The customer experience in digital commerce

Of all the concepts that are part of the modern business vocabulary, few are more fundamental than customer experience. It is the great key to success – the secret ingredient that more and more online sellers have come to understand is more important than any marketing strategy or sales trick.

The concept itself is timeless in essence: as old as commerce itself. But today it takes on the particularities of our time, and assumes specific contours in e-commerce.

What are these particularities, and how can we have a clear view of the role of customer experience in today's world? These are the questions we will explore in this article.

Customer experience is the journey, in its entirety, of a person who makes an online purchase, and the way that person feels at each step, from the first visit to the web page, to discovering the product, to the delivery of the order, as well as the post-purchase stage.

In other words, it is the sum of all the interactions that a buyer has with the seller, and it is always present in the minds of those who sell through the internet, whether producers, stores, or private individuals.

The focus on customer experience is strongly associated with success. At InPost, we seek to combine this priority with concern for environmental sustainability, developing an ethical approach oriented toward the demands of current markets.

Digital commerce continues to grow in size and sophistication, and the public expects a consistent and satisfying experience throughout the entire purchasing process. This implies anticipating customers' desires and expectations at every step.

The overall objective is a pleasant and smooth experience, without problems or friction. But in practice, this can take on different aspects.

Information is, as one often discovers, one of the keys to the matter: the more information one has about each person and about the customer base in general, the easier it is to meet their needs. It is common for a company or seller to realize that they did not have a real sense of the things most valued by customers until they approached the issue methodically.

Here are some of the factors typically most relevant to the customer experience in the case of an online store:

Pre-Purchase: Website navigation, product discovery, advertising and product information, reviews and criticism from other consumers, responses to questions.

Purchase: Purchasing and payment process, security and privacy, discounts.

Post-Purchase: Product quality, delivery quality, loyalty programs, customer support, return policies.

Customer experience is recognized as the crucial factor for customer retention and loyalty in virtual commerce. It can also be one of the most important factors of differentiation from the competition.

It is not surprising to find that, the better the experience, the more likely the customer will repeat it. But beyond simply repeating it, they will tend to make larger purchases; likewise, opportunities for upselling and cross-selling open up.

The effect of a positive experience is not only direct. Positive recommendations and reviews, which are crucial in virtual commerce, are strongly associated with good experiences.

Finally, the focus on customer experience promotes a comprehensive perspective, which considers all communication channels simultaneously and the buyer's journey as a whole. Experience shows that this consistency between all aspects and touchpoints has a major effect on the company's reputation and on sales results.

Digital commerce has placed unprecedented emphasis on transport and delivery of orders, and statistics show that this is one of the main factors associated with customer satisfaction and experience. Expectations are increasingly higher, and if, on the one hand, shipping costs have an enormous weight in purchasing decisions, delays and transport problems are equally penalized.

It is in this context that InPost offers a solution for parcel shipping especially designed for the modern world: flexible, agile and efficient, as well as more environmentally sustainable. Our delivery service is based on an extensive network of pickup points – already more than 12,000 in the Iberian Peninsula and more than 80,000 in Europe.

More and more people choose delivery outside the home and our Pack Points and Lockers. Visit our website to discover more about us, try for yourself the advantages that InPost offers, and improve your customers' experience.