From eCommerce Sales to Support — How to Have Happy eCommerce Customers

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eCommerce Sales to Support
Source: Pixabay

Having in mind that we live in a digital era, it is not strange that there are more and more eCommerce shops each day.

Nowadays, many people decide to start with online shopping instead of going to the physical stores.

Online shopping saves time, and packages usually come right to the home address.

Sellers recognized this opportunity and in many niches competition is increasing rapidly.

Numerous shops are fighting for the attention of their target audience. If you run one of those online shops, then you should find out how you can make a customer-centric eCommerce store first.

Satisfied customers are the ones that will gladly recommend you further and increase your conversion rates just by leaving a comment on your shop.

Not to mention that the customers are more willing to believe other customers rather than the seller itself.
Now, let’s see how you can make your customers happy and loyal!

1. Pay Attention to Your Content

No matter how interesting your product or service is, if you don’t present it well enough, your customers won’t have the right opportunity to get familiar with it.

When you create your posts, you should know how to talk to your target group. Every business has its specified audience, and market segmentation can help you to send your message in the right way.

Keep in mind that you should always include high-quality images and explanation video clips to get people to learn more about what you’re offering.

Eye-catching copies are also a crucial part of every optimized eCommerce shop. Besides basic information, you should include something that will grab a potential customer’s attention.

The best practice is to add a USP (unique selling proposition) into the text.

For example, if you run a reusable kitchen products shop, write about how they are easier to wash up or pack into the storage. Insert a video of your product in use below.

Thanks to this, your customers will be shown the complete presentation of a product. They will be aware of your professionalism and credibility. This would also lead people to bring a faster decision that your brand is the perfect choice for making a purchase.

2. Offer Benefits

Your product can cost just a couple of dollars or a couple of tens of thousands of dollars. No matter what your customer’s solvency is, they will always prefer discounts or coupon codes.

Create promos that will include a gift after a certain amount of money is spent in your shop or make a combination of similar products that will encourage buyers to make bigger purchases.

Free shipping is also one way of offering benefits. People don’t like to pay for any other costs besides the price itself.

ecommerce free shipping popup
Source: Webflow

You can even set a higher price and include shipping, but present a product as a purchase without shipping costs.
For the easier presentation of benefits, you can use a pop-up window that would appear as soon as a buyer enters your eCommerce shop or after a certain amount of time spent looking at your products.

Matt Janaway, CEO of Marketing Labs says

“Free delivery is a proven method of not only keeping customers happy but also improving your conversion rates. Ometrics tested the impact of free delivery and found it increased conversions by 20%. Amazon Prime has shaped the eCommerce world and consumers now almost expect delivery to be free, so capitalise on the opportunity and improve your bottom line performance.”

3. Keep Your Purchase Process Simple

When someone decides to purchase from you, the last thing they want to spend time on is fulfilling many fields in your purchase form.

reason for checkout abandonments

Source: WordStream

As you can see, the complicated checkout process is the third main reason why people are leaving your shop without making a purchase.
For example, asking your customers to leave their address and phone number is a reasonable thing to do, but it is up to you to make the whole process as simple as possible.

Ask only for the most important information about the delivery and payment method.

You can also ask them to leave their email address for purchase confirmation. What would be a nice touch is to ask them if they would like you to start sending them emails about news and discounts in the future.

Try to add all of these fields in one form and don’t ask too many questions because, at that moment, what your buyer wants primarily is to receive their package quickly and safely.

4. Maintain Expectations

Disappointed customers are the last thing you want to happen if you are running an eCommerce shop.
To prevent this, fulfill the expectations you’ve already set up.

Always check if you sent the right product as well as if it was well-packed, and send a tracking number of your shipment to a customer, if it is available.

If you are running a dropshipping shop, always order one product for yourself to be sure that customers will get exactly what they ordered.

5. Meet the Delivery Deadline

One of the benefits of online shopping can also be a fast delivery. Customers want to get their order as soon as possible, which is understandable.

Before you start sending your orders, check what the optimal delivery deadline is. Especially if you are shipping worldwide, find out how long it would take for your package to arrive at the buyer’s address.

If you are not sure what the exact deadline is, it is better to extend it and add a couple of more days than to give false information.

Buyers are still suspicious when it comes to online shopping, and it is up to you to convince them that they don’t have anything to worry about.

6. Listen to Your Target Audience

Social media channels are very popular today and you should use their popularity to your advantage.

DataReportal-Digital-2020-Global-Digital-Overview

Source: WeAreSocial

Besides having an eCommerce shop, you can share your content and products through different social media networks where your target audience can easily leave a comment or a review.

Leaving comments is not at all uncommon and people are used to sharing their opinions, which you can use later on to make your business more successful and meet your future customer’s needs.

By using social media, you can do research and see what your ideal buyers share, read or watch.

Thanks to these insights, you can find out more about their behavior and use this information when creating your products and posts.

You will find out what type of content they prefer and what tone of communication you should use when talking to them.

7. Collect Feedback

After someone purchases in your shop, you should find out what a customer’s opinion is about your product or service. Analyze their behaviour, and collect feedback in order to improve user engagement.

When they submit the payment form, it is time for a follow-up e-mail. Don’t be too pushy, just tell them that their order is on the way and that you would appreciate their feedback.

After they have been using your product or service for some time, you can even send a survey to already existing customers and nicely ask them to fulfil it. As a reward for setting aside some time to help you, offer them a discount or a coupon code for their next purchase at your shop.

When you collect customers’ feedback, you will see what the positive and negative sides of your product are.
This kind of information is pure gold when it comes to the progress of your business as you get directions firsthand.

8. Make Your Customer Support Reliable

Just imagine entering a store full of products and there isn’t a single person that you could ask for some important information about their offers. You would probably just leave the store open-mouthed.
That is the kind of feeling that your eCommerce shop visitors will experience if you don’t have reliable and responsive customer support.

Oracle’s report mentions that 86% of customers will pay more for better customer experience.
People want to get answers and they don’t want to wait.

If you leave them uninformed, you will lose a huge number of potential customers.

Fortunately, today there are different ways to prevent this. Your customer support can be available via:

  • Phone
  • E-mail
  • Live chat
  • Messages
  • Social media groups

Live chat is one of the best practices for maintaining communication with your visitors. It is the easiest way for customers to get in touch with you because having a phone call takes time and some other options usually mean that they have to leave the shop and use some other app.

It’s also a great option for you as a seller, as you will have an insight into every conversation. You will be able to find out what the main misunderstandings are and prepare yourself to avoid them in the future.
By knowing what the most asked questions are, you can make a FAQ page and save your visitor’s time.

Having prepared and organized customer support is a sign for your customers that you care for them and they will surely know how to appreciate it.

The Bottom Line

As you can see, there are some pretty simple, yet extremely effective ways to make your customers happy and ready to get back to you.

Many huge companies make the mistake of focusing only on the product rather than their potential buyers. They are not aware of the fact that people will notice if sellers are looking at them through the prism of money only.

Fortunately, by following these steps, you won’t be perceived as such a seller. Show your customers that you care about their needs and opinions and they will gladly come back to your store any time.

Don’t forget that happy customers are the best marketing one business can have!

Oliver Baker
Oliver Baker is a co-founder of Intelivita, a leading Web and Mobile App Development company based in Leeds, UK. Oliver has been at the forefront of the business, expanding it globally and into new technologies including iOS and Android, AR, VR and Mobile Game applications. Oliver excels in Project Management, Leadership, Quality Assurance and Problem Solving and has qualifications with Prince2 and APM. He aims to develop his skills further through a shared interest with other leaders in the Software Markets and the Clients of Intelivita.

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