Despite those challenges, many physical retail businesses continue to be successful because they excel in key areas. As an online business, you can’t directly replicate some of those offline efforts. However, if you study what offline businesses excel in, you can make changes to dramatically impact the online customer experience and improve conversions.
1. Build Better Relationships:
Among the local businesses I frequent most often around Sydney, I know at least five of them keep a hefty amount of information about me and my purchasing habits. I receive occasional emails about promotions and special offers, and a few of them provide a regular stream of useful content that’s often curated.
For instance, the local sporting goods store sends me content about outdoor activities and topics change with the seasons. I love that content.
As an online business, you have the ability to accumulate a wealth of data on your customers and use that data to provide a lot more value beyond the purchase. Rather than just pushing email blasts to make a sale, use that data to build better relationships.
2. Maintain Consistency in Operating Hours
Local customers rely on the operating hours of local businesses. When a business is open, they know they can call or stop by and get their questions answered because someone is there to help.
Online businesses are usually less transparent about their hours. Imagine how frustrating it would be if you stopped at your favorite lunch spot, only to find the door locked and no employees in sight, despite an open sign on the window.
That’s how customers feel when they ring an online business and can’t connect to you, or they email you and don’t get a reply back for hours or even days.
Commit to your operating hours and make sure customers can easily connect to you during those times. Improve your processes so that emails and service tickets are handled promptly, and make sure a phone call always connects to a person.
3. Listen to Feedback
When a customer has an issue, many retailers empower their employees to resolve the issue on their own or ensure that management can provide an immediate solution. The most successful brick and mortar businesses listen to customers’ feedback and will try to adjust accordingly to prevent problems from happening again.
As an online business, you can provide a similar or even a higher level of service. You have the ability and the customer connections to proactively solicit feedback from your customers through surveys.
4. Stay Customer-Focused
Customer acquisition is an important part of growth. Whether you operate an online or brick and mortar business, you need a steady stream of new customers to thrive. However, it’s also important to delight your current customers to increase their lifetime value (LTV).
It’s very difficult to have a human connection with customers online, so you can’t expect to deliver the same customer-focused, in-person service of a physical retailer.
5. Get to Know Your Regulars
I love the conversations I have with employees at my regular stops, whether I’m at the coffee shop or stopping for fuel. They know me, we chat, and I enjoy the interaction. It’s brief, but it’s part of why I keep going back.
6. Embrace New Changes
Businesses change their décor and checkout processes all the time, from simple display updates to complete revamps like McDonald’s did in recent years. All for the sake of improving the customer experience, creating an inviting atmosphere, and encouraging sales.
You should do the same with your website. Update and test your content, landing pages, product pages, and design elements to improve the user experience. That optimization can go a long way toward boosting conversions.
7. Make it Easy to Get in and Get Out
When you need something, it’s easy to walk into a store, get exactly what you need, and head for the checkout counter. Many big box retailers have designed their store layouts to optimize flow from the door to the register.
A great looking website might be aesthetically pleasing, but it also needs to be functional. Don’t let creativity sully the user experience and inhibit the ease of navigation.
You should optimize your funnel for visitor flow by greatly reducing the number of clicks it takes to get to checkout. I also recommend gathering only the most vital information from customers. The more info you try to acquire and the longer the checkout process, the more likely your customers are to bail.
8. Make a Connection to Your Offer
Customers on a website can’t hold a product in their hands and physically examine it like they do in brick and mortar stores. They can’t always turn the pages and browse the contents before deciding to buy. This makes it harder for them to visualize how a product will impact their life or solve a problem.
9. Create a Convenient Shopping Experience
Major retailers add things like self-checkout for a more convenient shopping experience. Some customers, especially millennials, just want convenience, which is why they choose to pay more for milk at a convenience store instead of walking through a Walmart where it might cost less.
10. Provide Human Engagement
I believe one of the best parts of retail is knowing someone is there to help you in the store. There’s a real human connection. It’s impossible to replicate this online, but you can get very close. Integration with services like LeadChatand live chat interfaces are the closest things to live interaction during a shopping experience.
Set up a live chat for your customers during operating hours, and you’ll be able to field questions and provide answers that help them make a purchase decision while they’re still on your site.
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