What is Customer Experience (CX) in the Online Store and How to Improve It?

When the online business is growing, it is worth paying attention to what the customer purchasing experience (i.e. Customer Experience) looks like. This is one of the key elements in developing your online business.

In this article, we will take a closer look at following issues:

What is Customer Experience (CX)?

Simply put, Customer Experience is the customer experience in the online store, i.e. the interaction between the website user and the online store..

The simpler, more intuitive and easy to navigate, the greater the chance that the user will continue shopping and become a regular customer.

Additionally, better Customer Experience after shopping in your store translates into more positive reviews that you will receive while reducing the number of complaints.

A store's good reputation is by far the unquestionably predominant factor in the long-term success of your business.

Why is CX important in the online store?

Statistics from surveys conducted by various organizations clearly show how important it is to provide customers with the highest level of service.

A survey conducted by Salesforce on a group of 6000 online store customers demonstrated that as many as 76% of them say that an online store should understand their needs and requirements well.

Customers are ready to pay even more if the level of service and their experience with the store are at the highest level.

A study by PwC found that up to 86% of users are paying between 13% - 18% more for a premium product just because of the great customer service.

Should I invest in CX?

The largest companies on the eCommerce market have already understood the significance of Customer Experience and are investing more and more capital in improving user interaction with the store.

According to a recent study by Temkin Group, eCommerce companies spend approximately $ 1 billion annually on solutions that enhance user experience, while achieving a $ 700 million return on investment thanks to increased sales.

Moreover, this year as many as 44% of enterprises will increase their Customer Experience expenses.

On top of that, according to the Walker study, in 2021, user experience will become the most important factor distinguishing brands in the eCommerce market.

Up to two-thirds of online companies compete mainly in the Customer Experience level, as compared to just 36% in 2010.

Benefits from improving the Customer Experience

The advantages of providing a good shopping experience for the customer can be divided into 3 main categories:

• Increased customer loyalty
  
  Research shows that acquiring a new customer can be up to 7 times more expensive than keeping the current one.
  
  Maintaining a high level of customer service can be a great way to increase your overall customer loyalty level.
  
  What's more, McKinsey's research demonstrates that returning customers spend an average of around $ 52 when shopping, while a new user will spend just $ 24.5 on their first visit.
  
  Due to this, caring for a high level of customer loyalty should be an important element of the strategy of each store.

• Increased customer satisfaction
  
  Customer experiences are directly correlated with the level of their satisfaction with purchases.
  
  The most successful eCommerce businesses invest in such solutions to ensure that their customers are happy and satisfied with their purchases.
• Better word of mouth marketing, positive reviews and recommendations
  
  A customer who has positive experiences with a given store is more likely to recommend it to friends, thus generating additional income.
  
  The importance of word of mouth marketing should not be underestimated, and Jeff Bezos himself, until recently the CEO of Amazon, also knows it. He admitted:
  
  If you create a good Customer Experience, customers will talk about it. Word of mouth marketing is an extremely powerful tool..

How can Customer Experience be measured and analyzed?

Customer experiences are an unquantifiable value that cannot be expressed by a single numerical indicator.

Due to this, measuring and monitoring CX in an online store can be problematic. However, there are several effective ways.

A popular and effective way to determine the level of customer satisfaction in a store is a survey.

After completing a transaction, users are often asked to provide feedback and rate several aspects of their experience on a scale of 1 to 5.

Analyzing customer journeys around the store's tabs and calculating the Net Promoter Score are also very effective ways to determine the level of customer satisfaction with their integration with the store.

4 ways to improve your online store Customer Experience

1. Personalization
   
   One of the main ways to improve your online store Customer Experience is by implementing personalization.
   
   It is a process of delivering experiences specifically tailored to the needs and expectations of each customer on eCommerce sites by dynamically displaying content, product recommendations and specific offers based on previous activities, behaviors and customer purchase history.
   
   We wrote more about personalization in eCommerce and its advantages on our blog.
   
   It is estimated that as many as 91% of users are more likely to shop on a website that offers personalized solutions, and eCommerce website owners see up to a 20% increase in sales after the introduction of tools based on personalization.
   
   
2. A good mCommerce site
   
   Online sales via mobile devices is becoming more and more important every year.
   
   Research shows that in 2018 mobile users spent as much as 18 billion hours on shopping apps.
   
   It is estimated that the entire mCommerce market (mobile eCommerce) will be worth over USD 4.5 billion by 2023, which is an increase of 33% compared to 2017.

   

   Considering how many users are using phones or tablets to shop online, taking care of the mobile version of your online store is a key element in improving the Customer Experience of your website.
   
   The functionality of the website in the mobile version has a significant impact not only on CX, but also on their loyalty.
   
   Research has shown that 57% of customers will not recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile website.
   
   If the store's website is not properly adapted to smartphones, 50% of customers will stop using it, even if a given company offers products that meet their expectations.
   
   As a result, 84% of companies that are heavily focused on Customer Experience admitted that they focus mainly on improving the experience of mobile users.
3. Seamless and intuitive navigation through the store
   
   The time of online store customers is extremely valuable.
   
   If users are not able to quickly find what they are looking for on the store's website, they will go to the competition.
   
   Due to this, simplifying store tab navigation is important for any eCommerce website owner looking to improve their Customer Experience.
   
   A very good way to achieve this goal is to implement personalized product recommendations. .
   
   By analyzing the behavior of a given user and predicting his shopping preferences, the system is able to predict what a given customer is looking for and present him with an offer tailored specifically to his needs in the form of a banner.
4. The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
   
   A growing trend among the customers of online stores is the use of various self-service solutions and the declining popularity of using the help of the customer service department.
   
   It is estimated that as many as 67% of eCommerce website customers prefer to look for a solution to their problem on their own than contact a consultant.
   
   Taking this into account, in order to improve CX online stores should help the customers find answers to their questions on their own.
   
   Advanced chatbots based on artificial intelligence can significantly simplify the service of customers who are looking for online help.
   
   In the year 2019, up to 25% of all interactions with online store customers were automated thanks to artificial intelligence and machine learning.
   
   What's more, over 90% of companies now plan to implement AI solutions to improve Customer Experience within the next 3 years.

To sum up

Customer Experience is one of the most important aspects that should be taken care of by the owner of a developing online store. On the eCommerce market, as many as 9 out of 10 companies compete mainly in terms of the quality of customer service.

Sites that take this aspect seriously will stand out from the competition and win a lot of loyal customers.