This era is the era of digitization. The digital world has become a very prominent part of our lives. We depend on it to solve problems, get answers, purchase things, and a lot more.
The boundaries between physical and digital life are so blurred that we can’t imagine our life in the absence of digital platforms.
That being said, the competition has skyrocketed for businesses with eCommerce gaining importance. As per statistics, the number of online buyers will grow up to 282.7 million by 2024 in the US alone.
These days, there is hardly any product or service that is not available online. As a result, the online market is experiencing great numbers. For instance- As per a previous year’s stat, every month, 206 billion people visited Amazon.
All such numbers represent that the competition for customer attention has intensified in the online sphere.
The question is- What can businesses do to stand out in this online space.
The answer is- excellent customer experience
What is Customer Experience?
Whenever we walk into a stone and brick store for shopping, salespeople and owners make sure we have a smooth shopping experience. They show us exactly what we are looking for, help us with offers and billing, and generally do everything in their capacity to help us make that purchase.
Similarly, in a digital store, customer experience is dependent on a number of factors. If you are looking to increase your customer base by providing a better customer experience, you are at the right place.
We have listed the top 6 best practices for an excellent customer experience that any eCommerce business should adopt.
Best Practices For An Excellent Customer Experience
1. Adapt for Mobile Phones:
There are a lot of factors that make an e-commerce website worthy of customers’ love. The right layout, right content, and user-friendliness are some of them.
But, out of all these, being adaptive to mobile phones holds the first and foremost place to define a great user experience. The reason being, the number of people using mobile phones for shopping is rising on an everyday basis.
Providing a great mobile experience is not an option anymore, it is rather a prerequisite these days. Mobile phones seem to have gained an indispensable space in our lives. Digital channels are growing, and broadband connectivity is available everywhere, as a result, most people are connecting with brands on the go through their mobile phones.
Research very well backs up this. As per statistics, mobile phones are responsible for more than 50% of web traffic globally.
Another research says, 57% of customers tend to not recommend a website that does not provide an excellent mobile experience even if they like the brand and the products.
These statistics very well establish a mobile-first strategy as a crucial best practice for every eCommerce business.
2. Stand out with Personalization:
Nothing makes customers feel better than finding what they are looking for right there easily and quickly. This is made possible by eCommerce personalization.
Personalization refers to displaying relevant content for every visitor based on their previous data such as preferences, browsing history, previous purchases or demographics, etc.
This is a great way of keeping your customers engaged and interested and is the leading eCommerce best practice.
Statistics say personalization can help businesses grow their profit by 15%.
Amazon is an eCommerce company leveraging the benefits of personalization immensely. As per figures by Mckinsey and Company, 35% of Amazon’s purchases come from recommendations shown by service providers.
3. Use High-Quality Images:
High-quality product photography is a best practice that cannot be emphasised enough. Good quality pictures give a clear idea to customers about what exactly they are buying.
Good pictures not only encourage purchases but also help establish your brand and your identity as a professional and trustworthy company.
As per stats, out of all the products bought online, 30% are returned while this figure is just 8% when bought from physical stores. The reason attributed is that the product looks drastically different in real life than in pictures.
4. Provide Omni Channel Experience:
It is the time to go beyond just providing a desktop experience, mobile experience, tablet experience, or an apple watch experience. Rather, it is the time of the Omni channel experience.
Omni channel experience refers to providing a seamless experience across various platforms such that customers can pick up from where they left on any other platform.
They might have wishlisted the products on the go from their mobile phone and should be able to carry on with that list from their desktop to checkout and make purchases.
So, they do not need to restart the process across different digital platforms.
Apart from this, the omnichannel experience allows customers to check if the product is available in the store. It provides the provision to reserve the product online and choose to pick it up from the store. Buying online and being able to return to the store is also one of the benefits.
As per figures, 71% of customers expect to see the feature of in-store availability in an eCommerce app.
5. Stay Technically Updated:
In this face-paced world of technical advancements, incorporating the latest technologies is a must to scale any eCommerce business.
In the eCommerce space, the latest trends include image recognition and voice search optimization.
Research says that the retailers who integrate voice and image recognition technologies, will experience a 30% hike in revenue.
Moreover, more than 50% of people are expected to use smart speakers for search purposes.
Many companies like Pinterest, Target, ASOS, etc have already adopted these trends.
These trends become important for a better eCommerce experience because people process visual information faster.
6. Ensure Smooth Check Out:
Leading a customer to reach the checkout page is no guarantee of success. A checkout page can either make or mar the whole experience.
So, being in the eCommerce business, designing a smooth checkout process for successful sales is important.
Make sure the checkout process is simple and free from confusion. While customer indecisiveness can be one reason for drop-offs at the checkout page, most drop-offs are attributed to the complexity and confusion of the checkout page.
Allowing customers to buy products as guests without generating accounts, and making the payment process simple by offering enough payment options can be some ways of making your checkout experience customer friendly.
As per stats, out of all cart abandonment reasons, being forced to create an account comes on the second number. Also, 55% of shoppers tend to abandon the cart if asked to enter card details twice.
Conclusion
These are our top 6 best practices for a better customer experience in the eCommerce industry.
Do let us know which is the most essential of all the factors responsible for an excellent customer experience.
We would love to hear from you in case we have missed something useful.
Author Bio:
Yashpal Singla, the CEO of Iotasol, is an IT professional with more than 16 years of broad experience in entrepreneurship in developing, exploring, helping, and shaping new businesses.