce.

Ready to grow digitally and win your online market?

Henk Kroezen CEO & Founder | WUA

The digital landscape of 2024

In 2024, the European e-commerce sector is set for significant growth. The market is projected to reach approximately €900 billion by 2028, reflecting an annual growth rate of around 12%. This growth is driven by increasing internet penetration, widespread adoption of smartphones, and shifting consumer behaviors favoring online shopping.

Following recent economic challenges, consumer confidence is rebounding across Europe. The mild recession that began late 2023 officially ended in early 2024. Inflation rates are stabilizing in most European countries, and consumer spending is on the rise. The employment rate for people aged 20-64 in the EU increased slightly with 0.2% to 75.8% in Q2 2024 compared to the previous year, while unemployment dropped to under 6%. Europe’s economic recovery is further reflected in a GDP growth of +0.3% in Q1 2024.

Overall, the economic news is mildly positive. So how do these figures affect online shopping?

European

e-shoppers

The percentage of Europeans who are online rose from 87% in 2019 to 93% in 2024. The average percentage of e-shoppers in Europe went from 62% in 2019 to 72% in 2024. Among these, 48% are regular e-shoppers.

e-shoppers

by region

By region, the highest percentage of e-shoppers in 2023 were found in Western Europe (82%) and Northern Europe (83%), while Eastern Europe (53%) and Southern Europe (59%) had the lowest.

e-shoppers

seniority

In Europe, 38% of regular e-shoppers started shopping more than 10 years ago, 26% started 5 to 10 years ago, 22% started 2 to 5 years ago, 9% started this year and 5% started last year.

webshop

loyalty

64% of e-shoppers say they’re loyal to certain websites but sometimes like to switch, 24% always shop on the same websites, and 12% consistently choose different websites to shop. Notably, 33% of Belgian and 41% of Swiss regular e-shoppers always shop on the same websites.

increased online

revenue

European consumers to increase B2C e-commerce spending by 5% in 2024 (€ 958 billion) compared to 2023 (€ 887 billion).

popular

categories

The most popular categories for regular e-shoppers across Europe are Fashion (58%) and Shoes (51%), followed by Beaty/healthcare, Books, Leisure, Medicine, Grocery and Fresh Food/Beverage.

feedback &

reviews

After shopping, 34% publish comments and rate the product on the website, 30% make recommendations to friends and family, 14% post comments and ratings on social networks, and 11% share posts and pictures on social media, while 33% said they never provide feedback.

delivery

preferences

Regular e-shoppers predominantly prefer parcels delivered “At home” (76%), followed by “To a parcel shop” (24%), “To a parcel locker station” (23%), “To a post office” (15%), “To a safe place agreed with the carrier” (14%) and “At work” (11%). In France, “To a parcel shop” is preferred by 59%, while in the Netherlands, 15% prefers “At your neighbor’s home”.

knowing the exact

delivery time

Knowing a 1-hour time slot in advance would definitely motivate 25% of regular e-shoppers to purchase from a website, with 42% responding “probably” and 19% “probably not”. Having the option to pick the day and a specific 1-hour slot would secure a purchase for 27%, “probably” for 44%, and “probably not” for 18%.

drivers &

barriers

The most cited advantages of online shopping for regular European e-shoppers are free delivery (41%), free returns (27%), detailed product information (23%), no hidden fees (21%), digital wallet payment (16%), and transparent delivery costs (13%).

preferred

payment methods

mobile

commerce

By 2024, smartphone penetration in Europe is expected to reach nearly 82%, with M-commerce expected to account for over 55% of all online sales in Europe this year.

Sources: The European E-commerce Report 2024, GEOPOST e-shopper barometer, 2023/24 edition, ecommercenews.eu, S4amz, Statista on smartphone penetration, The Mobile Economy Europe 2023.

‘Services take a big slice of the pie’

“In e-commerce reporting, the focus often leans towards retail and physical products. For instance, in its annual report, the Dutch e-commerce association Thuiswinkel cites online spending and purchases based on the initial purchase amount. How then do we calculate the true value of an energy contract or a phone subscription when the monthly bill may vary?

Services like banking, insurance, energy contracts, and phone subscriptions represent a substantial market. The Dutch health insurance market alone is worth around €50 billion, with 6% to 7% of consumers switching providers annually, according to Vektis. In 2023, MultiScope reported that one million households —12.7% of all Dutch households—switched energy providers. The key challenge for service providers is retaining existing customers and attracting undecided ones.”

Merel Schouten Digital Research Consultant

Reducing returns E-commerce businesses want to increase sales volume. However, if a significant part of sales is returned, it becomes more profitable to focus on returns rather than solely stimulating more sales. In the UK, Rebound reported a 26% increase in retail returns in November 2022 compared to November 2021. Worldwide, Salesforce found a 13% return on 2022 holiday orders — up 63% year-over-year.

Especially in the clothes category, customers frequently order multiple sizes and colors to create a fitting room experience at home. This leads to a massive number of returns. Brands like Patagonia, New Look, Moss Bros, and Mountain Warehouse have started charging for online returns in 2023. Dutch retailer Wehkamp, one of the Netherlands’ top 10 webshops, followed this trend. CEO Graham Harris explains: "Wehkamp was the first e-retailer in the Netherlands to address excessive ordering and returning.” Since April 2023, Wehkamp customers pay a symbolic return fee of 50 euro cents per item. Alongside other measures, such as a 50 euro cents home delivery fee, this led to a 10% reduction in returns after six months, reaching a 14% reduction by the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

In the UK and Norway, H&M and Zara began charging return fees earlier. Research by FiveX indicates that 75% of webshop owners would like to charge a return fee but are restricted by the platforms on which they sell. Other cited reasons include competitors not charging fees and the principle that “the customer is king.”

Social commerce is growing steadily

26% of social platform users engaged in shopping activities on social media in 2023. Though lower than North America’s 39% and APAC’s 30%, this figure has grown 11% since 2021. In 2023, social media revenue in Europe reached $ 26.7 billion, accounting for 3% of total B2C online revenue.

TikTok Shopping was slated to launch across Europe in 2024 but has been delayed, with plans to start in Spain and Ireland in October 2024, though this has yet to be confirmed. Spain is witnessing the fastest user growth of social commerce, with the UK leading this sector.

TikTok and Pinterest are collaborating with Amazon to facilitate in-app shopping, allowing users to shop on Amazon without leaving the social apps.

Cross-border competition

European regular e-shoppers buy from foreign websites: several times (43%), only once (15%), locally but shipped from abroad (13%), or never (22%). Reasons for purchasing abroad include lack of availability locally (53%), better deals (52%) and easier delivery/return options (14%). In Austria, eight out of ten online shoppers made a cross-border purchase in 2022, compared to about five out of ten in Sweden.

Chinese e-commerce companies are catching up to Amazon globally: in terms of gross merchandise volume, Pinduoduo is now only 13% behind Amazon, down from double in 2019.

In Europe, appeals have been made by business organizations and large platforms against the competitive practices of Chinese companies, notably by the European Digital Media Alliance (EDiMA), European Consumer Organization (BEUC) and major tech companies such as Meta and Google. The EU has requested information on trading practices from Temu and Shein and has begun proceedings against Temu under the Digital Services Act (DSA).

The Dutch e-commerce payment network iDEAL was acquired from Currence by the European Payments Initiative (EPI) in 2024. Beginning in 2025, iDEAL will gradually be replaced by EPI’s European Wero, intended to become Europe’s first unified payment solution. This transition is expected to significantly facilitate cross-border e-commerce.

The 10 website features Dutch online shoppers focus on in 2024

Reflecting broader European trends

1. 46%: Whether the website is secure

2. 43%: Whether the webshop has reviews

3. 41%: Whether there are negative reviews online

4. 41%: Whether the webshop has a quality mark

5. 41%: Whether contact details are provided

6. 38%: Whether a (reliable) address is listed

7. 37%: What the (return) conditions are

8. 34%: What different payment methods are available

28%: Whether the webshop appears trustworthy

27%: What the URL of the website is

Source: What’s Happening Online 2024 by Ruigrok, reflecting broader European trends

Sustainability in online shopping

59% of global shoppers consider sustainability “very” or “quite” important when buying online. They prefer sustainable delivery options, such as bike couriers or package lockers after grocery shopping. In Europe, these preferences vary by country: Austria 39%, Czech Republic 26%, France 59%, Germany 46%, Italy 59%, the Netherlands 37%, Poland 51%, Spain 50%, Sweden 53% and the UK 53%.

When asked about paying extra for green delivery, 64% of Germans, 53% of Austrians, 53% of Swedes, and 53% of Italians said they would be willing. However, certain countries reported a higher resistance to extra costs for green delivery: 57% of Czechs, 55% of Dutch, 53% of Poles, 53% of French, and 50% of Spaniards would not opt to pay more.

Emerging European logistics platforms such as Paack, Seven Senders and Urbantz enable multiple carriers (multi-carrier), bringing sustainable delivery options within reach for smaller webshops.

Sources: Statista, Bloomberg on TikTok, Emerce.nl on Pinduoduo, Europe.eu on Temu and Shein, Euronews.com on Wero, DHL’s Online Purchasing Behavior Report 2024.

The leading role of customer experience All these factors contribute to the broader concept of customer experience (CX). For 73% of consumers, CX is the most important factor in choosing a brand, surpassing even price and product quality. Additionally, 52% of consumers would switch to a competitor after poor customer experience.

Companies with high CX can pay up to three times more in dividends than their competitors, according to research by McKinsey. Unsurprisingly, 80% of organizations expect to compete primarily based on CX.

This focus on CX is what truly sets the top brands of 2024 apart: customer experience makes a critical difference in market share. And the channel with the highest expectations for customer experience?

The company’s own website still leads the way.

How do you win in your online market?

A strong customer experience in every aspect is characteristic of high-performing websites. It is even essential for entering the competition in your industry with confidence. However, customer experience, much like success, is a broad concept. The big challenge is crafting a digital strategy specifically tailored to your organization, enabling you to enhance customer experience faster than your competitors in key areas.

As we saw in the 2024 e-commerce landscape, numerous trends and developments may affect your business model now or in the future. Crafting a digital strategy to respond effectively will differ for each organization. For instance, while personalization enhances customer experience and data analysis provides valuable insights, what should your organization prioritize in your specific market? With so many tasks to tackle, dominating a market is no simple feat. There's also a risk of confusing tools with goals; for example, omnichannel is a strategy, not a goal, and may not suit every organization equally well.

So, the big question is: where do you begin as an organization?

Define digital success and focus together The first step is aligning within the organization—between business goals and marketing goals and across different departments. What are the key KPIs, and how do they relate to each other? Are you targeting high-margin products in your marketing campaigns, or focusing on products gathering dust in the warehouse? What market position do we want, and what proposition aligns with it?

Only once everyone is on the same page internally can you focus on continuous improvement to reach your goals.

‘The power of multidisciplinary teams'

“The structure of an organization is crucial for success. It defines internal focus and communication between management and the operational level. We observe that many choose multidisciplinary teams that focus on specific parts of the customer journey, such as traffic generation or the conversion path. Previously, the IT department was responsible for technology and the marketing department for online sales, but now these roles are combined. For example, a Digital Sales team may include a front-end developer and a CRO specialist responsible for the sales success of their digital product.

Across teams, different CRO specialists connect and exchange knowledge, but organizationally, they each belong to their own part of the customer journey for a specific product. This setup is also known as the Spotify Model. The major advantage is that it prevents excessive focus on internal projects and ensures continuous progress in customer experience.

The exact setup of the teams depends on the organization’s scale and market position. On a smaller scale, a team often works on multiple products. A niche player is more likely to focus on improving conversion, while a market leader may want to explore which niches are also interesting for further development. For example, should ING consider green investments?”

Henk Kroezen CEO & Founder | WUA

Taking customer experience as the route With your objectives set, the next step is to plan the path to achieve them. What resources do you need, and what actions should you take? For most companies, the customer is already placed at the center of the organization, but now there is an added dimension: examining the entire customer journey, which largely unfolds online. When your organization aims to control this journey, various pain points quickly emerge:

The customer journey is complex: It spans multiple channels and moments over time. Tools for web analytics, conversion analysis, and customer research use different parameters and measurement methods, making it challenging to gain a full picture of how customers actually purchase and experience your brand.

Customer experience is crucial, but often its exact importance and form are unclear. Optimizing customer experience can feel random—changes are made without measuring impact ("fire & forget"), or additional features lead to scope creep. The digital team frequently lacks a clear focus on systematically reducing friction throughout the customer journey.

There is no visibility into the customer experience at competitors. Insights into customer behavior on your own site aren’t enough. Which players offer a superior customer experience? When do customers choose us? Are we performing well, or is the competition falling short?

We aim to grow market share through better customer experience, but there is no clear plan for achieving this. The backlog for improvements is filled with ad hoc items, but digital goals remain unmet.

To gain insights into the entire customer journey, follow customers from start to finish in their journey. Map out what they do and why, capturing their behavior, sentiment, and experiences on both on your website and those of your competitors. A best practice is to segment the customer experience into parts that can be individually monitored and compared with competitors.

The following segmentation approach is successfully applied in practice by WUA.

01. Findability

How many consumers visit your website?

The customer journey begins with findability: how easily can customers find your website?

Without visibility, conversion is impossible, and you don’t participate in the online market. Findability encompasses all digital channels through which consumers start their journey: search engines, ads, newsletters, social media, and direct traffic.

At WUA, we define findability as the percentage of consumers who visit a website during their online search for a specific product.

02. Conversion

How many visitors prefer your website?

‘Preference is conversion’

“Previously, we used preference as a separate metric between findability and conversion to assess customer experience. However, we moved away from this approach a few years ago; in practice, preference equals conversion. By conversion, we don’t mean absolute sales figures—only the brands themselves have access to those—but the final choice of the visitor. This choice determines market share: the percentage of potential customers who ultimately choose brand A over others.”

Michiel Cassee Digital Research Consultant

Once your website is considered for a specific product or service, the next question is: of all the websites a consumer visits, which do they prefer? This is conversion, which WUA defines as the extent to which a website can persuade visitors to choose it over others. We calculate this as the percentage of visitors who, after visiting all websites, select that site as their preferred provider.

Gaining this valuable insight requires benchmarking—comparing the customer experience on your website with that of competitors. Key questions include: which provider ranks second? Third? What would these competitors need to change to become the first choice?

A holistic view of the customer experience

Customer experience determines whether new customers are willing to try your product, whether existing customers remain satisfied, and whether they would consider switching to a competitor.

Breaking down customer experience into findability and conversion — and comparing these metrics with competitors —provides actionable insights for your digital strategy.

Findability relates to acquisition: attracting as many potential customers to your website as possible in the right way.

Conversion entails convincing visitors to choose your brand, building both market share and loyalty among existing customers.

Fin

Findability

Conversion

Fin

With a dedicated focus on customer experience in each component, you can drive digital growth and gain a critical advantage in the digital market.

What exactly is CX benchmarking?

“CX benchmarking is the next logical step for delivering the best customer experience in the market across all aspects. This concept truly resonates when you conduct the following exercise with key decision-makers and stakeholders:

Search online individually for a product you need, such as a bed or TV.

Compare your results: who did you find? Who did you choose? Why?

This exercise forms the core of WUA’s proposition. When we first tried it, five out of six of us chose a bed at Wehkamp. We had all viewed Beter Bed as well, but only one of us chose it.

If you're part of Beter Bed’s management team, you want to know exactly why 5 out of 6 people viewed your site but ultimately chose another. CX benchmarking provides that insight by comparing your customer experience to competitors’ across a broad sample to ensure representative results.

This approach reveals precisely what you need to change to be the top choice. CX benchmarking truly serves as the starting point of digital growth.”

Henk Kroezen CEO & Oprichter van WUA

Digital growth with a customer focus

Becoming a market leader in one leap is generally unrealistic. Instead, focusing on customer experience is the path to success, which unfolds in two major steps: findability and conversion. Market share will follow naturally. The primary challenge for many organizations lies in determining the next logical step, which depends entirely on their specific market position.

At WUA, we use a unique chart to display market positions, with conversion and findability as the axes. How well does your website convert, and effective is it at being found in the market within a specific product category?

For example, the bubble chart on the next page shows the positions of websites in the investment account market in the Netherlands:

What you see in this bubble chart:

The clear market winner is DEGIRO.nl, positioned in the top right.

In the bottom right are established names, such as ING.nl and ABNAMRO.nl, which are relatively easy to find but do not convert well.

The top left shows the lesser-known brands that perform well in their niche.

The bottom left quadrant includes lesser-known parties without a clear niche.

This information alone is valuable for any market player, but the question remains: what to do with it? We examine each quadrant’s challenges, KPIs, and focus, with a practical example of how WUA Upsight supports each.

Top right: love brands This quadrant includes the market leaders everyone aims to beat: Amazon, Bol, and Booking.com, for example. The challenge here is to remain at the top by offering the best price-to-value ratio in customers’ eyes to maintain brand preference. This means staying sharp on customers, competitors and innovations that could shift or expand the market.

These leaders focus primarily on customer satisfaction, often measured in the form of Net Promoter Score (NPS). As a metric, NPS reflects the balance between “detractors” who would not recommend the brand and “promoters” who would. Organizations use this over time to compare themselves with other companies and sectors. In practice, managers use it to interpret customer loyalty, potential growth, and control over the customer relationship.

Example: WUA Upsight - Camping NL

Bottom right: the established players These are often older brands that are frequently found and considered but are not always chosen. They have a solid foundation but struggle to clearly convey their added value compared to newer brands, resulting in lower conversion rates. Their main challenge is to make their product offer more appealing without sacrificing too much profit margins through discounts.

The focus here is primarily on customer loyalty and enhancing brand preference. Many brands in this quadrant adopt an added-value proposition to improve their offering, such as bundling mobile, TV, and internet, or adding extras like Spotify subscriptions. The key question for these brands is why customers still choose others and what needs to change to turn the tide. For instance, Dutch telecom providers T-Mobile and Tele2 recently rebranded to Odido to prioritize the customer experience over technology.

Example: WUA Upsight - Investment Banking NL

Everyone knows these established brands, but they are not always the top choice.

Top left: the niche players These brands excel in specific niches, like Bunq.nl for freelancers or Greenchoice.nl in the green energy market. They are big fish in a small pond, but relatively unknown in the broader market. Their biggest challenge is to keep major players out of their niche while continuing to grow.

The strategy here is centered on customer retention. Understanding why visitors choose or don’t choose them is essential for building on strengths and expanding into other niches —such as Bunq moving into the SME market. According to Treacy and Wiersema’s Value Disciplines Model, niche players can choose to excel in both Product Leadership and Customer Intimacy.

Voorbeeld: WUA Upsight - Energy NL

Niche players excel in specific areas and can grow by focusing on the areas where improvement is still needed.

Bottom left: lacks positioning This quadrant includes brands that first need to clarify their positioning. Who are they for, and what exactly do they offer? Brands here focus on establishing a connection with the market through a clear proposition. The Strategyzer Value Proposition Canvas is a particularly effective tool, emphasizing relevance by outlining the target audience’s needs on one side and how the brand fulfills them on the other.

For these brands, the emphasis is on customer acquisition and findability. A fundamental question here is the starting approach: do you target a specific audience with a known problem and then solve it, or do you start with a specific solution and find a matching audience? Understanding customer behavior and expectations is essential.

Voorbeeld: WUA Upsight - Private Car Lease NL

These lesser-known brands aim to understand how competitors attract traffic and often face challenges from well-established brands.

‘Keeping your eye on the ball’

“Your digital strategy is shaped by your market position. To steer your organization effectively within the market, you need continuous visibility into that market. After all, customers aren’t static, and neither are your competitors. For instance, a new channel that your customers start using can impact your findability, or a competitor’s more competitive pricing model might affect your conversion rates.

If your organization genuinely views customer experience as the key market differentiator, you’ll want to manage it on every relevant front. CX benchmarking provides a comprehensive view of customer experiences across the entire market. This process should not be done once but continuously, allowing you to spot trends, identify market shifts, and assess the impact of your improvements. This way, you keep your eye on the ball and can implement your digital strategy successfully, step-by-step.”

Henk Kroezen CEO & Founder | WUA

From Insight to strategy and tactics

You set a market goal: to become the best or to surpass a specific competitor. With full visibility into the entire customer experience, you create a practical digital strategy. At WUA, we distinguish between two approaches here: tactical for monitoring and strategic for overtaking the competition.

Strategic for monitoring On one hand, you want to understand how the online landscape develops over time:

Where do we currently stand in the market? How are competitors moving? Who has momentum?

What risks do we face in the market? Which newcomers or disruptors are gaining traction?

Which players could we acquire to grow further? What are customers missing in the market?

These questions help you grasp the digital landscape, allowing you to respond strategically to opportunities and trends. Your management team uses these insights to adjust the digital strategy and make informed decisions on key issues.

Tactical for overtaking On the other hand, you need insights into exactly what should improve in the customer experience to boost conversion and strengthen your market position:

We invest heavily in our online presence every year. Where exactly do we stand?

Why aren’t customers choosing us? Do we need a new tactic to stand out from the competition?

What can we do to match or even surpass our direct competitor next quarter?

These in-depth questions point directly to the tactics needed for growth and success. The operational level in your organization uses these insights to prioritize the improvements on the backlog that truly impact the bottom line.

At WUA, we believe that insight forms the foundation for impact.

By understanding the complete customer journey—including competitors—organizations can effectively meet the needs and preferences of their target audience. WUA provides CX benchmarking through two complementary solutions that deliver both tactical and strategic insights, helping organizations refine their digital strategies and achieve growth—this is what we call WUA Upsight.

Digital Market Tracker – Market overview The Digital Market Tracker monitors your online market with 1,600 customer journeys throughout the year. Each quarter, 400 potential customers search for your specific product, visiting four websites of their choice. We continuously analyze their experiences, considerations, and decisions to generate essential insights about findability, conversion, and market share for each player. Every KPI and market trend is mapped out clearly.

Website Experience Deep Dive – Full customer journey The Website Experience Deep Dive is an annual in-depth analysis of your own website and those of your three main competitors. We thoroughly examine all strengths and weaknesses in a detailed snapshot, yielding crucial insights and personalized recommendations that can significantly boost conversion and enhance the performance of your digital team.

Digital Market

Tracker

1,600 respondents per year, representing a target audience.

Continuous tracking with quarterly updates.

Track KPIs: findability, conversion, and market share.

Insight into why customers choose you (or not) and how you compare to competitors.

Collaborate with your operational team to prioritize focus areas.

Improve customer focus, personalization, strategic decision-making, and conversion optimization.

Website Experience

Deep Dive

200 respondents per study, representing a target audience.

In-depth analysis of the website experience on your website vs. three competitors.

Advisory report by a CRO/CE expert with personal recommendations.

Obtain insights at least once a year to inform the backlog.

Optimize customer experience across seven key topics, resulting in a priority matrix.

The Digital Market Tracker and the Website Experience Deep Dive together form WUA Upsight: all the insights you need to understand the context and nuances of your market, empowering you to successfully optimize your digital strategy. This holistic solution provides ongoing tactical insights into market developments and an annual, in-depth boost aligned with your digital team’s capacity.

This continuous approach, reinforced by benchmarking, ensures alignment between the digital team and management, enabling effective collaboration to drive digital growth.

How do you translate these tactical and strategic insights into growth and profit? In the next two chapters, we ‘ll show how these two solutions help top brands in their everyday operations.

Monitoring with the Digital Market Tracker

The Digital Market Tracker offers continuous insights into your market position relative to the competitors. Covering the essential elements of findability, conversion, and drivers & barriers, it maps out the entire sales funnel for you and your competitors, providing clarity on where you stand and what actions to take.

The Digital Market Tracker ensures that management, marketers, and other stakeholders remain fully informed about the organization’s standing and where action, budget, and focus are required. Every quarter, you’ll see how the market shifts, understand why you may win or lose against specific competitors, and pinpoint areas for targeted improvement.

Findability This section assesses how your website compares to competitors in terms of findability. Marketers can track how traffic is generated and the sequence in which websites are accessed by consumers. They’ll see which competitor websites are visited alongside theirs, in what order, and through which channels. These insights are essential for refining digital strategies and approaches.

How often is each website visited in the market?

Gain insights into the distribution of traffic in your market and monitor how changes over time.

What is the traffic composition for each website?

Understand the makeup of organic, paid, and direct traffic per website.

What is the sequence of visits across websites?

Learn which sites are visited first, second, third, or fourth within the customer journey.

Conversion This section reveals visitors' readiness to choose a website. Management, e-commerce managers, and CRO specialists receive a clear analysis of preferences and conversion rates for each website, enabling precise approaches to conversion optimization.

How many visitors does each website convert?

Insights on each player’s ability to drive conversion.

If your website is not chosen, who is?

See which competitor is preferred when visitors don’t select your site after exploring multiple options.

How is each website ranked by visitors?

Instantly view the preference hierarchy, understanding if you’re often the second, third, or fourth choice.

Drivers & Barriers Numbers alone provide insights into trends, but not the reasons behind them. The Drivers & Barriers section dives into these reasons, allowing the digital team to take proactive steps: which topics score high or low with visitors?

Why do visitors choose your website?

Discover what your website does well in the eyes of visitors.

Visitor feedback: why did you choose this site?

Capture clear statements of visitor experience and preference per website and per topic.

Sentiment and context Sentiment and background information about visitors offer additional context in the CX benchmarking study. Management receives detailed NPS figures for the market each quarter, and marketers see the exact profile of the target audience. Additionally, the tracker shows whether visitors are current customers. These insights are essential for informed decision-making.

Would you recommend this website to others?

Quarterly NPS scores reveal levels of brand advocacy.

Are you a customer of this website?

Learn if your visitors are existing customers or not.

The bigger picture

“One of the biggest online challenges for many companies is the variety of data sources. Organizations measure many different things often without consistency, which makes it difficult to focus. Additionally, there’s often a lack of visibility into what competitors are doing.

It’s logical to look at your own customer experience, conversions, and metrics, but the big picture is missing—an 8% growth sounds impressive until you realize competitors are growing by 16%.

The Digital Market Tracker provides the full picture—not only on how the website is performing but also where smart investments can strengthen your market position. You get customer perspectives benchmarked against your competitors, producing actionable insights that can drive results—if you act on them.”

Yannick Ludwig Head of Product

Optimizing with Website Experience Deep Dive

The Website Experience Deep Dive offers a thorough analysis of your website and those of your three main competitors. This deep dive delivers actionable insights and targeted improvement points to elevate the customer experience with precision.

The Website Experience Deep Dive charts the route to success by identifying the best practices in the market across seven crucial dimensions. You gain a clear understanding of why visitors choose you or your competitors, learn which elements customers value the most, and can enhance the customer experience to meet their expectations.

Website Experience Deepdive

The seven crucial dimensions for success

These seven topics form the WUA Website Experience Model, showing you where your website can achieve the most gains relative to the market. Knowing where you’re lagging and the importance that topic is in consumers’ decision-making, allows you to make targeted optimizations.

1. Appearance Users decide within seconds whether to stay on your site. An appealing design can engage them to explore further. Appearance includes the visual design and presentation —such as colors, images, layout, and overall aesthetics —that convey emotion and align with your brand identity.

2. Brand Perception A strong brand perception builds user trust and increases the likelihood of purchase. Brand perception measures how users perceive your brand, shaped by familiarity, reputation, and perceived value.

3. Price Perception Price perception directly influences customer satisfaction, loyalty, and revenue. It reflects users’ feelings about the cost of your products, with a focus on perceived value, price -to-quality ratio, transparency, and competitiveness.

Read more on our blog: What is price perception and why is it important for your brand? >>

1. Product Offer Users want to clearly understand your offerings and if they meet their needs. Product offer measures the clarity and relevance of your product information, encompassing product quality, available options, and decision-making tools.

2. Scannability Users often seek information quickly. If they can’t find it, they may quickly switch to a competitor. Scannability assesses how easily users can scan and grasp the content on your page, relying on text, layout, and visual hierarchy.

3. Navigation Poor navigation can lead to frustration and early exits from your site. Navigation measures the ease of finding information and moving between pages. This includes logical click paths, clear buttons, links, menus, and search functions to ensure a smooth user experience.

4. Technical Functioning Slow or glitchy websites drive users away, regardless of content quality. Technical functioning measures your website’s performance, such as load times, cookie notifications, and issue-free interactions.

Read more on our blog: 7 dimensions for higher conversion: The key to an optimal website experience >>

Website Experience Deepdive

Benchmarking at a high level

The Website Experience Deep Dive evaluates your website against these seven dimensions and compares it to three competitors. This comparison not only shows your performance on each dimension but also reveals best practices. Why does a specific competitor excel in price perception? What feedback do visitors provide about that website? How does your website compare?

How does a website perform on a specific topic compared to the market? (Example from the Website Experience Deep Dive for Credit Card NL)

Visitors clearly express why they feel positively or negatively about each topic and provider.

From feedback, you gain insights into the best practices that resonate positively with visitors.

Prioritize on impact Through topical analysis, you see where you stand on each topic and which improvements could most impact conversion. This helps you prioritize changes that will drive digital growth.

For this Website Experience Deep Dive, the topics Product offer and Brand perception are identified as the most crucial topics for improving conversion.

‘Growth begins with focus’

Amanda van der Linden started as a full-time CRO specialist in 2020 with the new Digital Sales team, overseeing online sales for all personal and business insurance products. After the first year, the team recognized they had a major problem: a lack of focus to make real progress.

Curious about how focus and the right KPIs drive success in Univé’s CRO program?

Check out Amanda’s story on our blog >>

23 Winners of the 2024 Digital Market Trackers

Consistently measuring and enhancing customer experience leads to becoming the top player in your market. As an example: The following leading brands have emerged as the clear winners of Q2 2024 in our Digital Market Trackers in The Netherlands and Germany, where we closely monitor these markets.

Annuity Pension

Consumer | NL | Q2 2024

NN.nl

the 2024 Digital Market Trackers

23 Winners of

Liability Insurance

Business | NL | Q2 2024

CentraalBeheer.nl

Business Loan

Business | NL | Q2 2024

ABNAMRO.nl

Campsite in Europe

ANWBCamping.nl

Car Insurance

Business | NL | Q2 2024

Unive.nl

Car Insurance

Independer

Betaalrekening

Business | NL | Q2 2024

Child Savings Account

Rabobank.nl

Current Account

ING.nl

Disability Insurance

CentraalBeheer.nl

Energy Contract

Essent.nl

Home Insurance

Independer.nl

Home Sustainability

Investing Account

DEGIRO.nl

Mobile Payment Device

Business | NL | Q2 2024

SumUp.com

Mortgage

Personal Loan

ING.nl

Private Car Lease

ANWB.nl

Renting Equipment

Consumer | DE | Q2 2024

ZeppelinRental.DE

Renting Equipment

Boels.nl

Children's Savings Account

ING.nl

Scooter insurance

ANWB.nl

Telecom Package

Ziggo.nl

These 22 winners have mastered their online markets with an unwavering focus on customer experience. Tactical and strategic insights form the backbone of impactful actions—provided the digital team is empowered to act on them.

So, how do you make your digital team both agile and decisive?

The Formula 1 approach for digital teams

Some organizations view themselves as a family, but a family-like culture isn’t always ideal for high-performance environments. According to the Harvard Business Review, it’s better to think of your organization as a sports team focused on performance and precision—much like a Formula 1 team.

A Formula 1 team is built for peak performance in the highest levels of motorsport. Decisions are data-driven, performance is continuously monitored for improvements, and the car undergoes major updates at least once a year. This approach is highly insightful for digital teams aiming to enhance their performance. Here are best practices to help your digital team operate like a Formula 1 team and win the online race.

Regular evaluation and optimization

Every high-performing team requires ongoing evaluation and alignment.

Periodic strategic reviews: Hold regular strategic sessions to assess current performance and refine goals. Leverage data analysis to understand what’s effective and what isn’t—this is where the Digital Market Tracker shines.

Small iterations: Embrace a continuous improvement cycle. Make regular, small adjustments based on feedback and performance metrics.

Use KPIs: Set clear KPIs that align with organizational goals. Monitor these KPIs to keep the team focused on core objectives.

Data-driven decision-making

The right insights can lead to exceptional outcomes.

Customer perspective: Use a structured, ongoing method to collect customer data, providing a holistic view of the customer experience.

CX benchmarking: Apply the same method to competitors to enable comparison and cross-learning in various areas.

Dashboarding: Build an intuitive dashboard to visualize key performance indicators and trends, giving the team immediate insights to respond to changes.

A/B testing: Run A/B tests, as Univé does, to explore different approaches and determine what yields the best results.

Complete snapshot: Conduct a comprehensive analysis, such as the Website Experience Deep Dive, to thoroughly compare your digital performance against competitors across all critical dimensions.

Strong team culture

Empower your team by giving them the freedom to execute their tasks autonomously.

Multidisciplinary teams: Build a diverse team with a range of skills and backgrounds for a holistic approach to challenges—consider the Spotify model.

Clear division of tasks: Define roles and responsibilities clearly, assigning each specialist a task that contributes to the collective goal.

Team lead: Designate a team lead to drive projects, motivate team members, and manage stakeholders, giving them the authority and access to management to lead effectively.

Continuous learning and development

Market leaders that don’t adapt are quickly surpassed by newcomers who know the game better.

Turning insights into action: Ensure your insights are actionable, enabling the team to make data-driven improvements with measurable impact.

Feedback cycles: Implement fast feedback loops so that lessons learned can be applied immediately.

Competency development: Facilitate regular training and workshops to keep skills sharp and foster innovation. Track and develop team competencies continuously.

Speed of action

Quick decisions and execution make your digital team agile and responsive.

Manage with flexibility: Use agile frameworks like Scrum or Kanban to increase adaptability and accelerate project implementation.

Empowerment: Allow team members to make decisions within a defined scope, reducing response time to challenges and opportunities.

Focus on impact: Identify which aspects of the customer journey have the most influence on conversion and prioritize these improvements in your backlog.

Management support: Ensure management is actively engaged and quick to back decisions, allowing teams to act faster and remove obstacles.

Communication and collaboration

Efficient communication is the backbone of successful teamwork.

Regular alignment: Hold daily stand-ups and regular team meetings to discuss progress and obstacles, keeping everyone aligned.

Transparency: Foster a culture of open and honest communication within the team and with stakeholders to build trust and strengthen collaboration.

Stakeholder management: Use detailed reporting to keep stakeholders informed about performance and improvements, ensuring consistent support.

Only one can be the best in your online market. With a multidisciplinary team that is as agile and performance-driven as a Formula 1 team, you can leave the competition behind.

Accelerate and overtake

Customer focus requires an unwavering commitment to delivering the best customer experience in the market. To achieve this, you need strategic insights at each step of the customer journey: the findability of your website, your site’s conversion, and those of your competitors. This clarity simplifies complexity, allowing your organization to zero in on the precise improvements and adjustments that drive meaningful impact and digital growth.

By regularly analyzing the market, you gain a real-time understanding of shifts in the online landscape shifts and how your adjustments are received.

An annual deep dive into critical areas reveals exactly what to refine—and what to leave unchanged—to keep ahead of competitors.

These tactical and strategic insights from WUA Upsight empower your digital team to function like a Formula 1 team.

and overtake

Accelerate

Your coach for online success

We help our clients win with a dedication to strategic insights, forward-thinking teamwork, and a growth-oriented mindset. Leading brands like Allianz, ABN AMRO, Vodafone, ING, Google, and Suzuki have trusted WUA as their digital growth partner for over fifteen years.

Our approach empowers you to:

Systematically map out the entire customer experience;

Gain insight into customer perceptions of your website and the impact of adjustments;

Identify unmet customer needs.

We then translate these insights into actionable priorities and a clear plan.

Accelerate and overtake

Start your journey here

Do you also want to become the undisputed market leader like the top brands mentioned in this whitepaper? We’re here to guide you on the journey to online leadership.

Book a demo and discover how our products, Website Experience Deep Dive and Digital Market Tracker, provide a complete view of your market and help you deliver the best possible digital customer experience.

Book a demo

Roos Rieu Customer Success Manager roos.rieu@wua.cx

WUA B.V. | Herengracht 252 | 1016 BV Amsterdam | info@wua.cx | +31 (0) 20 531 97 10