5 Ways to Improve Your eCommerce Customer Experience

The popularity of online shopping has skyrocketed during the pandemic, and while some consumers have returned to in-person shopping as COVID restrictions have been lifted, record-smashing 2021 eCommerce revenue suggests that Americans’ love of online shopping is here to stay. In fact, 60% of US consumers say that they now prefer online shopping over traditional brick and mortar stores. 

But the popularity of shopping on-the-go also means that consumers have more retail options than ever. If you’re hoping to build your revenue and earn customer loyalty in 2022, you’ll need to differentiate yourself from the competition by offering your retail site visitors an elevated customer experience.

In this article, we’ll explore why it’s important for online retailers to improve their ecommerce customer service experience, along with strategies you can use to earn customer loyalty.

What is ecommerce customer experience?

Your “eCommerce customer experience” is the sum of every interaction a customer has with your brand. The customer experience includes not only the journey from first interaction to the moment when the customer makes a purchase, but also every other experience they have with your company, including advertising and customer service interactions.  

Curating a positive ecommerce customer experience is critical for brands who want to succeed in online retail. A recent study from PwC found that 73% of American consumers consider the customer experience an important part of their buying decisions, but also reported that, unfortunately, only 49% of interactions they have with brands are positive. Based on this data, there’s a huge opportunity for online retailers to differentiate themselves by providing superior customer experiences at every interaction.

Why does improving your customer service experience matter?

Today’s consumers are choosy about where to spend their hard-earned money, especially as inflation continues to rise. In other words, if you want to build customer loyalty, you have to earn it. 

According to a study on brand loyalty by MartechCube, the average shopper said they would need to purchase from a brand four or five times before they would consider themselves “loyal.”

“Long-term loyalty takes time and repeated positive interactions with a brand that go far beyond points or VIP tiers. While rewarding customer behavior is one piece of the puzzle, gaining emotional loyalty can have an exponential effect on eCommerce growth,” said Jordan Gutman, GM of Loyalty at Yotpo. “Every customer touchpoint, from website to email to text message, presents a huge opportunity for brands to engage in a meaningful way.

It costs significantly more to acquire a new customer than to retain the customers you already have, so when you invest in keeping your current customers happy, you’ll not only save marketing dollars and earn more revenue, but you’ll likely also acquire new customers through referrals.

Improving your customer experience leads to improvements in the following key business metrics:

• Customer loyalty
• Referral revenue
• Total sales revenue
• Customer lifetime value 
• Brand equity 

5 Ways to Improve your ecommerce customer service experience

When you think of the best online shopping experiences you’ve had lately, what do all of your favorite ecommerce sites have in common? It’s likely that they made it easy for you to find what you were looking for, easy to get help if you needed it, and easy to check out.

Making the shopping experience easy and pleasant for your customers is a great way to improve your conversion rates, build customer loyalty, earn customer referrals, and collect more 5-star reviews. Here are five ways you can do just that: 

1. Make your website accessible and easy to navigate
   
   It’s important that your website is easy for all customers, including those with disabilities, to use. This includes checking that each page of your site follows the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, including ensuring that there’s enough contrast between colors on your site, that each image has alt text, that your videos have subtitles, and that it’s easy for users to navigate through the site.
   
   
2. Offer multiple payment options
   
   A customer experience study from Capterra found that 93% of consumers consider easy payment options to be “moderately” or “very important” to their online shopping experiences. You can make it easy for customers to shop with you by offering options like Apple Pay, Google Pay, Afterpay, and Klarna, in addition to debit and credit.
   
   
3. Make it easy to for customers to contact you
   
   Voice is no longer the first channel customers consider when they need help. Mobile CX channels like SMS and live chat, and self-service options are becoming more popular, especially with younger customers who prefer text over voice calls. Offering a variety of options for customer service is an easy way to build long-term loyalty.
   
   
4. Personalize the support experience
   
   Let your customers know that you want their business by addressing them by their first name in support interactions, emails, push notifications, and marketing text messages. It’s also a good idea to integrate your CRM with your CX platform so your agents have a record of each customer’s past interactions with your brand and so customers don’t have to waste time repeating themselves.
   
   5. Ask for customer feedback
   
   Everyone wants to be heard, and an easy way to make sure you’re in tune with your customers is to ask for feedback after every purchase or service interaction. Measuring Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), Net Promoter Score (NPS), and Customer Effort Score (CES) allows you to collect quantifiable feedback, correct pervasive issues, and predict future growth.

For more useful data on the state of retail customer service, along with tips for how to improve your ecommerce customer experience, download your free digital copy of the US Contact Center Verticals: Retail & Distribution Guide!