Level up your eCommerce customer experience to make your customers more likely to buy again, stay loyal to your brand, and share their experience with others.
Why is it Important to Improve Your Customer Experience?
Improving your eCommerce customer experience can increase your customer lifetime value, brand awareness, and revenue.
A good customer experience means your customers will spend more. In fact, 90% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience. With that in mind, it makes sense that customer experience has become the number one priority for eCommerce stores.
It’s essential to improve your customer experience in order to stay competitive in the eCommerce world.
10 Strategies to Improve Your eCommerce Customer Experience
Here are some hand-picked strategies you can implement to take your customer experience to the next level.
1. Create a Seamless Checkout Process
When customers decide to buy a product, the last thing they want is a long checkout process. Make sure your checkout process is streamlined and easy to navigate for an excellent eCommerce customer experience.
An average of 81% of customers abandon their carts before buying, and half of your customers are less likely to go through with the purchase if the checkout process takes longer than half a minute.
Make the checkout experience seamless for your customers:
- Offer Guest Checkout
With the option to check out as a guest, customers can complete their purchase without
entering extra information, making the checkout process faster and more accessible.
- Provide Multiple Payment Options
Customers like having options when shopping online. Offer multiple payment methods
such as:
- Debit and credit cards
- Shopping apps (i.e PayPal)
- Digital wallets (i.e Apple Pay or Google Pay)
- Buy now, pay later
Having a seamless checkout process builds trust with your customers, gives them a better customer experience, and makes them more comfortable buying from your store.
2. Personalize Your Customer Experience
Give your customers what they want. 80% of customers are more likely to make a purchase when offered a personalized shopping experience. Personalization drives impulse purchases, leads to fewer product returns, and creates customer loyalty.
Personalize your customers’ eCommerce shopping experience based on different variables. Use recommendation engines for personalized product recommendations based on location, shopping, and browsing history.
You can also use exit pop-ups, discounts, and abandoned cart messages to make your customers feel seen and to keep them engaged.
Put effort into creating a personalized customer experience and customers will keep coming back to buy again and again.
3. Have a Clearly-Defined Return Policy
Customers like to know what to expect from the return process before making a purchase. Over 60% of customers read a return policy before placing an order, so it’s worth putting time and effort into creating a return policy that sets clear expectations and reflects your store’s values.
Your store’s return policy can make or break a sale, and turn a visitor into a customer for life.
When creating your return policy, take the time to brainstorm ideas, do your research, create drafts, and consult with others.
A transparent and well-defined return policy gives customers confidence in your business and reassures them that they’re making the right choice by buying from your store.
4. Craft Detailed Product Pages
Since your customers can’t physically hold your products before buying, your product pages become an important factor in whether or not they buy from your store. 87% of customers say that the content on product pages plays a significant role in their purchasing decision.
A compelling product page has engaging copy, compelling visuals, and clear navigation. Add validity by including user-generated content such as reviews and photos.
The goal is to show customers exactly what your products can do for them and be able to visualize themselves using the products.
5. Make Your Website Easy to Navigate
Your website is the face of your business. If your eCommerce site is well-designed, it will capture customers’ attention within a few seconds and entice them to stay.
Customers want easy-to-navigate pages that let them browse your products and find exactly what they need.
- Organize your online store by categories, just like a physical store.
- Make the search bar easy to find – 65% of site visitors use the site search box for consideration and purchase, and searchers are 3-5 times more likely to convert.
- All pages should have the same structure so customers can intuitively find their way to a new page or back to a previous page.
Keep your eCommerce website design clear, clean, and simple. Too many elements on a page (colors, banner ads, popups, etc) may take away from the focus which is closing the sale.
6. Offer a Self-Service Returns Process
Customers like being in control and having a choice. Give your customers the ability to request a return or exchange without needing to send an email or contact your support team.
A self-service return portal leaves little room for miscommunication, moves the returns process along faster, and gives your online store a competitive edge over others.
Returns can have a huge impact on customer loyalty. 92% of customers say they’ll buy again if the return process is easy.
Clearly defining how your returns process works and providing a convenient returns experience makes your customers more confident to shop with you.
7. Provide Exceptional Customer Support
Just like customers ask a clerk for help in a brick-and-mortar store, they want to be able to talk to a live person about product questions.
In this digital-first world, eCommerce customer service is more than just nice to have – it’s essential in order to thrive in the competitive eCommerce industry. 96% of customers say that customer service is an important factor in their loyalty to a brand. In the world of eCommerce, good online customer service is essential. Using customer service software like Tidio helps you deliver an excellent customer experience through live chat, chatbots, and automation.
Improve your customer service with:
- Self-service support (Help Center, FAQ, chatbot)
- Multi-channel customer service
- Fast response time
Giving customers easy access to top-notch customer service should be a top priority.
8. Utilize Customer Feedback
Collecting feedback from your customers can help you gain a deeper understanding of your customers’ pain points, their perception of your brand and products, and their experience from the moment they visit your site to the moment they receive their order.
Customer surveys are an effective way to collect opinions, insights, and information from your customers. Use the data you collect from your surveys to improve your customer experience, products, and services accordingly.
To get started, you don’t need to launch a big customer feedback campaign just yet. Start small by asking customers just a few questions, such as:
- How did you hear about us?
- What did you think about your recent purchase?
- What could we do to make the experience better?
Start with a simple customer survey and grow from there.
9. Perfect Your Post-Purchase Emails
Post-purchase emails are an integral part of the customer journey, and they often make the difference between one-time customers and loyal customers. “Thank you for your order” isn’t the end of the customer journey – it’s just a step in the process.
A few post-purchase emails you can use to improve the customer experience:
- Personalized thank you emails
- Review request emails
- Product recommendation emails
- Educational emails
The power of post-purchase emails is often underrated and they can be one of the most effective elements of your eCommerce strategy.
Putting thought into your post-purchase emails can increase your revenue, boost your customer engagement, and reduce overall marketing expenses.
10. Focus on Your Loyal Customers
Loyal customers are your most valuable asset. The average amount spent per purchase by loyal customers is 67% higher than the average amount spent by new customers.
You are also more likely to get referrals from loyal customers. Having a high referral rate can increase your customer lifetime value by more than just the amount a customer spends with you.
In addition to direct referrals, simply increasing brand awareness can be extremely effective, since people are more likely to buy from a brand they are familiar with than one they are unfamiliar with.
Loyalty programs are a powerful tool for building customer loyalty. A customer loyalty program encourages customers to buy more in exchange for rewards.
When creating a customer loyalty program, consider which customers you want to target and what type of loyalty you want to drive. What is it that you want your customers to do? Your loyalty program should align with your overall business strategy and brand messaging.
Give Your Customers an Experience They’ll Never Forget
Offer your customers a positive shopping experience, and they’ll keep coming back for more.
From how you communicate with customers to automating processes, focus on giving your customers an easy, personalized, comfortable buying experience.
The better your eCommerce customer experience, the more likely your customers will be to remain loyal to your brand – ultimately boosting your revenue and keeping you competitive.
