What’s the most important aspect of skyrocketing eCommerce sales? Of course, you need a great assortment of products to impress potential customers. Also, you’ll need a robust omnichannel marketing strategy to drive organic traffic to your online store.
But the quality of customer experience you deliver decides the fate of your eCommerce business. In the absence of a flawless customer experience, you’ll fail to convert website visitors into customers. Even if a few visitors purchase from you, they won’t recommend your store to others or return to buy more products from you.
Top-notch customer experience plays a key role in establishing your online store as a reliable and trusted brand. It helps improve customer retention and loyalty as well. Ultimately, it reduces customer acquisition costs and maximizes the return on investment (ROI) of your marketing campaigns.
In this blog, we’ll outline a few useful ways to enhance the customer experience for your eCommerce business. Let’s dive right in.
1. Prioritize Order Fulfillment
Many novice eCommerce business owners assume that running an online store is all about creating a stellar website and app. They might go a step ahead, and curate an impressive inventory of products.
What they don’t realize is that order fulfillment plays an equally important role in shaping the customer experience.
When a customer places an order on your website, they expect it to be delivered on time and in good shape. With Amazon offering same-day shipping, consumers are getting used to lightning-fast delivery speeds.
That, in turn, emphasizes the importance of finding the right warehouse services and delivery providers who will ensure seamless order fulfillment.
Look for warehouse services that utilize cutting-edge tech innovations, including autonomous vehicles and RFID tags. Also, make sure they provide a wide array of services, including storage, packing, and kitting.
Depending on the type of warehouse services you’re using, you might also need to partner with third-party delivery providers. Choose a company that uses scheduling and route planning software to maximize efficiency and affordability.
Also, find last-mile delivery providers who offer state-of-the-art services, such as white-glove delivery, dunnage removal, and reverse logistics.
2. Simplify the Checkout Process
When consumers add a product to their cart, they’re only steps away from making their purchase. But there’s a lot that could go wrong at that point.
From hefty shipping charges and taxes to a lengthy checkout form – there are numerous ways to complicate eCommerce checkout. That’s precisely what results in high cart abandonment rates too.
That’s why you need to focus on making the checkout process as frictionless as possible.
Start by working on the design and layout of the checkout page. Make sure it’s easy for visitors to understand what actions they’re supposed to take to complete the checkout. Also, be transparent about product pricing, shipping charges, and taxes even before they add a product to their cart.
Next, allow guest checkout to let visitors make a purchase without signing up. Once their purchase is complete, use a “thank you” page to encourage them to register on your website. Simplify the signup process by letting them use their email or social media accounts to register.
3. Provide Excellent Customer Support
Even with the best warehouse services and order fulfillment strategy, there are going to be situations where a customer isn’t happy with the product they’ve received. It might have been damaged during transit or didn’t fit their expectations.
In either case, your customer support team should be available to assist every unhappy customer. Whether they want to return a product or request a replacement, make sure there’s someone to handhold them through the process.
Make sure you provide multiple customer support channels, including live chat, email, phone, and a ticketing system. Also, watch out for customer complaints and queries on your social media profiles.
It’s worth noting that the role of customer support isn’t restricted to query resolution. You also need to provide them with the right resources to utilize your product to the fullest. From FAQs pages and product tutorials to a robust knowledge base – there are various ways to ensure customer success through high-quality, targeted content.
In Conclusion
Customer obsession is at the core of every successful eCommerce business. If you want to drive sales and maximize retention rates, you have to delight your customers with seamless order fulfillment and proactive omnichannel support. Also, create a frictionless checkout process to maximize website conversion rates.
