The success of your customer experience (CX) strategy has the potential to make or break customer loyalty for your business.

As many as 95% of consumers who rate a retailer’s CX as “very good” would likely purchase more products or services from that same company, according to a recent study by the XM Institute. However, just 25% of consumers said they would be likely to make a future purchase from a company with a “very poor” experience rating.

Positive customer experiences build loyalty for your company. But as the past 15 months have shown, consumer expectations are constantly evolving — making it crucial that you continue to adapt your CX strategy to retain and grow your customer base.

Take Steps to Optimize Your Ecommerce Customer Experience Initiatives

Even a modest improvement to your company’s CX can make a world of difference for customer loyalty. Consumers are 31% more likely to purchase additional products or services from a retailer they rate as delivering a “good” experience as opposed to a “poor” one, according to the XM Institute.

Read below for steps you can take to start optimizing your CX strategy to grow loyalty for your business.

1. Weave CX throughout everything you do.

Companies that offer an exceptional CX have a customer-centric vision that serves as the guiding light for the entirety of their organizations. They achieve this by ensuring executives, managers, and employees alike share a commitment to offering a best-in-class experience across each customer touchpoint.

For most ecommerce companies, the customer service department is the first line of defense when resolving customer concerns. But the outcome of one support interaction can be the difference between a good and a bad experience. In a recent Bizrate Insights survey of over 2,000 consumers, the majority of respondents said either a knowledgeable representative or a satisfactory resolution was the most important element of a great customer support experience.

Your employees are the best advocates for your CX strategy. Consider dedicating time and resources to empower each of them — especially those in customer-facing roles — with the knowledge and tools to execute your company’s customer-centric vision.

2. Map out the customer journey.

Have you taken time to walk a mile in your customers’ shoes? Before you make any changes to your existing CX strategy, it’s important to map out the journey a customer takes when purchasing from you.

Customer journey mapping can help you better understand elements of your CX strategy that are easy to overlook, such as the heavy emotional load that impacts a buyer’s experience. Ensuring these emotionally charged moments of the customer journey go smoothly is critical to providing a meaningful experience and helps build loyalty between a buyer and a brand.

All merchants should strive to create an accurate, concise customer journey. But it’s also important to remember there is no one-size-fits-all journey map — many ecommerce companies have several different buyer personas. Start by creating a representative set of customer personas, then begin the mapping process. By the end, you’ll have the awareness needed to effectively identify various pain points across the customer journey and allocate resources to fix those problem areas.

3. Focus on providing an omnichannel experience.

An effective CX strategy addresses the entire omnichannel shopping experience. A survey of over 46,000 shoppers by the Harvard Business Review found roughly 3 in 4 respondents used multiple channels when shopping. Considering the shopping behaviors of modern consumers, creating a consistent, streamlined experience across all channels is essential.

As more consumers return to brick-and-mortar stores in the coming months, a buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS) fulfillment alternative is a must-have for any business working toward an omnichannel experience in 2021. Spurred mainly by the pandemic, BOPIS orders skyrocketed in 2020, and we predict use of this fulfillment method will continue to grow throughout the year.

Creating an omnichannel experience isn’t just about meeting shoppers where they are — it also demonstrates to customers that your company values their needs. Think of each channel as an opportunity to convey your CX values to future loyal customers.

4. Leverage real-time customer feedback.

Before investing time and resources into improvement, you should always consult the best evaluators of your existing CX strategy. Shoppers know what is — and isn’t — working across all of your company’s touchpoints because they experience them firsthand whenever they interact with your business.

Most importantly, your current customers aren’t afraid to share how your CX strategy falls short of expectations. Plus, asking for their feedback demonstrates that you value their opinions. So, if most of your customer feedback relates to an issue with your website’s checkout, then that’s the CX pain point you should correct first.

Implementing a voice-of-customer (VoC) feedback program is the most efficient, cost-effective way of gaining data-driven insights to help improve each of your touchpoints. Programs like Bizrate Insights’ two-part Online Buyer Survey collect real-time customer feedback from the point of sale through to post-fulfillment — helping users make informed decisions when optimizing their CX strategy.

Create a Stellar CX Strategy Using VoC Feedback Powered by Bizrate Insights

Bizrate Insights offers VoC solutions designed to help you optimize your company’s customer experience. From the point of sale to post-fulfillment, our flagship Online Buyer Survey turns real-time customer feedback into actionable insights to inform your CX strategy. And with the added ability to benchmark against top performers within your industry, you’ll always know how your company stacks up to competitors.

Take the first step toward creating a stellar CX strategy. Learn more about how you can deliver a best-in-class experience for your customers with Bizrate Insights’ VoC solutions.