It used to be incredibly easy to sell things online.
In previous years, it was all about getting the right product to sell and bingo, you were in business!
However, today it’s much more complex and having a good customer journey is imperative.
“The customer is king”
How many times have you heard that statement before and actually believed it?
My guess? Not that often.
But when a company truly means it and makes you feel like a king, it makes you feel special.
It all starts with the customer journey.
But what exactly is the customer journey?
Survey Monkey’s definition sum it up nicely…
“The customer journey is the complete sum of experiences that customers go through when interacting with your company and brand. Instead of looking at just a part of a transaction or experience, the customer journey documents the full experience of being a customer.”
The term ‘customer journey’ was first introduced more than 20 years ago by OxfordSM as part of the Eurostar development, it’s still relatively new to the business world.
Research by Econsultancy found that 50% of organisations have little to no understanding about their customer journey, but those businesses are missing a huge opportunity…
If you create a better customer experience it will bring fundamental benefits, including reduced operating costs and increased revenue.
The trend toward online has become ever more rapid and a recent Brightpearl survey found that 78% of consumers will be buying online more frequently in the next year, and 39% are expected to only buy online within the next five years.
We want to help you improve your fulfilment & shipping experience.
Try this exercise…
First, go to your favourite ecommerce site, and place an order.
Grab a piece of paper and take note of the entire post-purchase experience. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What choices do you have regarding shipping?
- Were you offered free delivery?
- How long does it take for the order to be dispatched?
- How are you communicated with?
- What is the unboxing experience like?
- Recall what it’s like to be on the receiving end of delays
- Finally – get ready for returns. What’s the process like?
Do you wonder why a company would promise something they couldn’t deliver?
Do you dislike being uninformed and left waiting in silence?
Don’t be like those businesses and learn from them to develop a winning shipping and fulfilment strategy to meet new consumer expectations.
Having a solid returns policy is essential too.
As users become more comfortable with the online experience, they are likely to become more comfortable with returning items. Difficulty in returning items is a huge turn off these days.
While we’re on the subject of returns, you might want to try these 7 tips to help you implement a successful ecommerce returns strategy for your business.
Once you’ve completed this exercise, place an order on your own ecommerce store.
Does the experience make you want to come back?
Make a note of what you’re already doing well and highlight where there’s room to improve.
The entire experience of your site and the service they receive post-purchase are massive opportunities to reinforce your brand and ultimately encourage the shopper to come back.
So how’s your customer journey looking?
Improve your customer journey with reliable ecommerce fulfilment
From receiving an order, through to the careful picking, packing and shipping of it, order fulfilment is a huge factor in the customer journey.
At Jigsaw Fulfilment we make ecommerce fulfilment easy, helping you to build trust by providing your online customers with the ecommerce experience they deserve.
If you’d like to know more, email hello@jigsawfulfilment.co.uk, call 0113 210 0055 or complete our quick quote form.