Never before have customers’ expectations been so high. Never mind the fact that online traffic has risen threefold, and internal processes are going beyond their limits, customers don’t care. Your products and services aren’t the only differentiating factor that drives decision making. How well customers interact with your business plays an important role in driving repeat purchases and long-term loyalty. Get these things right and your business will scale accordingly.
Customer engagement
Your digital marketing efforts are working, and customers are coming to your site. Conversions may be up but is the site reaching its full potential? It’s easy to focus on increases in sales but are you reaching your full potential?
High bounce rates and low engagement sends signals to Google of poor usability and this has a knock-on effect with your rankings. If customers can’t find what they’re looking for then all that ad spend, social campaigns and site optimisation will go to waste and so too will your rankings.
Are customers using site search and filters, is key information such as delivery, returns and size guides easily accessible? These often play a key role in driving online sales by enabling customers to find what they’re looking for and to also help remove buyer anxiety and friction. Spending the time to get these things (and more) right, pays dividends not just now, but in the future. Knowing what your customers are looking for requires a datadriven approach to uncover and remove friction with your user journey. It’s what makes the difference between someone completing a purchase and someone who gives up and goes elsewhere.
We’ve all been there, we want to buy something, but it just feels so hard and clunky. Getting this right requires best practice and partnering with experts who have decades of eCommerce experience. Take Harrolds, they recently launched their eCommerce website and have rapidly scaled their business online. Blue Illusion have also enjoyed quadruple average market growth by understanding their customer and having an eCommerce solution that adapted to their needs.
Post-purchase touchpoints
You’ve made the sale, but that’s only half the journey. Now it’s time to develop the customer relationship by ramping up the comms and growing true customer loyalty, not only because of the products, but also the service. Make your customers want to come back and shop again!
Take click and collect – if COVID’s shown us anything recently, it’s that customers are using this essential service more than ever and it doesn’t seem to be going away. How good are your email notifications and the collection process? It never strikes to amaze how simple things are overlooked; like a clickable link in an email notification on the address that opens Google Maps. A simple action that removes friction and ensures a smooth user experience.
In a recent online purchase of mine, the process was so good it changed the way I viewed this retailer. After browsing a few sites looking at the same product I ended up buying from them simply because their purchase process had zero friction. More importantly this extended right through to the collection of the product. It was so good that I actually want to shop there again.
If one of the steps in the process failed, so to would’ve my experience and satisfaction and perhaps I wouldn’t shop with them again.
Are you paying attention to each touchpoint to see if you can optimise every aspect, from the usability, to the copy or the process itself? Bed Bath & Beyond launched click and collect earlier in the year and are already seeing in excess of 30% of all orders being fulfilled by this method. This creates a tremendous opportunity for in-store upselling, customer engagement and more.
Putting your customer first and ensuring that their experience is a positive one each and every step of the way will help your business to truly scale long into the future.
