When you’re trying to make a sale, especially in a field like e-commerce that deals with so many different products, knowing which product to offer can make the biggest difference.
However, this is sometimes quite difficult if you don’t understand who you’re talking to. This is why you need to find a way to learn more about your customers.
Here are the top six ways e-commerce businesses can do so:
1 – Use cookies
Cookies are tools designed to collect customer data, and they’re the main source of first-hand information about your customers. However, they need to be handled delicately, seeing as how they’re heavily regulated.
You need to ask for consent, and this is a move that generates a double-fold benefit. First, it ensures that you do everything by law, which means that you won’t suffer the consequences of legal actions. Second, customers will feel more comfortable with a business that is asking for consent and being transparent about data collection.
It’s all about transparency. You see, there’s even a legal way to use Android spy apps if you’re a legal guardian or get explicit consent from the person in question. As long as you follow the law and get permission, you can feel free to gather data. Still, as an e-commerce business, you won’t be using spy apps. It’s not practical and not legal from where you stand. You need cookies.
Cookies are actually your only way of monitoring their behavior. You install them on their browser or a device. This way, you can see that your user has an Android phone and get a chance to check their browsing history.
2 – Leverage customer surveys
What’s the best way to learn what someone’s favorite color is? It’s simple: you ask them. This is such a trivial piece of information that they’ll never have a reason to hide it from you. The same thing applies to so many forms of customer information, but you have to ask.
Next, you want to incentivize participation. Sure, they may take a minute to answer your question, but they may also be completely uninterested. If you sweeten the pot and give them an incentive, they’ll always have the time to answer. Offer them free points, bonuses or discounts.
Remember that people generally don’t like doing surveys. So, they’re either doing it for the prize or out of kindness. In both cases, their patience will be in short supply. Just keep surveys short and focused. This way, you won’t swamp your database with unnecessary information.
You need actionable information as quickly as possible. Sometimes, taking too long to respond to feedback can be a real problem. So, analyze the feedback promptly and apply changes.
3 – Monitor social media interactions
As a brand, you’ll interact with customers on social media all the time. They’ll engage with your content, like it, share it, and comment on it, and you’ll have insight into it. Sure, a post they share is something that they like more than if they just liked it, but it gets even deeper than that.
You want to analyze comments and reactions. You see, a lot of people may disagree with something about your product, but they won’t always comment on it. Others might passionately love a product in your offer, but they won’t necessarily tell you how they feel. It’s your job to read between the lines and work with those few comments you actually have.
Next, you want to identify customer sentiment trends. You see, understanding general sentiment by tracking brand mentions might help you get an insight into the general direction of your company.
Lastly, social media is an amazing space where you’ll have a chance to engage with users directly. You can just ask them questions in DMs or encourage them to fill in a questionnaire.
4 – Analyze purchase behavior
In order to create an ideal customer experience, you need to understand customer behavior. Still, how do you analyze customer behavior?
First, you need to start with purchase value and purchase frequency. Do you remember when you were a kid, and you all had an allowance? Well, one of your friends may have a bit less money, and if you made suggestions of doing expensive things too often, they would start to withdraw, potentially even leave your company. The same thing can be done through insensitive outreach.
Then again, if you had a friend who was a big spender and you knew to invite them out on the night when their paycheck arrived, this would be a huge hit.
You also want to identify product preferences. What products were they looking at the most, even if they didn’t buy them?
You should also track cart abandonment rates and even remind them that they’ve left something that they’ve forgotten to buy.
Lastly, you want to monitor the average order value. Regardless of what they say, this is a real measure of your trust and reputation.
5 – Implement a CRM system
With the use of CRM, you can centralize customer data. Previously, we’ve made so many comparisons about talking to people and trying to win them over. In every scenario, knowing a lot about them is a ticket to success, but how can you keep track of all this knowledge? Well, imagine if you had a cheat sheet with all the vital information mapped out. This is exactly what CRM is and what it does for you.
You want to track customer interactions across all your profiles, sites, apps, and mediums and keep every single piece of data you have on them in a single file.
This will also allow you to segment customers by behavior, which will then allow you to enhance your system drastically and make far better-targeted offers.
You also want to use data for personalized marketing. With the help of AI-powered marketing tools, you actually have a chance to create a personalized outreach for every individual buyer.
6 – Conduct A/B testing
Sometimes, people just don’t know what they want. Have you ever bought someone a birthday present that they wanted so much, only for them to rejoice at it for a second and then never pick it up again? At the same time, have you ever bought something with no particular reason and then used it every day for months and years?
The same happens with your e-commerce site. You just don’t know if some things will work until you try them out.
You want to test different versions of your site and analyze customer responses. This is the best way to decide what you’re going to keep. Everything they respond positively to is a good decision, and everything they don’t respond to is bad.
You need to optimize based on results and iterate regularly to improve.
Every piece of information matters
It doesn’t matter where the information comes from as long as you’ve gotten it legally. At the same time, every piece of information matters and you have to learn how you can use it to get the insights about your customers. When you know who you’re talking to (and selling to), it’s much easier to make your offer irresistible.