Let’s say a busy millennial professional finds out on a Thursday afternoon that she needs to fly home to be with family the following morning.
The entire process was intuitive and fluid, creating a customer experience that earns and keeps her brand loyalty. After all, why would she fly with any other airline when this one makes it so easy for her?
Now, if our airline consumer was 15 years older (or younger), their ideal scenario might look a little different.
That’s why it’s so critical to know your customers and what they want from their online experience.
Through our original research, we know one generation’s convenience is another generation’s hassle; what is seamless to Gen Z and millennials may seem cumbersome to older consumers. For example, twice as many Gen Z consumers make purchases on mobile phones than on laptops, while it’s almost exactly the inverse for baby boomers.
“Every ecommerce business needs to put themselves in the shoes of their customers – all their customers. Different customers want different things, but they all want a great customer experience. Every part of your business, including your fraud protection, needs to align with delivering personalized and excellent CX.”
Rafael Lourenco, ClearSale Executive Vice President & Partner
That’s why it’s important to get personal with your customers. Think about how different customers will interact with your online presence.
We said in the beginning of this guide that 13% of customers were first-time online consumers during the pandemic. These customers likely won’t know how to make their way through your website or mobile app with ease and may need navigation help to confidently make an ecommerce purchase.
Think about how “old-school” search functionality works on a website. Users type in a keyword, product name or some other detail, which gives them an assortment of options to choose from. The quality of results depends on the accuracy of the search parameters.
And if the results aren’t what the consumer is looking for, the only way back is to search again. That’s a recipe for giving up.
At the same, your experienced customers want robust advanced features, not training wheels.
To satisfy both groups of users, ecommerce sites must provide navigation and filters that are clear and intuitive, such as fixed sidebar menus that make it easy to navigate between product types, colors, sizes, prices, etc. — without having to backtrack. At the same time, offer similar filters that make it simple to adjust characteristics at will. Naïve customers can easily figure out where they are by looking at the listed filters, while experienced customers can quickly adjust what they are seeking.
Another way to improve CX is through social influence.
People tend to trust their peers and online recommendations more than brands and companies. When consumers are shopping for products, they want to feel confident that they’re making the best choice, which often means seeking out products with the highest rating.
Social proof helps customers find products and make decisions about purchases using:
A sporting goods apparel retailer, for instance, could encourage customers to submit product reviews with photos and their opinions about the quality, fit, feel and accuracy of the product description.
Not only does social proof provide priceless intel for the ecommerce marketing team, it gives consumers much more confidence when purchasing — because they know other consumers have no reason to be quiet about a product’s flaws. So, they reason, if the reviews are overwhelmingly good and there aren’t any alarming consistencies to the handful of bad reviews, the product must be a solid choice.
Many enterprise retailers use this tactic to good effect on their social media accounts, which goes a long way in developing customer relationships, helping sell those products and developing brand affinity that impacts customer experience.
Want to take it to the next level? Many retailers are improving customer communication and service levels by leveraging digital technology to create a personalized experience that mimics the type of service customers receive in-store.
Your customers are browsing your website, using your filtering and navigation functions, and they still haven’t quite found what they’re looking for. That doesn’t mean you don’t have what they want – they just might not know quite how to ask for it, where to look or even what it is they need to solve their problem.
Chatbots to the rescue!
An ecommerce chatbot is extremely helpful because it satisfies a basic shopping need: information. Ninety percent of customers want answers to their question fast – within 10 minutes, to be exact. Why not let a chatbot provide helpful information and drive sales?
Using program logic and data, chatbots can answer common queries, ask helpful questions, and suggest products, making it easier for consumers to find exactly what they’re looking for that much faster. Take it a step further by customizing your chatbot to follow consumers along their buyer’s journey and anticipate their questions at each stage.
Here are a few examples:
Every question should feel like one a consumer would expect from a helpful, CX-focused sales associate.
For extra credit, leverage past purchase data for personalized recommendations. In this way, the customer feels like they’re interacting with a personal shopper, which creates a sense of comfort and trust … and helps convert browsing to sales.
Before you automate absolutely everything on your site, ask yourself what will legitimately help your customers. Ecommerce retailers have a wealth of opportunities when it comes to technology. Features like augmented reality are great for Gen Z and millennial consumers who like to see how a paint color will look on their walls or how furniture will look in their homes.
However, too much tech (or the inability to opt out of it) may overwhelm or alarm first-time customers or older generations like baby boomers (and yes, the Silent Generation is shopping online too, especially since the pandemic).
To make sure the bells and whistles you add to your site are worth the investment, consider the audience and the function it will serve. Will it make the audience’s experience better, easier, more intuitive, more seamless, more comfortable?
If they answer is yes, go for it.
If you’re not sure, think about how new tech investments will impact the customer’s ability to browse and purchase — and how that outcome will make them feel about your brand.
While you’re at it, consider how that experience might apply across multiple channels. Check out the next section for more on the future of online selling.
