Tips for online shops: The do's and don'ts of a customer experience expert

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Three technology-enabled solutions that help retailers optimize their customer experience and e-commerce.

Small businesses that aren't generating enough sales should focus on their online presence, because that's where their buyers are waiting. A Capterra survey of 5,585 online shoppers worldwide* found that more than half (63%) reported shopping online at least once a week on average.

If you're competing with more established brands for those sales, there's something that could give you an edge: customer experience (CX). 

"Making customers' lives easier and better is the best marketing money can't buy," says CX c level executive list futurist and bestselling author Blake Morgan. [1] "This marketing is earned by creating an outstanding customer experience."

We interviewed Morgan and asked her to share her dos and don'ts when applying CX strategies and technologies to boost online sales. Here are her three online store tips for improving the customer experience. 

1.Invest in technology that solves problems and doesn't just look cool (and complicates CX) 
"Many companies suffer from 'shiny object syndrome': They want new software just because everyone's talking about it," says Morgan. "Instead, think carefully about what problem in the buyer journey you're actually trying to solve and whether a particular tool truly adds value to it."

Some of these tools may not provide any value at all, considering that 42% of online shoppers surveyed by Capterra said they are not interested in using many types of new technologies, such as chatbots or AI-powered chatbots. 

So, what kind of CX software should companies invest in instead? Morgan's online store Tipop is investing in systems that allow you to collect customer data to understand which channels customers use to find you (e.g., search engines, email marketing, or social media), which products they're most interested in, and how they prefer to receive solutions to their problems. 

"We need to have our technology stack organized before we can start upselling and cross-selling to customers," says Morgan. "The better our customer data is, the more we can sell because we know what's happening with our customers—where they are in the customer journey, what they need, and what their intent is."