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Last Updated on August 29, 2024 by Work In My Pajamas
Customers have certain baseline expectations when they visit ecommerce websites. These are based on a combination of natural human behavior and previous online shopping sessions. Driving conversions is first and foremost a matter of meeting them. The basic functionality of your website plays a key role in this regard. At the end of the day, shoppers must be able to find the information and controls they need to accomplish their desired goals.
It’s worth asking yourself: Is your ecommerce company fulfilling these five customer expectations, therefore capitalizing on conversions and reducing site abandonment?
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Simply put, shoppers can only make purchases when they can navigate your website. Therefore it behooves you to optimize your navigation bar and search tools to facilitate this. You also want to make calls to action obvious so users know where to click.
Hassle-Free Checkout
Convenience is paramount in today’s online shopping landscape. The last thing you want to do is lose a customer so close to the finish line due to shopping cart abandonment. Every extra step you require shoppers to complete increases the risk they will give up before completing a transaction.
Here are a few tips for providing a frictionless checkout process:
- Update customers on their progress as they go along to make the journey feel manageable.
- Allow buyers to check out as guests, rather than requiring them to register for an account first.
- Instead of redirecting to an external payment gateway, utilize a cloud ecommerce platform with an integrated checkout.
Streamlining your checkout and payment processes will help you maximize conversions by encouraging people to stay in your sales funnel until the very end.
Trustworthy Cybersecurity
It’s important to employ the latest cybersecurity solutions to keep your ecommerce site safe. For example, maintaining Payment Card Industry Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance is crucial. It’s also crucial to use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) authentication for your website.
But just as importantly, you must show your customers the measures your site puts in place to protect their personal and financial information. In other words, customers expect to see tangible proof of your concern about their privacy and security.
Displaying trust seals at checkout tends to assuage customer fears and convey legitimacy on behalf of your website. People look to these badges for quick assurance that your website works with trusted security companies, payment gateways and ecommerce organizations. These small seals can make or break a sale if people are on the fence about trusting your company.
Responsive Customer Service
Above all, customers expect an increasingly personalized experience in terms of customer service. People want to feel like more than just a number; they want to feel like a valued patron at every turn. Storing individual customers’ preferences is a good first step in customizing the shopping experience. This also allows brands to make personalized product and content recommendations.
Another tenet of meeting customer expectations is making customer service instantly accessible through a variety of channels. In addition to the traditional standby of email, offering live chat is a great way to engage customers in real time.
Flexible Shipping Options
There exists a gap between customer expectations and many retailers’ current order fulfillment options. But there’s good news: 43 percent of retailers involved in a survey boosted revenue by offering better ecommerce delivery choices. Order fulfillment is trending toward speed, with many customers willing to pay extra for quick shipping. Other people value free shipping even if it takes a few extra days.
Make sure your ecommerce company is fulfilling these five customer expectations for the benefit of your bottom line.
For a deeper dive on your conversion path to purchase and sales metrics consider working with an eCommerce Coach or CRO expert who can help you analyze your data and create a customized path to higher traffic.
