Most e-commerce sites are now making customer experience (CX) a priority. But some companies are going beyond CX to drive innovation in customer interaction.
Online retail is growing at an astounding rate. According to recent figures, global online retail sales are expected to reach 7.4 trillion dollars by 2025. This is equivalent to 25% of total retail spending. So, if you want to be part of this enormous growth, you need to adopt a strategy that considers the needs of your customers. And, if you want to be one of the few businesses that deliver exceptional customer experiences, you need to focus on Customer Experience (CX).
The customer experience is becoming one of the biggest differentiators between winning and losing businesses. Consumers no longer accept poor service or products—they’ve become much more vocal about the things that matter to them.
e-Commerce is a big industry in Australia that seems to be growing. There are many reasons this is happening, one being that many Australians have access to the internet. It could also be due to the country’s stable economy, but one thing that is really taking things to the next level is customer experience.
The following are some ways the customer experience is changing in Australia and why it matters.
Why Does Customer Experience Matter?
Customer experience is the foundation of every company’s success. This isn’t more widely known because most companies do not treat customer experience as an essential part of their business strategy. Even those who do are not always sure how to properly define customer experience.
Customer experience is often thought of as a separate function within an organization. It’s considered to be a part of marketing, IT, finance, HR, and a whole host of other departments. But it is one of the cornerstones of a successful business and should be treated as such.
While there is no set definition for customer experience, there is consensus on its importance. Customer experience matters because it affects everything from customer loyalty to conversion rates. But it’s not just about improving the shopping experience. Customer experience is about the entire customer journey.
There are many reasons why customer experience is important, especially for online businesses. For one, experts say that customer service will ensure Australia’s e-Commerce market continues to grow.
The following are some reasons why customer experience is vital:
Improves Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction comes from the experience you give your customers when they do business with you, from the point of view of how well you serve them. And customer experience is all about ensuring your customers feel satisfied with every interaction they have with your company.
When you put yourself in your customer’s shoes, you’ll understand their perspective and how they think. You can gain insight into what makes them happy, what they don’t like, what they expect, what they don’t expect, and what’s in the way of them achieving what they want. Empathy is an incredibly powerful tool because it gives you insight into why a customer is not fully satisfied.
Investing in improving customer experience helps companies exceed their expectations, and that is quite important. If an online business can make customers feel totally satisfied, they could be looking at major and long-lasting revenue spikes as long as this level of satisfaction is maintained.
Earns Loyalty
Another benefit that a positive customer experience offers a small business is loyalty. Customers who feel satisfied and cared for will likely return to your business. Satisfaction is a major magnet for loyal customers, meaning better word-of-mouth results, and the need to advertise is reduced a bit.
Standing Out
Competition for online stores in Australia is getting pretty stiff. More retailers are seeing that they need to be online, and that is making it harder to stand out. Customer experience is the one thing e-Commerce companies can use to their advantage to stand out. This helps customers remember you above others, as long as the experience is top-notch.
As an online store, it is hard to connect to customers. There is hardly any people-to-people interaction, so online businesses cannot shake hands, smile, or do any of the things they might do in person, so concentrating on customer experience is vital.
Ways e-Commerce Stores are Tackling Customer Experience.
Improving customer service online has been a little tricky for several online companies. Still, the most innovative companies are using tools to try to even out the playing field and give customers the service they expect.
But the fact that it’s such a difficult task means it’s also one of the most important. A great customer service experience will make you want to recommend your favorite company to friends, family, and colleagues. It can also be a real selling point when persuading customers to buy from your company. So, how do you get there?
The following are some things online retailers and service providers are attempting to use:
On-Demand Help
An important thing some online companies are doing is contracting live agents to help customers visit the site. These agents will be ready to talk to online customers through a chat session to answer any and all questions.
Today, you can use AI-powered voicebots to talk with online customers. This will decrease your costs and improve the time to interact with each of your customers needing help. Let’s say they need help using your products and services, and the voicebots can automatically guide them to do the work.
One company that is pulling off this effectively is Ecosa Australia, which has a live-chat window available to customers should a question come up about some of the products in the online store. This is like having an attentive salesperson, and that is invaluable online.
In-House Online Reviews
Online customers depend on reviews from others to make a decision. You have to put yourself in the position of the customer. Customers who have not purchased an item from a store will naturally want to hear from people who have to give them an honest opinion about the product or service.
The problem is many customers leave the site and search for third-party opinions. This means customers could end up choosing an alternative company. The key here is to keep the customer on your page, which can be done by adding a section for candid customer reviews.
In this day and age, word-of-mouth is still the best form of advertising. There are plenty of ways to do this. One way is to take photos of the items you sell. Take photos of the packaging and any instructions for use that come with the item. These photos can be uploaded to a site such as Flickr or Instagram or posted on your website. You can also ask friends and family members to review your product or service.
Cart Changes
Changes to the cart have also been implemented by online stores. Some are addressing shoppers that abandon their carts for various reasons. People may do this because they are commuting and simply can’t continue the transaction, while others do it because they want to switch devices.
The reason does not matter. What matters is that they are reminded they have abandoned their cart. This is an email or inbox notification reminding the customer that the list they curated is still on your site if they want to continue with the checkout process.
Every reminder is not going to help you hook another customer, but you should definitely see improvement and efficiency. Some companies are adding the “other items you might like” at checkout to try to entice them into purchasing similar items that other visitors purchased.
Optimize Smartphone Use
It is important to recognize how important mobile shopping has become. Online businesses must find ways to make their sites more compatible with smartphones. This can be done in many ways. For one, you can ensure a keypad shows up in any field where typing is not required so that the QWERTY board is unnecessary.
You are doing this because it reduces the amount of work a customer has to do on your page. Of course, it is important that all text is easy to read and that the backdrop is white or off-white. Of course, this is just one of many changes you can make to your e-Commerce store to make it as smartphone-friendly as possible.
This includes things like responsive design, mobile optimization, and ensuring that your site looks good on a smartphone. These are things that all businesses should be aware of. It is important to understand how mobile users behave, what they expect from their online experience, and how they will react to your site. It is also important to understand the differences between desktop and mobile shopping.
e-Commerce companies can be successful or not. It involves making the right choices at the right time. Companies who are willing to learn and put in the effort have a higher chance of meeting customer expectations by improving CX. Budding online companies should implement some of these suggestions because they can be quite helpful.
