Published | 19 min read
Key Takeaways
- Customer experience is crucial for eCommerce because it directly impacts customer satisfaction and loyalty, which are essential for driving repeat business and generating positive word-of-mouth marketing.
- A positive customer experience can lead to increased customer retention, higher conversion rates, and increased sales. On the other hand, a negative customer experience can lead to lost sales and damage to the brand's reputation.
- ECommerce businesses that prioritize customer experience by providing excellent customer service, offering personalized experiences, and ensuring a seamless user interface are more likely to succeed in the highly competitive eCommerce landscape.
- Overall, a strong focus on customer experience can be a key differentiator for eCommerce businesses looking to stand out in the market.
The ability to shop online has become increasingly popular over the past few years, and with it have come advances in eCommerce technology. As a result, businesses must strive to find ways to improve eCommerce customer experience in order to remain competitive.
Recent technological developments have allowed for increased convenience for customers when shopping online. With this convenience comes an expectation of quality from customers. Businesses must take steps to ensure that their eCommerce platforms provide a great user experience in order to remain competitive.
This article will explore eighteen different strategies that businesses can implement in order to improve their customer's eCommerce experiences. These strategies can help businesses stand out among the competition and ensure loyal customers, so let's get started.
What Is eCommerce Customer Experience?
What is the eCommerce experience? ECommerce customer experience is the overall impression customers have when engaging with an eCommerce business. It encompasses all interactions, from website navigation to product selection and checkout.
This experience can be positive or negative and plays a major role in determining customer satisfaction and loyalty. It’s essential for businesses to provide an enjoyable journey for customers, as this leads to higher conversion rates, increased brand recognition, and long-term customer relationships.
Customer experience is multi-faceted, encompassing elements such as usability, visual design, content quality, search engine optimization (SEO) capabilities, speed of loading pages, and performance. All of these factors work together to create an overall feeling of confidence in the user’s ability to find what they are looking for quickly and easily, therefore creating loyal customers.
In order for eCommerce businesses to maximize their customer experience, it is essential that they evaluate user feedback regularly and make improvements accordingly. By taking into account feedback from both existing customers and potential customers businesses can begin to identify areas where more focus is needed in order to improve their eCommerce customer experience overall.
Why It's Important to Have a Customer Experience Strategy
Having a customer experience (CX) strategy is essential for eCommerce businesses. Every touch-point along the customer journey should be taken into consideration when creating a CX strategy, with the ultimate goal of increasing consumer satisfaction.
It is important to have a well-thought-out plan that takes into account every point of contact between the customer and the business. Here are some key benefits of having a CX strategy:
Improved Customer Retention
A good CX strategy can help to build loyalty among customers and provide an incentive for them to keep coming back. By taking the time to understand their needs and preferences, businesses can create personalized experiences that will make customers feel valued and appreciated, leading to higher levels of customer retention.
Increased Customer Acquisition
A comprehensive CX strategy can also help businesses attract new customers by providing an engaging and enjoyable experience that stands out from competitors’ offerings. By focusing on delivering value at every touch-point, businesses can create an attractive buying experience that will draw in potential customers and encourage them to return in the future.
Higher Profitability
Having a robust CX strategy can significantly boost profitability by improving customer satisfaction and driving more sales. Customers who are happy with their purchasing experience are more likely to recommend products or services to others, which can lead to more sales opportunities over time.
With these benefits in mind, it is clear that having a comprehensive CX strategy is important for any eCommerce business looking to maximize profits while providing an enjoyable online shopping experience for their customers.
Such strategies should be tailored specifically to each individual business’s needs in order to accurately measure customer satisfaction and ensure optimal results.
Customer Experience (CX) vs User Experience (UX)
A recent survey by InMoment found that 80% of customers will pay more for a better customer experience. This statistic serves as an important reminder of the impact that customer experience (CX) and user experience (UX) can have on businesses.
CX and UX are different, but they are also closely related: Both involve understanding how customers interact with products and services, which allows companies to create personalized experiences that maximize satisfaction.
Focus
The main difference between CX and UX is their focus. CX focuses on the overall client journey, from initial contact to post-sale follow-up, while UX focuses on a specific product or service.
This means that CX looks at the big picture, while UX looks at individual interactions with products and services. For example, CX would look at how customers feel about their entire online shopping experience—from website design to delivery—while UX would focus on how intuitively designed the product or service is for customers to use.
Metrics
Both disciplines look at metrics such as customer satisfaction score, time spent engaging with a product or service, and revenue generated per user session. However, CX takes a broader view of metrics than UX does since it assesses all interactions between a business and its customers.
On the other hand, UX evaluates users’ experiences in relation to a specific product or service; thus focusing more narrowly on usability issues like navigation and interaction design.
As such, businesses should consider both CX and UX when creating personalized experiences for their customers. By doing so, they can ensure that each interaction is intuitively designed for maximum satisfaction across all touchpoints throughout the customer's journey. Companies should also regularly monitor these metrics to ensure ongoing improvement in their customer experience strategies over time.
How to Improve Customer Satisfaction: 17 Steps
The eCommerce customer experience is an integral part of successful online businesses. It is important to ensure that customers have a positive and efficient experience while making purchases online.
1. Help Customers Self-Serve
By allowing customers to self-service, businesses can provide a more personalized and convenient experience. Letting customers change information in their account or get an answer via a chatbot, letting them self-serve can save time and effort for everyone involved.
When you let customers self-serve, you're helping them and your business.
- Many customers don't want to talk to someone to change an order or get an answer. As people get more accustomed to shopping online, they realize the inefficiencies of calling someone on the phone to make something happen.
- When customers are allowed to self-serve, your business doesn't need to hire as many people for customer service.
Of course, when a customer does want to talk, it's very important that they be able to reach someone quickly, whether that's via human chat or phone call. That's why businesses should empower their employees with the right tools, so they can quickly respond to customer inquiries and provide them with helpful advice when needed.
2. Implement AI for Automation
The implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in eCommerce has the potential to revolutionize customer experience management. AI can offer a seamless eCommerce shopping experience by allowing customers to shop and complete their transactions without any human intervention.
This can be achieved through automated processes such as chatbot-based customer service, personalized product recommendations, and order tracking. AI-driven automation can also help retailers detect and address customer complaints more efficiently.
AI in eCommerce can provide customers with an enhanced shopping experience by making sense of large amounts of customer data in real time. For example, AI systems can use data points related to customer behavior and preferences to recommend the most relevant products or services for the customer at any given time. This helps customers find the right products faster and reduces their need to search extensively for what they want, thus enhancing their overall shopping experience.
3. Take Advantage of Multichannel and BOPIS
While your marketing might be omnichannel, your business should be multichannel if you have a physical store that customers can shop at (or some other sales channel).
To improve the customer experience, businesses must leverage multichannel and BOPIS (Buy Online Pick Up In Store) capabilities.
The advantages of multichannel—and specifically BOPIS—are vital:
- It provides customers with convenience by offering them multiple ways to purchase products
- It increases efficiency for both customers and businesses by allowing customers to research products online before purchasing in-store
- It streamlines operations between physical stores and online shopping platforms
Adopting a well-crafted customer experience strategy that includes multichannel and BOPIS capabilities can provide a powerful edge over competitors.
4. Improve Packaging
Improving the packaging of eCommerce products can have a significant effect on customer experience. By providing customers with an attractive and seamless package, companies can create a more positive shopping experience and foster customer loyalty.
This is especially important for eCommerce customers, who are unable to physically inspect the product before purchase. The packaging must be designed to hold the item securely, protect it from damage during transit, and also be visually appealing.
Companies should also consider using materials that are recyclable or biodegradable when designing packaging for eCommerce products. This demonstrates a commitment to sustainability which is attractive to many consumers, as well as helps reduce waste in landfills.
5. Consider Augmented Reality
Recent research has revealed that the global augmented reality market is projected to grow at an impressive compound annual growth rate of 42.9%, reaching $284.93 billion by 2025. This statistic reveals the potential of augmented reality (AR) to revolutionize the eCommerce customer experience.
AR is a technology that superimposes digital elements onto real-life environments, allowing customers to interact with products in a more immersive and interactive way. By incorporating AR into the eCommerce customer experience, retailers can provide customers with a unique and realistic shopping experience before they make their purchase decision.
For example, retailers can use AR to provide customers with a virtual try-on feature for clothing items. Customers can virtually try on clothes from their own homes, allowing them to view how different styles fit them and choose the best option for them without ever stepping into a store.
This virtual try-on feature also helps reduce unwanted returns as customers are more likely to be satisfied with their purchase when they can visualize how it will look on them prior to purchase.
6. Improve the Checkout Process
The virtual store provides customers with convenience, but the checkout process plays a key role in creating a memorable eCommerce customer experience. Customers need to have access to a seamless checkout process to ensure satisfaction and further build their loyalty. To achieve this, merchants should consider streamlining the checkout process in several ways.
- Merchants should focus on reducing the amount of time it takes for customers to complete their purchase by eliminating unnecessary steps during the checkout process. This could include pre-filling forms with previously provided information or creating an account for repeat customers that will allow them to skip steps throughout their purchase journey.
- Secondly, merchants should provide different payment options for customers who prefer alternative methods of payment. A payment hub could include giving customers the option of paying via PayPal or Apple Pay instead of credit cards or debit cards.
- Finally, merchants should pay attention to how they communicate with customers during the checkout process. Clear communication can help ensure that customers understand what they are agreeing to before they proceed and make sure that there are no misunderstandings about prices or other terms associated with their purchase.
By taking steps to improve their checkout processes, merchants can create a more efficient and satisfying experience for all of their online shoppers, leading to higher levels of satisfaction and ultimately enabling them to grow their business successfully through eCommerce channels.
7. Accept More Payment Options
It's time to talk about payment options in greater depth. Offering multiple payment methods such as PayPal, Apple Pay, and Visa Checkout will not only open the floodgates for customers to complete their purchases quickly and securely, but it will also allow merchants to broaden their reach and appeal to more shoppers.
As customers’ expectations continue to rise, businesses must strive to keep up with the latest trends in online payments and provide a secure, convenient checkout process. By accepting more payment options, businesses can increase their average order value (AOV) and reduce cart abandonment rates.
Customers are more likely to proceed with their purchase if they have a choice of payment methods available at checkout. Offering various payment options allows businesses to target different markets and demographics.
8. Make the Returns Process Better
It is essential for an eCommerce business to make its returns process as easy and smooth as possible. This will greatly improve the customer experience and make customers more likely to purchase from that business again.
- Make sure all information about returning items is clear, accurate, and easily visible on the online store. Customers should be able to find out how to return items in a few clicks without having to contact a customer service representative.
- Ensure that the return policy is fair and reasonable. ECommerce customers should not have an expectation of free returns or overly generous return policies with no limits or expiration dates on when they can return merchandise.
- Provide customers with multiple options for returning their purchases (e.g., mail-in returns, and drop-off at store locations).
The key takeaway here is that making the returns process easier helps create a better overall experience for eCommerce customers, which can lead to increased sales and customer loyalty in the long run.
9. Appeal to Customer Emotions
A customer's experience is an important determinant of their satisfaction and loyalty to a brand. By appealing to the emotions of customers, retailers can create an engaging and memorable shopping experience that encourages repeat purchases. Engaging customers emotionally can be achieved by creating personalized experiences, delivering unique content, providing social proof, and offering rewards.
Personalization is key to creating a positive customer experience. This means tailoring the customer journey to each individual based on their interests, purchase history, and other criteria. Retailers can also use personalized messages to make customers feel special and appreciated.
Unique content is another way to engage customers emotionally. This could include informative blogs or videos that provide useful information about products or services related to the retailer's business.
Rewards programs are another effective way of connecting with customers emotionally. Offering exclusive discounts or freebies for loyal shoppers encourages them to continue engaging with the brand over time.
10. Conduct a UX/UI Audit
As a way to build upon the foundation of appealing to customer emotions, conducting a UX/UI audit is highly essential for improving the eCommerce customer experience. A UX/UI audit evaluates how easily customers can navigate through the website and make their desired purchase.
This involves checking for usability issues such as slow loading time, broken links, and confusing navigation structure. It also involves evaluating if the design of the online store is visually pleasing and provides an optimal experience for customers.
A UX/UI audit can be done in various ways, such as examining customer journey analytics or running usability tests with actual users. Through such audits, eCommerce retailers can identify areas that need improvement and make necessary changes to ensure customers are having a positive experience while using their websites.
To ensure an even better eCommerce customer experience, businesses should also use customer experience management software to track key performance indicators related to the satisfaction of customers.
11. Build a Community for Customer Loyalty
Creating a sense of community for customers is essential in improving their experience on eCommerce sites. Customers feel more comfortable and confident when they can interact with other customers, and it helps foster loyalty to the eCommerce store.
A successful online community will create an environment where customers can ask questions, share ideas, and provide feedback. This can help increase consumer satisfaction as well as build trust between the company and its customers.
One way to do this is by setting up forums or social media channels for customers to connect with each other. Companies should also encourage customers to leave reviews on the eCommerce store or through third-party review sites. These reviews can be used to identify areas of improvement in order to improve satisfaction and boost loyalty.
Another way to build a sense of community is by offering discounts or rewards programs that are exclusive to members of the site's community. This encourages customers to remain active and engaged on the eCommerce site which ultimately leads to increased loyalty and satisfaction levels among customers.
12. Improve Fulfillment Times
When it comes to customer experience, one of the most important factors for customers is timely fulfillment. Customers expect their orders to be delivered quickly and accurately. To achieve this, businesses must have efficient fulfillment practices in place.
This means having an organized inventory system and a reliable shipping provider. It also means taking steps to streamline processes such as order picking and packing, which can help reduce time-to-shipment and improve client satisfaction.
Good customer service is also essential for creating the best eCommerce experiences around. Customers should be able to track their orders easily and contact customer support if they need assistance. Businesses should ensure that their customer service team is knowledgeable, helpful, and available 24/7.
In terms of logistics, businesses should consider using multiple shipping carriers to ensure that their customers receive their orders in a timely manner regardless of location or distance. They may also want to leverage technology such as automated routing algorithms or predictive analytics tools to optimize the delivery process.
13. Increase Personalization
Personalization is an important factor in improving customer experience. By creating personalized customer experiences, companies can increase customer lifetime value and attract potential buyers.
Personalizing online customer experiences can be done in a variety of ways, such as offering custom product recommendations, providing tailored messages and emails, or suggesting discounts to customers based on their purchase history. Companies should also focus on providing proactive customer service by responding quickly to inquiries and complaints.
Another way companies can increase personalization is by collecting data about their customers’ preferences, needs, and behaviors. This data can then be used to create more targeted marketing campaigns that are tailored to the individual’s interests.
Personalizing customer experiences is also important when it comes to building relationships with customers. Companies should take the time to get to know their customers and understand what they want from the brand.
14. Study the Customer Journey
A key step to improving the eCommerce customer experience is to study the customer journey. By understanding how customers interact with a website, businesses can gain valuable insight into what their customers want and expect out of their online shopping experience.
Businesses should begin by collecting data from customer interactions to learn more about the different stages of the journey. Data such as browsing history, purchase history, emails sent or received from customers, and even chat logs can provide insight into customers’ preferences and habits.
Once a business has collected and analyzed data related to the journey, it should use that information to create a comprehensive customer experience strategy tailored specifically to its target audience.
15. Match the Latest Design
In order to improve the eCommerce customer experience, matching the latest design trends can be a beneficial strategy. This requires understanding customer data in order to identify how customers move through a website and when they visit product pages.
Companies should also make sure to maintain high-quality images that are consistent with the latest design trends in order to keep customers engaged. Identifying old websites is easy for customers, and they expect to be impressed. Most sites have a design life of about five years, so make sure to look into high-end website design to wow your customers when they arrive.
16. Improve Your Supply Chain
Creating a seamless customer experience requires optimizing your supply chain. Offering a product but being unable to sell it because it's back-ordered isn't a good business model. You need to stay on top of suppliers so that you have something to sell without making customers sigh.
A well-managed supply chain ensures customers can make timely purchases with minimal hassle and receive their orders quickly. Delivery times should be realistic and meet customer expectations for both cost and speed.
In addition to reducing delivery times, consider offering more flexible delivery options, such as same-day delivery or different payment methods based on location. This will help you increase client satisfaction scores and build brand loyalty. Providing tracking information on all orders gives customers peace of mind that their order is being handled correctly.
Maintaining an efficient communication system is also essential to measure satisfaction. Establish contact with customers throughout the entire purchase process and provide regular updates on the status of their order as it moves through your supply chain. This helps customers know when they can expect their product so they can plan accordingly and makes them feel like they are part of the transaction process.
17. Expand to Omnichannel
Expanding to an omnichannel approach can help improve the eCommerce customer experience. An omnichannel strategy provides customers with a seamless transition between online and offline channels, giving them more options for interacting with a business.
This allows customers to access the same products or services in different ways, from traditional brick-and-mortar stores to digital platforms. Customers appreciate being able to choose how they engage with a company, which helps create loyalty and trust.
A successful omnichannel strategy requires businesses to align their physical and digital offerings across all channels. This includes ensuring that customers have access to the same pricing, inventory, promotions, and delivery options regardless of where they shop. Providing a consistent experience across channels will help ensure customer satisfaction and build trust in the brand.
Businesses should also leverage data collected through their omnichannel efforts to gain insights into customer preferences and behavior. These insights can then be used to personalize future interactions with customers and provide better service.
Conclusion about Creating Loyal Customers
A successful customer experience strategy requires businesses to understand how customers feel, think, and interact with their products. Businesses must be able to craft an environment that encourages customers to engage and trust the brand, making it easier for them to purchase products or services.
Customer experience (CX) and user experience (UX) are two sides of the same coin. UX focuses on creating a product or service that meets customers’ needs while CX focuses on creating an emotional connection between a business and its customers. When done correctly, both can lead to increased customer retention, loyalty, and satisfaction. Companies must take into account both UX and CX when crafting their customer experience strategies in order to ensure they meet customers’ needs while also building an emotional connection with them.
Online businesses have many tools at their disposal when it comes to improving the customer experience. From understanding customers’ needs and motivations to focusing on creating positive user experiences, companies can use these eighteen ways of improving eCommerce customer experiences as guidelines for developing effective strategies that will drive revenue growth while increasing the satisfaction of customers.