7 Ways to improve customer experience on your website

Customer experience is the product of an interaction between a customer and a company.

Today, a successful customer experience strategy should be enjoyable from the customer’s point of view while also leading to sales. Building great customer experiences means investing in your own customers and making sure their journey is seamless, from the top of the funnel to checkout.

In this article, we’ll cover seven effective ways you can improve your own customer experience to improve conversions and encourage customer loyalty.

7 Steps to better on-site customer experience

1) Have a top-notch search bar

A good search bar will considerably improve your customer experience. Indeed, an eConsultancy study found that 30% of visitors use the search bar to find products on eCommerce sites.

Why? Simply because not every visitor starts at the top of the funnel. Some may have done some research on social channels, some may have seen you on other media, some may have heard of you through word of mouth. The point is, a search bar allows these people to skip past the customer journey to directly arrive on your product page, and eventually, your checkout page.

When customers are able to find what they need faster, their level of satisfaction tends to increase, automatically boosting your chances of converting that customer.

2) Consider a live chat

What is more frustrating than not being able to get in touch with a company when you need assistance or have a question? We’ve all been there, and I think it’s safe to say live chats have revolutionised customer service, and therefore customer experience. According to this infographic from Websitebuilder, live chat grew by about 400% from 2015 to 2018.

Today, a higher percentage of website visitors simply choose to chat with agents for help rather than email or call. Why? It’s fast, easy, and doesn’t cost the user anything. Most importantly, your website visitor will likely get an answer instantly.

And did you know live chats have the highest customer satisfaction rate (92%)? For this reason, live chats are an effective way to engage with new or existing customers and solve their problem faster, potentially leading to increased or repeat sales. Generally speaking, they also tend to decrease the chances of a visitor leaving your site and increase the chances of converting instead. In fact, customers who chat before purchasing online have a 40% higher conversion rate.

3) Don’t forget customer reviews

Today, 89% of global consumers check online reviews as part of their online buying journey, and 49% of global consumers consider positive reviews one of their top 3 purchase influences. Collecting and implementing customer feedback throughout your website can help guide first-time visitors and existing customers.

How? By making sure consumers choose you over your competitors.

We all know it, it’s getting easier for consumers to compare businesses online. This only makes it more difficult for brands to stand out from the competition, and retain customers over time.

That’s why showcasing customer reviews on-site and at different touchpoints of the user journey is likely to reduce your bounce rate and increase your conversions by providing visitors with more information about your company, your products, and your customer service.

Customers are always going to conduct their own research - by giving them the information up front, they won’t have a reason to leave your site.

4) Keep an eye on your website's speed

Did you know that 53% of visits are abandoned if a site takes longer than three seconds to load?

Ridiculous? Maybe, but with the internet getting better and faster by the minute, consumers’ expectations have changed. A slow load time will also hurt you on google, as loading speed has recently become a search ranking factor.

With this in mind, it’s so easy to see how your website’s speed can have a direct impact on your customer’s experience, your visibility, and therefore, your sales.

Run a website speed test with a tool like Pingdom, and find out how you can improve your page load time today.

This will drastically improve your customer experience, and the better the experience, the more likely consumers are to stay on-site and shop!

5) Personalise your content

Did you know that 75% of consumers are more likely to buy from a retailer that recognises them by name and recommends options based on their past purchases?

Rings a bell?

Personalisation will make the user feel special and understood. Helping customers find what they need, faster, is likely to improve your overall customer experience.

Gartner says smart personalisation could also enable digital businesses to increase their profits by up to 15% in 2020, so maybe it’s time to start improving your personalised content?

6) Make sure your checkout is fast and easy

22% of consumers abandon their cart when having to create a new user account at checkout.

That’s why fast and guest checkouts are the future of eCommerce retail.

Letting consumers checkout without creating an account is likely to keep them engaged until the end of their journey.

This might not seem like such a big deal to you, but going through the additional step of account creating can push the visitor away.

Amazon masters the art of checkout, so why not consider creating a single-step checkout too? You can always send a post-purchase email and ask your customers to create a password then.

7) Offer multiple payment options

You might think your audience is all the same, but the truth is, it’s not.

Your customers might have a similar lifestyle and like the same kind of products, but that doesn’t mean they’re the same. And in fact, the more traffic your website gets, the more likely it is your visitors are very different types of people.

Paypal found that 24% of consumers abandoned their transactions at checkout because the retailer didn't offer their preferred payment choices. Offering multiple payment options (credit and debit cards, mobile payment, third-party payment sites…) at checkout has become a necessity. This ensures most of consumers from your audience are covered and will be able to buy from you.

The more payment options you accept, the more convenient and easy it to buy from your website. And that only means one thing for your visitors: a better customer experience.

These 7 tips will help you improve customer experience for both new and existing customers by making their journey as seamless and efficient as possible.

We hope you found this article insightful, and we’d love to know what else helped your business improve its customer experience?

Tell us what worked for you! Tweet us at @Trustpilot using #onTheBlog, or download our Complete Guide to Reviews below, and learn how Trustpilot can help you improve your website's customer experience.