E-commerce platforms communicate with their customers throughout the latter’s journey by means of what is called “customer experience.” The e-commerce market is getting increasingly competitive. Platforms that want to survive need ways to make people keep buying from them instead of their competitors.
A positive customer experience will do wonders for your conversion rate – this, you know. This article looks at other lesser-known but equally important ways to achieve this goal and propel your platform to new heights.
Surprise Your Customers
There’s nothing online shoppers love more than a nice surprise – and few things are as nice as free shipping. Instead of announcing free shipping right from the start, mention it during the checkout process. A discount is also worth a last-stage mention. This will not only guarantee conversion but encourage the shopper to buy from you again and even put it a good word for you in a relevant forum or review site.
This approach will help reduce abandoned carts as well. An incentive to complete the purchase will prevent this e-commerce wish of death far more effectively than the standard “we miss you” email.
Consider an Intuitive Website Design
User-friendly websites make finding what a customer needs as easy as possible. This translates to easy purchases. Start by ensuring a responsive design, which includes optimal functioning across a variety of devices, especially mobile phones.
WooCommerce, an extension of WordPress, will let you create an e-commerce platform from scratch. If you already have a WordPress website, you can add shopping cart functionality to it. WooCommerce is open-source, making it free to use, and top-of-the-line WooCommerce hosting is an added benefit of the extension.
WooCommerce comes with careful consideration of the checkout process, which helps limit cart abandonment, which is a common issue in e-commerce, as mentioned earlier. Alleviating the customer journey by being transparent about costs can improve user engagement. It will help to add trusted payment gateways and numerous payment options to make it easy for as many customers as possible to use the platform.
Accessibility is frequently overlooked as an aspect of intuitive design. It makes sure your e-commerce platform can serve customers with different levels of technical skill.
Personalize the E-Commerce Experience
Personalization runs the gamut from product recommendations based on previous purchases to sending personalized emails based on customer behavior. You could also display content relevant to the customer’s geographic location.
Make Shoppers Happy
What makes shoppers happy? Here are some ideas:
- Email loyalty or reward points after someone buys a product, which they can redeem later.
- Integrate a referral program for existing and new customers.
- Send out a “thank you” after a purchase.
- Send free gifts such as cups, T-shirts, or keychains along with a loyal customer’s order.
Monitor Customer Experience Metrics
You know about metrics like card abandonment and bounce rates, but there are others. Among the key ones are the average decision time, customer satisfaction score (CSAT), and customer effort score (CES).
The CES measures the effort on a customer’s part to get a request fulfilled or an issue resolved. To fix a low score, you could implement solution-oriented support training or offer self-service options.
Monitoring and assessing experience metrics can result in actionable insight, which will let you improve your customer experience. Frequent cart abandonment might signal a problem with your checkout process, for example.
Accelerate Response Times
Quick solutions to customer problems improve CSAT, build trust, and emphasize the value you place on your customers’ time. These aspects directly affect customer loyalty, an e-commerce platform’s reputation, and customer retention rates.
Use automated responses for common queries to ensure instant replies and provide regular and relevant updates regarding customer transactions. This includes stock issues, shipping updates, or even a simple “thank you” email.
Transparent Delivery Process
Offer customers various delivery options and keep them up-to-date on delivery prices and schedules. Practical tracking tools allow your customers to monitor their orders throughout the process, giving them both a feeling of control and much-needed peace of mind.