6 proven ways to improve your Online Customer Experience
For years, when shoppers/customers thought of a highly customized shopping experience, the very first thing that came to mind is some famous brick-and-mortar stores. In recent years, the popularity of online shopping has exploded. While online shopping was initially touted for its convenience, customers are now looking for a high-level service.
Online shopping has become a mainstream activity, and online retailers recognize that the ultimate goal of online business isn’t just getting new customers to their websites, but maximizing their lifetime value. However, unlike traditional retail stores, websites often fail in providing personalized service to customers.
Adding personalization to your online store not only delights customers, but also distinguishes you from the competition, especially when the customers are just a click away!
With a few simple tips, you can creatively improve your online customer experience that will increase customer loyalty and ultimately your profits.
Delivering personalized customer service and targeted communications in order to build healthy relationship are best ways to ensure a good online customer experience and ensure that the buyers/customers you have keep coming back. Always remember the old saying,
“Make a customer, not a sale!”
1. Enhance your website navigation
Generally, online customers fall under three different categories based on an individual’s needs, expectations and intentions. Think about it while designing your website’s navigation interface.
2. Keep it simple!
As a rule of thumb, keep it simple! Generally, people appreciate uncomplicated online transactions, therefore, it is a must that you keep your business transactions simplified. Checkouts being a crucial part of any online shopping experience, simplify your checkout process. Once the user has added an item to his/her cart, there are number of factors those can influence their decision to place the order or abandon ship. So, focus on what customers need to do at each step of the process. Do not include steps within steps; keep it linear and on one page which can help ensure that customers won’t abandon their cart.
3. Enter shipping information
Allow your customers to select standard or expedited shipping, ensuring them that they’ll get their products whenever they need. Also let them know the estimated date of delivery based on the selected shipping option.
4. Make a personal connection
Do you remember those conventional brick-and-mortar customer shopping experiences? Most of those conversations started with a simple question, ”How may I help you?”, making it easy for buyers to converse with you in real-time. An inexpensive and a quick to make a personal connection with your customers online is to answer their questions viachat, Skype or telephone.
5. Improve customer service
There is another way to personalize your customer experience, targeting customers who have visited your site, got what they were looking for, but left without buying. You can gently remind such customers through an automated message about their purchase. This is one of the best ways to re-engage the shoppers, generate sales and build healthy business relationship.
6. Define your return policies
One of the major fears of customers about online shopping is the ability to return an item/product if it does not turn out to be what they had expected. For good online customer service, easy return policy is very important as it encourages buyers to make the initial purchase. Display your return policy at a prominent location on your website, making it easy to read and understand for the customer.
No matter what you’re selling online, the user experience is a crucial part of the overall customer experience. While designing your E-commerce website, make sure that you put your customers first. Observe their shopping and accordingly design an experience, specially tailored to their needs.
Although not easy, personalization makes a big difference. From some traditional strategies like simple one-to-one communications to automation tools like abandoned cart emails, you can add personal touch to your site, building customer loyalty and continuing to cultivate your business.
Did you know that having a blog will drastically increase the traffic to your Ecommerce site? Read our article on Why Online Store Owners Should Have a Blog? to know why…
