Covid-19: Online retailers need to improve customer experience after purchase
parcelLab
Published on: Jul 1, 2020Updated: Aug 18, 2022
Online has become the go-to place to shop during Covid-19, across all product types. This switch to e-commerce is exactly why retailers need to be prioritising creating optimal shopping experiences if they want to keep these new customers long-term.
What is an optimal shopping experience?
Retailers have invested a lot of money in acquiring customers and ensuring there are no conversion blockers pre-checkout. However, after the customer purchases, the experience often breaks down. The whole customer journey needs to be made as simple and convenient as possible. In our latest whitepaper "The Impact of Covid-19 on Customer Experience in Retail", we explain why an optimal customer experience is so important, especially during the outbreak. We also give tips on how to make this as positive as possible for the customer.
From offline to online retail
High street stores are slowly planning to open again once the next lockdown measures are lifted. Nevertheless, consumers remain cautious because operations cannot go back to normal immediately. For this reason, many people continue to order online and will do so even when lockdown is eased.
An analysis of our internal data shows that online trading has gained tremendous popularity during the pandemic. In the Electronics & IT sector, an increase of 28% has been seen in package volume during the coronavirus crisis.
Other industries, such as groceries, DIY and fitness equipment providers have also benefited from the pandemic in the past few months. Retailers now need to focus on retaining these new customers so that they don't switch back to bricks and mortar retail after social distancing measures have eased. Therefore, it is more important than ever that online retailers provide their customers with advice and support both during and especially after the order has been sent.
Currently, many retailers are failing to do this: they think that the customer journey ends once the customer has 'checked out'. Shipping is the most important and emotional phase for the customer. It is here that retailers need to start improving their customer experience to keep current customers and attract new long-term ones.
8 tips for optimising customer experience
In our whitepaper, we share 8 tips to show how online retailers can offer their customers the best possible shopping experience and thus turn them into loyal existing customers. Here's a sneak peak of the first 3:
Want to see the rest? Download our whitepaper to ensure you are optimising your customer experience.
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Create new reasons for people to love your brand. Build standout post-sales experiences tailored to your customers. Deliver personalized touch points that grab attention and spark loyalty.
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