What Your E-commerce Business Should be Doing Today

In the ultra-competitive e-commerce world, businesses that go above and beyond in customer service rise to the top. What are ways to do this? And what trends should your e-commerce business be aware of heading in to 2020? E-commerce sales are growing every year and globally, sales will reach nearly $4 trillion in 2020. Yes, trillion. How to ensure a sliver of this fruitful pie? Here are just a few tips on what your e-commerce site should be doing today.

·      Exceeding customer expectations. Find a way to personalize the shopping experience. Especially as consumers enter the holiday shopping season, if the purchase is a gift, how about reviving the handwritten note for a more personal feel? Is your business offering free gift wrapping?

 One local specialty food company made their holiday packaging stand out by printing a   scenic, seasonal photo and affixing it to the top of the box. This brought the northern Michigan holiday feel to customers, who saw this photo immediately, and then   opened their box to a handwritten gift card sitting atop the contents. Also included in this gift package were recipe cards for the products in the box. Now can Amazon deliver that kind of personalized service?!  

·      Free Shipping. If it’s possible to cut costs elsewhere, consider what is becoming a standard offering to online buyers.

·      Utilize Social Commerce. What is social commerce? It’s using social media as an advertising tool. Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are just a few of the platforms that can be leveraged to help reach customers through product and service promotion. One quick way to generate some buzz for your business is to offer a free product or discounted service to those who share your promotional post on social media. 

·      Free or no hassle returns. Another service that is becoming standard is the no-hassle/free return. Returns happen and are part of doing business. Consider a return another opportunity to provide great customer service. Don’t hide return information on your website; make return information available in your website’s footer, a feature that appears on every page. To include here as well – business contact information.