According to Statista, the retail eCommerce revenue in the US is expected to cross 1.3 trillion dollars by the end of 2025.
If you’re an online retailer you probably know how demanding this sector is and how harsh the competition may be. Especially with the top players such as Shopify, Amazon or Alibaba dominating the market. However, what factors make an online store successful?
- A variety of products to choose from?
- Only good customer reviews?
- Satisfied staff?
- A combination of everything?
Well, as long as any business depends on customers’ trust and money, it’s safe to say that this question revolves around customer satisfaction. Having a loyal customer base results in higher overall profitability for your business.
We’ve agreed on the fact that success comes to a business focused on customer satisfaction, therefore let’s proceed with the best practices aimed at achieving that.
Ensure a Smooth User & Shopping Experience
We’ve already dedicated a comprehensive article to this topic, but it is worth mentioning anyway. If a prospective customer is having trouble navigating your store or making a purchase due to technical issues, they will leave and maybe even bad-mouth your store.
Make sure the design of your e-store is intuitive, accessible for everyone and simple yet unique and thoughtful, as brand identity is also crucial for any thriving business. Also keep an eye on your website’s performance and try to solve any loading issues or errors on time to minimize your store’s downtime.
Speaking of shopping experience per se, you can use various features to keep your customer engaged. For example, personalized recommendations based on the user’s location, purchase history or even personal data such as name or birthday date.
Also, the checkout process must be easy and a shipping cart must be reachable in as few clicks as possible. People are ready to pay, so why not make it easier for them?
Read a full article about UX here, and we’ll move on to the next point.
Invest in Social Media Marketing
Marketing campaigns in social media can help your business raise brand awareness, extend customer service and generate more leads.
Social media platforms offer a range of advertising options that allow companies to target specific demographics and interests. This can be especially useful for e-commerce stores, as it will enable them to reach potential customers most likely to be interested in their products.
Moreover, social media is a great tool for communicating with clients. Leaving reviews on platforms such as Instagram or Facebook is much easier and efficient than filling out forms on the website.
Provide Customer Service & Support
Customer service is the way staff assists clients with everything related to their business: from making a purchase ro resolving issues. According to Microsoft, 96% of customers find customer service crucial for brand loyalty.
Of course, simply having customer service is not enough. It must be superior in order to bring a positive impact. Forbes claims that 80% of businesses believe they have exceptional customer service, but only 8% of customers agree.
Here’s how you can make your customer service better:
- Organize your customer service department. Keep track of conversations with customers, equip your team with needed tools for comfortable communication and maybe even work on text templates for frequently asked questions to save your workers some time on replies.
- Meet clients on their terms. People are different, and different people prefer different means of communication. Use various communication channels in your e-store, such as social media accounts and online chats on the website, so that any person could contact your customer service and get help.
- Personalization is key. People enjoy feeling valued. Implement at least one personalization feature to guide your customers to the right purchase.
- Don’t forget about customer reviews. Reviews contait true power over your customers, as nowadays people are more inclined to making informed decisions. They go to the reviews section to make up their mind about the products you sell or about your store in general. Remember, customer reviews is a strong social proof and a great tool that provides you with more insights about your clients.
- Improve your response time. Online shopping is about saving time. Allowing customers to reach your customer service team using different channels is not enough. The key to a well-performing team is the balance between speed and convenience.
Choose a Pricing Strategy
Healthy competition creates balance. It’s a great thing, but there’s always somebody who takes even the smallest competition too seriously. In real life it may be too much, but in eCommerce such behavior can really pay off. Or not.
A competitive pricing strategy is one in which brands price products based on comparable competitors. Different competitive pricing strategies may price products lower than, equal to, or higher than the competition.
Types of competitive pricing strategies:
- pricing lower than the competition;
- pricing higher than the competition;
- pricing equal to the competition.
Explaining the pros and cons of each of them is a topic for another article, but the point of any competitive pricing strategy is considering your buyers, and not only competitors. Knowing the prices within the competition is helpful, but you also should take into consideration what drives your buyers to make a purchase.
This technique is called psychological pricing, and it allows sellers to stay ahead of the competition without resorting to unprofitable prices. Setting prices attractive to buyers encourages purchases and strengthens your brand at the same time. However, this technique requires a deep understanding of the target audience and a strong brand positioning.
Provide a Multi-Level Security
eCommerce retailers are notorious for being a desirable target for hackers. Small businesses are especially vulnerable. Possessing people’s personal information and credit card’s information requires multi-level security.
Here is a list of security tips fo you:
Final Thoughts
Road to success may be long and thorny, but knowing and implementing the five practices described above will definitely make it easier. Be reasonable with your business decisions and stick to your brand identity.
