How to improve the shopping experience on your online store

Beyond the products or services offered on your site, optimizing the shopping experience on your online store allows you to improve customer satisfaction and make it a great loyalty tool.

The easier they are, the better your customers will be able to come back to shop on your site.

Facilitate access to the site

One element that seems obvious but is often relegated to the background in many cases is the ease of access to the site: is your site easily accessible from the different devices used by your customers? A responsive site with a flawless display on desktop and mobile is a very strong business argument as 36% of online transactions in 2017 were made on mobile.

Also, make sure that the loading time does not exceed 500 ms. Indeed, beyond this loading time, a drop in traffic is to deplore. In addition, any page that takes more than 4 seconds to load causes the departure of the majority of users. In addition, a study shows that the conversion rate drops by 7% for each additional second of loading, the number of page views drops by 11% and customer satisfaction by 16%.

To measure the loading speed of the pages of your site, many tools exist and advise you of optimization tracks such as Google PageSpeed Insights. On average, an e-commerce site must be able to display in 1.5 seconds.

Facilitate access to the product

When a consumer goes to your site to order a product, it is obviously in order to have it in his possession. However, logistical factors such as out of stock can get in the way of this goal.

When this situation arises, it is imperative that your customer knows that you are doing everything possible to provide him with the desired product: information is key. Post a mention “product soon sold out” when products are soon out of stock, this may encourage them to buy the product before it runs out.

If the product is out of stock, suggest that your customers receive a notification when the product is available again and, if possible, a date estimate.
If your business is omnichannel, suggest that your customers check the availability of the product in your store and reserve it online.

Offer an efficient and personalized service

Interest in the consumer is extremely important: your customer must feel that you understand their expectations and buying preferences. Thus, it is necessary that each interrogation can be lifted quickly and each need analyzed and treated.

An interesting way to offer personalized customer service is to set up a chatbot on your shop. The chatbot can respond to users’ specific questions in real time without requiring them to contact a customer service or to carry out additional research on a product you sell. The chatbot helps keep your customers on your site.

Personalization of the service also involves memorizing the behavior of users: make sure that your customers can, if they wish, register their preferences in terms of payment and delivery methods. The easier the payment step is, the less likely you are to lose customers who have reached the end of the purchase journey.
Personalization is a very important lever for loyalty: the more your customers feel that you understand and respond to their expectations, the more they will come back.