The pandemic has changed the way Australian shoppers have approached retail. The blurring of lines between e-commerce and brick-and-mortar has transformed experiences and behaviours. Power Retail asked a series of experts what makes good CX, how to improve and what has changed in 2020.
Phil Pomford, General Manager, Global E-Com, APAC at Worldpay from FIS: “The COVID pandemic has undoubtedly placed pressure on anxious consumers and cash-strapped retailers alike. As such, businesses across Australia and the region more broadly need to be doing everything they can in order to attract, convert and hopefully retain customers. From an e-commerce perspective, particularly during these trying times, that means offering multiple ways for potential customers to engage with a brand and subsequently, pay for goods and part with their cash. Providing numerous alternative payment methods such as digital wallets (Google Pay, Apple Pay) and buy now pay later products (Afterpay), alongside traditional debit and credit options creates an attractive, frictionless journey that will improve overall customer experience and generate increased sales and nurture loyalty.”
Marc Caltabiano, VP of ANZ at MuleSoft: “Over the past year, the way consumers interact and transact with retailers has changed considerably, with the pandemic rapidly accelerating trends in e-commerce that have been building for years. Consumer shopping behaviour has certainly evolved, and with it, so too have their expectations for companies’ digital capabilities. Almost half of the consumers surveyed in research in MuleSoft’s “Top 8 digital transformation trends shaping 2021″ expressed their intent to embrace digital replacements for in-person experiences in the long run, and there’s no doubt that e-commerce will continue to entice consumers. In 2021, consumer preferences will continue to ebb and flow between in-store and online, and those retailers that can act quickly on digital initiatives to offer consistent shopping journeys across all channels will maintain customer loyalty.”
Andrew Cornale, Co-Founder and Digital Experience Director at UnDigital®: “E-commerce leaders need to understand who their customers are, what they want and how their user journey looks. From there, they should be using this data to inform how their website is designed and developed, keeping positive customer experience top of mind. E-commerce leaders can improve customer experience by simply providing accurate information. It doesn’t need to a huge digital transformation project, sometimes it’s just about providing an update. If delivery will be delayed, say it. If stock is delayed, tell them. Just do what you said you would and keep your customer informed. E-commerce leaders need to consider the entire customer experience from the first touchpoint, right down to the packaging of a product. The website should be easy to navigate, the confirmation of order email should arrive in their inbox immediately, delivery updates should be crystal clear, the unboxing should be enjoyable – include a lollipop or a discount voucher. Every touchpoint is an opportunity to deliver superior CX.”
Jamie-Lee Kay, Co-Founder and CMO of theotherstraw: “E-Commerce leaders need to track and capture real-time data to optimise their CX. This includes using website heatmaps and behaviour analytics tools such as Hotjar. These tools allow you to analyse where users are engaged on your website, and where they are dropping off. By gathering this data, you can improve your content and other variables which are directly impacting your website CX.”
Annabel Gray, Founder of Mini Clem: “A quick and helpful response always exceeds the customer’s expectations. Our customers are always blown away by our response times and incredibly grateful, especially in the lead up to deadlines such as Christmas.”
Adam Stewart, Co-Founder of Digital Bond Marketing: “The biggest issue I see with a lot of Online Retailers is they are overcomplicating the whole process. Their websites load extremely slow, have popups coming up on every visit, videos that are far too big and are only really visible on desktop devices and shipping costs that equal 50-60 percent of the products price.”
Tim Hill, Co-Founder & CEO at Social Status: “With the rise of social commerce (ie Instagram Shopping) it will be absolutely vital to orchestrate social messaging based on where the customer is in the purchase journey. This includes dynamic remarketing with creative variations for pre-purchase, cart abandon, post-purchase pre-shipping, post-purchase post-shipping, pre-repeat purchase, etc. Online retailers need to think about maintaining multiple streams of ‘social content journeys’ for all different purchase and loyalty scenarios. Making social messaging hyper-relevant will lead to better customer experiences and higher rates of conversion.”
