Combine empowered digital consumers with an unprecedented pandemic and social distancing and you get 2021’s market situation: MANY, VERY demanding consumers buying online. Customer expectations are high, they want things done well, fast and easy. If you get It right, they will probably be back, otherwise you´ll never see them again….. So, how do you get it right? Let´s dive in !
Is online customer experience really that important?
In today’s world shops are literally everywhere, and people buy online each and every day. Covid-19 has, for sure, escalated the e-commerce rate; according to Kantar’s COVID-19 Barometer, 40% of consumers say they have increased their ecommerce spend during lockdown. And about 45% of consumers say they will continue shopping at online stores they found during the pandemic. But do people really value the experience they get when shopping online?
Picture this: You want new shoes, and you plan on getting them from that place your friend got you a pair last Christmas. They were good quality and super comfortable, so you decide to go to their site -come on, it’s 2021 and we’re in the middle of a pandemic, did you really think we were going to physically get them?-.
Even though the site design is pretty awful, you find your way and select the shoes. You go ahead and pay but oh, there seems to have been an error. You’ve been charged by the bank but you did not get any confirmation email. What’s going on? You try to contact them. There is a phone available so you call them: one, two, three times. Nothing. Annoyed, you go ahead and send them an email demanding a refund.
It’s been about a week. Still no response.
Suddenly, someone rings at your door: it’s them, the shoes are here! They are great, just as expected.
Would you buy from them again?
No, of course you wouldn’t. And turns out you are not the only one, 84% of customers feel that experiences are as important as the actual products and services.
This is the reason customer experience in e-commerce is so important. It is, in fact, even more important than the product itself. Studies suggest that improving your customer experience will uplift your company’s revenue up to an 84% as well as increase your customers loyalty by 92%: people will want to come back because you are fast and easy.
The need to improve customer experience if you want your company to grow in a digital, fast and global environment is undeniable. Now you know why, but how can you improve customer experience?
Here are 5 useful tips to improve customer experience
Do not make your customers wait
Truth is, customers are more and more impatient every day. If they have a problem, they want it solved and they want it now. According to HubSpot Research, 90% of customers want “immediate responses” and their patience starts to wear out at 10 minutes.

Customers want to feel you close
This might seem obvious but customers want to be helped in their own language. They want someone who will actually understand what is going on and who won’t feel 6524 miles away from you. Your customers will appreciate the closeness of a native. They will feel more secure and less hopeless to communicate if they have a problem. Now, we understand this isn’t an easy one because you need to have your operations in place. Maybe try looking for someone that will take care of this for you. You’ll save on time and money and you’ll definitely improve customer experience.
Make sure your e-fulfillment is fireproof
There are many things that come with shipping, from having a big enough warehouse, the right back-end software, a dedicated fulfilment team (you don’t want to spend your days packing orders trust me), good deals with carriers both national and cross border and much more. To avoid headaches, we suggest you try to outsource your fulfilment to a specialised partner that can manage the entire process for you. Especially during peak season you will be happy to have done so. Their volumes will get you better cross-border delivery rates and they will most probably also provide local fulfillment which means rapid shipping and lower prices. It’s a win-win.
People shop on their mobiles too, a lot!
According to the latest Outerbox study, 79% of smartphone users have made a purchase online using their mobile device in the last 6 months. So make sure your interface is mobile first, no one wants to see a desktop version popping up on their screen. So uncomfortable, ugh.
Don’t be a stalker
How many times have you signed up on a website and have later found yourself flooded with useless emails? You probably even disliked that company afterwards and would only return to their website once more, to unsubscribe from their newsletter.
If a customer has trusted you with their personal information, don’t bombard them with commercial emails they do not care about. Instead, try to contact them less frequently but with more interesting content, things they actually appreciate, like maybe a discount or an interesting video they might find helpful.
In conclusion, customer experience is becoming more and more important every day. People are using e-commerce more frequently and they want a smooth experience or they are gone. So do not forget about the customer experience if you want your business to grow in 2021.