April 1, 2020

The role of customer experience in digital commerce

Organizations invest millions of dollars to create positive experiences for their customers. This is of little surprise given that 96% of customers attribute their brand loyalty choices to the service they receive from companies. Additionally, 30% of customers return to a website if their past buying experience was positive. These figures make clear the importance of good customer experience.

Online reviews can make or break future sales. With over 30% of online shoppers leaving feedback and reviews,  the need for delivering superior experiences becomes all the more important. Consumers seek a seamless and consistent experience across channels – from the moment they search for a product, through the purchase process, all the way to returns, if any. As more customers turn to digital channels to discover and buy products and services, providing an omnichannel and personalized experience has become the holy grail for the success of digital platforms.

While technology advancement is strengthening digital commerce, it is also impacting customer expectations. Therefore, it’s imperative for business leaders to tap into the latest digital commerce trends to nurture brand awareness, exceed customer expectations, and enable a relevant, convenient and streamlined buying journey for them.

  • Conversational commerce: Amazon Alexa has become synonymous with voice-based commerce. The technology uses natural language interfaces such as voice, enabling consumers to explore and purchase items online.
  • Hyper-personalization: Advancements in AI and data analytics have allowed brands to provide personalized content, products and service recommendations to customers. For example, a bank sending tailored messages to a customer who has been denied a loan and recommending steps to enable future loan approval.
  • Subscription commerce: This model enables a recurring sale of products and services that renews automatically, thereby establishing a direct connection with the customer.
  • Thing commerce: Thing commerce is where smart devices make purchase decisions on the customer’s behalf, based on a set of rules. This model benefits customers by reducing effort and friction during purchases. Connected devices like home appliances and industrial equipment can act as customers and make purchases.
  • Visual configuration: Snapchat lets users take a photo of an outfit or an object to look it up and buy on Amazon. This configure-price-quote (CPQ) technology solution offers customizable, configurable and accurate product visualizations to customers.

Inhibitors to customer experience success

The global digital commerce market has shown a steep rise over the years, with global digital sales estimated to crack $4.2 trillion by 2020 end. While large players like Amazon capture most of this market, other companies of all sizes have started to get in on the action and with impressive results. Easier said than done though, there are plenty of challenges that companies must face and overcome in order to grow sales. Let’s review a few common issues that customers face and their solutions.

Product unavailability: Our research shows that product unavailability, including stockouts and even outages, is one of the major reasons for customers to ditch an online platform. As such, it’s vital that businesses take the right measures to identify product trends and pre-empt demand. In addition, it’s important that the platforms themselves always stay accessible.       

Inadequate product information: In the digital realm, customers rely on comprehensive product content to make their purchase decisions. However, most digital platforms lack insight into what information customers seek when they browse online. This means, not only should your product content be rich, accurate, detailed and channel-ready, but it should also align with customer needs. Netscribes helps digital channels overcome this challenge by analyzing customer behavior based on data from multiple sources.

Unexpected fees: Customers expect digital platforms to have transparent pricing policies. Any additional charges, such as shipping fees, need to be indicated early in the purchase journey and not when the customer reaches the checkout page. Maintaining price transparency is key to reducing cart abandonment and building customer trust.

Inconsistent messaging: The rise of digital has given rise to multiple touchpoints for customers to discover and access online platforms. This includes devices such as smartphones, voice assistants, and desktops and channels such as social media, email, digital ads, apps and websites. Your brand’s message – promotions, pricing, product information, brand identity, tone, etc. – needs to be consistent across all these touchpoints. Doing so drives greater awareness and trust for your brand.

Inadequate customer support: Quick responses, 360-degree customer views, omnichannel consistent customer experience, and managing customer expectations – these are a few of the key customer service challenges faced by e-commerce companies. Choose a trustworthy partner who will help you manage communication at every touchpoint.

A customer’s buying experience involves interaction across every cross-channel touchpoint it has with your brand. Strong focus on delightful customer experience will not only differentiate your business from the rest but also help win customer loyalty. With technological capabilities continuously evolving, organizations must best utilize the digital capabilities to transform their customers’ journeys. In this increasingly competitive environment, let Netscribes help you step-up your digital commerce game through rich content and high-quality product data. For more information, contact info@netscribes.com.