A customer's shopping experience determines not only whether they eventually make a purchase, but also whether they will repeat transactions in the future. According to PWC's report "Experience is everything: Here's how to get it right," as many as 32% of respondents say that it only takes one bad store experience to abandon the desire to browse further. How do you ensure customers are completely comfortable at every stage of the shopping path?
Customer service in eCommerce - what's behind it?
When does the customer service process begin? Despite expectations, its beginning takes place much earlier than when the first product is added to the shopping cart or the shipping form is filled out. Creating a positive customer experience begins the very first time a user encounters a brand (e.g., when displaying a store's ad on social media). For this reason, customer care has evolved and is no longer just about the technical handling of an order - it consists of all factors that can affect Customer Experience (CX). It is made up of both activities aimed at streamlining transactions and maintaining long-term relationships including pre- and post-sales care. How do we improve the customer's satisfaction with their purchases and thus make them remain loyal to our eCommerce? Here are 5 tips to help you develop a user-friendly store.
1. Know your customer - personalizing the eCommerce experience
Among growing competition, a multiplication of new online content and rapidly changing trends, personalization of customer service is no longer enough - the time of hyperpersonalization in eCommmerce has arrived. Accenture's research indicates that more than 90% of consumers are now more likely to purchase from stores that accurately recognize, remember and provide product recommendations that match their needs.
When matching an offer and communication method to potential customers, decisions should not be made blindly. The first step to personalization should be a thorough study of previous user behavior and analysis of the data obtained. To do this, it is worth characterizing your audience in terms of: age, gender, income level or interests. Next, you can dig deeper into how visitors move around inside the site (here you can use tools like Hotjar and Google Analytics) - the time spent browsing the platform, the steps taken to place an order, or at least the degree to which visitors scroll through content on the site will be key. This will allow you to assess, for example, which products are most popular, the amount of money buyers are willing to spend, and even what language and communication style they prefer. However, this is just the beginning, what steps are worth taking next?
Knowing the needs of e-consumers, it is worth putting this knowledge into practice - this will help a properly designed sales platform having such solutions as:
- Product recommendation - based on information about the customer in selected places on the site (e.g. product card, shopping cart, home page), additional suggestions of similar products can appear, which may prove useful and needed by the customer (which, by the way, also affects the final amount of the order placed),
- Dynamic product listing - the module, based on algorithms, analyzes the customer's previous purchase history, popularity and relationships between individual products and, based on this, recommends items that may be of greater interest to the consumer,
- Dedicated promotional offers - the platform makes it possible to offer customized promotions to customers, such as discounts on specific products, free delivery after exceeding a specific value, loyalty program for registered customers.
When choosing a sales platform that has the above mentioned functionalities, consider putting your eCommerce on Magento 2, which allows for flexible eCommerce design depending on your changing needs. By the same note, it is important to remember that in order for personalization to be effective, the process of getting to know the customer must continue (and be updated) without interruption, and its results should be felt at every stage of the customer experience. The involvement of buyers is influenced both by information about the availability of interesting products, real-time updates on the status of shipments, and notifications about individually received discounts and promotions. In a word - attention to the customer experience in every detail is essential.
2. Make sure it's easy to choose - a product comparison engine for your online store
Imagine a situation in which you are faced with the final choice of products you want to order, but one problem arises - a frighteningly high number of tabs are open in your browser. How not to "get lost" during the decision-making process and not to miss any relevant information? This is the challenge many eCommerce consumers face. Such a scenario can be remedied by a dedicated product comparison engine that closes the selection process within a single tab.
Depending on the specifics of the items, buyers may consider other evaluation criteria. However, most often they are interested in differences related to price, product functionality or date of manufacture. The more specialized the offer, the more accurate the comparison should be - by creating your own comparison engine you are able to take into account all the necessary criteria.
However, it is important to remember that a comparison engine will not work in every industry. For example, when choosing clothes or accessories, the decision is largely based on aesthetic feelings, and technical characteristics are less important. In this case, it is worth creating an alternative place where the customer can gather all the products of interest. Fashion eCommerce owners often choose to add a so-called wishlist, to which users can add all the products they are considering buying. In this way, they are assured that all the items they are interested in will be available in one place, and they will be able to choose the one they prefer from it or return to purchase it in case they complete their next order.
3. Remember the conversation - chatbot in the service of eCommerce
In a stationary store, an indecisive and confused customer can count on the help of a consultant. When shopping online, the consumer does not have to be left alone either. How to dispel his doubts? You can answer repetitive questions in advance by refining product descriptions or clarifying the most common doubts in the QA section. What about questions directly related to a buyer's more individual concerns? This is where a chatbot can help.
Until recently, customers were not fully satisfied with the bots' unspecific and perfunctory answers, which caused them even more frustration. Today, however, chatbots are able not only to answer more complex questions, but also to automate a significant portion of processes (especially repetitive ones). With the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning, customers are increasingly willing and confident to use the services of "virtual assistants." The rise in popularity of Chat GPT, a tool offered by OpenAI, has also been instrumental in breaking down the barrier (including the psychological one) associated with talking to a robot. What skills are worth equipping a chatbot with in your own eCommerce?
- Answering questions - the bot can answer both basic issues related to the order (such as price or availability of the product), as well as clarify doubts related to the product search (suggesting results) or the current status of the order.
- Assistance in the shopping process - the chatbot can also take on the role of a real consultant and give advice on such issues as choosing the right size or model of product for individual needs, remind about current promotions or recommend the most convenient delivery method.
- After-sales service, i.e. complaints and returns - the assistant can simply provide the necessary information about the procedures, but also guide the customer through the entire process from the moment of complaint or return to its completion. For more complex problems, he is able to redirect the customer directly to a specialist.
The chatbot has another undeniable advantage - it is available 24/7, which means that it is always on standby to solve customers' problems. They can get help at any time (both when the store is closed and when the service staff is overloaded through over-duties), which will certainly greatly improve the shopping experience.
4. Don't let consumers wait - e-shop page speed and performance
In customer service, elements that are not visible at first glance are also important - in eCommerce, such factors are primarily the speed and performance of the online store. Equipped with a number of features, the platform will not be attractive if the customer has to wait too long for it to load (and "too long" can currently mean as little as 3 seconds). In such a case, browsing will end in abandoning the desire to shop and feeling irritated.
While caring for a positive buyer experience right from the start, remember that regular monitoring of site performance is essential. Speed and smoothness will ensure, among other things:
- Reduce the number of modules to a minimum - the less code to parse, the faster the store. This applies to both the frontend and backend layers,
- Caching - modern applications use several layers of caches to ensure optimal performance, as well as many other techniques to reduce the amount of computation the software must perform,
- Server configuration optimization - there is no single and ideal server configuration for every project. All software that is installed on the server has a default configuration that should work for most applications, but this does not mean that it is the optimal configuration. The optimization process is quite lengthy, as it is necessary to wait a certain period of time after making configuration changes so that performance metrics can be collected.
Even on a correctly performance-optimized site, errors can occur due to external factors (such as unforeseen irregularities or unexpected page loads, e.g. during so-called salespeak). Ongoing examination of the online store, as well as analysis of past mistakes, can help avoid at least some of the user-unfriendly situations. For example, by observing the store's traffic in past years, you can see in which periods the number of customers increases and prepare the eCommerce technical background for that moment.
5. Speak multiple languages - your eCommerce in more than one language version
While eCommerce owners are increasingly opting for overseas expansion (we've mentioned cross border commerce more than once), online shoppers are also eager to buy from online stores from different countries. PayU's research indicates that as early as 2022, 46% of e-consumers in Poland made online purchases from a supplier based abroad (most often from China, the European Union and the United Kingdom). In contrast, Germans and the UK are the most likely to buy from Polish stores. How to prepare for a larger share of foreign customers in your own eCommerce?
In adapting the platform to meet the needs of customers from overseas, the key will be:
- developing multiple language versions,
- enabling payment in foreign currencies,
- including popular methods of payment and delivery to the destination country,
- developing regulations and other legal issues in accordance with local laws.
All the above points (and more) are provided by the Multistore module offered by Magento, among others. Thanks to it, it is possible to run several versions of the store simultaneously through a single administration panel. When deciding to sell abroad, it should be borne in mind that simply translating the texts on the site is not enough. Foreign consumers will most often expect a different shopping experience. For example, for customers from Germany, quality and assurance of reliable delivery methods will be key. You can read more about Multistore in a dedicated article on our blog.
The center of your eCommerce = your customers
A positive customer experience requires careful design of every element of the purchase path. Both the first moments spent on an eCommerce site and every following click should be error-free and in line with shoppers' expectations. You have already learned 5 tips on how to take care of customer service and customer comfort in your eCommerce. It remains to put them into practice - check out how we create online stores tailored to the needs of their users.
