For any company to attract, attract and retain their customers, regardless of the time and place of the interaction they make with them, the marketing strategy must permeate the entire organization and each of its departments in a global manner. Under this statement, affilinet, a leading company in the marketing of results and affiliation, provides some clues about the critical moments in the online customer journey.
When designing a good strategy that seeks and supports the best consumer experience, companies must understand exactly how their customers interact with them through each step of the purchase decision process, that is, the customer journey. “Companies should stop seeing customer acquisition and loyalty as a series of independent, offline interactions and should begin to see it as a group of related interactions that, added together, result in the consumer’s experience,” says Cristina Berzal, director of affilinet. “Users do not separate the marketing of the product, nor the marketing of the experience they perceive throughout each interaction with the brand. Each step can invite you to execute a purchase or not to visit the store again. ”
When analyzing the customer journey on the Internet, the different interactions that online stores offer must be part of ‘a whole’ that seeks the best online experience for its customers, from start to finish. The first thing they must ensure is that their consumers have access to all the information they may need in a simple and fast way, but there are seven essential elements to consider in order to be able to offer the best experience for the consumer and that ends in purchase:
- The first impression : The perception that transmits the home page is basic, since it can invite the client to continue navigating and buying through said website or just the opposite. Some studies indicate that a poor design is a very influential reason when leaving the site
- The search : if the navigability is not simple, the client will go to another website, since the competition is just a click away. At the same time, searches through keywords with result filters can simplify and accelerate the user’s path to the desired product
- Product descriptions : Product pages must provide all the information so that customers can decide whether or not to make the purchase. This must be clearly exposed and accompanied by several images and even videos of the article in question. At the same time, consumers increasingly value the availability of opinions from other customers that help them reaffirm their decision
- The shopping cart : the selected items should appear clearly, offering images and descriptions of each one. It is also basic that the options and shipping times are detailed. Is it easy to add or delete items, and keep buying? Another important barrier to make the purchase is that the store requires the mandatory registration of the consumer, since the customer considers it intrusive
- The confirmation of the purchase : the instructions must be simple and the payment must be made in a protected environment that reflects security, followed by a confirmation of the purchase online or by email. The hidden costs are the main reason for the abandonment of the purchase, a very common feature among some portals related to travel and tourism
- The delivery of the product : that the package arrives punctual and in good condition can stimulate the client to repeat. The image in which the article arrives also influences: is packaging adequate?
- Contact with customer service : contact information should always be available and easy to find, otherwise it generates a lot of distrust to the consumer. Professionalism, rapid response and complete clarification of doubts are basic characteristics that every customer service must have, whether it is by telephone, by chat or by email
In addition, according to a study conducted in the United Kingdom by Econsultancy, the main reasons why customers abandon a purchase are the lack of transparency in prices, the lack of information and help, and the difficulties in the search. This report also indicates that American companies lose 23% of all their annual revenues online because they do not offer an adequate experience to their clients.
“Online businesses should not see each of these steps in the consumer experience as independent. The design of the web does not only concern the team of developers, since a bad image can cause the abandonment of the potential clients. The contact with the client does not only correspond to the call center, since a bad attention can end with the loyalty of the consumer. Each customer journey interaction influences the perception we generate in our audience and, if those steps are not firm, the competition in the online world is too close, “concludes Cristina Berzal.
