With the plethora of payment options, greater security and improved delivery, 96% of adults with internet access and a bank account now shop online, that’s almost your entire customer base. Online shopping is now as popular as shopping in store (or even more so), as customers can save time, avoid the crowds and select products at their leisure without stepping outdoors.
But e-commerce isn’t perfect. It’s not uncommon for people to place an order online only to be disappointed by delayed delivery, or receiving an item that fails to meet expectations. Perhaps they want to ask an extra question before clicking the purchase button, or to feel an affinity with your brand. Millennials, in particular, increasingly need to identify with your brand and message, before committing to buy.
According to Matthew Hoffman, Vice President of Kigo, a company helping the hospitality sector deliver end-to-end experiences to their customers, humanizing the e-commerce experience will lead to higher sales and improve customer retention. In fact, he argues, it’s not just a good idea; it’s imperative.
“The truth is, the new ‘storefront’ is a mobile responsive website, and the ease for which a consumer can purchase a product is the new ‘customer service’. The significance of this truth today can vary by industry, but a business’s ability to transact online should be the new modus operandi.” So, how do you go about humanizing a 100% digital experience where your customer is purchasing remotely in isolation?
Humanizing E-Commerce
With online shoppers notoriously fickle, many business owners find themselves faced with a quandary. How do they take their businesses online without sacrificing their brand’s customer service differentiation, delivered through personal touch? It’s all about creating an online experience that surpasses the customer’s expectations. Here are a few ways to do that.
Get Friendly With Technology
If you’re serious about generating healthy online sales, you’ll need to invest in the right technology. “A tech-enabled business is the first step towards building a product or service that is measurable and sustainable,” Hoffman advises. Delivering a superlative user experience online means ensuring that your site functions to perfection. It’s imperative that your shopping cart is fast and secure, your customers aren’t left with any doubts, and there are no broken links or error messages.
The purchasing experience should be as simple as possible. One of the main reasons for shopping cart abandonment is forcing users to create a new account or jump through too many hoops in order to complete a purchase.
Make Every Interaction Count
After just one poor experience with a company's website or app, 60% of consumers are less loyal to those brands. It doesn’t matter how well you performed in the past. You’re only as good as your last interaction, so you need to make each one count.
“By standardizing ease of booking, payment, privacy, check-in, safety, and security, we layer in automated communication across the journey to ensure interaction happens not only upon arrival, but also throughout the stay and after checkout,” Hoffman explains, “we make every interaction count.”
Be Innovative
While product innovation is a sure-fire way to stand out from the crowd, it’s not always enough. If you don’t follow through with a great customer experience, you might just find buyers heading over to your competitors instead. In the evolving world of online e-commerce, brand diversification is as much about competitive differentiation as it is about evolving with the times.
And if you aren’t pulling out every stop to provide an exceptional customer experience, you can bet your competitors are. Keeping your online brand strategy focused on the user experience is critical. Only by doing this, can a business execute the ‘human’ touch for their product or service.
Focus On Your Company Culture
With millennials now the largest demographic in the United States, you’re going to have to learn how to appeal to this discerning group. So, in your quest for e-commerce dominance, never lose sight of the people behind the brand. Remember that this generation is more socially conscious than their predecessors, with 66% willing to pay a premium for a product from a sustainable brand. They’re also dubious of corporations and want to know how they operate.
Being transparent about the people who make your product or service what it is can drive an emotional connection to your brand. It pays to show pictures of your team, explain to your customers where your raw materials come from, what your company does to reduce its carbon footprint, and how you leave a positive stamp on the world. Focus on your company culture. “A business can have the right product, service, and strategy, but if the culture isn’t right, the business outcome won’t be either,” Hoffman warns.
Communicate Continuously
When to engage the customer in the journey and how often is a science. What happens more often than not is the needed communication from the business to the customer plummets immediately after purchase. Yet if you want to create long lasting and sustainable relationships, you’ll need to ensure continuous communication and nurturing.
It’s five times cheaper to market to an existing customer than to conquer a new one, so, reach out to your customers post purchase and solicit feedback initially and ongoing. Update your social media channels, and get viral. A great product is half the battle, but continuous engagement post-purchase can provide that personal touch that turns a first time customer into a repeat buyer.
Whether prior, during, or after the buying process, curating an experience that’s representative of your brand and how you want your customers to remember you is critical. Evoke an emotional response worth remembering by outperforming the competition, establishing a unique experience, and delivering your product faster. That’s how you speak to customers’ needs and desires and how you can humanize your e-commerce site.
