How Can I Improve Customer Experience

E-commerce has changed the retail industry as more people seek competitive prices, variety, and convenience.

According to research, there are currently more than 26 million e-commerce sites globally, with sales amounting to 4.9 trillion in 2021 alone and more expected to join in the future. 

With the e-commerce sector getting saturated, the competition is stiff, and businesses must do all they can to attract, engage and retain customers.

While offering quality products and services is great, more is needed to enable your business to survive and thrive.

One way to keep your customers returning is to offer excellent customer service, and in this article, we will teach you how to improve customer experience.

What is eCommerce Customer Experience?

The term e-commerce customer experience refers to how your customer perceives your brand or how your business treats them.

It is the sum of everything that happens from when a customer hears of the brand to the point where the customer decides to stay loyal and buy more or leave and shop elsewhere.

A customer’s experience influences their loyalty and behavior. If customers like your business, they will continue to buy and even advertise to others. A customer with a bad experience will likely not buy from or recommend you to others.

Offering an excellent customer experience is a business necessity. As more people turn to e-commerce, their expectations are also increasing. According to a survey by PwC, 73% of respondent point to customer experience as a major factor in their buying decisions.

Benefits of Good Customer Experience in Ecommerce

There are many benefits of a great customer experience in e-commerce. It will lead to improvement in:

• Customer loyalty
• Customer retention
• Brand equity
• Sales growth
• Customer lifetime value
• Referrals

How to Improve Ecommerce Customer Experience

The following are ways to improve customer experience:

1. Offer Individualized Customer Experience

Providing a personalized customer experience is one way to drive customer loyalty. With the use of recommendation engines and data, you can better understand your customers and thus provide individualized service that makes them feel valued. 

Consider the following personalization touchpoints:

• Communicate with customers in their local dialect
• Offer discounts on products and services that are relevant to the customer
• Lookup their location and offer information on delivery to that location
• Send personalized emails. This may include a birthday compliment, an anniversary shoutout, and so on
• Recall customers’ purchase history and offer products and services based on the information gathered

2. Use Banking Payment Solutions

E-commerce businesses can also improve customer experience by offering a more fluid and efficient online shopping experience and a more streamlined, easy checkout process.

Providing a seamless checkout process will minimize the number of abandoned carts. The shopping cart should be easy to see, and payment should be secure.

Also, providing many payment options, including mobile payments, cardless transactions, debit, credit cards, etc., will enable your customers to decide when and how they want to receive their products.

Providing open banking solutions will also improve customer experience. Here is one of the best open banking examples.

3. Cross-sell and Upsell

Offering relevant products is one way to provide customers with a great customer experience. Ensure you refrain from bombarding your customers with irrelevant products but rather offer products and services that will complement their order.

Send messages, but the time the frequency of your message; you want to ensure your customers aren’t stifled with constant upsells. Also, create relevant offers with clear CTA. Furthermore, offer valuable goods and complementary products.

4. Create a User-Friendly Website

In e-commerce, buyers are categorized into three groups:

• Those that know what they want to buy
• Those browsing through
• Those that require help with the product filtration

Customers want a website that’s easy to navigate, browse and purchase products. Thus, creating a user-friendly website will go a long way to providing a great customer experience. Arrange the store in categories, just like you would in a physical store.

Ensure the search button is easy to locate; all products should be categorized and tagged in the back end for easy search.

5. Offer Support

Customers will have questions to ask, and so will require customer support. By providing several customer support channels, including forums, FAQ section, live chats, product support page, and so on, you will increase the chances of customers getting answers to their questions.

Suppose you offer only one or two support. In that case, chances are that your customers will not get a quick answer to their questions or queries, prompting them to consider other competitors with better product support or a more user-friendly site. 

6. Optimize for Mobile

By providing a means for customers to purchase orders easily, you will provide a better customer experience. You can design an app for your e-business or ensure your website is responsive to all types of devices, whether with a mobile device or through your online store. Overall, the aim is to provide a seamless shopping experience. 

7. Audit your Business

To get a feel of how your e-store is doing, carry out an audit by asking relevant questions such as:

• Is the website appealing?
• Do you find it easy to locate specific products?
• Is the shopping cart easy to locate and modify contents?
• Do the content and pages load quickly and properly?
• Do you experience great customer service?

You can ask customers if they prefer an app; to get their responses, offer a gift or a discount.

Final Thought

The e-commerce industry is saturated with competitive prices and product features. One way to stay ahead of the game, remain relevant, and thrive is to offer a stellar customer experience through your e-commerce platform. 

Beyond the tips mentioned above, displaying appealing product pages, and offering compelling and educational content on your page, amongst others, will keep your customers stay glued to your brand.