Shoppers today have access to a wide variety of products, offers, and experiences, so it’s becoming increasingly difficult to attract, engage, and turn them into loyal customers. However, there are strategies you can implement to create great customer experiences for shoppers.
In this post, we’re looking at 6 ways you can transform your saved margins into delightful customer experiences that go above and beyond your shoppers’ expectations. With these tips, you can create powerful moments that encourage your customers to keep coming back for more.
Why Impressing Your Customers is Always a Good Idea
First things first. What makes delightful experiences important, and why should you strive to deliver them? Studies[*] define customer delight as when there’s a positive surprise that exceeds what customers expect from a brand. A case in point: 61% of consumers[*] want brands to surprise them with offers just for being a customer.
The crucial factor in delight is the element of surprise that’s often driven by emotions of joy and pleasure. With 70% of shopping experiences[*] being based on how customers feel they’re being treated; it leaves a strong memory trace when they feel appreciated and connected with a brand. Not only that—customer delight is also associated with nurturing repurchase intent and encouraging positive word-of-mouth.
6 Ways to Delight Shoppers While Maximizing Your Saved Margins
By bringing the focus to your customers and taking that extra step to make them feel special, shopping experiences that create delight can be a key differentiator in a sea of product and brand options. To start build a better relationship between site visitors and your brand, here are 6 ways to delight your shoppers.
1. Lower Your Free Shipping Threshold and Get More Sales
Nobody likes to pay additional charges—more so if it doesn’t add value to the shopping experience. This is why consumers avoid brands and abandon a purchase when shipping is not free. On the other hand, 84% of shoppers[*] make a purchase when there’s no shipping fee, while 30% increase their basket size to qualify for free shipping.
With your saved margins, you can surprise your customers with a complete, non-conditional free shipping offer. It’s a sure way to entice your shoppers not only to purchase but to also add more items than what they intend to buy. Make sure to let customers know about this with a popup, especially when they’re about to leave your site.
Source: Shopee
2. Overdeliver with Unique Promos Customized to Each Shopper
Anything free appeals to everyday consumers. Research[*] found that zero pricing or giving an item for free not only decreases its face amount but also adds to its benefits in terms of perceived value. In other words, shoppers prefer shopping experiences more when there’s an additional value at no cost to them.
You can take giving items for free a step further by adding a personalization layer to it by including a free item from users’ wishlist or abandoned cart. You can also include any product that they’ve consistently bought in the past for free. To make sure it’s relevant and effective, you can send free vouchers or discount offers based on shoppers’ real-time individual intent. Another tactic is to make the complimentary purchase sample one of the items they’re actually interested in.
3. Reward Your Best Shopper Segments with Exclusive Experiences
Common knowledge in eCommerce and retail is that acquiring a new customer can be as much as 25 times more expensive[*] than retaining an existing one. It’s therefore important to make your most valuable customers feel appreciated. Doing so can also increase your brand equity, making it easy to achieve your other business goals such as premium pricing, higher profit margins, successful product launches, and more.
To get started, first define who your best shopper segments are. They’re probably your high-spending shoppers, repeat customers, and brand ambassadors on social. How do you make them feel valued? Craft unique and exclusive shopping experiences that boost your connection with them. You can create invite-only events, personalized avatars or collectibles for shoppers who have an active digital life, and exclusive previews to brand activities.
Source: Nike
Nike’s SNKRS app offers exclusive access to not only coveted products and members-only discounts, but also to unique experiences such as invitation to Nike events, workout apps, product advice, and more.
4. Choose Your Best Performing Products and Have Them on Special Sale
Putting bestsellers on sale can be the final push that customers who have been eyeing any of the selected products need. It can also encourage new shoppers to purchase their first item from your brand.
To implement this, you can look at your data and pick the products that are popular. What are the most common products on your shoppers’ wishlist? What do they search for the most? Which items have high engagement from users? Once you finalize your bestsellers, make the sale limited for that added sense of urgency.
Source: noo.ma
noo.ma’s on-sale bestsellers are placed on the homepage. They’re also included in the brand’s final call sale that has a countdown timer on the site’s header.
5. Surprise Survey Respondents with Rewards
Customer feedback is important to gauge just about everything about your brand—from the products that you sell to the structure of your site. However, gathering consumer sentiment is easier said than done. Even unhappy customers, 91% of them[*], who are usually expected to send a complaint, simply leave without saying a word.
With your saved margins, why not increase the answer rate of your yearly or post-sale customer survey with a free gift to respondents? Make them feel a part of your brand by getting their insights and actually acting on them. This should come as a surprise to your shoppers amid the many brands asking for feedback without a reward.
Some tips to keep in mind: Make sure to send the survey to different shopper segments to get a complete picture. Also, keep it short and tell potential respondents how much time is needed to answer the survey. In addition to email, you can also deliver your customer feedback form with a unique offer through live chat and site popups.
6. Allow Shoppers to Support a Cause/Charity of Their Choice
From sustainable fashion to ethical makeup, consumers are not only more vocal about the social causes they support, but they also prefer to be associated with brands that share their personal values. An IBM[*] survey revealed that 81% of consumers fall into two segments: 41% are driven by good value purchases while 40% are encouraged by a purpose, prompting them to seek products and services that align with their values.
By highlighting the values and social causes that your brand supports, you can create instant connections with customers who share them. Take it a step further by allowing them to support a cause of their choice—either as a surprise gift or as a part of your loyalty program.
Source: HSBC
At the height of the pandemic, Tim Horton’s partnered with HSBC to allow credit cardholders to convert rewards into coffees for frontline medical staff.
Delivering that Wow Moments for Customers
Going above and beyond your shoppers’ expectations is an effective way to make the shopping experiences that you deliver stick. By converting your saved margins into customer journeys that delight shoppers, you’ll have an advantage that can keep setting your brand apart from others. Remember—delivering delight is not only healthy for your brand’s immediate revenue goals, but it also has a strong potential to resonate beyond your existing customers to attract new ones.
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