5 Ways to Keep E-Commerce Customers Coming Back

How do you keep your online customers coming back after the initial appeal? While retailers hook new e-commerce customers with product-market fit, flashy advertising, and spot-on messaging, more than half of shoppers buy from the retailer again if they experience first-rate customer support. How can you provide this competitor-differentiating customer care?

Here are our best practices for providing the kind of support that will create return customers:

1. Provide omnichannel options for customer care.

To best connect with customers, take their unique preferences into account by adopting an omnichannel approach to customer service. From live online chat to a telephone service line, having a variety of contact options is essential to maintaining customer satisfaction. In fact, nearly 60 percent of customers said that being able to connect with customer service reps via the method of their choice influenced their decision to make a purchase.

2. Offer DIY solutions that enable independence.

One aspect that influences the overall customer experience is the consumer’s ability to help themselves before reaching out to a brand representative. Customers increasingly want to solve their own problems; in response, brands must provide options that enable them to help themselves by providing accessible FAQs and other easily searchable answers on their website. Furthermore, consider using self-service chatbots that allow customers to access around-the-clock answers while avoiding wait times for talking to live customer support reps.

3. Empower reps with tech tools.

Equip customer care reps with technology that helps them quickly and efficiently provide service to customers who need live support. Select valuable digital tools that make reps’ jobs easier — and ensure agents receive adequate training on the technology. For example, if you're introducing new technology to improve live chat, test the workflow. Is it seamless and user friendly? Keeping good customer service reps is challenging, so work to make their daily tasks satisfying. You’ll be able to retain your staff and they’ll be able to prioritize exceptional customer service.

4. Implement multilingual customer care.

As you know, anyone from anywhere can access your website and shop for your products. However, language matters. If customers are unable to read the language on your site, the likelihood of them making a purchase is low. More than three-quarters (76 percent) of consumers prefer making purchases in their native language, and 75 percent are likely to return to a brand if customer support is in their native language. Therefore, invest in scalable, multilingual customer support.

5. Drive retention with personalized experiences.

Tailoring customers' experiences to their preferences is another route to retention. Half of customers report that personalized service influenced their choice to buy from a brand, and 44 percent say personalized experiences made them more likely to become repeat customers. In other words, use data to personalize the shopping experience and create return customers.

Marketing, advertising and product development will always have a place in attracting new online consumers. However, if you’re after repeat customers who are loyal to your brand — and contribute to its sustained growth — then you must create a positive customer experience that inspires them to keep coming back.

Viviana Bertinetto is chief customer officer of Language I/O, a provider of multilingual customer support software.