How to Improve the Ecommerce Customer Experience

Nowadays, consumers prefer to do their shopping online (e-commerce stores) mainly because it's much simpler and more convenient. For that reason, the online market is overcrowded with various e-commerce stores, as everyone is competing for the online audience and their share of the market. That being said, offering top-quality products is no longer the only ingredient for success. As a matter of fact, online consumers prefer to do business with e-commerce stores that can provide an exceptional and seamless customer experience. Stores that fail to meet customer expectations and needs will fall behind their competitors.

For e-commerce businesses, sales are the most important factor for success. However, as important as attracting new customers is, it's still six to seven times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to retain one. Not only that, but existing customers often spend up to 67% more than new ones. That's why customer experience is of the utmost importance because it allows you to not just gain new customers, but also ensure their loyalty and retention. Therefore, here are a few ways to improve the e-commerce customer experience.

Improve your website's functionality

The majority of customer experience happens on your e-commerce store or your company website. When it comes to the browsing experience, online consumers have specific needs and expectations you must meet, in order to guarantee their satisfaction. That's why it's important to improve your website's functionality and performance, in order to provide customers with an exceptional browsing experience.

• For example, make sure you improve the website’s speed and implement a responsive design to serve mobile visitors as well.

• In addition, ensure that your website is easy to navigate, user-friendly, and filled with product descriptions.

• Moreover, organize your products into categories and groups, so that it will be easier for customers to find what they're looking for. The more seamless the browsing experience on your website is, the better the overall customer experience will be.

Improve customer service

Many consumers nowadays prefer to familiarize themselves with your company and how it operates before they decide to shop at your store. To further boost their experience, make sure you focus on improving customer service. In most cases, consumers look for information about the pricing methods and policies you have implemented on your website.

Make sure you provide customers with accurate and detailed information so that they can help themselves out when needed. For example, you can set up a frequently asked questions page (FAQ) or a knowledge base with all the necessary information about your company that your customers may need. That way, you offer a self-service feature to customers, which means they won't have to contact customer support each time they encounter an issue.

Offer convenience

Serving customers' best interest is always beneficial for their experience in your e-commerce store. A bit of convenience on your part can do wonders for customer satisfaction and engagement. As an example, here are a few things you can do to offer convenience to your customers.

• Disclose information about additional fees or prices, if any, about purchases, shipment, packaging, and so on. It's better to let customers know than to unpleasantly surprise them during the checkout process.

• Offer additional payment options for customers and ensure you can process multiple currencies, especially if you operate on the global market. Make sure you have a proper management system in place to handle invoice payments so that you avoid issues with your cash flow.

• Make your checkout process seamless and secured, without any unnecessary sign-ups and registrations to make it more convenient for customers.

Use content to educate customers

Content can be very effective at boosting the customer experience in your store. You can implement a blog to support your store and host valuable content for your customers. What's more, you can share content on your social media pages to further boost audience engagement. Content can be used in any number of ways and each one will benefit your e-commerce store. For example, you can use content to educate, inform and entertain your customers.

Moreover, you can engage in effective storytelling with your content to help place your brand closer to your audience. Regardless of your approach, content can be very useful when it comes to improving customer experience, engagement and loyalty as well. Just make sure your content has good quality and that it's highly relevant to your audience because otherwise, it won't offer any real value to them.

Implement a loyalty program

As mentioned before, it's more expensive to acquire new customers than it is to retain them. That's why it's important to foster customer engagement and loyalty. Implementing an effective loyalty program is an excellent way to achieve that. Not only that, but a loyalty program is an exceptional way to improve customer experience, as customers will feel valued and be rewarded for shopping at your store.

• As a matter of fact, 76% of consumers state that being part of the loyalty program is an essential factor in their relationship with a brand.

• What's more, 83% of your customers are more willing to conduct repeat business after being included in your loyalty program.

• Aside from boosting customer experience in your e-commerce store, a loyalty program can have a positive impact on your bottom line. In fact, increasing your retention rate by only 5% can boost your profits by up to 95%.

Customer experience plays a vital role in your e-commerce store's success. The more satisfied your customers are, the more willing they'll be to do business with you in the future. That's why customer experience is vital for ensuring customer engagement and loyalty.