How to Develop an Exceptional E-Commerce Customer Experience
Whatever field you're in, you're being judged on the finest customer service experience a client has ever had. Doesn't it seem like a lot of pressure? Yes, it is. Because customer experience is important to 73 percent of consumers when making purchase decisions.
What exactly is it?
Customer experience is the impression consumers form of a company based on their experiences with it, whether in person, online or over the phone. Customer experience in eCommerce refers to how well customers believe your company interacts and engages with them. This frequently has an impact on their future conduct.
Amazon merchants frequently ignore their product reviews and seller feedback as a source of long-tail keywords. You can notice common features that consumers appreciate by looking at what they're saying about your items, and because reviews are written in their own words, they're typically a wonderful insight into what customers value and what they'll seek.
Does customer experience really matter?
According to a PwC poll, a third of people throughout the world will forsake a valued brand after only one negative encounter. However, a great experience, according to 65 percent of respondents in the United States, is more compelling than the finest advertising.
Excellent customer service influences brand loyalty and retention, as well as favorable internet reviews and word-of-mouth marketing. When a consumer has a bad experience, the outcomes are the polar opposite. So it might be time to think about reinvesting your advertising money.
How digital transformation is driving customer experience
What factors contribute to a positive experience? Despite the increased needs of increasingly connected consumers, just 32% of those polled said technology is critical to a company's capacity to accomplish its goals. In fact, according to PwC, most customers only link technology with customer experience when the latter "fails, is delayed, or disturbs the process" in this age of immediate gratification.
Even though Gartner estimates that by 2021, chatbots will be incorporated into 25% of all customer service and support operations, it would be foolhardy for any company to abandon human help anytime soon.
While chatbots can help businesses reduce response times and provide a 24/7 presence, a Chatbots.org survey of 3,000 consumers found that having to repeat information and context to a live agent after explaining the situation to a chatbot is a major source of frustration for 59 percent of respondents. Enhancing the consumer experience requires making technology more human. Despite advances in artificial intelligence, these bots still require human assistance.
The power of personalization
Customers don't always desire a product or service that is tailored to them. They would rather be heard, acknowledged, and appreciated. However, one of the most common ways to accomplish so is through personalization. Despite high-profile data breaches like Facebook's Cambridge Analytica incident, customers are more prepared to share personal information with businesses if there's a benefit for them.
According to a YouGov survey, 43 percent of the 1,145 customers polled consented to share personal information in order to save money through targeted promotions, discounts, or offers. Meanwhile, 39% would do so in order to solve problems faster. Install frequency limitations and burn codes on your retargeting campaigns to assist restrict the automatic targeting that occurs, rather than frightening people out with ads that follow you across the internet.
It's not about informing consumers that you're tailoring an experience just for them. It's all about making customers' lives easier. And this is exactly what customers demand. According to the YouGov report, 47 percent of individuals polled had higher expectations for their customer experience as a result of sharing personal information with businesses.
How to improve eCommerce customer experience
If automation and personalization aren't a possibility, there are some basic actions you may do to improve the user experience on your eCommerce site. The goal is to put oneself in the shoes of a consumer and be informed of current trends. You may then focus on making every encounter with your company as simple as possible.
1. Provide excellent mobile experiences
This year, mobile devices will account for 43% of all internet sales in the United States. eCommerce businesses must ensure that their listings and product photos are optimized for mobile devices or have a mobile app, whether they sell through their own website or a third-party marketplace since more buyers are shifting to mobile.
2. Make the transition to an omnichannel experience
Consumers are increasingly expecting a seamless and streamlined omnichannel experience. Rather than pushing traffic to a website or selling channel, merchants must deliver their items to their customers wherever they are - whether it's on Instagram or via their Amazon Prime membership.
The finest consumer experience is provided by eCommerce retailers that offer purchasing alternatives across websites, social media, third-party marketplaces, and physical retail storefronts. With social commerce being the fastest-growing generator of online sales, many vendors will need to concentrate on this sector.
3. Make fantastic product pages
A user-friendly product page provides clients with all of the information they want about a product without overwhelming them with information.
Images and visuals are a wonderful method to provide visitors with a lot of information without overwhelming them, but you should also include particular characteristics like size, color, weight, material, model numbers, and projected shipping periods. This can assist in closing a transaction while also decreasing negative comments. The more information a buyer has about a product, the more satisfied they will be with their purchase.
4. Make the checkout procedure easier
Simply because of the easiness with which consumers may make a purchase, Instagram's new shopping function has been groundbreaking.
Other eCommerce retailers might take a page from this book and make their checkout process as simple and straightforward as feasible. Consider allowing visitor checkouts and giving live chat help for your customers. Check to see if your shopping cart software offers a save cart option since this will provide your customers with a consistent purchasing experience across devices.
5. Provide prompt and efficient client assistance
Expect multichannel support requests if you have a multichannel web presence. Customers nowadays demand a speedy response to their support needs, whether they contact you via Facebook Messenger, email, or Twitter.
To provide a memorable eCommerce client experience, you must provide speedy, courteous, and effective customer support. When anything goes wrong, customers may be extremely understanding if you respond fast.
6. Provide shipment that is both free and quick
If at all feasible, try improving your eCommerce consumer experience by providing free delivery on purchases. When purchasing online, 75% of customers have learned to anticipate it.
Despite the fact that 85 percent of US customers prefer free shipping to speedy shipping, consumer expectations for free delivery times have risen as well. According to a Deloitte report from late 2019, 87 percent of buyers who want free shipping also expect delivery within seven days.
To put it in a nutshell
In terms of repeat business and word-of-mouth marketing, the customer experience is extremely important. In other words, it's critical to the future success of your internet business.
Companies that thrive at offering excellent customer service have access to a very potent eCommerce marketing weapon. In many respects, this may have a greater impact on consumers than even the most expensive advertising efforts.
As a result, you should take advantage of all available resources to create a fantastic eCommerce customer experience, including technology, personalization, retargeting, and intelligent site design.
Store credit for rewards, refunds, returns, and exchanges. Keep the money in the store when refunding.