E-commerce is a fantastic business to start, and the stats prove that.Â
In an e-commerce business, the customer journey plays a significant role in boosting your business sales. If you’re new, you’ll probably have just heard about the e-commerce customer journey and don’t know where to start and improve yours.
The process can be intimidating. But this article will discuss the stages of the e-commerce customer journey and tips to improve them.
Let’s dive in!
Table of Contents:
What Is an E-Commerce Customer Journey?
The e-commerce customer journey is the set of stages a customer undergoes when buying products or services online.Â
The journey starts from the awareness stage to the buying stage. A customer can begin a simple online search for a possible product, service, or solution they want.
The e-commerce customer journey doesn’t necessarily end here. For instance, many customers will continue engaging with the brand even after purchasing or receiving their orders.
Why Is the Customer Journey Important for Your E-Commerce Business?
- Your business can convert more leads into customers hence an increase in sales.
- The e-commerce customer journey is essential for success.
- Your e-commerce business can attract and retain more customers.
- You can build good and healthy customer relationships.
- You can optimize e-commerce products or services to meet your customer’s needs.Â
- You can identify and fill any gaps or challenges your customers have in any buying stage.
To benefit from the e-commerce customer journey, you should understand the customer buying stages.
E-Commerce Customer Buying Stages
Every stage of an e-commerce customer journey is unique. And it depends on the specific product or service they want to purchase.
Below are some major steps that are common to e-commerce engagements.
1. Awareness
Here, a customer becomes aware of their needs or wants and problems.
2. Research
Once customers know their needs or problems, they start with a simple online search for a product, service, or solution to their problems.
A customer is likely to browse different products or services before purchasing.
They read reviews and ratings from other customers about the product or service before buying. They also compare different sellers’ prices and product or service features before placing an order.
3. Purchase
A customer adds the product or service to the shopping cart to complete the purchase.
4. Post-Purchase
Even after buying, the customer will continue interacting with the brand in different ways.
For instance, a customer can write reviews, call, or send an email if they need assistance.
Tips to Improve Your E-Commerce Customer Journey
You have learned the customer purchasing stages. Right?
Now, these are 6 key tips to improve your e-commerce customer journey.
1. Know Your Audience
Know your target audience. Understand their needs and wants. What motivates them? What objections do they have to completing a purchase? And what challenges are they experiencing?
You can use various methods to collect data on your audience touchpoints. You can gather them from customer surveys and analytical tools — website and social media data.Â
For instance, you can send customer surveys asking about their experience in different stages in their buying journey.
Understand your customer to easily create targeted content or products that speak directly to them. When you do so, they are likely to take your desired action.
2. Define Your Goals
What do you want your customers to do? Do you want them to download a white paper? Purchase a product? Sign up for a newsletter?
You may be tempted to create many goals which can confuse your customers.
Create one clear specific action you want your customer to do. Your goal should be relevant, measurable, and attainable.
3. Simplify the Process
Is your e-commerce website easy to navigate? We often hear customers complaining about complicated online shopping processes.
They cannot find what they are looking for easily. The checkout process is long and confusing as well.
So, simplify the process for customers to find what they are looking for without being overwhelmed.
For example, you can categorize your products or services. Also, simplify the checkout process.
4. Improve the User Experience
Focus on how customers engage with your brand. They should have a smooth experience with your website.
Your website design should be simple and attractive. Also, ensure your website loads faster and is easy to navigate.
Additionally, you should provide the information your customers want on your website.
5. Increase Conversion Rates
You’re competing for customers with other e-commerce businesses. And any silly mistake, you lose customers to your competitors.
Evaluate your customer’s behavior at each buying stage and create a specific, clear call to action. For example, you can ask them to sign up for a newsletter or buy a product or service.
Additionally, you can offer incentives and discounts and make the checkout process easy for customers to take your desired action.
6. Test and Measure Results
What worked today may not work tomorrow. To ensure your efforts are paying off, keep testing and measuring results.
For instance, check your website traffic, conversion rates, and customer satisfaction levels.
You should be testing and trying new ideas. Determine which ideas and strategies work best for your business.
Trying and testing new ideas will allow you to fine-tune your e-commerce customer journey and improve your results over time.
Conclusion
We hope you got a clear idea about the e-commerce customer journey.
Every business is unique, and every customer is unique. Your business is unique too.
So, if you take the time to understand customers’ buying stages, you can easily optimize your website or marketing efforts to target customers at each stage.
Try to evaluate various customer buying stages and improve your e-commerce customer journey.
