3 Ways to Create an Effective e-Commerce Experience

Ecommerce provides a good avenue to serve a global demographic without the need to open physical stores in different global markets. In addition, it allows a fast way to scale up and increase sales.

However, running an eCommerce is entirely different from running a brick and mortar store. Unlike where customers come to a physical store and have direct interaction with the salespeople and the products, this happens virtually in an online store. This is not to say that their needs are any less. They expect to have a delightful experience in an online store just as they would in a physical store. Many businesses are turning to eCommerce, providing countless alternatives for customers.

If you are to make new customers, turn them to return customers, and stay ahead of the competition, you need to find effective ways to provide a unique experience to your customers with your eCommerce store.

Here are 3 ways you can achieve that effectively:

1. Provide technical support

Ideally, all it takes to get help in a physical store is to turn to a salesperson and find the assistance that one needs. In addition, searching for a product is as easy as going to the shelf and picking it up. While physical contact is impossible in an online store, this same experience should be replicated. Otherwise, you run the risk of people abandoning their carts if they find trouble navigating the online store with no help forthcoming.

For starters, it is important to ensure that your online store is easy to navigate. Create easy compartments for your products and a reliable search function. A simple search should lead your customers to the very item they are searching for. In addition, ensure that technical support is available through live chat and video chat. This enables customers to get the answers they are looking for to avoid frustrations. Video chats allow the customers to engage with personnel from your team. This allows a personal interaction that is crucial in heightening customers’ experience.

2. Aim for speedy deliveries

Online shopping offers customers a convenient way to shop for what they need. Nothing beats shopping around for items at the comfort of one’s home. However, customers need more than just the ability to order from wherever they are. They are looking for other conveniences such as receiving what they ordered for a speedy rate. If you are to make repeat customers, shipments need to feel instantaneous to the people that you are serving.

In that case, you need to work with local logistics experts to ensure safe and prompt deliveries. Of course, finding these experts in the various markets that your products are selling can be overwhelming. However, you can achieve this with the help of a PEO. For instance, if you are looking for local vendors to deliver items for your customers in Germany, working with a PEO in Germany will help you establish such associations.

3. Invest in augmented reality

One challenge that consumers face when shopping online is the lack of personal interaction with the item that they are buying. In fact, most people would rather forgo the convenience of online shopping than purchase something they haven’t interacted with. While pictures do their best at presenting how an item looks to the customers, they can sometimes be deceiving. Furthermore, it can be difficult to tell how an item fits in one’s life from just an image. It becomes even more challenging if the information provided isn’t enough.

Thankfully, technology has made it possible for consumers to try out products with the rise of augmented reality. For instance, a popular online store IKEA is using this technology to show customers how a piece of furniture fits in their homes. Through a smartphone’s camera, the customer shows where he or she intends to place the furniture. The app then launches a 3D picture showing how the furniture would appear when placed in that spot. Customers can also reposition the furniture in the 3D picture to find a perfect position for it.

Conclusion

E-Commerce is slowly taking over the brick and mortar stores. However, the need for exemplary customer experience will never fade from the consumers’ minds. If anything, they will continue demanding better experiences as technology advances. E-Commerce is a good way to ensure that you are keeping up with business trends. However, you must never ignore offering your customers the best experience if you want to keep rising.