What is customer experience in eCommerce?
Customer experience in eCommerce refers to how shoppers experience every single touchpoint and interaction they have with your brand.
Importance of customer experience in eCommerce
73% of consumers point to customer experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions. And with increased competition and consumers being more willing to switch brands, a good customer experience can be a vital differentiator, paving the way for increased loyalty, retention and revenue. In fact, 1 in 3 consumers say they would walk away from a brand they love after just one bad experience. So the margin for error is slim to none.
We’ve teamed up with the experts at Odicci, Mapp, BigCommerce, Feefo, Antavo, Klarna and thinkTribe to bring you a comprehensive guide to providing a conversion-boosting experience from the minute a new visitor lands on your website.
Download your free copy to learn more about tactics including:
- Personification
- Data capture and gamification
- Welcome email series
- Product recommendations
- Ratings and reviews
- Cart and browse abandonment
- Loyalty programs
Plus, you’ll also learn how to monitor your customer experience with Google’s Core Web Vitals. And get ready to be inspired by 12 best-in-class examples from eCommerce businesses to bring each tactic to life.
Read on to discover how to improve your eCommerce customer experience with three personalization tactics and download our eBook to learn how to optimize a new visitor’s entire experience.
Download now: Optimizing the eCommerce Customer Experience
3 ways to improve the eCommerce customer experience
1) Product recommendations
A good eCommerce customer experience means shoppers find products that will interest them faster, and personalized product recommendations are a great way to do this.
The concept of product recommendations is nothing new. Brick-and mortar stores were employing the tactic long before eCommerce came on the scene and for good reason…Product recommendations work. In fact, this tactic can generate sales uplifts of up to 11%.
For new visitors to your site and shoppers who have withheld consent for permanent cookies, use contextual data to tailor the products they see. For example, use the shopper’s location to display products that are available in their area. Or tailor the recommendations they see based on their real-time browsing activity.
For returning visitors, use their past browse and purchase history to display recommendations that you know will resonate with them. Try displaying products that were bought by similar customers, for example, using a heading such as ‘Recommended for you’ to show that this is a tailored selection.
2) Cart and browse abandonment emails
Cart and browse abandonment emails are a popular type of triggered email aimed at encouraging shoppers who’ve left your site with items in their cart to complete their purchase.
Triggered emails are an ideal way to provide relevant and useful information at the time a shopper most needs it.
Cart and browse abandonment emails are extremely effective at recovering revenue. In fact, the average Fresh Relevance client sees a 13% sales uplift from recovery emails.
Try sending recovery emails about 30 minutes after a customer leaves your site while the product is still fresh in their mind (although it’s worth testing different timings to see what works best for your customer base and products).
Plus, make sure you include details and imagery of the product the shopper has abandoned to jog their memory.
3) Post-purchase emails
Once you’ve converted your new visitors into customers, it’s time to up your loyalty game to make sure you retain this group of shoppers.
A key way to retain customers and keep them engaged is with post-purchase emails. Although some customers may not be ready to make another purchase straight away, a post-purchase email is an opportunity to build a relationship with your customer, so that when the time comes to make a purchase, your brand will be at the front of their mind.
Try sending customers personalized post-purchase guides to help them enjoy the product they just bought, whether that’s how to style their new pair of jeans or how to care for their new plant, for example. Our research shows that 1 in 4 customers aged 16-24 want retailers to send personalized post-purchase guides, making this a worthwhile tactic to try.
Reaching out for reviews and feedback is another great way to stay in touch. It allows you to keep in touch with your customers and potentially set up another purchase. Then once you’ve collected your customer reviews, you can add them in real-time to your emails and website to provide a better customer experience for other shoppers. It’s the customer experience circle of life!
Final thoughts
Customer experience is vital for any eCommerce business, as it can help you differentiate your brand to boost revenue and loyalty. You can improve your eCommerce customer experience using the three tactics discussed here. Firstly, display personalized product recommendations to help shoppers find products that resonate with them faster. Secondly, send automated cart and browse abandonment emails to customers who’ve left your site with items in their bag to encourage them to return to complete their purchase. Thirdly, post-purchase emails can go a long way towards building a relationship with your customers by providing useful, non-salesy content.
These three tactics are just the beginning. Download our comprehensive guide to eCommerce customer experience to learn how to optimize a new visitor’s entire experience.
