On cyber Monday, 2019 over 50% of all sales were made on a smartphone…They topped $2,000,000,000! And the percentages held throughout the entire week.
What might that mean for your alternative health or CBD business?
If you don’t want your business to be left in the dust, it’s important to get mobile-friendly now.
There are many ways to help to be mobile-friendly, these three top the list and help you get your share of those sales.
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Have you ever had one of those days when you needed to track something down on your cell phone and all you met with was frustration? I had one recently and it turned into one of the worst customer experiences of my life.
I was waiting for an appointment at a doctor’s office and trying to find a much-needed pair of sidelight curtains. My front door has these narrow windows on both sides and when house lights are on, I feel like I’m in a goldfish bowl.
My iPhone screen isn’t the biggest so the pictures are tiny. Then I discovered most of the curtains are 72 inches long. I needed 63 inches. Like many women, I’m pretty specific in this type of decision. Additional privacy yes, blocking the light no. Width dimensions had to be enough to do the job but not so wide they wouldn’t fit.
I finally thought I had found the perfect pair as I bounced from one style to another, read the reviews and the details. So I placed my order with a major department store to have them shipped, as there was no local pickup.
When they arrived, I opened the package excited to get them hung up. Imagine my frustration when I saw the tag…72inches long.
I called customer service to get them swapped for the correct size.
“Oh, those curtains only come in one length. There are no options.” By her tone, I could hear the words she didn’t say in my head…”You stupid lady.”
“I just want to exchange them out for sheers that will fit.”
“Those curtains are only available in one size. There is no size option on the page.”
She was so rude, I pronounced, “I’ve been a JC Penny customer for many years. You’ve lost me today.”
As a business owner, marketer, and consumer, I know the power customer service wields. I’ve seen the reports and 57% of online shoppers have stopped buying from a merchant because of their experience.
Before I share these tips with you…let me share something most people don’t know…It costs a lot more to acquire a new customer than to keep the ones you have happy. Five times more!
It’s harder to sell to a new buyer. Your odds range between 5-20% they will make a purchase. With existing customers, it runs between 60-70%. Data also shows people buy more from a business they know.
With a retained happy customer, you can also reap the benefits of them helping, boosting your marketing efforts…for free.
With the smaller screen size, you need to make sure your web provider has the programs or plug-ins in place to make sure the visitors have a great experience.
Your goal is to make it as easy as a desktop experience.
Your website needs to be intuitive, easy to view and get around in, to provide a positive experience.
EASY is the keyword. From the search engine that guides them to you, through each step of the buying journey…focus on easy.
Look for things that slow down the journey or might be irritating to the shopper. Then look for ways to smooth the process and eliminate those buying hurdles.
Do your categories show up easily?
How simple is it to find something specific?
Are product details clear and complete?
Are there long blocks of text, or is it broken up with white space to make it easier to read? This is important in your blogs or informational articles. The longer a block of text…the higher the risk they will click-off.
How is the checkout process? How is their confirmation communication? Tracking information?
All of these are part of the buying journey that can make or break your relationship with this customer.
Look for ways to personalize the experience.
If they create an account, does your system recognize them by name when they are logged in?
Ever been in one of those big-box stores with the greeter inside the main door? These friendly people direct you to what you’re looking for saving you time and making you feel they care.
There are bots that can assist with this on your website. They can answer basic questions and help the visitor find what they are looking for.
Follow-up emails that remind them they left something in their cart or didn’t complete the purchase are only the tip of the personalization iceberg. Get creative and explore the myriad of tools now available.
Use tracking data to know their buying habits and create recommendations based on them. I read recently that 88% of customers appreciated personalization. They said their feelings about the brand were more positive.
The number of customer reward programs out there is staggering. A whopping 75% of those offering loyalty programs said there was a positive return on their investment.
However, the data I’ve seen says many new programs are underperforming. It depends on how you set them up. The most common format is rewards based on purchases. That sounds good, but 77% of transaction-based programs fail in the first 24 months.
Only 25% of programs reward customer engagement. What do customers say? They’d like the business to show loyalty to them. Interesting thought.
Get your team brainstorming to find ways you can show your loyalty to those loyal customers.
Do you recognize them when they post on social media?
Do your feature their review or success story?
How do you handle referrals?
I’m in a wine club called Naked Wines where they bypass the traditional market and act as a portal to link winemakers with those that like to drink wine.
We can visit with the vintner and ask questions. They’ve built many ways to engage in their system.
They give me free credits for every referral I make. The person referred gets a huge discount on their first order so it’s win-win-win.
I also get surprise bottles in my cart to thank me for being a valued member.
They tell me to let them know if I don’t like wine and they will refund the price. But maybe we don’t remember to get a detail like that done. So periodically, a credit shows up in my cart. It comes along with an email to let me know.
It’s all about being creative and engaging with customers.
I went back online and found some on Amazon that comes in the correct size and ordered those. I returned the ones from Penny’s to the local store for a refund to avoid additional shipping charges.
After also having a negative experience in a retailer located inside JC Penny's, I was done and not taking any more chances.
Fingers crossed the ones from Amazon will be perfect…at least I know what their policies are and I won’t have any problems should they turn out wrong.
We look at what they are doing and explore ways to help build their customer engagement. It starts with their website and determines how mobile-friendly it is. Then we look at emails and social media. And we explore the best ways to use customer testimonials and reward those customers.
We make sure they look great on all types of devices. Easy, personalized, engaged and rewarded.
If you want help with your customer retention or growth, I’m offering something special to just two clients. It’s free, but it is only available for a very limited time. If you want more information, connect with me via email, a message or my website. www.jcpwellnesscopy.com.
Judith Culp Pearson receives three top honors
at the annual Society of Permanent Cosmetic Professionals in
Ft. Worth, Texas - October 7-9, 2023
