9 Ways to Improve Customer Experience to Boost Ecommerce Sales

Getting into the eCommerce business has a lot of challenges, but it also provides a lot of benefits to those who can wade through these hurdles.

For one, in the year 2019, the eCommerce sales worldwide amounted to about $3.5 million. This shows just how profitable of a business with an online store can be.

On that note, setting up an eCommerce shop is more than just getting a website and uploading inventory on it. There is a lot that you should take into account.

For one, you should make sure that you do not neglect customer experience. Since your shop is based online, that is the only reference that your customers have about how you operate your business.

Think of it as your virtual storefront.

Therefore, if it is hard to navigate and deal with your eCommerce store, then it is a lot like having a poorly managed store with the confusing organization of the shelves.

You want your customer experience to be top-notch so that it prompts your customers to be closer to converting into paying customers. However, knowing just how you can improve upon your customer experience is not something that people innately know.

That said, below are nine of the many different ways that you can improve customer experience to boost eCommerce sales:

Make your website customer-friendly

First things first, you have to make sure that your website is customer-friendly.

Again, let’s go back to the shopfront analogy. People are visual, so the aesthetic and appearance of your store can dictate which types of customers you’re going to attract.

This is the same for your online store.

The format of your website should be appealing. Of course, it’s not only about the appeal. It’s also about how easy it is to navigate your site. If it takes way too many clicks to get to your products, then customers are not going to have the patience to deal with that.

As much as possible, it should only take your customers two clicks to get to your products — the fewer clicks to get to where your customers want to go on your website, the better.

Improve product pages

Speaking of making it easy for customers to purchase your products, you should also make the most out of your product pages.

There is a lot to consider when crafting your product pages. This page has all the information that your customer should need to know about the product. It should also include a space for the reviews that previous customers have left about the product.

Improving your product pages means a lot of different things. For example, you want to optimize it for search engines. Aside from that, you want to have high-quality photos and enticing descriptions.

You can hire a copywriter or do it yourself. Either way, as long as you improve your product pages, you might get more sales and traffic to these pages.

Minimize the hassle during checkout

Converting a site visitor into paying customers can be a challenge. That said, you have to make sure that the conversion process is as streamlined as possible. Keep in mind that although people have placed items on their shopping, you can’t call it a conversion unless they pay for it.

One of the most important ways you can minimize the hassle in the checkout process is by diversifying the checkout options for your customers. You should include as many of the major payment choices possible, like cash on delivery, PayPal, credit, or debit cards. The more options there are, the better.

Implement an efficient shipping strategy

Once your customers are ready to purchase your product, it’s time to implement just how you plan on shipping your products.

This can be quite a hassle to do yourself, especially as your business starts to grow, so you will need to invest in ecommerce fulfillment services. They can help you ship and handle the deliveries to your customers. This will help you cut down on your workload by a lot.

Surprise customers whenever you can

Surprising your customers with goodies is something that you should consider. This is especially helpful if you’ve got a lot of competition in the market.

Giveaways will help you stand out from the crowd. For example, having a loyalty program is one way you can organize a way to reward customers who come back and support your brand over and over.

Free stuff every once in a while is also good. Sales during holidays and even random sales is also a great surprise for your customers.

Deliver superior customer service

Customer service is a crucial part of any business. If you don’t train your staff on customer service, then you will be unable to provide superior customer service. Then, you might have a hard time getting recurring customers.

Aside from that, you might end up in a tighter pickle because of poor customer service.

Educate customers with high-quality content

If you want your customers to be more familiar with your brand, then investing in content marketing.

Doing so enables you to make potential customers trust you more, as long as you create content relevant to them.

Diversify your presence

You shouldn’t only rely on your eCommerce store’s online presence to find your potential clients. You have to make sure that your business is on a lot of the major social networking sites.

Instagram is excellent for product advertising. However, Facebook is also great for advertising, and you can create a Facebook page to have a community behind your brand.

Add personalization to marketing campaigns

Making your marketing campaigns more personal will make your business feel less like a commercial and more like a friend making a suggestion.

Even simple things like addressing the recipient by their name is already a way of personalizing your marketing material.

Wrap Up

All of these tips above are different viable ways that will help you improve the overall customer experience of your eCommerce business.

As long as you continue your care for your customers, it will be a lot easier for you to make an eCommerce store that’s all about the customers. In turn, you’ll be rewarded with a huge boost in eCommerce sales.

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This article was contributed by Jake Rheude.

Jake is the Director of Marketing at Red Stag Fulfillment, an ecommerce fulfillment warehouse that was born out of ecommerce. He has years of experience in ecommerce and business development. In his free time, Jake enjoys reading about business and sharing his own experience with others.