Top 4 Customer Experience Solutions for eCommerce Stores to Succeed

Nowadays, high-quality products are not enough for online businesses to thrive. It is much more about delivering a relevant and inspiring experience to gain a competitive edge in today’s world. This article will discuss the importance of CX in cyberspace and provide you with the best customer experience solutions to apply. 

But first, let’s find out what customer experience is. 

What is Customer Experience? 

The customer experience (CX) is all about the customers’ perception of your brand from when they discovered your brand to acquiring your products or services.

However, people often confuse customer experience with user experience (UX) as they sound familiar. UX deals with the usability of your product or site, for example, whether a visitor can find information, search web pages, or complete a task with ease. On the other hand, CX includes all interactions and many touchpoints such as web, mobile, and human contact. Thus, both of them play an essential role in the overall success of your online business. 

Before we find out why CX is a key that leads your store to success, think about your good and poor experiences as a customer; how did they leave you feeling? 

Why Does Customer Experience Matter to Your Online Business? 

Putting consumers first is always a good tactic for any business. Hence, companies that offer exceptional customer experiences will set themselves apart from the competition. Not convinced? Then take a look at the following figures: 

1. The research found that 86 percent of online consumers are willing to pay up to 25 percent more for better CX.  
2. Brands providing superior customer experience could bring in 5.7 times more revenue than competitors that lag in CX. 
3. About 73 percent of consumers said that a good experience is critical in influencing their brand loyalty. Meanwhile, loyal customers spend 67 percent more than first-time ones. 

From these statistics, it is evident that positive CX will help you acquire more loyal customers and advocates for your business. In short, here are three ways that enjoyable customer experiences will benefit you: 

1. Gain and increase customer satisfaction, loyalty, as well as brand trust that measures how much confidence customers have in your business. 
2. Build a unique selling proposition, the features that make your business different from others in the marketplace. 
3. Increase the customer lifetime value (CLV), a metric that indicates the total amount of money that you can expect a consumer to spend during the whole relationship with your company. 

Top 4 Customer Experience Solutions For E-commerce Stores to Apply

Today, not sellers, but shoppers have the power, as they have many options available on the market and resources to educate themselves before purchasing. So now the question is, what should you do to turn CX into a competitive advantage? We have compiled a list of the best customer experience solutions to recommend for e-stores: 

Tip 1. Leverage a user-friendly site search

Did you know that almost 80 percent of buyers abandon their shopping carts because of irrelevant search results and unclear information? To reduce the cart abandonment rate, having an easy-to-use site search is highly recommended. 

Northern Brewer always places their search box at the top right of the page, becoming familiar to their consumers. Also, the brand has a microcopy as a placeholder ‘What are you looking for?’ to make searching more conversational and engaging. 

Another tip is to offer your shoppers filters and facets to narrow down their search results quickly. For example, Urban Natural Home displays essential attributes such as vendor, style, and finish, which enable customers to find their favorite dining table within a few mouse clicks. 

Tip 2. Build a great product page

It’s usually on the product page that your consumers decide to buy an item or not. Thus, put your effort into making it informative, easy to understand, and visually appealing. Here are some tactics you can deploy: 

1. Provide detailed product information, including special features and benefits.
2. Use high-quality visuals
3. Showcase social proof, for instance, authentic reviews from verified users 
4. Get them engaged through strong CTAs

Apart from showcasing stars, Northern Brewer displays genuine reviews about their Orange Blossom Honey so buyers can know how their peers felt after using it. Undoubtedly, user-generated content like this does help build up authenticity and brand trust.   

Tip 3. Flexible payment and delivery options

A lack of flexibility in purchase and shipping options can be costly, which causes the customer experience to fail at the last hurdle. 

In 2020, digital and mobile wallets accounted for roughly 45 percent of global eCommerce payment transactions, making it by far the most popular online payment method worldwide. Flexible eCommerce payment options blend traditional forms of payment processing like cash on delivery (COD), checks, and ACH transfers, with modern digital counterparts such as mobile wallets, cryptocurrency, and third-party financing. That's what online businesses in this day and age need to satisfy e-shoppers.

In terms of delivery, offering fast and affordable shipping options is a must for e-merchants. Finding ways to provide free shipping has been proven to boost sales conversions and decrease cart abandonment. Studies indicated that 59 percent of surveyed consumers say free delivery would improve their online experience, while one-third state that faster delivery would make online shopping better. To meet customer expectations, you should: 

1. Partner with third-party logistics providers (3PLs) to reach vast fulfillment networks. Therefore, you can meet cutoff times and delivery deadlines. 
2. Offer local delivery. Consider providing a ‘click and collect' program, so buyers choose a curbside pickup for their online purchases. Thus, you can reduce shipping costs while having complete control of the customer experience. 

Tip 4. Optimize your online store for a mobile shopping experience

Mobile compatibility is no longer a trend; it’s now a standard that could lead to a massive spike in sales and conversions. According to OuterBox, 80 percent of online consumers use mobile devices to look for product-related information. Plus, nearly 73 percent of all retail eCommerce is expected to be generated via mobile devices.

To improve CX on mobile devices, you should consider employing the below features: 

1. Punch up a mobile search with instant suggestions, typo tolerance, and auto-complete. 
2. Fast page speed is key as it will impact the shopper’s experience and your site rankings on Google search result pages. Online merchants can use Google PageSpeed Insights to figure out issues related to site speed.
3. Voice search if applicable. This virtual assistant helps eCommerce to be more convenient. Also, it is a creative tactic that can bring humanity to your brand. 

Final words

The competition in the eCommerce industry has become fiercely competitive, so winning and retaining customers will be a big challenge. If you still want to be in the game and even leading it, be sure to make your online visitors satisfied with your products and services. Follow our best customer experience solutions to leverage your website and boost sales.