Optimizing the consumer journey in e-commerce: from first contact to purchase

In a competitive market, optimizing each stage of the consumer journey means ensuring a smooth and fully satisfying customer journey, minimizing difficulties and maximizing conversions.

First phase of the consumer journey: awareness and first contact

In the awareness stage, the prospective customer discovers a brand or product for the first time.

When it comes it comes to e-commerce, this initial contact is made through several channels: a Google search, a sponsored search on social, a marketing email, or through word of mouth.

All these channels have one thing in common: they must be able to “stop the scroll” and grab the customer’s attention. The goal is to make the first encounter with the brand memorable.

Improving the consumer journey at this stage means taking this memorable interaction to the next level: on the one hand, through engaging and inviting call-to-actions it is possible to stimulate user interaction with promotional content. On the other hand, it is crucial to have on the company’s side of the business an organization to nurture these interactions, for example through responses to comments or messages from potential customers.

Step two: consideration and comparison

At the consideration and comparison stage, the customer has already shown interest in the brand or product and begins to consider whether to proceed with the purchase.

This is a delicate moment because the customer compares the company’s offerings with those of competitors, analyzing advantages, disadvantages, and reviews. During this stage, it is important to provide all the necessary information so that the customer can feel confident and satisfied with his or her choices.

The customer care plays a key role at this stage: offering personalized assistance and answering potential customers’ questions quickly and accurately can help guide their purchase decision.

Tools such as live chats, chatbots and contact channels such as Whatsapp, which offer people the ability to get immediate responses.

The timely intervention of customer care in providing these immediate answers prevents customers from turning to a competitor to resolve their concerns.

Third stage: decision and pre-purchase

The decision and pre-purchase phase is a critical time that can make the difference between a completed purchase and an abandoned shopping cart.

This is the stage when customers seek technical information regarding payment options, delivery times, return policies or any promotions. It therefore becomes essential for e-commerce companies to respond in an immediate and reassuring way, guiding the customer through to the completion of the order.

If the customer encounters problems during checkout, such as difficulties with payment methods or doubts about transaction security, quick customer care intervention can resolve these obstacles, increasing the customer’s trust in the brand.

Well-organized customer care can optimize this stage of the consumer journey by implementing proactive messages during the checkout process, reminding the customer of any benefits of the purchase or answering frequently asked questions in real time.

This type of assistance helps reduce shopping cart abandonment rates and ensure that each customer gets theattention they need until the purchase is complete.

Fourth step: purchase and checkout

A smooth and easy shopping experience at this stage of the consumer journey is critical to maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction.

At this stage, the customer care can offer immediate support in case of technical difficulties, such as payment errors or security concerns.

One way to further optimize this stage of the journey is to collect post-purchase feedback, allowing the company to identify and address any weaknesses in the checkout process.

In this way, the company can build a relationship of trust that makes the buying experience not only positive, but memorable, encouraging future purchases.

Fifth phase: post-purchase and customer retention

The post-purchase phase is the often most overlooked step in the entire consumer journey, but it is also the most important one in turning a single purchase shopper into a loyal, recurring customer

This is where attention to customer support can turn a neutral experience into an excellent one. For example, for return or replacement requests, customer care can facilitate the process, reducing wait times and offering practical and immediate solutions.

Customer care can also implement follow-up initiatives to monitor customer satisfaction and send targeted communications, such as discounts or promotions, incentivizing new purchases. This type of after-sales support demonstrates to the customer that the company cares about his or her experience beyond the purchase, thus increasing the likelihood of retention and positive recommendations to other potential customers.

Optimizing the consumer journey with a BPO service

At all five stages of the consumer journey, customer care intervention is critical to optimizing the customer experience. For companies large and small, however, customer care is a strategic department that requires large investments in training, workforce and technology.

Outsourcing the customer care department through BPO services is a useful strategy for reducing costs while maintaining efficiency: in fact, BPO services for customer care are scalable and adaptable to the needs of the moment, such as the peaks in demand that e-commerce may experience at certain times of the year, without at the same time requiring long implementation times and large long-term investments.

INGO solutions to optimize all stages of the consumer journey

Through chatbot services and voicebots powered by AI and machine learning, INgo can support customer care operations to improve the consumer journey of e-commerce customers.

Advanced technologies can meet the first-level requests, freeing up resources and personnel to handle complex requests that needhuman interaction to be resolved while ensuring customer satisfaction.