Optimise your customer experience with IT solutions

Successful e-commerce depends primarily on the experience offered to customers and the ability to meet their expectations, needs and requirements. Nowadays, and thanks to information technology (IT), you can improve the customer experience even more.

Find out how and why in the following. 

Customer experience : why influence your customers’ perceived interactions 

Customer Experience is the set of sensations that a consumer may experience before, during and after the purchase of a product or service. It includes all interactions that can influence a buyer’s opinion of a product or service. 

A positive customer experience is one where everything is simple, fast and perfectly meets the customers’ expectations. It is an experience that offers an innovative, attractive and quality product or service. It is important to mention that the customer judges the quality of this experience on the percentage of ease and speed with which they achieve their objectives. To better explain the importance of a good customer experience, here are some benefits to consider: 

Optimising loyalty    

It’s a fact that a satisfied customer, thanks to a pleasant and memorable customer experience, is much more likely to remain loyal to the brand or company where he/she will buy frequently. So, a customer who has enjoyed a good customer experience will probably buy your product several times on the one hand, and on the other, he will play the role of an influencer through word of mouth.     

Improving brand image  

Once satisfied and provided with a positive customer experience, the customer can become an ambassador for your brand, which will create a better reputation and brand image. This in turn helps to trigger the buying process and the acquisition of potential new customers. 

Improving competitiveness    

A great customer experience helps a brand or company stand out from the competition. It also gives them an advantage that can make all the difference in a highly competitive market.   

Risks of a poor customer experience

Imagine a customer becoming impatient with a web page that takes too long to load, or images that are poor quality, or lack of information about specific products. Such interaction on a website or in a physical store can only negatively impact the customer’s perception of the brand.

Most likely, the customer in question will search on another site or leave the premises to avoid completing the purchase. Such a scenario will result in:    

• A bad e-reputation can cost you a lot of money.   
• The majority of customers stop recommending the brand.   
• A drop in sales, leading to a drop in turnover.   

In order to satisfy and meet customers’ expectations, it is essential to improve and optimise the customer experience. What can be done to avoid this disastrous scenario? 

Making the most of the customer experience by digitising : find out how to do it 

Provide clear, simple and understandable information   

It is obvious that the potential customer will have many things to look for. Moreover, when the consumer is in the phase of searching for the product corresponding to his needs, he gathers information and builds an idea of the ideal product that meets his needs and expectations.    

To get the information he needs, the consumer searches for products on an online shop. To do this, the product sheets must be clear, simple and complete, firstly. Second, the natural referencing on search engines must be well optimised to ensure fluidity of navigation on the site, which will facilitate the acquisition of new customers, while differentiating you from the competition.  

Having a mobile application    

Mobile users are becoming more numerous and there is no denying the fact that generation Z is constantly connected via their Smartphone. A mobile application is highly appreciated by Internet users because it facilitates navigation between your pages, which will be designed for mobile interfaces (smartphones, tablets, etc.). These applications must be responsive and therefore easily accessible for customers. 

Set up a smooth and secure payment process    

To ensure that your customers are happy when they browse your site, you also need to make the checkout process as simple as possible. In many ways, this step has a major impact on the conversion rate of your prospects, as cart abandonment occurs more often at this stage, when they feel the process is too time-consuming.   

Therefore, it is imperative to pay close attention to the payment methods you offer your customers. In this context, the implementation of a secure payment service is the best solution to adopt, using for example an HTTPS protocol, while also considering systematically informing your customers that the payment page is perfectly secure (with the padlock icon) 

Consider adding a chatbot   

While it goes without saying that an e-commerce site should have a helpful and responsive customer service, some may think that a chatbot is optional. However, keep in mind that some users prefer to use the chatbot to communicate with customer service, but most e-commerce users express their motivation to buy through this technology.    

Indeed, the chatbot makes it easier and faster to inform visitors. With a simple message, they can find out about your general conditions, return conditions, delivery times, etc. 

Technology has made it possible for customers to get straight to the point and have a streamlined shopping experience. This is not a given, unless you adopt an innovative, state-of-the-art solution. Moreover, opting for omnichannel makes it easier to manage your flows across the various distribution and communication channels, including data flows and inventory management, among others.