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The average conversion rate for e-commerce was reported to be 2.86% globally in 2018 – which means over 97% of visitors on an average e-commerce site exit without buying anything – a very sorry situation for any business.
But what leads to such a massive bounce rate?
Poor User Experience – that’s the sad truth.
Customer Experience and Conversion: Connection?
Data indicates that 73% of companies with above-average customer experience perform better financially as compared to their competitors, and the majority of companies that work to improve their customer experience also report an increase in their revenue.
No doubt that investing in good customer experience is as essential as investing in your product or service – and the smallest of details matter when it comes to curating an outstanding customer experience on your site.
According to a Forbes article, you can raise your website’s conversion rate by 200% by upgrading to a well-designed user interface. Better UX design may push this number to as much as 400%.
Do you wish to increase your conversions and create a growing audience of loyal customers?
If yes, it is time that you assess your customer touchpoints and strive towards creating a seamless and enjoyable shopping experience for your prospects – irrespective of how they decide to contact you.
6 Ways to Craft a Digital Customer Experience That Will Fuel Your Conversions
Give your customers something valuable to keep them returning to your site with these expert tips:
1. Enable Visual Search Facility For E-Commerce
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Sarah loved the dress worn by her favorite actress in a sitcom. So much so that she decided to purchase something similar, but how could she possibly find a close match without spending hours scouring the internet?
Well, if you have ever been in that situation, you must head to Pinterest to experience their visual search feature. The site allows users to click pictures or upload existing images from their phone to the search engine that directs them to the closest match possible.
These search results are in the form of shoppable pins that can be purchased in a click – leading to an enjoyable shopping experience. By integrating a similar feature on your site, you can make shopping much more enjoyable and personalized for your users, resulting in higher engagement and brand loyalty.
2. Introduce Visual Onboarding With Co-Browsing Technology
How do you feel when you can’t find what you are looking for on a website? Or, have you ever faced an issue while creating an account on a new site or app, and wished that someone could walk you through the process? This situation is real and quite common.
Unfortunately, calling up and connecting with customer support for help can take hours, which can put the prospect off and send them to competitor sites that may be easier to use.
Fortunately, it is possible to solve this issue by introducing visual onboarding on your site with co-browsing technology. You can use a co-browsing feature with your live chat software to onboard customers in a highly personalized manner by guiding them visually on their screens in a secure environment.
For example, if you are struggling to complete a purchase form on a site, with cobrowsing technology, an agent from the said company can access your browser (with your due permission, of course) and guide you through the process for a swift resolution. Besides onboarding, offering co-browsing support during check-out may also boost conversions.
3. Invest in an SEO-Friendly Website Design
Search Engine Optimization or SEO is vital for taking your website to your targeted users. However, SEO is no child’s play – as Google regularly updates its ranking criteria – making it pertinent to stay abreast of the latest changes. Of course, the basics remain the same – well-written, plagiarism-free content organized into readable paragraphs with adequate white space, intelligent use of titles and keywords, and fast loading pages will undoubtedly win you some favor from the king of search engines.
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Google has also added a mobile responsiveness ranking factor, which gives you additional brownie points for a mobile-friendly website. In any case, with more and more people engaging digitally on mobile, investing in a mobile-responsive website is a must for any business that hopes to provide a satisfactory experience to its customers.
4. Focus on User-Friendly & Aesthetic Design Elements
What’s the point of awesome content when no one can read it on your page? Light text on a light background, cluttered paragraphs, garish images – these things are sure to put off users, turning them away from your page. Follow these simple design tips for best results:
- Make intelligent use of colors, keeping in mind their psychological impact when picking them out for your page. For example, red often signifies danger, while blue is associated with a sense of calm.
- Pick the right level of contrast between the background and text for readability. Most brands prefer a dark background with light text.
- Invest in professional quality photographs. Especially if you are into retail, photos and 360-degree videos are the lifelines of your business – as customers rely on them to judge a product and make up their mind.
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Besides investing in website aesthetics, also consider using a tool like Hotjar to understand how your users interact with your page via heat maps.
Another helpful tool for maximizing conversions is Unbounce – which can be used to create multiple versions of a landing page to find the one that drives the maximum number of conversions. You can use Unbounce for A/B testing your headlines, offers, CTA, and pricing to gauge what clicks best with your users.
5. Analyze Your Customers’ Journey To Restructure Existing Touchpoints
Customers interact with a brand in many ways. From finding information through a website to live chatting to interacting on social media – there are multiple customer touchpoints that must be identified and analyzed to boost engagement and, therefore, conversions.
To achieve this, we suggest developing a customer journey map, outlining all your important customer touchpoints. Next, list your most effective and preferred touchpoints and place them strategically on your website for maximum results.
For example, if you notice more users are interested in customer testimonials – place them prominently on your landing pages for higher engagement and credibility. Or, if your product is technical in nature, you can offer a free demo at various places to generate more leads.
Another critical factor is finding out what the customer expects from you and then delivering what they want. For this, you may start by segmenting your customers to create personalized experiences for them.
Here’s a list of the questions that will help you in client segmentation:
- Identify your customers – use data analytics to segment users according to gender, location, income, job title, etc.
- Where do your customers like to hang out (their preferred social media platforms)?
- Why would a prospect choose to purchase from you?
- How does a prospect find your business?
- Do your customers prefer any specific device? For example, mobile over the web.
6. Invest In An Omnichannel Customer Engagement Strategy
Outstanding customer experience on your site is not enough for customers who switch between multiple devices in a day. For example, you may visit a website on your laptop, add some items to your cart, and then, due to some reason, don’t complete the purchase.
Later, when you remember about the order, you no longer have your laptop with you, but you can always access the site through your mobile and complete the purchase.
But what if that’s not possible?
In all probability, you will abandon the order and move to another site – stressing on the importance of providing a seamless experience across all customer touchpoints.
Data also points in the same direction. Aberdeen Group says that companies that offer robust omnichannel customer engagement report a retention rate as high as 89% as compared to 33% for companies with weak omnichannel strategies. This leads us to what we said in the above point – mapping your important customer touchpoints and integrating them for an un-fragmented experience.
To Conclude
Customer experience is closely linked to your conversion rate, and, to stand out, you must revamp your digital experience to meet customer demands. The six ideas outlined above will help you understand your customers’ journey better and add more value at every step to boost engagement and conversions.