Are you constantly looking for ways to keep your customers happy through the various stages of their buying journey?
Customer satisfaction builds a positive brand reputation and is a strategic asset. It can determine if a buyer purchases from your store again and if they’d recommend you to others. Studies show a startling 50% of consumers would switch to a competing brand after just one bad customer experience.*
Businesses, big or small, “should deliver on customer’s satisfaction expectations in combination with quality, value and compliant handling” ** if they want to see buyers return. As discussed in our blog post about social proof, recommendations from friends and family are among the most meaningful reviews as it is more likely to lead to a purchase.
We’ve put together a list of actionable strategies your business can implement to help improve customer satisfaction and encourage repeat purchases:
5 Key Customer Satisfaction Strategies
Ask and act on customer feedback
First-hand customer feedback is so important. Who knows what works for your company better than the people buying your products or services? Did you know that many of our shipping features came from customer suggestions?
You can collect feedback in various ways, whether through review sites, surveys or a suggestions box on your website. Of course, once you start receiving reviews (good or bad), you should actively engage with comments to show that your business is responsive and cares.
We encourage booking reviews via popular third-party platforms like Trustpilot and will respond to feedback promptly. If anyone has suggestions on how we can expand our free shipping tools, you can drop us an email at tech@interparcel.com.
Keep the checkout process simple
Shopping cart abandonment is a real challenge with eCommerce stores. Still, you can decrease the cart abandonment rate and increase conversion in many ways. One way is by keeping the checkout process simple.
You can do this by:
- Enable Live Shipping Rates so customers can see the exact prices of different delivery options, and you don’t pay for extra postage
- Only display products that are in stock to avoid disappointment
- Offer free delivery for orders over a certain threshold
Personalise the experience
Most customers expect a personalised experience when purchasing online. Your business can provide a tailored experience to customers through loyalty discount codes, giveaways, recommendations etc.
With a free Interparcel Branded Tracking Portal, you can keep your brand at the forefront during the customer journey. You can add your brand colours, logo and a promotional banner to engage with customers post-purchase. In the banner, you could include a discount code for your customer’s next purchase to encourage repeat sales. We only ask that you send at least 5 parcels a month to keep your Branded Tracking portal active.
Similarly, building relevant content on your website, like informative blog posts, can help engage directly with different customer segments. For example, our Blog contains valuable information like shipping guidance, new services and business advice.
Be transparent with your delivery times
One of the most important pieces of information when placing an order online is the estimated delivery time. Customers want to plan so they can be available to receive their parcels. It’s also essential to offer various shipping options, such as Economy, Next Day and Timed.
All orders booked with Interparcel come with free tracking as standard. Detailed tracking information is available on the website by entering a 12-digit Interparcel tracking number.
Alongside providing clear tracking information, here are some other ways you can optimise your delivery processes:
- Utilise our variety of low-cost courier services from reputable delivery companies
- Provide SMS and email tracking notifications to notify customers of their order progress
- Create a Branded Tracking page to better brand continuity whilst customers track a package
Be supportive
Unlike physical stores, where customers can talk to people face-to-face, online stores don’t offer the same personal service. That’s why, it’s essential you provide responsive and personalised customer support across multiple platforms. You want to make it as easy as possible for customers to get in touch if they have a query. Being present and available to your customers is a sure-fire way to boost your brand’s reputation and consumer loyalty.
It’s also essential to provide documentation like help guides or FAQs to assist your customers offline. Again, if you receive multiple queries regarding the same issue, turn that issue into an opportunity to create more guidance around that subject to help reduce the number of direct enquiries later down the line.
Deliver customer satisfaction with Interparcel
Understanding your customers and what they need from your brand is one of the best ways of improving customer satisfaction. Whether it's through better transparency over shipping times or acting on consumer feedback, we hope our strategies above will help to grow your business.
Our multi-carrier shipping solutions allow you to import orders from multiple eCommerce platforms and manage them in a simple dashboard. Similarly, our helpful free business tools, like Live Shipping Rates and Branded Tracking, give you more control over your shipments and put your brand at the forefront.
If you haven’t already, sign up for your free Interparcel Account today and take the first steps to improve customer satisfaction.
Sources:
*Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2020
**10 ways to boost customer satisfaction, Harvard Business Review, Jan 2023