Customer experience is central to your success as an eCommerce merchant. In fact, 80% of customers say the experience businesses provide is just as important as its products and services. Equally, consumers will pay a 16% price premium for great customer experience.
This makes it clear that customer experience has gone from a nice-to-have to an essential weapon in a retailer’s arsenal. This is due to a marked shift to digital as well as rapidly evolving consumer expectations and behaviour online. But it is clear that many brands are not doing enough with 82% of consumers disappointed by brands.
For those eCommerce retailers who have not been prioritising their customer experience, this should be your wake up call. Read on for 3 ways to rethink your customer experience for a digitally savvy consumer.
No more one-size-fits-all
Personalisation has emerged as a key customer experience strategy. Customers now want digital experiences that are tailored to them and their unique needs. They want to feel like retailers recognise them as individuals with their own unique preferences. In fact, 72 percent of consumers only engage with marketing messages that are customised to their interests. Similarly, 91% of consumers say they are more likely to shop with brands that provide offers relevant to them.
Therefore, eCommerce merchants need to forget about a one-size-fits-all approach and focus on the individual. This can be achieved through analysing data and analytics and tailoring experiences accordingly. This will make customers feel more engaged and better served by the brand.
Adopt an empathetic, human-centric approach
Empathy serves as a foundational component of customer experience in our post-Covid realities. Customers now place a premium on a brand’s values and ethics. In fact, 71% of consumers say if they feel a brand is putting profit over people, they will lose trust in that brand forever. While 62% of consumers say they’re more likely to buy products from companies they feel are doing good for society. Therefore, retailers should focus more on offering empathetic and meaningful experiences across every touchpoint of the digital journey. When organisations show that they understand what their customers are going through, customers are more likely to feel a stronger emotional connection with them. Salesforce data found businesses that showed empathy during the pandemic earned the loyalty of 71% of consumers.
Be wherever your customers are
Omnichannel is central to helping retailers bridge the gap between online and offline. And if Covid taught us anything, it no longer pays to put all your retail eggs in one basket. A robust omnichannel strategy only enables the retailer to be wherever the customer is. It also helps to provide a consistent customer experience across the various channels they are transacting on. In order to adopt a true omnichannel approach, you need to adopt a holistic vision that cuts across traditional retail siloes. Therefore, you need to adopt a blended view of a customer, whether they shop online, click and collect, in-store, or via social media channels.
Customer experience in the next normal
In our post Covid ‘next normal’, customer experience has become a major competitive differentiator for brands not only looking to maintain the status quo, but thrive. This is evident in the numbers, with 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a positive customer experience. Therefore, it is vital to continuously keep your fingers on the pulse in terms of changing customer expectations, behaviours, and needs. In doing so, you will remain one step ahead of the rest in terms of giving the digital consumer what they want, whenever they want it.
