“I love ordering things online because when they arrive it’s like a present to me from me” – Anonymous
With online shopping becoming a rage, it seems as though it was always part of our lives. Companies and smart entrepreneurs have taken advantage of this trend, and ‘set up’ websites for this e-commerce. A key component of these websites is a shopping cart, and there are several reasons how this ‘feature’ can lead to customer delight. There are a number of ‘universal’ rules for a variety of things. In the same way, there is now a well-placed idea that customers have of a perfect shopping cart. For customer delight a company must focus on a ‘cart’ that is flexible, easy to use, and efficient – irrespective of the kind of shopping cart it provides. The more benefits a shopping cart can offer, the more attracted customers would be – give customers the advantage, and they would be delighted.
Is your company aware of the demands customers have and what for them constitutes a perfect shopping cart? Most importantly, difficulty in navigation and long check-out times are a big no-no and are possibly the biggest reasons for abandonment of shopping carts. In addition, since an increasing number of customers now shop via their mobile devices, it has become imperative that the shopping site of a company works as efficiently on these devices, as they would on a complete computer system. It all boils down to being mindful of the preferences, needs, and likes of the customers – the only way to become and remain successful in the overcrowded business space of today.
A perfect shopping cart would be one that would score high on functionality and one that is consistently up to date. Given that more and more people are choosing to shop online – given the ease and convenience it offers, it would be imprudent for a company to ignore the vital fact of the usability and efficiency of its e-commerce portal. Customers want a fuss-free process, which is quick and easy, and does not make them expend more effort or waste time on aspects that should be working well – example ease of choosing products, buying them, making payments, and then finally ‘checking out’ from the site.
A well-designed and planned shopping cart would allow the company to take in payments through a variety of methods. While payments through credit and debit cards are standard, there are other payment methods too such as PayPal and more. With such flexibility, a company would be able to attract a wider audience and set of customers, which in turn would boost sales, and increase the reach and awareness of the company.
Customers buy digital products online too, and once these products are paid for they expect instant delivery. Companies have no choice but to comply with this demand, but must remain aware of the fact that such products are enviable and therefore at risk of being stolen or shared. A shopping cart must have the feature of digital product storage and delivery systems such that the company can ensure prompt delivery, and protect these ‘high risk’ products from harm.
The perfect shopping cart provides the company with the ability to track ‘visit’ patterns, trends, and buying behaviour of customers. The ‘cart’ should be able to provide data and analysis such that it is easy to know which content and products are driving sales, how much time each user takes on deciding to buy, what a particular user may have bought in the past, and at which page / point users usually abandon their activity. Being able to track and monitor such activity enables a company to make improvements and provide more customized solutions such that they gain more profits through customer delight.
The perfect shopping cart should have an auto response feature to enhance email marketing. We have discussed before that despite being one of the traditional methods of connecting and marketing, email continues to be extremely popular and effective. The auto response feature within a shopping cart not only sends people emails, it is also useful in marketing, delivering digital products, and providing confirmation of payments.
The perfect shopping cart would have in-built the feature of product management as well. This feature enables e-commerce companies to manage growth issues – as the website grows, the company’s offerings would grow too, making them harder to manage. With the product management feature, a company would be better equipped to deal with product enhancements, and additions.
What should a company do?
- Get in touch with a professional company to help you build the most effective online image, the perfect shopping cart included. Ensure that the design allows you to change and alter it in whatever manner works best for your company. A customized website would ensure that you are always in control of it, and in the event that something does not quite work, it can be tweaked instantly to remove the flaws. It is best to get your company’s e-commerce portal designed by experts, who would ensure that you get the maximum returns for your business, by building your company’s vision and goals into the site.
- Ensure that you use coding that is simple, easy to understand, and yet effective. This will encourage customers and ‘visitors’ to spend more time on the site, enhancing the chances of buying. Any code that ensures complete control over the functionality and design of the website would mean that your company would provide the best shopping experience to its customers and give them a perfect shopping cart.
- For the perfect shopping cart ensure that it has and clearly displays the link for the policies and guidelines that your company follows and promises. Ensure that policies such as returns, exchange, and shipping are easy to use, and provide customers with the assurance that they would not be ‘stuck’ with something they do not want, and neither would their bought item take overly long to arrive.
- Make it easy for the ‘shopper’ to buy more! Ensure that adding items to the cart and the confirmation appear on the same page. This would mean that the shopper would not need to move often between pages and the chances of them considering more items before ‘checking out’ would be higher since the ‘opportunity’ to do so lies right in front of them. This also provides your company to make upsell offers before the customer actually makes payment.
- Lastly, but possibly most important is the fact that your shopping site must be secure. Customers would be expected to put in confidential information such as credit card or other payment option details, and they would expect that this information is guarded and used only for the purpose for which it is intended. Ensure that your website clearly displays the ‘protection’ it offers for the users.
You are probably thinking while reading this that your company already does all of this. However, despite these being obvious things to do, many companies still fail to ensure these fundamentals for customer delight. It does not take much to have a perfect shopping cart if only companies paid closer attention to these details. The happier a customer’s experiences, the higher the chances of them returning to buy, and encouraging others to do so too.
A perfect shopping cart is perhaps the most effective way to gain attention, business, and repeat customers. Your company should do whatever it takes to optimize the checkout flow. The perfect shopping cart would ensure customer delight by making the online business a one-stop shop for the increasing number of people moving towards online shopping.
