The golden rule for getting men to shop for clothes online? Make it as effortless as possible.

A recent article by WSJ.com (Wall Street Journal) indicates high end fashion websites want to get more men shopping online. Why? Quite simply, men shop online less often than women but tend to spend more.

WSJ.com reports,

Affluent men, those with income levels in the top 20% of U.S. households, spent an average of $3,970 on Internet purchases during the fourth quarter of 2009 compared with $1,958 for women, according to Unity Marketing.

When it comes to shopping in brick and mortar stores, men just want to get in and get out. The same applies to shopping online. Women however, enjoy browsing as part of the shopping experience. So while a female shopper might be shopping for a specific clothing item (e.g. a new pair of shoes), she often will browse through other merchandise unrelated to her initial purpose for shopping.

And while dollar for dollar, women still buy more online than men ($9.6 billion compared to $4.3 billion from April 2009 to April 2010, according to market researcher NPD Group), the theory is that if fashion sites can create the right kind of shopping experience, then more men will shop online.

The fashion sites mentioned in the article – Gilt Group, Rue La La and HauteLook just to name a few – are still experimenting in how to draw men’s interest in shopping for clothes online. From providing virtual, mens-only shopping areas to selling gadgets and gear alongside clothing, these are still wait-and-see tactics. Because in a recent study conducted by Bigresearch asking 8000 men which sites they shopped for clothes most often, none of these brands were mentioned.

So which sites did these men identify? Among the top 10 were Amazon, Wal-Mart, eBay, Macy's and Lands' End. What is it about the shopping experience of these sites that men like? How clothing is categorized and therefore easy to find? The price? Is it customer reviews? Familiarity with the brands sold and confidence in how the clothing will fit? Is it all of the above?

The question on how to get men to shop for clothing online becomes an exercise in understanding your customer and how he wants to shop. Fashion sites need to create a user experience on their sites that makes shopping for clothes effortless for men. In a post written last October about creating the right e-commerce user experience, our own Caroline Zenss says,

When designing an e-commerce site for your consumers (because really, this is who it should be all about), keep in mind that their motivation to buy something from you is influenced by three core elements:

• What they know: their level of familiarity with the Web, e-commerce and commerce in general
• What they see: the home page, and all other pages
• What they get: the interaction they have with your site

And when it comes to designing a clothing shopping experience for men, that advice makes a lot of sense. (Read Caroline’s latest post on user experience in e-commerce site design.)

How can Caroline’s advice be applied to creating a shopping experience that will motivate men to first, visit your site and second, make the decision to purchase?

Create segmented shopping areas

Don’t put anything in the way of where men want to go and what they’re looking for. Consider creating a microsite with products, messaging and navigation targeted for the way men want to shop. To again quote a fellow colleague, Donna Remillard states:

A microsite lets you focus on a specific purpose. Whether it’s focusing on a customer segment, a product segment, or addressing a specific consumer need. A smaller more focused site can offer niche content in a far more relevant and targeted manner than the primary site can. 

Invest in good site search

Help your male customers quickly find what they’re looking for. Research conducted in April and May 2010 by Econsultancy and Funnelback, shows that businesses investing in site search are seeing key benefits such a better user experience, increased site usage and sales.

Enable customer reviews

I’ve written about the advantages of incorporating customer reviews on e-commerce sites before. The big advantage is the opportunity to provide customers and prospects with the research information they are looking for, namely other people's experiences with your brand, right on the same site where they can purchase your products.

This makes your site relevant and demonstrates you are respectful of your customers' time and information needs. For men perhaps unfamiliar with the sizing and fit of your clothing, feedback from other customers can be invaluable in getting them to click-to-purchase.

While men spend less time shopping online than women, it doesn’t mean they aren’t willing to spend if they find something they like. To appeal to this demographic, online retailers must plan an e-commerce user experience that is simple, informative and hassle-free.