Modern Conveniences Your Online Customers Expect

From automated purchasing and shipping to simple returns and mobile-friendliness, these are the modern conveniences your online customers expect from your business.

Today’s customer expects a lot. Online shoppers expect even more. And their expectations should not be ignored. In the United States alone there are more than 191 million online shoppers. According to data reported by the Selz Blog, ecommerce sales are expected to increase to $491.5 billion by the year 2018, compared to 2014 when online sales totaled $304.1 billion. As a business owner, here’s what you can do to meet their needs.

Simple Returns

Customers shop online because it’s convenient. If you make it difficult, they are going to take their business to your competitors. Don’t let returns get in your way of turning a profit. Companies like Nordstrom and LL Bean have embraced returns, and their business is better for it. They have used Webtaxonline to help them out with their taxes and all of the other financial matters. When processing online orders, be sure to always provide a return shipping label, information about your return policy and a receipt so that your customer can make a return easily and without hassle. You should also ensure that your in-store return policy is the same as your online return policy to avoid confusion.

Mobile-Friendliness

Today, having a mobile-friendly website is more important than ever before. In case you missed it, Google began prioritizing mobile-friendly sites in search results that were done from smartphones. The search engine giant also started demoting websites that aren’t mobile friendly. How is this linked to your customers? Simple. When your customers are looking for you, and if your company’s website is not optimized for mobile devices, consumers aren’t going to find your business and they will end up taking their money elsewhere.

You don’t need to be a Web developer to create a mobile-friendly site. It’s true. Many easy-to-navigate, for example who is searching for oscillating saw blades often like to have a search bar instead of just browsing in the hole home department,  have mobile ready sites to choose from, including WordPress and Squarespace. Designs are not only beautiful but responsive, which makes customers happy. And happy customers like to spend their money.

Automated Purchasing and Shipping

Whether you’re a one-man shop or if your have a big team, your business can be at its most efficient with an accounting software tool like Sage 50. Not only can you monitor your books and billing, you can automate purchasing and shipping, too, which is great for your business and your company’s customers.

Most online businesses hire third party logistics services to help with the shipping and delivery of items. You may also want to consider free shipping to attract more customers. According to data reported by Kiss Metrics, a 2014 eCommerce survey found that 28 percent of shoppers will abandon their online shopping carts if they are met with unexpected shipping costs. Take the guessing out of it and offer free shipping. Your customers expect it.

A complete e-commerce fulfillment solution like ShippingTree can also help you on this. It is truly the one-stop-shop for e-commerce logistics and fulfillment. For further details go to this site.

Top-Notch Customer Service

Just because your business is online doesn’t mean you can push your customer service to the wayside. Today, more than ever, consumers expect quality customer support. And many times, the customer service that you provide can make or break a sale. Researchers from Think Jar have found that more than half of consumers are willing to pay more for a product or service for a guaranteed pleasant experience. Now that doesn’t mean you can go price gouging — that could lead to unhappy customers. Which is not good, because data from the same body of research shows that a whopping 91 percent of consumers will leave one company to do business with another when they aren’t happy.

Make sure that you’re always available for your online customers. How? With a customer service and software support ticket system like Zendesk. Not only does Zendesk work with your website, it works across social media channels, too. So you can rest assured that you’re hearing and also helping your customers when they are reaching out to your business.

From automated purchasing and shipping to simple returns and mobile-friendliness, these are the modern conveniences your online customers expect from your business.