E-commerce is one of the most sought-after platforms on the internet. Virtually every person looks for online self-consultation about the products they are going to buy or plan to buy. Every business, from small to large, has an online store on sites like Amazon, Flipkart, etc. Otherwise, they opt to have their own independent website or app.
Therefore, the more online presence you have, the better your results with customer engagement will be. Thus, the better the chances that the customer will speak well of you. Therefore, it is critical your company delivers superior e-commerce customer experiences.
What is eCommerce Customer Experience?
Customer Experience (CX) is defined as how the customer perceives your brand and store before, during, and after visiting your online store. It is the next result of the above components and all other kinds of interaction and communication that a customer has with your business.
Top 7 ways to improve customer experience in eCommerce
1. Provide your support staff with the correct information to serve customers better
Training your employees is technically the most essential step to building great customer experiences. Happy employees are the key to satisfied customers. Better to have an always-on employee experience where the feedback is shared, and accordingly, the required action can be taken.
Proper Training and the correct information accessibility with a centralized knowledge base for your employees will take your brand marketing and eCommerce customer experience to another level.
2. Create a customer-friendly website
An easily navigable website is always a plus. The more organized your website is, the more traffic and customers you'll generate. If the customers can quickly search their requirements, you have accomplished your goals.
There are majorly three types of customers that your website will be catering to:
- Those who are looking for a particular product
- Those who are simply browsing
- Those who want filtered results
Keeping it simple is the key.
3. Providing an omnichannel customer experience
It has become essential that you provide a holistic omnichannel customer experience that will take you to the top of the ladder and give you an edge over others in the competition.
Customers are on different channels and platforms and like to be in that channel to receive the services. So the Brands need to understand and ensure they are present on their customers' preferred channels.
Customers want everything to be served according to their convenience and can pay more for premium services. Like that of Amazon Prime, with which you get unlimited free deliveries and subscriptions to various other apps like Prime Video, Audible, and Prime Music, to name a few.
A glimpse of the benefits of omnichannel customer experience (CX):
- More and better alternatives for customers.
- Improved customer retention rates.
- Cater to a more vast audience.
- Gather more valuable data.
4. Have a seamless checkout process
A cumbersome checkout experience will leave you nothing but some abandoned carts and a loss of your business and customers. On the contrary, if your cart icon is always shown on the page where you are scrolling, it would be easy for your customers to complete their orders.
Additionally, having multiple payment options is always a boon as this ensures that your customers are getting their favorite way of the transaction (which is sometimes rewarding). So your payment gateway has to be strong enough to handle more clients simultaneously and accept payments from several service providers like VISA, MasterCard debit, and credit cards.
5. Personalize customer experiences
Personalization is more than just putting customers' names on the email you send for promotion. Your customers must get more than this.
You can use real-time information like their location and product search history and suggest products and services as per their requirements and preferences.
In addition, you can leverage the data from the customer feedback forms to help you create more personalized experiences for your customers.
6. Don't forget about your mobile customers.
Gen-Z is always on their phones, and you can never be late in capturing those customers. In addition, mobiles are a more accessible and convenient tool to sell your products. You can either have a mobile-friendly website or an app exclusively for your business. It is always inconvenient to log in, to access a particular business's website via a desktop or laptop. So better switch to an app (both for iOS and Android) or a dynamic website that can modify according to the device used.
Finally, have unique and rewarding campaigns for further incentivizing and attracting your customers.
7. Offer a clear return policy.
A clear and transparent return policy will always be at the top of your priorities to ensure you have the most loyal customers. As a result, your customers feel free and confident to return the products for any reason, and they don't feel tied.
It is a challenge that customers cannot try the products before buying online. So a simple but transparent return policy makes them believe in you and your product.
Final Thoughts
It is the customers who rule, and hence the saying "Customer is King." First, let your product and quality speak for themselves. Then, follow the above steps to curate better experiences for your customers. Finally, incentivize the new customers and reward the existing ones for gaining the most out of your business.
Author Bio: Jayanti is an English Literature graduate from Delhi University. She looks after content marketing at Knowmax. Combining her strong research and writing skills, she aims to bring the product to life. Jayanti specializes in web content writing, email marketing and social media outreach. She is passionate about reading fiction, writing poetry, and learning Japanese, and she believes in creating holistic life experiences to keep her creative juices flowing.
