What sets an effective online store apart from one that’s just mediocre is the customer experience. If you can make it easier and more fun for a buyer to shop from you than from a competitor, you’re guaranteed their business. There are plugins, apps, and features that allow all kinds of personalisation options for a better shopping experience. Here are some options you can try implementing in your online store.
1. Offer a Personalised Homepage
For your online store, personalise the home page for each visitor. There are programs that use cookies to keep track of what shoppers ordered or spent time looking it. When they visit the store again, this data is used to show offers and products relevant to their interests.
For example, a visitor who has ordered from one product category in the past will be directed to what’s new in that category when they visit. You’re taking them straight to what they’re most likely to be looking for.
Other preferences like language, country, or payment method can be personalised as well.
2. Create User Profiles
A more advanced personalization option is to allow users to create their own profile where they can save their settings and preferences. They can provide information like interests, price range, sizes for clothing, and so on. Your site can then make them offers based on the information in their profile.
3. Provide Personalised Guides
Some online stores provide a survey or quick quiz to new visitors to help direct them to the products and deals that are most relevant to them. Providing a personalised guide like this takes some of the headache out of shopping and saves the user time. You can save the preferences for each user for their repeat visits.
4. Upsells and Cross-sells
If you’ve ever shopped on Amazon, you know how it offers other products you might like. Based on the product the visitor is looking at, it offers cross-sells (similar items or items often bought together) and upsells (versions of the product with more robust features or packages that bundle the product with others). This is a great way to increase your sales and help your customers find exactly what they’re looking for.
5. Create a Personalised Loyalty Program
A loyalty program rewards people who spend a great deal of money with you. You can personalise a loyalty program by offering deals based on what the person bought before. One way to do this is through an email campaign customised to the buyer’s profile.
6. Automated Customer Service with Chat Bots
Add a chat bot to your online store that can help answer customer questions in real time. AI chat bots can make suggestions based on the user’s preferences, purchase history, or questions.
7. Triggered Emails
Triggered emails are messages that are sent to users when a certain action is performed. For example, when they leave a shopping cart without checking out, it will send a message to remind them. You might send an automated email when they haven’t visited the store in a while telling them what’s new.
See what features your online store platform offers. If any of the above sound essential for you, look for a platform that includes them.
Do you want to learn more about designing an effective online store? Check out my course, How to Start an Online Store, which teaches you the A to Z of setting up a successful online store and helps you achieve your business goals. https://businesslifesolutions.com/how-to-start-an-online-store/
