CX is king: How Retailers Evoke Emotional Experiences to Increase ConversionEmotional Experiences to Increase Conversions

How to use Customer Experience Marketing to increase sales conversions

The world of eCommerce is constantly changing and evolving, with new brands entering the space with a unique take and offer. Brand values and Customer experience (CX) have never taken as much space as the B2C space focused on our future generations. In this rapidly changing environment, retailers must find ways to stand out and sell more products. Marketers are adopting new methods to evoke emotional experiences in their customers.

Gen Z and Millenials have pushed the boundaries of digital retailing, preferring to buy products without interacting with workers. As a result, retailers are now fulfilling these customers' needs through influencers and evoking an emotional experience that leads to purchase. Aspirational fashion and home goods need to live well in this space.

Most eCommerce owners know that CX is king. The question is, how do you evoke emotional experiences in your customers to increase loyalty and sales? This blog post will take some of the stressors impacting e-commerce and how stores and retailers need technology to curate emotional experiences for their customers that convert effectively. Stay tuned – it's time to get strategic about your retail marketing!

A Snapshot into the eCommerce Universe

First, let's talk about what's happening in this growing universe. Growing pains seem to be the reality at the moment. There have been changes in customer behavior, including an increase in online shopping and a decrease in brick-and-mortar visits. Check out these retail benchmark numbers published by Retail Touchpoints .

• It seems like retailers can never catch a break regarding customer loyalty. The second highest challenge for marketers this year was dealing with out-of-stock situations due in part to supply chain challenges, which accounted for 44%.
• The "Great Resignation" has made finding staff more competitive than ever: 41% of retailers cited insufficient staffing's negative impact on in-store CX as a challenge.
• Inflation is likely behind the resurgence of purchase discounts as a customer retention tool; it rose from 55% to 73%
• With the rise of online shopping, many retailers are trying to gain a more holistic view of customer relationships(360-degree views of the customer). 45% collect data such as complaints and reviews from customers for them to provide better service or offer promotions that cater specifically to individual needs!
• eCommerce stores that relied on branding and social selling on Instagram have their bumps in understanding that customers were excited about seeing friends and into videos. But I hear they are scrapping the code that made video automatically into reels. Now let's see if we can have our friends back.

With all this new pressure on marketers and eCommerce owners, there's a lot of pressure to use what you've got in terms of technology. Still, often software-as-a-service (SaaS), businesses can get the results they need without a lot of upfront investment. For the 45% keep, some centralized customer database then customer experience marketing (CX) is up your eCommerce alley.

What is customer experience marketing for eCommerce?

Customer experience marketing (CX marketing) is the strategic shift driving the usage and adoption of your product or service to fulfill customer needs. It involves exceeding expectations throughout every step of their journey with you- from the signup, through use (and post engagement), to return ships if necessary! Think back on those instances when a business went above & beyond; did they solve an issue quickly? Did someone take care of you in a caring way? Exceeding customer expectations is fundamental to delivering great CXs, leading to brand loyalty and increased sales.

CX marketing requires technology that can support the following:

• Efficiently managing customer interactions
• Building personalization at scale
• Tracking the customer journey
• Analyzing customer feedback
• Delivering actionable insights in real-time

Technology needs for CX Marketing

To deliver exceptional customer experiences, businesses need to have the right technology in place. A Customer Data Platform (CDP) is a critical part of the technology stack for retail marketers, providing a 360-degree view of the customer. This complete view enables retailers to deliver more personalized experiences and messages, increasing customer loyalty and sales conversions.

Steps to executing a CX marketing campaign

Once you have the software in place, ready to use your connected data to drive campaigns for customer retention or new customer acquisition, here are some high-level steps to get you started.

1 Establish customer experience vision

To create a customer-centric approach, design your vision to explain how you plan on providing exceptional experiences. For instance, if the online cupcake store strives for fresh cupcakes quickly, then this can act as guidance in establishing what quality looks like and ensure that every single experience delivered meets those standards,

2 Lean from your target audience

To better understand their customers, many companies have visitors create profiles on the website. The information gathered from these user accounts can help you identify what types of individuals visit your site and where they're most interested in spending time online (eg., videos vs. instructions).

3 Evoke an emotional connection

Emotions can sway customers to take action, so companies and business owners must create emotional bonds with their clientele. To evoke emotions effectively, marketers must engage the customer emotionally by providing a comfortable environment or using humor in conversations when appropriate. Keeping commitments made towards them will increase trustworthiness among consumers over time.

• Offer personalized engagements. When interacting with customers, consider personalizing your messages by using the individual's name and segmenting messages to certain buyer personas to provide a human touch with relevant information.
• Give a clear path to resolutions. Since customer service is part of the customer experience, ensure you offer an easy-to-follow route for solving a consumer's problems, such as offering a customer support email address with their purchase.

4 Monitor and respond to reviews

Implement a system for tracking your online reviews from websites and social media pages so that you can see your customer experiences. Respond to these reviews on time to engage customers and show they care about them. Save positive reviews to post on your website or social media pages to serve as testimonials for your products or services. Consider also sending post-interaction surveys to see how consumers feel about your products or services.

5 Watch your churn rate

Regularly access your company's churn rate or amount of consumers leaving your company, so you can determine if it's increasing or decreasing. Consider reasons for your churn rate and actions you can take to prevent this from occurring. For instance, if your customers seem to be leaving due to a difficult user experience on your website, you could consider improving the website's usability.

To stay ahead of the curve and sell more products, retailers must focus on their brand values and create an emotional customer experience. eCommerce businesses can do this through influencers and by evoking an emotional response that leads to a purchase. Aspirational fashion and home goods brands use CX Marketing to evoke inspiration to stay relevant and successful.

If you're looking for more expert advice, reach out to us – we would be happy to help.