Learn How the Industry Leaders Stay on top
If you want to be on top of the game you need to help your customers in any way possible. Many in online businesses fail to realize this. They focus only on the short-term gain.
One of the most important aspects of business is the customer. Even more, your relationship with your customers. The better you are towards them, the better they will be towards you. Online sellers like drop shippers often forget about this. And that can be detrimental to their success.
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What is Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a term that got popularized recently. It gained popularity in recent years and now you can hear about it even in the mainstream media. But what is it?
Dropshipping is a sales method. It sells products to customers like any other method. The thing that differentiates it is where the product comes from. Most sellers have stock that they ship from. Dropshippers don’t. They have agreements with the producers of said goods. They ship the products from the factory to the customer. [1]
This saves a bunch of money and lowers the risk of the seller. But it also detaches the seller from the customer. That’s why dropshipping experts have to pay extra attention to their customer experience. One small mistake and you lost a customer for life.
Why Customer Experience is Important
Remember the last time you had a great customer experience? Probably, not. But you do remember the awful experience you had years ago!
Happy customers are loyal customers [2]. Unhappy ones won’t go anywhere near your brand.
A good customer experience (CX) has a bunch of benefits [3]:
- Customer loyalty
- Customer satisfaction
- Word-of-mouth marketing
- Positive reviews and recommendations
CEOs may also deny the significance of customer experience. Sometimes bad budgeting also leaves them with no funds to step up their CX game. It has also been proven that Customer experience does not increase on its own. Not until it becomes the top priority for the company. This research got published by the Harvard Business Review.[4]
A lot of things can go wrong that will cause bad CX. Some of the common issues responsible for bad CX are:
- Long waiting/response time
- Employees that are not trained enough
- Unresolved issues and questions
- Too much automation
- Non-personalized service
- Rude/angry employees
- Bad reviews
Real Examples
I’m sure everyone has his own list of worst experiences online. These are some of the most famous ones that prove that even big brands can mess this up.
- Craigslist.com – Have you seen the website recently? It looks straight out of the early internet days. While it is not that hard to use, the design itself is so off-putting. It looks like some poor attempt at a scam website.
- Berkshirehathaway.com – Can you believe this? This is the official website for a company that owns over $700 billion worth of assets? The user experience is horrible. Try finding anything on there, impossible!
- Amazon.com – The biggest seller online also has a UX that could improve a bit. While not horrible, some things often don’t show up. Sometimes it is hard to judge the product by the images provided and the reviews are fake. All of these contribute to a non-perfect UX
Closer to the audience reading this are Shopify stores. Here the mistakes are often far bigger and more impactful as they don’t have any name backing them up [6].
- theFamilyPup.com – This store is all about your dog and everything you could need for him. While the content is okay they have a big issue. They use review starts on their products, even if most of them have no reviews at all. People might assume that your things aren’t selling at all and that your store might be a scam. Only use review stars if people review it!
- theMammaShop.com – This store focuses on bags for children and things you might need for your kids. It had some glaring issues before but most aren’t a problem anymore. Currently, the biggest flaw is that the descriptions are not that great. Customers might be put off by their lackluster description. Also, no reviews are possible on the website.
Some key stats that you should refer to:
- 96% of customers say customer service is important in their choice of loyalty to a brand.
- Brands with superior customer experience make more money. They bring in 5.7 times more revenue than competitors that lag in customer experience.
- 73% of consumers say a good experience is key in influencing their brand loyalties.
- Customers switching companies due to poor service costs U.S. companies a total of $1.6 trillion.
- Loyal customers are five times more likely to buy again. They are also four times more likely to refer a friend to the company. [6]
What You Can Do To Improve Customer Experience
Some dropshipping businesses realized the importance of their CX. Here is an example of how companies match their online and offline stores CX-wise.
Amy Matthew from Qubole was the first to talk about this. She addressed the importance of the customer experience. She focused on aligning online customer experiences with offline experiences. One of the greatest examples of this happened recently. Major British retailer, Mark Spencers decided to mimic their offline shopping experience. Then they have reproduced it for their online presence. This helped customers experience a feeling of ‘familiarity’. It helped boost online sales and conversions. This was a great example of how to do it.
So how should you improve your customer experience? Here are a few tips that will help you!
Improve Your Emails
Automatic emails are some of the most important copies that you will ever write. If you get them right, people will think you sent each email yourself. That personal touch is hard to replicate and people love the real deal. Write a couple of “thank you” emails and a couple of newsletters/updates. Don’t send them all the time, use them sparingly as you don’t want to spam your customers. Write them with some spirit and humor, and always leave your signature! [7]
Provide Service
Customer support is important. While the classic approach to this is 24/7 phone and email lines, these aren’t the best. Research showed that over 70% of customers prefer to solve their problems. Nobody likes calling some hotline or writing long-worded emails. [7]
Make a great Q&A page and a great support page. These should have some common issues and problems addressed and explained. Create video explanations for that extra service. You will see, nobody will call or email you. They would all much rather solve it themselves!
Be Transparent About Shipping Times
A common mistake store owners make is to say that shipping times are less than they are. If you say shipping time is 2-3 days, and the product arrives in 10 days, you have a problem. The customer will think they are being scammed. That you lie and that something is wrong with their product.
The solution is easy. Be honest! If it takes 30 days, say it takes that long. Don’t lie, it won’t get you anywhere.
Read and moderate comments on Facebook
Facebook is important. If you have a page there you know that people love leaving comments and suggestions there. Take these suggestions into consideration. Read them and group them. If you find that some suggestions are common, give your best to put them in place.
Answer questions they might have. But look out, Facebook can be tricky at times. Competitors and internet trolls love spamming your pages with fake comments and profanities. These aren’t real customers, they want to give you bad PR. Block and moderate these comments.
If you see an actual customer complaining, don’t delete their comment. Reply to them and try to resolve the issue. Like I said before, don’t lie, it won’t get you anywhere!
Survey your past customers for their opinions
Are your customers happy with the products they bought? You don’t know? Ask them!
If they didn’t complain already, they are most likely satisfied with their buy. Try to get them to write a review or positive comment about their experience. This will influence others when they visit your page. Offer incentives like some small discounts and you will see the reviews come in!
Analyze reviews on Amazon to become better and sell better products
It is always better for your bottom line to learn from the mistakes of others. Luckily, today that’s pretty easy. Check amazon for similar products like yours and see the reviews and how the seller handles them. You will gain a feeling of what to do and how to respond. You will also see if people like these types of products.
With enough research, you will find new and interesting products that you can sell too. And you will know how to respond to customers’ inquiries.
Machine learning
Some more high-tech stores started implementing machine learning. With advanced AI models, they can better analyze CX and give valuable data. With this data, you can better optimize everything about their experience.
Research has shown that companies who implemented this showed financial growth. All in all, if you know-how and can afford it. Put in place some machine learning into your store. [8]
Key Takeaways
The key thing to remember here is that customer experience is important! With good CX your business will flourish. Without it, get ready for some losses. Use these tips to improve your business and rack up some sales! Always improve and never stop offering more! Good luck with your future endeavors.
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References:
[1] https://www.shopify.com/blog/what-is-dropshipping
[2] https://blog.hubspot.com/service/what-is-customer-experience
[3] https://www.hotjar.com/customer-experience/
[4] https://hbr.org/2007/02/understanding-customer-experience
[5] https://dodropshipping.com/bad-dropshipping-store-examples/
[6] https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2019/09/24/50-stats-that-prove-the-value-of-customer-experience/?sh=610c31574ef2
[7] https://www.shopify.com/blog/13251973-creative-ways-to-improve-ecommerce-customer-experience-that-also-boost-loyalty-and-sales
[8] https://blogs.sas.com/content/hiddeninsights/2017/11/07/machine-learning-improve-contact-centre-effectiveness/
