The consumer world has seen the biggest trends in the last decade. It is the trend of shifting to online retail and purchases. Customers are becoming more and more accustomed to online shopping, from clothing to appliances to almost anything that you can sell or buy. Ecommerce has been growing steadily every year.
The eCommerce revenue is projected to reach US$4.15 Trillion in 2022. Customers not only compare the customer experience to your competition, they expect your customer experience is on par with industry giants such as Uber, Airbnb, and Amazon.
For this reason, your eCommerce store experience should be stacked up with the best eCommerce customer experience strategies. If you are unsure how to enhance customer experience, we have made this guide for you and tell you everything you need to create a great eCommerce experience.
What Is an eCommerce Customer Experience?
eCommerce experience refers to the overall experience your customer had on your site, and it is how customers perceive the general interaction with your brand. Customer experience is a big umbrella covering all the shopping experience, whether online or offline, from the first time customers learn about your company name.
The eCommerce experience can differ significantly. But one thing to keep in mind is that they all need to be straightforward and satisfying for your customers. There are high chances of your customers becoming annoyed and finding another company with a better customer experience.
Regardless of how significant eCommerce has become for revenues in almost every sector in the past years, most companies are still offering mediocre and bad eCommerce experiences to their customers.
Why Is eCommerce Customer Experience Necessary?
Customer experience is how your company can simultaneously retain customers and convert leads into customers. A good customer experience can lead to more satisfied customers. Happy customers can turn into brand evangelists.
With happy customers, your brand can cut down on customer acquisition costs. Rather than getting new customers, your business will have satisfied customers who will refer your brand to those close to them, such as their friends, family, etc.
In other words, with every happy customer, you will get an additional uncommissioned brand ambassador.
The reverse is also true. However, only 20% of customers with bad experiences send feedback to a company. Most customers stop opting for a lousy service without giving any feedback to a company.
That is the best reason to have a customer experience of stellar quality. With a bad or below average eCommerce experience, you will put your business at the risk of losing more customers.
With more companies opting for eCommerce, the only way to be at the top is to have the best eCommerce website designs and top-notched customer experience.
Your customer experience will help you to define your identity and culture. It is the best growth strategy to help you handle economic strains and manage unpredictable events. With more referrals and cost-cutting the advertisement, your eCommerce store’s growth is unavoidable.
Tips On Improving Your eCommerce Customer Experience
Now that we know the significance of having a better customer experience, let us learn how you can drastically improve your eCommerce customer experience. eCommerce customer experience has two primary aspects that are customer interaction and perception.
It would help if you focused on improving the positive perception of your business and enhancing customer engagement via all communication channels.
1. Easy Product Search
Product search is among the most significant features that eCommerce owners should focus on. If your customers have difficulty finding the product they are looking for, there are high chances of them leaving your site and purchasing from your competition.
You do not want your competition to surpass you. To make sure that does not happen, you will have to ensure that your customers can find the relevant product without any hassle in the shortest possible time.
To have a good customer experience, make sure to have your eCommerce developer do the product search efficiently. You will have to add:
- Easy navigation
- Accurate product descriptions
- Relevant titles
- Optimized product pages
- High-quality images and videos
- Detailed specifications
All the product details should be SEO-friendly, including images, videos, and texts. It helps visitors to find products through the attributes.
2. Quick And Easy Checkout
In 2021, more than 80% of online shoppers’ orders were abandoned. The significant reason for this is the lengthy checkout process. An efficient checkout process can raise the chances of conversion rates.
Most carts are abandoned due to the lack of clarity about the return and shipping information. In order to prevent customers from leaving the cart, it is necessary to show this information to your customers.
It is critical to ensure that checkout steps are as few as possible so that customers can checkout with the least amount of clicks. The navigation should be easy to follow and non-distractive. Buttons such as the “Add to Cart,” “Checkout,” and “Move to Wishlist” should be visible to help customers manage their cart. The best way to optimize the checkout page is by testing it on real people.
3. Provide Live Chat And Real-Time Support
The majority of customers prefer live chat due to the immediate response it offers over other means of communication. With the help of live chat, your business can significantly reduce customer interaction response time, which will ultimately help increase the conversion rate and drive sales.
An excellent eCommerce customer experience can be achieved by having efficient live chat software and live engagement tools to boost customer satisfaction rates.
A live chat can improve customer satisfaction by reducing the average response time. When you answer your customers’ questions, they are less likely to leave your website without making a purchase.
4. In-App Support For Smartphone Users
The number of online shopping done by smartphones is increasing drastically. It would be best if you made your mobile experience effortless. On Chrome and Android, forms should be autofill-enabled.
It is because users type less; thus, you need to create an eCommerce website that is mobile-friendly and does not take a long time to load.
When customers have to type, the field should be formatted to pop up on the number keypad rather than the QWERTY keyboard. To make your eCommerce experience better, make sure your site loads quickly.
5. Integrate Omnichannel Strategy
We are living in an era where omnichannel marketing is highly critical. You must target your customers through various channels such as emails, websites, social media, and smartphones. The customer experience should evolve to manage the consumer journey in every track.
There should also be a consistent customer experience on all platforms; thus, you should make sure that all the channels can effectively exchange information. A 360-degree insight of customer journey on all channels will make it easy to learn about customer experience.
To have robust omnichannel customer support, focusing on the primary elements will allow you to provide a smooth experience. You should identify the touchpoints that the customers prefer.
Understand your customers’ journey in order to create the best strategy to keep your customer engaged across the touchpoints and deliver a consistent experience throughout the customer journey.
The omnichannel legacy is to fully grasp the power of digital channels to make the shopping experience more streamlined and build a better bond with your brand. By integrating the right channel strategies, you will be able to set your business up for stability and longevity in the ever-changing market.
6. High-Quality Product Content
Adding high-quality product content to the website will help you streamline your customers’ buying process. It will also help your customers learn about the product, and you will be able to present your products to people interested.
In other words, your products should be displayed enticingly but with accurate information so that customers know what to expect after purchasing your product.
Good quality product content provides various benefits. It is an efficient marketing plan that helps you to get more sales. It can also help your customers get information about your product and company.
Good content will answer any questions your customers may have before or during the purchasing process and satisfy the concerns and objections of your customers. A great example of quality content in any number of well-made announcements or tutorial videos or a particular product.
If you run a wholesale eCommerce business, it will be an addition for your Shopify store to work with an efficient wholesale helper. They can help you supercharge your wholesale and B2B business, will help you grow your revenue, save time, and provide streamlined wholesale ordering experiences.
7. Add FAQ Page
When customers want to make a purchase, they generally do online research to help them make their decision. Customers have various questions to be answered to make your brand look more genuine and reliable.
For this reason, you should add FAQs to your product pages to enhance your eCommerce customer experience and increase your conversion rate. The majority of customers have common questions.
Answering these questions through live chat or social media channels can be nerve-wracking. An FAQ page on the product page can eliminate the most common questions and help customers educate themselves.
8. Security Compliance
It’s important to think about security requirements as part of your customer experience strategy. Online fraud costs an estimated $12 billion a year and e-commerce firms must be careful with the financial information they receive online.
Customer confidence and a positive brand image are built on the foundation of a safe and secure online purchasing experience. When a consumer is ready to add an item to their basket or check out, you may assist them feel more comfortable by offering a disclaimer, to boost their confidence that your website is security compliant and safe to use.
9. Make your return policy as clear as possible
Customers can’t test out your goods before they purchase it online, which is a drawback. The return policy should be simple to locate, straightforward, and fair so that customers feel comfortable sending back products.
10. Follow Up
After a sale, contact the consumer to make sure everything went as planned, utilizing the information you’ve gathered throughout the order process.
There are a number of ways to keep clients updated about new goods and services, as well as to give discounts on future purchases. Even a simple welcome mail can do wonders in making the customer feel special.
11. Include testimonials from previous clients
These are a genuine approach to assist clients in need of guidance. It is possible for potential buyers to learn more about the product’s suitability for their requirements, the product’s quality, and the opinions of those who have used it.
Allow consumers to rank and comment on their purchases and their overall experience shopping in a dedicated section of your website.
12. Use less obtrusive methods of promoting your business
Pop-ups, advertisements, and other such annoyances may have a serious negative impact on a visitor’s experience on your website. It gives the impression that your website is clumsy and, to be honest, spammy.
Even if these elements cannot be completely eradicated, it is a good idea to decrease the amount of noise they produce. When it comes to advertising, you should keep it to a minimum and utilize pop-ups only rarely and strategically.
13. Personalization
It is desirable for people to get offers and material that are relevant to their interests. As a result, it should come as no surprise that the key to eCommerce success is the use of personalization. Retailers might lose a lot of business due to a lack of personalization.
According to Gartner, businesses may enhance their profitability by as much as 15 percent if they get personalization right. According to a study, significant personalization leads to a 48% increase in spending.
14. A cutting-edge and user-friendly UI
Source: Dribble
It’s unlikely that you’ll get any business from online clients who can’t utilize and interact with your site to their fullest potential. In terms of user experience and website design, there are three areas to concentrate on.
First and foremost, mobile optimization is a need in today’s world. Customers are increasingly coming to your site on a variety of different devices, therefore it’s imperative that you make it easy for them to accomplish their goals, no matter which device they use.
Visitors should be able to easily find their way through your site if your site’s architecture is intuitive. To do this, you’ll need to organize your product catalog and associated product pages strategically, as well as make other portions of your site accessible in the same way.
Your visitors will have an easier time finding what they’re looking for if your site has a search option that works properly. AI-powered ecommerce plugins may also help them out by providing real-time search recommendations.
Conclusion
Every company’s product features and prices have been saturated by fierce competition. Customers aren’t only happy with a great product anymore. If you want to remain on top of the competition, you need a product or service that sets you apart from the others.
Creating a positive client experience via your online shop and other channels is a surefire way to get there. As more and more people shop online, it’s critical that your ecommerce site is always up to date and easy to use.
It’s more difficult than it seems to create an online buying experience that’s appealing, useful, straightforward, and entertaining for consumers, and that’s what every buyer increasingly wants.