To be an ecommerce professional today is to make the customer experience the focus of everything you do.
Every enhancement to the site, every new payment method, every shipping option, is intended to make shopping easier for customers. This helps ensure they come back again and again.
So it’s interesting to see quite how many retailers allow standards to slip once the purchase has been made. In many cases, the only thing customers will hear about their delivery will be from the shipping carrier – not the retailer or brand they’ve bought into.
At other times, the customer will hear directly from the retailer. But the look and feel of the communication often fails to match the slick and professional nature of the website. Neither of these do the brand justice in this crucial moment in the customer experience.
There are of course exceptions, and these are the brands we remember most. In fact, three quarters of customers agreed they would increase their spending with a retailer which got the delivery experience right, according to Cap Gemini.
It’s very easy to tell the companies that “get” the importance of branded delivery experiences, from those that don’t.
First of all, they cover the basics. They make it clear to customers at checkout, when they can expect to receive their delivery, and then they keep to that promise.
Second, they take responsibility for supporting the customer throughout. A tracking experience which looks like an extension of their website, rather than a link to a carrier whose site looks totally different. Branded customer communications, whether via email, text or instant messaging.
For customers who for whatever reason are unhappy with their purchase, they’ll make returns as easy and seamless as the original purchase – including offering exchanges and vouchers as well as refunds. All of this helps to cement customer loyalty while directly benefiting the bottom line.
If you’d like to find out how nShift can help enhance your post-purchase experience, get in touch.
