Despite the rapidly growing and changing environment of small businesses in general today, the main priority of business owners and management teams must remain focused on serving their customers and meeting their needs and service expectations. Without a loyal and respectable customer base, many companies would cease to exist. Strong customer journey optimization, backed with digitization and automation, is vital to continued growth and recovery for any business dealing with e-commerce order processing and increased customer satisfaction and retention.
E-commerce cloud systems are what form the foundation for online business operations today. Return customers, word-of-mouth recommendations, and loyal client bases will always be the foundation of strong businesses. It allows stability and security that aids in growth and scalability, even during difficult market swings.
Traditionally, it was often common to reward returning customers by providing appropriate discounts or friendly in-store service. This is more difficult to do in a completely digital environment where journey mapping, order routing, customer services, and overall business management does not respond well to manual processes.
To service customers correctly business owners have to look elsewhere and approach rewards, memberships, perks, and customer service in general from a digital e-commerce approach. Strong e-commerce order management processes can make all the difference, especially in a post-COVID-19 world.
Customer Relationship Management and e-Commerce
The primary means of CRM (Customer Relationship Managed) is to make sure your customer receives what they seek in an enjoyable manner. Traditional businesses keep records of frequently visiting customers to make sure their next visit will be a success, and they also take the time to choose a fulfillment partner that makes things easier in the long run.
Understanding the state of supply chains and other critical business components is the goal of customer journey optimization. The primary goal is to ensure everyone who visits a company website, makes a purchase, or requests information gets what they need as quickly and effectively as possible. In e-commerce, customer data is usually stored within big databases that accurately store all data of previous purchases.
This allows an e-commerce business to cater an online shopping experience exactly to a customer’s needs. According to Castillo (2021), most e-CRM software, order management systems (OMS), and e-commerce cloud platforms also have the ability to analyze your site’s metrics. This can be accomplished with the latest innovations in supply chain tools and shipping software and can assist with vital metrics such as: ,
- Conversion rates.
- Customer click-through rate.
- Inventory management options.
- Email subscription opt-ins.
- Which products customers seek out.
- Improved customer journey mapping.
- Better alignment with customer expectations.
These features provide e-commerce order management teams and business owners the ability to personalize customer’s shopping experience to great heights. In an era of individualism, making your customers feel wanted and important is essential. Giving your customers a shopping experience that is unique to them creates a feeling of wholesomeness and increases return rates significantly. It is the foundation that allows for strong customer journey optimization and allows for the benefits that follow as well.
Innovating CRM Options For Better Customer Engagement
The innovative and advanced CRM software currently out in the market has shown to be immensely beneficial to many e-commerce businesses. An important question follows, “how is an e-commerce business able to retain a high customer satisfaction ratio?”
High customer satisfaction rates are a result of correctly executed Customer Relationship Management strategies and a full integration of e-commerce cloud services.
Any business that aims to correctly manage its customers should aim for a personalized strategy that caters to business and the product/services in question. However, this does not mean that there are no general ways to improve your customer satisfaction rates. Any high-level marketing/sales academy teaches many of the coming principles as important for e-commerce businesses to create/maintain high-level customer satisfaction rates and improve customer journey optimization.
General Tips to Improve Customer Experience for E-Commerce
Surviving the e-commerce rush required quick scalability, reliable adaptability, and easy flexibility within the business structure. According to Insider Intelligence, looking at e-commerce order management and customer success stories over the past few years can show business owners where to focus and what steps to mimic for themselves. “Tech-savvy consumers looking for quick, seamless purchasing options will continue to lean on e-commerce throughout the next few years—and more consumers will jump on the bandwagon. We forecast US retail e-commerce sales will grow 16.1%, reaching $1.06 trillion in 2022….
Business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce statistics also show continued growth in 2022. Seemingly every aspect of business was moved or accelerated towards a digital structure amid the pandemic….Amazon’s influence in the e-commerce space is unmatched. The etailer boasts nearly 40% of all US e-commerce sales. Its US e-commerce sales will grow by 15.3% this year, reaching more than $3.6 billion. “
Business owners and managers can improve CRM processes, enhance customer journey optimization, and remain focused on meeting their customers’ unique e-commerce needs and demands regarding e-commerce cloud access by keeping the following things in mind:
- Keep it simple. Many new e-commerce businesses create the mistake of making their online shopping experience too complex. According to Santora (2020), 55% of shoppers abandon their virtual shopping carts due to unexpected shipping fees, unclear taxes, and time-consuming purchasing.
This statistic clearly shows that customers want their product with a simplistic shopping experience. A lack of transparency and an abundance of steps needed to complete a shopping process takes away from a customer’s shopping experience and forces them to leave their carts without purchasing.
- Value Feedback. The digital opportunities that come with e-commerce offer a myriad of possibilities when it comes to gathering customer data. It is important to document both your customers’ positive and negative feedback as these can be used to improve your e-commerce website/shopping experience.
Actually using your customers as fuel to improve your business is a core component of many big e-commerce businesses that are able to maintain loyal customer bases. Look at both the positive and negative feedback, take in what comes back frequently, and adjust your business accordingly. This will greatly improve supply chain responsiveness as it relates to the business.
- Multiplatform Support. Another way to improve your relationship with the customer base is to make sure your e-commerce business is optimized for all platforms. This can be interpreted in many ways.
Businesses must be optimized for all mobile platforms for instance (Apple/Android). Website quality deviation between platforms can be detrimental and exclude large parts of your customer base. This should be avoided as much as possible so the quality of between platforms should be checked frequently.
Improve E-Commerce Order Management and Customer Service With ModusLink
Many businesses struggle to keep up with the ever-changing market of online commerce, sales, and shipping involved with the circular economy of today. Maintaining the highest levels of customer journey optimization and customer satisfaction demonstrates how many business owners are ill-equipped for this. Along with improving digital processes on-site, many also decide to outsource their optimization to external professionals such as ModusLink e-commerce cloud service providers.
Are you interested in learning more about the latest developments regarding CRM operations, e-commerce order management, and e-commerce cloud services? Request a ModusLink demo today, and get started on the path to improved e-commerce sales and management.
Bibliography
Atchison, J. (2020, 18 november). How to Boost Customer Satisfaction on Your Ecommerce Website. Business 2 Community. Geraadpleegd op 16 januari 2022, van https://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/how-to-boost-customer-satisfaction-on-your-ecommerce-website-02363607
Castillo, D. (2021, 8 december). What is the role of customer relationship management (CRM) in e-Commerce? Sana Commerce. Geraadpleegd op 16 januari 2022, van https://www.sana-commerce.com/blog/what-is-the-role-of-customer-relationship-management-in-e-Commerce/
Ecommerce News Nederland. (2020, 7 december). CRM voor de ecommerce. Ecommerce News. Geraadpleegd op 15 januari 2022, van https://www.ecommercenews.nl/crm/
Santora, J. (2020, 7 november). 5 Cart Abandonment Stats to Help You Win “Lost” Sales Now. OptinMonster. Geraadpleegd op 15 januari 2022, van https://optinmonster.com/cart-abandonment-statistics/