The Best Advice on How to Personalize Your eCommerce Site
When you’re shopping online, the experience you receive is never going to be the same as if you were spending money at an actual retail location. There aren’t any employees asking if you need help, and you also don’t have the luxury of trying something before you buy it.
However, online shopping is still a preferred way to shop for many consumers because of the simplicity and ease of doing so. The only thing that can make someone’s online shopping experience better is to personalize your site enough to be able to provide your customers with a little bit of the in-person shopping experience. We asked an expert versed in eCommerce about what he feels the most important aspects of personalizing your online site are.
“Making the customer the focus is the best way to get their attention”, suggests Daniel Climans the senior manager at Sticker You. “Enticing customers to create an account is one step closer to ensuring they get the best type of online experience as possible. Once you do that, you can then track their purchases and make suggestions to make it feel more like there is someone helping them when they are browsing.”
Climans goes on to say, “Once you get to know their purchase history, you can use automation to help you decipher what types of things would interest them. You can then create specialized offers or discounts which helps to make their online shopping experience feel more personal. Also always have their name at the top of your homepage, as this really helps to make your eCommerce site feel more private and for them only.”
When you make your eCommerce website more personable, you help to make the overall experience of shopping with you pleasant. Rewards and points systems are another great way to honor your loyal customers and it helps them to feel more at ease about buying products online.
“Chatbots are also a helpful tool when you are trying to make the online space feel less two dimensional”, continues Climans. “They can help with directing the customer to the right area on your page, and also help with answering simple questions. They provide an element of customer service in real time which is helpful to consumers trying to get a simple answer.”
Climans also suggests just making your site as user friendly as possible. “Your eCommerce site should work via all types of devices including phones, tablets, laptops and computers. You want access to be easy, and for the entire experience to be flawless from start to finish in regards to online shopping. Always opt for making load times as quick as possible, and to also ensure things like shipping fees are out in the open as this can be a deterrent for a lot of people. This can also help with discouraging things like shopping cart abandonment rates as your customers know what to expect.”
Overall, you simply want to make the online shopping experience to be as painless as possible as this encourages repeat customers. And when you provide a better experience that includes more personalization, you also increase the chances that customers will continue to choose online shopping with your particular store.
