Three Ways to Boost Online Customer Engagement – and Ultimately, Sales

U.S. eCommerce is expected to swell to . This is an immense opportunity, but it’s no “gimme” in today’s digital age, where consumers are smarter and more demanding than ever before. Successful etailers will seek different strategies to engage with customers to avoid having their piece of the eCommerce pie reduced to a mere sliver (if anything at all!).

To be successful, etailers need to give customers the royal treatment, rolling out the red carpet, treating them with kid gloves and heeding customers’ beck and calls. If you also want to establish loyal, repeat customers, you need to treat deliver VIP engagement across their entire customer journey. Here’s how:

1. Analyze and adjust.

Etailers need to take a microscope and truly analyze the value of their web presence. Does your site make it easy for customers to explore, discover and purchase products? How helpful are your sales and support  tools such as the “help” button or chat offerings? Determine which services are actually aiding customers on their digital journey and devote your resources accordingly. In addition, be cognizant of emerging technologies that can further improve your level of service and up the ante, competitively speaking.

2. Implement VIP treatment by bringing the human touch to the virtual world.

Brick and mortar companies have helpful sales people that find products, provide information and allow consumers to quickly and painlessly purchase goods. The same experience needs to occur in the virtual world. Guide customers on their journey to find what they are looking for with helpful tools like live chat or video chat; and pay particular attention to your payment system, as research has found that of customers that attempt an online purchase need a helping hand. Additionally, make sure that hand is truly helpful, as 45% of customers who don’t get immediate resolution to questions and concerns will abandon their online shopping carts.

3. Mobilize your mobile strategy.

mCommerce sales are skyrocketing, and are forecastedto reach . But similar to eCommerce sales, mCommerce is also not a “gimme” for retailers, particularly if you are trying to run the same desktop marketing and sales campaigns for the mobile crowd. Small screens require different styles based on responsive design, which means larger buttons, links and fonts with less, more succinct text. We live in a mobile era, and it’s time to act like it on a professional level.

The eCommerce opportunity is enormous, yet of customers leave web sites without making a purchase. Don’t make your revenue goal a pie in the sky — instead, implement these customer-pleasing practices to lure and secure recurring customers.

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