In today’s highly competitive eCommerce business environment, customer experience (CX) plays a crucial role in achieving success.
While quality products or services were once enough, customer expectations have evolved, demanding a higher level of attention. In fact, 76% of buyers think online businesses should be aware of and cater to their needs, which is what CX is all about.
This is particularly relevant for eCommerce businesses as the number of online shoppers continues to grow. CX professionals must stay ahead of the curve, making it essential for online businesses to prioritize providing excellent customer experiences. Doing so ensures customer satisfaction, repeat business, and positive reviews, which are crucial for success.
This is where the 7 super C’s of customer experience come into play, which you will understand more in this article by Printify, a leading technology company that, together with Wonderflow, empowers businesses to offer a customizable online customer experience.
Why Customer Experience in eCommerce is More Important Than Ever
In the eCommerce business world, customers may have limited information about a company or its products and services. They rely heavily on the information provided on the company’s website or online store to make informed purchasing decisions. This information includes ratings, reviews, feedback, and other customers’ sentiments.
As such, companies must provide accurate and detailed information to their customers to ensure they make informed decisions. This is not only to avoid negative consequences for one’s online business but also to boost positive results, as 72% of visitors are likely to share a positive experience with others, providing valuable word-of-mouth advertising.
Below we see more reasons for investing in CX: improving customer retention, customer satisfaction, cross-selling, and up-selling.
Source: https://www.superoffice.com/blog/customer-experience-statistics/
Customers also expect a seamless and hassle-free shopping experience. They want to be able to navigate your website or online store easily, find what they’re looking for, and make a purchase with minimal effort. However, if the customer experience on a website is negative, 57% of customers won’t recommend the business or even express negative sentiments to people they know.
Any glitches or complications in the shopping process can quickly turn customers away. Moreover, customers expect prompt and helpful customer service when they have questions or concerns about a product or service.
They expect quick responses and solutions to issues they may encounter. Failure to provide an excellent customer experience can lead to negative reviews, loss of customers, and damage to your company’s reputation.
The 7 Super C’s You Need to Keep in Mind to Supercharge Your Online Customer Care
CX is crucial in bridging the gap between the impersonal digital environment and the customers. Authentic communication becomes paramount in online spaces where customers cannot see the faces of sales or customer support agents. Without it, social cues may be missed, miscommunication may arise, and customers may form negative impressions about a brand.
This is also why eCommerce businesses should offer different communication channels or tools like chatbots, phones, email, etc. This allows the customer to select a way to communicate with whom they’re most comfortable or what they have the best access to.
Considering this principle, the 7 Super C’s of Customer Experience can help immensely. These are a set of principles that guide companies in providing excellent customer service. They are:
1. Communication: Effective communication is key to providing exceptional customer service. To stay in touch with customers effectively, you can actively listen to them, ask questions, and provide clear and concise answers.
2. Courtesy: Courtesy is about treating customers with respect, kindness, and empathy. It involves using polite language, acknowledging the customer’s concerns, and thanking them for their business.
3. Competence: Being competent involves having the knowledge and skills to provide customers with accurate information and solutions to their problems. This requires ongoing training and development of staff to ensure they are up-to-date with the latest products and services.
4. Credibility: Credibility involves being trustworthy and reliable. This means delivering on promises, providing accurate information, and following through on commitments.
5. Consistency: Consistency involves providing a consistent level of service across all interactions with customers. This means having consistent policies and procedures and ensuring all staff are trained to follow them.
6. Convenience: Convenience involves making it easy for customers to interact with your business. This includes offering multiple channels for communication, such as phone, email, and live chat, and providing quick and efficient service.
7. Customer Feedback: Customer feedback involves listening to your customers and allowing them to express their wishes in multiple ways. This requires providing the right tools for reviews, ratings, comments, and more. Additionally, this involves how a business analyzes and interacts with the given feedback.
Implementing the 7 Super C’s of Customer Experience in your eCommerce business can have numerous benefits, including:
- Improved Customer Satisfaction: By providing excellent customer experience, you can improve customer satisfaction, leading to repeat business and positive reviews.
- Increased Customer Loyalty: Customers who receive excellent customer service are more likely to become loyal customers who will continue to do business with your company and recommend it to others. Plus, clients are 2.4 times more likely to stick with a business that solves their problems quickly.
- Better Reputation: Providing excellent customer experience can help build a positive reputation for your eCommerce business. This can lead to increased trust from customers and a stronger brand image.
- Competitive Advantage: Research by Zippia shows that 89% of reviewed consumers have switched to a competitor simply due to bad CX. With so many online businesses competing for customers’ attention, providing a great customer experience can set your business apart from the competition and direct its clients to you instead.
- Increased Revenue: Satisfied customers are more likely to make repeat purchases and recommend your business to others, leading to increased revenue and growth. It has been observed that customer-centricity makes companies 60% more profitable.
How to Integrate the Super C’s Into Your eCommerce Customer Experience
Integrating the 7 Super C’s of CX into your online business requires a deliberate and consistent effort. Below, we can see some of the most important elements any eCommerce business should integrate with to succeed.
Source: https://www.superoffice.com/blog/customer-experience-statistics/
Let’s go more in-depth into some of the main areas that need to be covered to provide a truly outstanding customer experience.
Hire and Manage the Right Staff
Recruit staff with excellent communication skills, a customer-focused mindset, and a commitment to providing exceptional service. Foster a learning environment and provide ongoing training to ensure staff are knowledgeable about your products, services, and industry developments.
Establish clear policies and procedures for customer interactions and ensure all staff are trained to follow them consistently. Monitor performance and use positive reinforcement to build a proactive and motivated team.
Actively Listen to Your Customers
Offer multiple communication channels for customers to interact with your business, such as phone, email, and live chat. Respond promptly to customer inquiries. Collect and analyze customer feedback regularly to improve your products, services, and overall customer experience.
Utilize customer feedback analysis tools like Wonderflow to gather and act upon feedback efficiently, leveraging state-of-the-art AI technology. Your business can gain insights like increased CSAT scores, reduced customer care costs, higher conversion rates, and more from such tools.
Personalize the Customer Experience
80% of customers would prefer to purchase from a company with a personalized experience.
Tailor your interactions based on customer needs and preferences. Use customer feedback to identify areas for improvement and actively work on enhancing your offerings, such as product quality, delivery speed, packaging, and order status updates.
Suppose you own a business that specializes in custom t-shirt printing. Always aim to go above and beyond to provide excellent customer service, such as offering free shipping or providing a personalized note with their purchase.
Conclusion
In today’s eCommerce business world, providing excellent customer experience is essential for success. By implementing the 7 Super C’s of CX and analyzing customer feedback with solutions like Wonderflow, you can improve customer satisfaction, increase customer loyalty, build a positive reputation, gain a competitive advantage, and increase revenue.
