The market for e-commerce and online shopping is growing at an incredible rate. By 2025, experts predict the global market will exceed $7.3 trillion in value, driven by the whirlwind of consumer behaviours over the last few years.
Though e-commerce opportunities have been growing steadily, the pandemic ignited the need for every generation to explore the benefits of shopping online. During 2021, e-commerce accounted for approximately 18.1% of all sales, and the numbers keep growing.
Of course, to continue increasing their online purchasing activities, customers need an online experience as convenient, efficient, and personalised as the interactions they expect in person. For companies in the e-commerce space, it’s never been more essential to invest in CX.
The Potential for CX in eCommerce
In the last few years, we’ve seen endless evidence that a shift to more digital and hybrid shopping landscapes is underway. Online shopping in 2020 registered an increase of 21.6% compared to previous years. Even when restrictions to prevent in-person shopping were lifted in 2021, over $8.9 billion in sales occurred online.
In the future, e-commerce brands will be in an excellent position to leverage the momentum created by the pandemic for a more digital shopping environment. By delivering more immersive and impressive customer experiences, e-commerce companies can ensure consumers continue to do more of their shopping online. However, to achieve the right results, organisations will need to focus on several important concepts, such as:
- Customer journey mapping: To drive better customer experiences in today’s e-commerce landscape, companies need to generate a strong understanding of the buyer journey. This journey occurs across many environments, from social media and email to the website chat widget. Ensuring you can track analytics and insights from every touchpoint will allow you to deliver better service.
- Omnichannel customer service: Customers increasingly expect a consistent experience from service providers across every channel. Just because you’re running an e-commerce store with no physical location doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still have access to phone and video calling alongside your website chat and email support.
- Artificial Intelligence and agent augmentation: Access to AI makes managing CX strategies much more straightforward for businesses in the e-commerce landscape. AI bots can help solve problems for online shoppers and provide agents with crucial data they can use to personalise the customer experience.
- Security and compliance: In an environment where consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about online scams and criminals, ensuring excellent levels of security throughout your e-commerce environment is essential. Implementing the highest standards for securing and managing consumer data will be essential to stay ahead of the competition.
Exploring CX Technology in the E-Commerce Industry
Customer experience (CX) is a critical factor that influences online shoppers’ decisions and loyalty. In a competitive e-commerce market, where customers can access countless options and information, providing a seamless, personalised and engaging CX can make all the difference between success and failure.
But how can e-commerce brands leverage technology to improve their CX and stand out from the crowd? In this blog post, we will explore some of the latest trends and tools that are shaping the future of CX in e-commerce.
AI-Powered Personalisation
Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most powerful technologies that can enhance CX in e-commerce. AI can help e-commerce brands analyse customer data, behaviour and preferences and deliver tailored recommendations, offers and content that match their needs and interests.
For example, AI can help e-commerce brands create dynamic product pages that change according to each customer’s profile, location and browsing history. AI can also help e-commerce brands send personalised emails or push notifications that remind customers of abandoned carts, suggest complementary products or offer discounts based on their purchase history.
AI-powered personalisation can increase customer satisfaction, loyalty and conversion rates by creating a more relevant and engaging shopping experience.
Omnichannel Integration
Omnichannel integration is another key trend that can improve CX in e-commerce. Omnichannel integration means providing a consistent and seamless CX across multiple channels and touchpoints, such as websites, mobile apps, social media platforms or physical stores.
Omnichannel integration can help e-commerce brands connect with their customers at every stage of their journey, from awareness to purchase to retention. Omnichannel integration can also help e-commerce brands collect customer feedback through various channels and use it to optimise their CX strategy.
Omnichannel integration can boost customer trust, satisfaction and retention by creating a more convenient and unified shopping experience.
Voice Commerce
Voice commerce is an emerging trend that can revolutionise CX in e-commerce. Voice commerce refers to using voice assistants such as Alexa, Siri or Google Assistant to search for products, place orders, or make payments using voice commands.
Voice commerce can offer several benefits for both customers and e-commerce brands. For customers, voice commerce can provide a faster, easier and more natural way of shopping online, especially when they are multitasking or have limited access to screens. For e-commerce brands, voice commerce can open up new opportunities to reach new audiences, increase brand awareness and loyalty, and differentiate themselves from competitors.
Voice commerce can enhance customer convenience, engagement and satisfaction by creating a more interactive and innovative shopping experience.
The Challenges to Overcome in CX for E-commerce
Today’s consumers are increasingly relying on e-commerce solutions to access all the essential tools and services they need. However, they’re also judging the experiences all e-commerce providers offer by the highest standards.
Companies like Amazon, with same-day delivery and ultra-fast order management, have pushed customers to expect the same from every brand. This means business leaders are under increasing pressure to keep up with huge expectations, whether they’re selling B2B or B2C.
85% of customers say they expect their customer service interactions to be faster today and an increasing number of customers are looking for more efficiency from their online shopping experiences. Companies are going to need to invest in innovative ideas to stay ahead of the curve.
Everything from AI bots capable of understanding customer sentiment during the service journey, to self-service portals which give clients more control over their online purchases will play a part in transforming the e-commerce environments of tomorrow.
All the while, as companies continue to implement new features into their e-commerce stores, websites, and apps, they will still need to ensure they’re keeping track of other fundamentals. For instance, enhancing your website with a chatbot can’t come at the expense of fast-loading product pages.
Investing in CX for e-commerce
Now more than ever, e-commerce companies are in an excellent position to start paving the way for phenomenal growth. Customers from all landscapes are open to the idea of shopping online more frequently than they used to. However, they don’t want to compromise on an excellent customer experience. Investing in the right tools to ensure superior CX will be crucial to ongoing success.
