In an earlier blog post, Y-women – mapping demographics & drivers of desire you’ll see how Gen Y women are right at the forefront of online shopping. Research recently conducted on “Why Millennial Women Buy” showed that the top factor driving millennial purchase decisions is their customer experience. Millennial women are willing to pay more and hunt further afield, with 54% saying the whole experience drive their biggest (or most frequent) purchases.
In order to reach this key audience, it’s important to understand what drives them and why they use certain businesses.
Unlike in the naughties when it was all about the thrill of being able to purchase something in your PJs, from your couch, today’s considerably more savvy consumers are looking for something deeper than just purchasing a product and having it arrive on their doorstep.
Creating customer experience
When it comes to creating a great customer experience, you might think physical stores have it all over a purchase made through an online store. And you’d mostly be right. Physical stores can have friendly, helpful and attentive sales assistants tuned to your every need, they can serve coffee, champagne or snacks, play soothing or upbeat music to boost the mood, layer purchase boosting smells across the store, have flattering lighting and ‘skinny’ mirrors and lay their store out in a way that showcases their merchandise to best effect.
How can you boost the customer experience
So let’s cut to the chase and see how you can boost your customer’s experience when shopping with you.
First it’s not a one trick pony. The same thing won’t work for every product. You have to figure out how to create omnichannel strategies. This includes consistent, personalized messages from the business, as well as two-way conversation that make them feel valued and important and that you care as much about their purchase as they do.
Impress the customer through the unboxing experience
When the physical box arrives, you want the customer to feel that same sense of excitement as when they purchased. Sure the shipping packaging may have to be a brown box or a post bag depending on your shipping requirements. But once the customer opens the box up, think through the possibilities to make them feel like its Christmas morning.
This can be through using inner boxes that are of high quality, and using the colour, shape and look of the box to make a statement. For example, think Tiffany & Co. When you see the famous tiffany blue box wrapped with a ribbon you know for sure something special is going to be inside. Apple are also amazing at their ‘unboxing’ experience’. So why not try and emulate that and elevate the unboxing experience for your customers?
If you are a business that sells clothes, you simply must demonstrate you care as much about the customer’s purchase as their money. Anyone can throw an article of clothing into a basic plastic bag. But think how much better it will feel if the customer’s purchase is wrapped in tissue paper, the same way it is in an upmarket boutique. That’s a special purchase; not just a cheap one – the internet is full of those.
Another thing you might try is spraying a light fresh scent into the packaging of your goods to delight and stimulate an extra sense when your customers unbox their goodies.
A thank you
Everyone delivers shipping/invoicing advice. It’s standard and it’s mostly pretty boring. Why not try putting a personalised note from the founder inside the box thanking them for their purchase – offering a small discount on their next purchase (but as a thank you, not an advertisement). A personal touch is likely to make them feel valued as a customer. Plus they’re likely to feel more connected to you as a result. Read: likely to buy more.
Or you might send them an extra little gift (depending on how much they’ve spent). Nothing exorbitant, just something that says we love having customers like you.
Post purchase experience
Once the customer has made their purchase, you want to provide them with the most positive post-purchase experience you can.
There are several ways to do this which we’ll discuss in part two. Stay tuned.
If you’re ready to embrace ecommerce in a way that’s sure to delight your customers, we’d love to talk to you. You can always give us a call on +61 2 9828 0111 (Sydney), +61 3 9240 300 (Melbourne) or +64 9 263 8855 (Auckland) or drop us a note via the form below. Alternatively, you can find a full list of available services here.