What is “eCommerce Customer Experience” and why does it matter?

eCommerce customer experience refers specifically to the digital experience a business delivers to their customers. This experience can often trigger an emotional response which will keep the customer coming back time and time again. The digital experience often starts way before your customers will even land on your website, however for the purpose of this insight post this is exactly where we are going to focus on.

Your website should cater to your customers. When in discovery meetings with clients we often tell them that it doesn’t really matter what they think about their website, it’s their customers’ opinion that is important. Your website should be mindful of the exchanges being made between your brand and the customer. It should invoke a positive, emotional feeling that will ensure your customer is compelled to make their purchase and become a repeat customer. By delivering an optimised and personalised experience you’ll show customers that your business cares.

Why is eCommerce Customer Experience so important?

Your eCommerce customer experience can set your company apart from your competitors. By being customer focused you will remove all of those pain points that cause customers to abandon their basket, if they even get that far! Therefore making your company more competitive and ultimately increasing sales and business growth. It is reported that customers will even pay more for the exact same product if the customer experience is great!

There are some quick wins that can really enhance your customer experience. Let’s take a look at what you can do today to enhance your website.

Make sure the basics are in place.

By basics we’re talking about things like navigation, search functionality and product information. It’s reported that almost 80% of customers abandon their purchases because their experience with these pieces of functionality is poor…leading them straight into the arms of your competitor. If you get angry using your website, imagine how your poor customers must feel!

Think about it from your customers point of view, are your categories structured correctly so that products are easy to find? Could you find your best seller in two clicks? A thoughtful layout will make your site easy to navigate and will reduce abandonment, helping to drive sales.

Consider adding intelligent search to your website, where AI recognises what the customer is searching for and makes suggestions. You can even add a ‘buy now’ button to the search results making it even faster for the customer to make their purchase.

Make sure your products have detailed product information. By giving your potential customers as many details as possible you can empower them to make the correct purchasing decision. Creative messaging can also help to highlight some of the key product features, making it even easier for the customer to make their product selection.

Inspire your customers

There are lots of clever things you can do to inspire your customers’ purchasing decisions. Did you know you can suggest specific products based on the weather report at your customers location? Using geolocation can determine where your customer is and suggest appropriate products. For example, it’s forecast rain in Manchester, perhaps your customer needs a new coat! Use the featured product section to make these suggestions and inspire purchases!

Be Mobile Friendly

It is reported that over 55% of consumers worldwide make purchases online using their mobile phone. If your website doesn’t offer a streamlined mobile experience you could be missing out on huge sales. The same rules apply for mobile websites as they do desktop. Take it back to the basics and make sure the navigation, search functionality and product information are all present, correct and easy to use.

Offer Flexible Delivery Options

This is often an overlooked element of customer experience. Offering customers different options for delivery gives them freedom. For example, you might think that offering free standard delivery is a great service, but what if your customer is willing to pay for next day delivery? By offering this as an upgrade your customers are more likely to go through and complete their purchase as you offer what they want.

Whilst we’re talking about delivery, make sure your delivery options are obvious, where possible have it detailed on the product page. We’ve already discussed how creating a positive emotional response can boost sales, it is also possible to trigger a negative emotional response which should be avoided at all costs. No one likes to get all the way through to the checkout process only to find delivery will take 10 days! This is guaranteed to cause abandoned baskets and potential customers that you’ll probably never see again.

Offer Flexible Purchasing Options

Much like offering multiple delivery options, offering different payment options is key to a good customer experience. Obviously taking card payments and Paypal is a no brainer, but have you considered adding Klarna, Zip or Clearpay? Adding one of these payment options allows your customers to split their payments over 3 interest free monthly payments which can be extremely convenient for many people. Don’t worry, you still get paid in full at the time of the purchase.

After you’ve made changes to your customer experience you’ll want to know if it has worked. It may sound obvious but speaking with your customers is a great way to gather feedback. Inviting your customers to take part in a survey is a great way to start, you could even offer them a special discount off their next purchase to sweeten the deal. By analysing your customer experience you’ll learn what they like and be able to rectify what they don’t like. Analysing and modifying your customer experience is a continuous task and should not be neglected.

If you’d like help with reviewing your customer experience get in touch. We can help by analyising the existing customer experience and detailing how it could be improved. If you like, we can even help you to make the improvements.