The Buyer’s Journey doesn’t End at Checkout. Understanding the Five Steps to Making a Frictionless Purchase

ecommerce is a multi-trillion-dollar industry. It’s expected to generate $6.5 trillion in global sales by 2023. Even though the COVID pandemic has subsided, there is still a huge demand for online shopping, especially during busy holidays. Online retail is the future.

However, the competition is increasing. If you don’t sell a niche product, there is a good chance you are not the only one. Customers are increasingly influenced by the experience they have when purchasing your products.

It’s time to shift to the customer’s mind — from selling online to purchasing online. What are shoppers most valued? It’s often their time. They expect stores to be able to accommodate their needs, no matter where or when they shop. They need an omnichannel experience that seamlessly follows them throughout the buying process.

You must provide an easy purchasing experience to meet modern buyers’ needs. A frictionless purchase allows shopper to get exactly what they need at the time and without having to think about it. Frictionless purchase provides exactly what a customer needs in the moment they need it without them having to think about it.

This guide will share the five steps that lead to frictionless purchases on your website. It also includes some tools to optimize your tech stack in order to reach them.

Step 1: Make It Easy to Buy

Your marketing worked. Your site is attracting shoppers. They’ve found the perfect product and are ready to purchase it. You’re done with all the hassles.

It’s not. Even after an item has been added to the cart, sales can still be difficult. Baymard calculated that the cart abandonment rate was almost 70% based on 44 statistics.

Here are some tips to increase conversions and make it easy to complete the purchase.

1. Prime your website for purchase

Before they reach the checkout page, the road to purchase begins. A beautiful website is essential to build trust in your brand and encourage customers to purchase your products again. You don’t have to be a web designer to create a stunning site that encourages customers to buy. Shogun allows you to create and manage page content with an intuitive drag-and drop interface. It seamlessly integrates with BigCommerce shops.

2. Personalize your experience.

You should also tailor the experience to each customer. Customers expect that if they have shopped before with you, you will treat them as a friend and make it easy for them to buy. 63% of shoppers believe that brands will respond to their personal shopping history.

LimeSpot allows you to create custom storefronts. LimeSpot Personalizer enables marketers and ecommerce professionals with AI-powered personalization to create personalized shopping experiences for customers via web, mobile and email. LimeSpot allows brands to customize their storefront experiences for every customer.

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3. Optimize your checkout experience

There are many reasons why cart abandonment can occur. We’ll discuss more of them later. However, one study revealed that 21% of US online shoppers abandoned their shopping carts because of a lengthy and complicated checkout process. There are many tools available to help you reduce friction in the checkout process. It is easy to add a digital wallet at checkout. Your payment gateway should include Apple Pay, Google Pay, or similar. Don’t overdo it — your goal is to make shopping easy.

• Stripe makes it easy to accept payments. Stripe integrates with BigCommerce to make it easy to accept payment. Offer digital wallets such as Apple Pay or Google Pay to encourage shoppers to convert. Your global customers will be able to use the currency and payment method they prefer through the integration.
• Bolt will take the burden of checkout off your shoulders. Boltsolves complex technological problems involved in digital wallets, fraud detection, and checkout. This allows you to focus on what is most important — growing your brand, product, and customer base.
• You can let them pay later using Paypal or Sezzle. Customers can buy the items they want, without worrying about paying immediately (and without you having to worry about payment). Both Sezzle and PayPal offer customers the option to pay in installments or other special financing. Buyers can buy now and pay it off later while merchants are paid upfront.
• ShipperHQ can improve your shipping experience. ShipperHQ gives you the ability to give your customers accurate shipping rates and estimated delivery dates. ShipperHQ lets you offer these options up front and in-cart. It offers real-time shipping rates from 50+ carriers and methods, including LTL freight, same-day delivery and cross-border options.

4. They need your help to find the right thing.

Customers may also have difficulty finding the product they are looking for. Customers may visit your site to view the inventory. Others will have an idea of what they are looking for. No matter what their purpose, everyone who visits your site should find the information they are looking for without needing to search. These are some ways to help.

Klevu and Fast Simon can help you improve customer search. Klevu, a leading end-to-end search platform for ecommerce companies, enables merchants and shoppers to have personalized and intelligent navigation and search experiences. Klevu’s search engine gave them the precision they needed to help customers find their products. One customer saw a 19.8% rise in their revenue after switching. Fast Simon, a leader in shopping optimization, drives ecommerce search and AI-powered personalization based on shopper behaviour, store inventory and visual signals. It is used by thousands of BigCommerce merchants that are rapidly growing.

5. You must persuade them.

Sometimes customers just need a little push to make them commit to an order. There are many ways to increase your power of persuasion. These include inventory callsouts, ratings and reviews, or leveraging user generated content.

• Yotpo lets your loyal customers speak for you. Customer reviews are an effective way to convert customers. Their importance is growing. One survey found that 34% of consumers check reviews more often than before the 2020 lockdown. How can customers leave reviews? And how do you leverage those reviews effectively? Yotpo tools help BigCommerce businesses to generate tons of site and product reviews, photos and videos, and use them for traffic and conversions.
• Nudgify can create urgency. You can use FOMO to persuade customers. Nudgify will help you tell them what they may be missing. This tool can be connected to your BigCommerce store. It allows you to choose from a variety of Nudges that will show customers real data such as sales pop, recent orders and which products are in high demand.

Step 2: Inspire Customer Confidence

A third factor that can cause friction is the presence of indicators that a site may not be trustworthy or have strong security measures to protect their personal data in case of a breach. They have every right to be worried. Each month, online retailers are subject to around 206,000 cyberattacks on their stores. It is important to show your reliability and security during, and after, every purchase. These tools will help you accomplish this.

• Site speed and security should be top-notch. Your ecommerce platform must be reliable, secure and speedy to build trust with site visitors. BigCommerce makes it easy to manage operational complexity and provides a secure, user-friendly platform that is available when you need. Your BigCommerce store comes standard with Level 1 PCI compliance. This will ensure that your site is safe and secure.
• Route gives you peace of mind for your customers’ shipments. Route provides a suite of connected post-purchase solutions that online retailers can use to provide additional security for their customers. Route gives customers the ability to add protection against theft, loss, and damage to their package right from the checkout page. Route offers a comprehensive package tracking system that allows customers to track their shipment at every stage.
• Clyde helps you protect your customers’ purchases. Clyde allows you to add a warranty program that protects their products long after delivery. The app matches extended warranty products to your products and launches them to your store. Clyde will send your customer an email with information about their coverage and the steps to take if something goes wrong.

Step 3: Surprise and delight your customers

Customers will be more likely to shop with you again if they receive their product quickly and efficiently. A survey found that 87% of customers say shipping and delivery directly affect their decision to shop again with the merchant.

1. Faster, more efficient shipping.

The product delivery and unboxing process should be as smooth and enjoyable as the rest of the process. You’ve already discussed how tracking solutions can help improve shipping experiences, but this is your chance to make an impression on your customers. These are some tips to take it up a notch.

• ShipBob or Ware2Go make it easy to get what you want faster. 63% of respondents want shipping to be quick and 66% prefer a free option. Amazon has made it easy for customers to receive their product in less than two days. Third-party logistics solutions are available to help you compete. ShipBob partners with fulfillment centers in the United States to provide 2-day, affordable fulfillment for ecommerce companies. Ware2Go’s networkVu can help you ship more efficiently. It shows how to create a fulfillment network that meets your customer requirements and your operational workflows. The app will recommend the best distribution options that are most efficient for you. It uses your client order history, seasonal demand patterns, and business growth projections to determine which option is best.
• ShipStation can help you increase your efficiency. ShipStation automates shipping and fulfillment. This will help you save time and money. ShipStation allows you to manage all of your orders in one place. It can also save you time and help you save time by applying actions to orders that are based on the criteria you have set. You can import orders by connecting to a selling channel, manually creating or uploading orders, as well as using an API to input them. You can also sync orders across multiple sources and send them via any carrier that you choose with ease and speed.
• Arka can help you create branded packaging. Arka can help you create branded packaging. Your branding can be continued through fulfillment and purchase. Arka offers branded and unbranded packaging to ecommerce businesses. This includes boxes, protective inserts and poly mailers as well as tape, tissue papers and stickers. You simply need to choose the type of box that you want, decide the quantity, and brand it with your company logo, messaging, and colors.
• Send updates to Route and Narvar with order tracking. Your customers will be informed! Notify your customers about order status updates to let them know when their order is ready for shipment. Order tracking will reduce customer service calls and emails. It will also give your customers more transparency, which will improve the overall customer experience. Route allows you to offer order protection and package tracking, which can make the post-purchase experience a valuable customer experience. Narvar is an app that delivers a personalized, brand-specific messaging and shipment tracking experience to customers.

2. More fulfillment options available

Customers who need faster shipping can benefit from additional options such as BOPIS. From August 2020, a Digital Commerce 360 poll found that 43.7% top 500 retailers had BOPIS. This is an increase of 6.9% from the time before the pandemic. McKinsey’s report also found that 56% shoppers intend to use BOPIS again after COVID-19.

BOPIS by Randem Retail allows you to provide an efficient offline-to online experience. Randem Retail ‘s BOPIS app allows you to convert your retail locations into pick-up stores. This will allow you to link your online business with your offline sales and make your customers available wherever they are.

Step 4: Making Returning as Simple as Purchasing

It is not what anyone wants, but a smooth return process can result in satisfied customers as well as repeat customers. According to a survey, 96% of consumers are more likely to return to companies that make returns and exchanges easy.

You should ask customers for feedback and solicit reviews to help you resolve any issues quickly. It is also important that returns are as seamless as the other parts of the process. Here is a solution.

Happy Returns and ReadyCloud make it easy to solve returns problems. ReadyCloud allows you to provide the customer with an Amazon-like returns process. It also helps customers communicate more effectively. The ReadyCloud Suite allows you to connect your Sales, Administrative and Support Departments, allowing for improved communication during the After-Purchase and Shipping Returns cycles. Happy returns offers a nationwide network of 700+ Return bars that allows shoppers to return their items in less than 60 seconds. They can also receive refunds instantly.

Step 5: Continue to Nurture the Relationship

A customer who is treated well from the start can turn into a repeat customer depending on the product they buy. Your customer relationships will be strengthened if you keep in touch with them and engage them again. These are just a few ways you can make it happen.

1. Remember to send an email or SMS marketing message.

Email and SMS are effective ways to stay in touch with customers. You can let them know about new products and share information about upcoming promotions. It is possible to engage customers during delivery. However, many brands neglect to communicate with customers about upsell, which can make it difficult for shoppers to be engaged. You can use tools to make your outreach more efficient.

• Klaviyo, Omnisend and other tools can optimize your messaging. The average email marketing program has a 38x ROI, according to the National Client E-Mail Report. Email is the most popular source of ROI for marketers, with 59% citing it as their main source. Klaviyo enables businesses to create memorable experiences through their own marketing channels, including email, SMS and in-app notifications. This is done by listening and understanding the cues of visitors, subscribers, and customers and then turning that information into relevant, valuable messages. Omnisend ecommerce-tailored SMS and email marketing automation platform designed to increase revenue without increasing your workload. Convert customers with easy-to-build and highly-relevant emails and texts. Combining email and SMS with push notifications in cart recovery and welcome series or order and shipping confirmation, or any other custom automated workflows, is possible.

2. Target potential customers.

It can be very helpful to remind customers about products they haven’t purchased yet, or just to remind them when they are browsing.

Orders allows you to reach shoppers across multiple channels. Connect your BigCommerce store seamlessly to Google, Microsoft Advertising and Facebook. Your products will be automatically imported while you wait.

3. Reward loyal customers

There’s still plenty of competition, so a loyalty programme gives your customers another reason to choose you over a competitor.

Smile.io offers a beautiful and branded rewards program. Smile.io makes it easy to launch a loyalty program in your store. It features an interactive and real-time rewards panel, which lives on your store. Your customers can enjoy exclusive perks, discounts and fun ways to interact with your brand each time they log in to your store.

4. They will keep coming back.

What could be better than a satisfied customer for a single time? Customer who comes back time and again increases their brand loyalty and lifetime value. Subscriptions are one way to do this. There are many solutions that make it easier.

Recharge makes it easier to make recurring purchases. Recharge allows you to easily enable subscription offers. ReCharge’s merchant portal allows merchants to manage subscription business while customers can fully manage their subscriptions from your store.

Conclusion

Your customers and you both want the same thing. They want to be able to use your product with minimal friction. Your job is simplifying wherever possible and finding efficiencies for your customers at every stage of their journey.

We have shared several solutions to help you achieve efficiencies, from pre-purchase through conversion to post-purchase. Your path to frictionless purchasing will be different from another business. There is no single solution. You can place your order on your website. Wait for your package to arrive at home. Then, ask yourself if the experience makes you want to return.

We offer a free website evaluation for your BigCommerce store if you need some hands-on assistance in removing friction points from your site.