These days, retail competition is only a click away. If you don’t meet the expectations of your shoppers, they won’t hesitate to exit your site and shop elsewhere. Today, we’ll discuss how you can improve eCommerce customer satisfaction levels in order to gain more shoppers and retain your current ones. As a result, you’ll strengthen your customer base, scale your company, and solidify your future.
3 Areas of Focus for eCommerce Customer Satisfaction
Maintaining customer satisfaction involves a substantial variety of factors, but that doesn’t mean it’s a difficult task. To begin, many entrepreneurs find it valuable to consider three main areas of focus:
- From customers’ perspectives, what aspects of eCommerce are most important?
- How do I gauge customer satisfaction levels?
- How do I improve my customer satisfaction metrics?
By breaking down customer satisfaction into more manageable pieces, we can learn what’s most important, how to measure it, and, of course, how to improve upon it. So, let’s discuss!
1. What Aspects of eCommerce are Most Important?
Though it may seem as if there are millions of ways to customize your business to best attract customers, the process really doesn’t need to be so complex. In fact, extensive research indicates that customers are most satisfied by good service in just four main areas:
- Site honesty and transparency (think: accurate product photos and descriptions; genuine reviews and ratings; up-to-date sale or shipping deadlines, etc.)
- Quality (not only of products, but shipping materials, branding, packaging, etc.)
- Effective shipping (customers are most satisfied with low costs and rapid delivery)
- Return policies (92% of shoppers will purchase again if the return process is easy to find, clear, and simple)
Motivations for loyalty vary, but if your store provides well in these four categories, you are on the right track for customer satisfaction. However, what seems appropriate to you, may not appeal to the shopper. So, let’s investigate a bit deeper and learn how to accurately gauge your current customer satisfaction levels. Then, in the third section, we’ll discuss actionable ways to improve them.
2. How Do I Gauge Customer Satisfaction Levels?
As a business owner, it’s essential to do more than just hope your customer satisfaction levels are adequate. Instead, you need to pay careful attention to quantifiable analytics; KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, are measurable figures that reflect just how well your company performs in various areas. This will provide a better gauge of your customers’ true satisfaction, to which you can then adjust accordingly.
Though the list of KPIs is extensive, here are some of our favorites for tracking customer satisfaction levels.
KPI: Response Time and Resolution Time
These KPIs track the amount of time between a customer inquiry and either the first response from your company (automated or personal) or the resolution of a ticket (the successful end of a conversation.) Customers like to feel “heard” very quickly, and they also don’t want to wait for days to resolve a simple question. Take a look at your times here and ask yourself if you’d be happy with the averages from the other side of the computer screen.
KPI: Web and Social Reviews
Though no one likes to receive a message from an upset customer on social media, ignoring an angry DM is not beneficial, either. Rather, tracking these reviews can provide valuable insight to the overall satisfaction levels of your customers. Pay attention to web reviews, ratings, mentions, tags, and other forms of online engagement to find patterns in company behavior. Continue to implement methods that customers react well to, and quickly find ways to fix the common issues or complaints.
KPI: Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Being direct is often the most effective way to receive what you need. So, consider simply asking your customers how satisfied they are with an NPS widget. You’ve likely stumbled upon the single-question prompt before, asking you to rate a website or business on a scale of one to ten. However, an NPS score doesn’t usually provide much room for context or elaboration, so be sure to carefully balance the results with other more detailed KPIs. That way, you’ll be in the best position to elevate customer satisfaction levels.
KPI: Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)
Similar to the NPS, a CSAT allows you to send a direct survey to customers, asking them to rate an experience on a five-point scale, ranging from very unsatisfied all the way to very satisfied. However, unlike the NPS, with a CSAT, you have the ability to ask about a more specific area of business. This way, you can ascertain a more detailed look into what your customers like (or dislike). The average customer satisfaction score in the US right now is around 75%.
KPI: Repeat Customer Rate
Another great indicator of customer satisfaction is the rate at which shoppers choose to buy again. After all, if a customer isn’t so pleased the first time around, the chances are low that they try the experience another time. To calculate your repeat customer rate, divide the number of returning customers by your total number of customers and then multiply the result by 100. This figure represents your percentage of repeat customers.
Business experts usually feel that a 20-30% rate is an indicator of good performance. However, keep in mind that different niches will vary in rate depending on replacement windows, cost, and other factors of the individual product. For example, many people only buy a car once every decade, but replace their tennis shoes annually, and purchase a new shirt once a month.
Other KPIs to Consider
Depending on the niche of your store, certain KPIs may be more valuable than others. Do some research into your analytics and look past the number to see what each figure indicates about your customers. Feel free to check out our more extensive list of customer service KPIs here!
Now, let’s discuss the final area of our customer satisfaction trifecta: actionable ways to improve your metrics.
3. How Do I Improve My Customer Satisfaction Metrics?
While KPIs can highlight very specific areas in which to focus, there are a few important aspects of eCommerce that every business needs to improve to increase customer satisfaction:
- Provide a personalized user experience.
- Adhere to core brand values and morals.
- Address customer needs.
1. Provide a Personalized User Experience.
Around 80% of shoppers polled say that they’d rather buy from a website that personalizes content based on their shopping history and data. There are so many simple integrations for site customization, including dynamic web content, up/cross-sell recommendations, triggered emails, and more. To stay competitive and provide your customers with what they want and need (sometimes before they even know they want it) personalized UX is a must.
2. Adhere to Core Brand Values and Morals.
With so much competition in the eCommerce world, shoppers don’t just buy from you because they want your product. Rather, they want your full experience. Shopping from a modern brand involves supporting the same causes, resonating with the same mantras, and living by the same values. Along the entire sales funnel, make sure to remember why you do business in the first place — and create experiences for your shoppers that show it.
3. Address Customer Needs.
Without customers, eCommerce is nothing. So, as often and to all extents possible, give your customers what they need. Truly pay attention to feedback, comments, and concerns, reading between the lines to discern the emotions and motivations behind them. That way, you can continually provide your shoppers with better service and create a strong, lasting bond.
Customer Satisfaction — The Path to eCommerce Success
Truly profitable eCommerce legacies are built from satisfied customers. So, give careful thought to the three main topics we discussed today: what customers want, how to gauge satisfaction levels, and how to improve customer satisfaction levels. Then, by implementing the simple tips, you’ll forge your own path to continued eCommerce success.
