3 Essential Steps to Improve Your Ecommerce Customer Experience
Here's the thing: Having a product is not enough for your ecommerce business to thrive. This is where ecommerce customer experience comes in.
Sure, you must sell a quality product. However, it is not the sole solution to attracting, engaging, and retaining your customers. In fact, the 2019 Yotpo State of Consumer Loyalty reports that consumers stay loyal to a brand that provides "brand love."
This means providing exceptional customer experience and high-quality products.
If you can do that, 3 out of 10 customers would be willing to spend more on your product. In addition, 59% of them would be happy to refer you to their family, friends, and colleagues.
Hence, you must strive to improve your ecommerce customer experience.
What is Ecommerce Customer Experience (ECX)?
ECX refers to every engagement that occurs between your customer and ecommerce business. This includes every touchpoint and moment that happens as soon as they come across your brand and decide to do business with you. Sure, ecommerce customer experience varies from one customer to another and per industry. However, they follow a general pattern. Thus, you need to consider the three parts of the purchase to improve your business's ECX.Start Before the Purchase
Here's the thing: Ecommerce customer experience begins way before people choose to buy from you. As soon as they notice your brand, anything that happens (and does not happen) is part of the experience. That said, you can initiate pre-purchase ECX by making your brand's value apparent to your target customers. Ultimately, it is all about answering these questions:- What does your business offer?
- What's in it for the customers?
- What are their options?
Think of the Actual Purchase
Of course, ecommerce customer experience comprises moments surrounding the actual purchase. This means preparing your target customers to take the plunge. How can you do that? By keeping them informed. You can do this through your product description, specifications, transactional policies, and more. That's because these can make or break your customer's desire to buy from you. Sure, you are selling the best cruelty-free skincare product in the market. But what is the use of it if you are out of stock?Post-purchase and Beyond
Ecommerce customer experience does not end when people buy your products. Remember, you want to provide excellent ECX to boost customer loyalty. This explains why you should foster a meaningful relationship with them. You can pat yourself on the back whenever you gain a new customer. However, the next step is to keep them coming back for more. Here's how you can do it:- Deliver product and restock updates, as well as promotional offers, through various channels.
- Develop programs that will allow you to provide value and engage with your customers.
- Ask for feedback in a timely and non-intrusive manner.
The Importance of Ecommerce Customer Experience
You may now have an idea of the importance of ECX. It is about fostering customer loyalty that helps boost your sales and revenue. However, there is more to ecommerce customer experience than that:Customer Trust and Evangelism
Did you know that customer experience is one of the top consumer concerns about trusting a brand? ECX fosters trust among your customers, which is necessary to keep them engaged. After all, you would not listen to someone you do not trust. Moreover, your target market should trust that you can provide them with what they need. Otherwise, they will think twice before putting their money on the table. Mind you, if a customer trusts your brand, they are more likely to recommend you to their family, friends, and colleagues.Unique Selling Proposition and Perceived Value
As mentioned earlier, loyal customers would be willing to spend more on products sold by brands they trust. That's because you provide an ecommerce customer experience that they cannot find elsewhere. This explains why ECX can be your unique selling proposition. However, what you provide your customers should be familiar enough to encourage engagement. How you do this will depend on your creativity, but some of the examples are:- Having customer-centric policies and practices
- Selling products and services that are unique to your industry
- Organizing special events for your customers
Business Growth and Success
Before we move one, we would like you to ponder on these stats:- Existing customers provide more than 60% of a company's business.
- Loyal customers are 23% more likely to spend with your business.
- Increasing customer retention by 5% can boost profit by at least 25%.
- 60% of consumers talk about a brand they are loyal to their family, friends, and colleagues.
Customer Lifetime Value
Let's face it: We spend money on promotional campaigns to acquire customers. Hence, your customers have lifetime value or CLV. However, CLV is more than just customer acquisition cost. It also has to do with the amount of purchase they are making with your business. The more loyal a consumer is, the higher their lifetime value. And as mentioned before, you spend less on customer retention than acquisition.Over to You
Ecommerce has changed the way consumers shop. That's because buying online provides convenience, competitive pricing, and variety. However, no one would continue buying from a brand that mistreated them. So more than just selling a product, you should also provide an excellent ecommerce customer experience. Pair that with NASP's Sales Success Principle online program, and you are in for success!Share this article: