From product presentation to seamless checkout: 5 ways to improve customer experience
Today, your website isn't just a digital storefront – it’s the foundation of your business. We’ve already covered the basics of creating a website or an online store, along with design best practices and marketing tips. But there’s one major building block missing – and that’s the customer experience all of your efforts create.
While the latest technology and beautiful design play a role in engaging customers, what matters most is a positive customer experience, in other words – how easy and pleasant it is to shop with you.
Paving a smooth customer journey
Pause for a moment and think - how does a customer go from finding your store to receiving your product?
First, they might click an ad. Then they go to your store. They browse your products, they put them in the basket, they choose a delivery option, they pay at the checkout, they check their email for confirmation. Then, perhaps, they track the package or reach out to support with questions. Finally, they receive a package and - hopefully - leave a positive review.
This is the customer journey - the sum of interactions a customer has with your brand.
Yes, it's important to have a beautiful website, great ads, and appealing products, but that's only half the story for creating a great shopping experience for your customers.
So, how do you ensure that your website or online store provides a positive customer journey? Here are 5 things you should pay extra attention to.
1. Leave an excellent first impression
Like with humans, first impression is often the deciding factor in whether you continue the relationship with a brand or prefer to avoid it. A visually appealing interface coupled with simple and intuitive navigation enhances user satisfaction and helps users move farther in the customer journey.
General considerations for leaving a good first impression of your website:
- Keep it clear and simple – the less complicated your website’s interface, the better;
- Use plenty of white space (read more about the basics of great website design);
- Make sure the site is intuitive to navigate and has clear call-to-actions (CTAs);
- Implement a search feature in your store that allows users to quickly find specific products;
- Think mobile-first – ensure your website layout is responsive across various screen sizes and devices (all websites built with Mozello are by default mobile-compatible).
2. Provide premium product presentation
Buying something online, especially if it's a new product, is a bit of a cat in a bag – customers often can’t be 100% sure what they're getting. To make the customer feel and experience the product before buying it, you should give a detailed product presentation. In other words – the visuals and information you provide on your e-store cannot be underestimated.
So, how to achieve a great product presentation?
- Provide high-quality photos showing the product from different angles;
- Describe the product in detail, including the material, size chart, and other parameters;
- If applicable, use a video preview of the product, especially if you're selling clothing, footwear, accessories;
- Add reviews of previous buyers. Seeing others' experiences with the product can convince customers that they need it too.
Remember to stay truthful and realistic – don’t overuse filters or overpromise things about the product. If the product’s quality in life doesn't match the photos or descriptions, your customers will be disappointed, product returns will skyrocket, and your brand reputation will suffer.
3. Provide suitable payment options and a seamless checkout process
For every 10 customers who add an item to their shopping cart, seven of them leave without completing the purchase. Sure, not everyone leaves due to a slow checkout process, but definitely, a good part does.
What you can do is minimize the steps it takes to checkout and remove unnecessary information fields. The fewer fields for them to complete, the fewer obstacles for them to buy your goods. You can edit your Mozello Checkout form under Store settings → Checkout form.
The payment stage is a critical part of the customer experience. Consider this – nearly half of consumers may stop a purchase if the process is too complicated or if their favorite payment option isn't available.
But how can you know what payment methods to offer on your site? One trick is to explore what other companies use – particularly those operating in your region, industry, and with overlapping customer segments.
By default, we recommend that you include these payment options:
- Debit/credit cards
- Internet banking
- Most popular digital wallets such as PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay
- Manual bank transfers – this method can be helpful if you have business clients (and some customers simply prefer this option)
Busy customers appreciate flexibility in payments, so it's in your best interest to provide as many payment methods as possible. For example, you can easily connect your Mozello online store to leading platforms like Stripe, Paysera, Braintree, and others.
4. Ensure positive delivery experience
Whatever you do, don’t underestimate the importance of working with reliable delivery service providers. Know this – 85% of online shoppers wouldn’t re-order from an online retailer after a bad delivery experience.
While on-time delivery stands out as the most important factor, other factors like delivery duration, shipping cost, package tracking, and pick-up convenience are important factors as well.
While door-to-door deliveries are nice, customers who live alone or work in shifts may prefer using pick-up points. Make sure you provide different delivery options to your buyers, even if it requires more work on your end.
So, what else can you do besides working with trustworthy delivery services that have a proven track record? Provide your customers with a way to track their packages and keep them updated.
In Mozello-built websites, you can enable email notifications when the order is dispatched, including the parcel’s tracking information, so that the customers can follow the whereabouts of their package.
Remember – communication is your most valuable tool in solving or amortizing any delivery hiccups and ensuring a premium customer experience, despite the occasional delay.
5. Provide accessible and quick customer service
Effective customer support consists of many phases. First of all, make sure you have a well-organized FAQ page that answers the most common questions or uncertainties. Consider answering the most frequent questions right in the product page, freeing the buyer from the need to search for this information (for example, shipping costs, returns, size chart).
Information accessibility is crucial for first-time customers. They will likely have many questions as they're new to your store. And if you fail to deliver precise answers that are easy to find, they'll be moving on to your competitor's store.
What’s important – don’t redirect the customer to the FAQ section if they've already come for help to customer service. Quick and accessible customer support is the linchpin of business success and a make-or-break factor in customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Online chats enable the customer to easily drop a message and receive a response within minutes. The speedy response serves as an indicator for the speed of other processes in your online store and improves customer experience and satisfaction. In Mozello, the online chat feature is available via Elfsight tool, which integrates with Whatsapp, Messenger, Instagram, etc.
Exceptional customer experience is a win-win
All in all, a positive customer experience is the backbone of your business growth, and it's in your interest to ensure it's seamless, enjoyable, and hiccup-free.
In addition to keeping your customers happy and increasing sales, your business will benefit from investing in a positive customer experience. Most importantly, satisfied users are more likely to remain loyal to you and spread positive word-of-mouth recommendations.
A great customer experience can be achieved through simple website-building solutions, like Mozello. Remember – a simply-built online store that puts customer experience first will always outweigh spending a ton of money to design, build, and maintain a stylish e-commerce website that doesn't fulfill the basic needs of your clients.
If you have any questions, our friendly support team is here to help! Get in touch with them here, and they'll do their best to help you quickly resolve any issues.