Various eCommerce businesses are making the life of customers easier in numerous ways. From food to furniture and apparel to appliances, everything reaches the buyer's doorstop offering convenience with their package. We live in an era where customers are ready to pay a bit extra for a better experience. But to go that extra mile, every eCommerce business needs to know about the likes and dislikes of their customers. With millions of online orders being placed in a jiffy, there is only one gem that can help businesses grow and understand their customers better- eCommerce Customer Analytics
If data is the goldmine, then customer analytics helps you get the gold out. No matter whatever eCommerce marketing strategy you choose, you'll always need data to implement it and hit the bull's eye. In this article, let's talk about the underrated treasure that makes an eCommerce site a success. We’ll discuss all the ways to deliver an undeniable eCommerce customer experience with the proper use of data coming from customer analytics.
Understanding Customer Analytics: How to use it for eCommerce business?
Imagine being already aware of what products your customers might like to purchase, what online purchase issues might bother them and what products they would buy in future. This is where customer analytics works like a magic wand! Separating the wheat from the chaff, customer analytics helps you answer all these questions by using important and relevant data in numerous ways for-
- Identifying business opportunities
- Generating more sales
- Creating better customer experience
With omnichannel analytics, one can get a clear view of how many customers tried to reach out on different platforms, tried to connect or showed interest in your products. This systematic study of the customer database allows you to identify the shortcomings as well as the opportunities for an eCommerce company. It won't be wrong to say that data analytics in eCommerce is the ultimate way to identify the purchase behaviors and fulfil the predefined expectations of the customers.
Using data to deliver an impactful eCommerce customer experience
You cannot compromise with Customer Experience. Period.
Delivering a splendid customer experience needs close monitoring of every step and every activity while interacting with the users. Consumers have a very short span of attention online. 81 per cent of consumers conduct online research before making a purchase- GE Shopper Research Study. Hence, if you don't perform better than your competitors in every aspect, you're likely to lose potential as well as current customers. This is where you need to understand the importance of data analytics in ecommerce and make the most of its benefits.
Figure 1: Using Customer Analytics throughout the 5 stages of online shopping
5 ways to get the best results with ecommerce customer analytics:
Diving into the 5 major areas for understanding the importance of data analytics in eCommerce and customer satisfaction.
Measure, Monitor, Modify & Makeover:
The first and foremost step is to dig in. Guesswork can be helpful with a handful of customers but end-to-end data analysis is essential to achieve long-term goals. Ecommerce Customer Analytics dashboard allows you to gather data points that help you better understand the behavior of customers on your ecommerce website:
- Number of daily pageviews
- Percentage of bounce rates for various pages
- Average time spent on webpages
- Ad performance on various platforms
- Social media engagement activities
Analyzing this data thoroughly is the first step to your strategic plan for customer engagement. These metrics keep on changing from time to time depending on various factors like peak time for engagement throughout the week. Taking a closer look at this data can help you recognize patterns that the human eye might miss out on.
Some major steps to have a solid base for your marketing strategy include measuring the overall customer engagement throughout your site. Further, you need to monitor and analyze the pattern of data consumption so as to make required modifications. With the correct visualization and analytical approach after studying the data, you can identify most successful channels of business, create content that might perform better and experiment in thousand ways!
Competitor Analysis to stay a step ahead:
If you are not taking care of your customers, your competitors will. - Bob Hooey
Analyzing your own data isn't enough when you have competitors putting their best foot forward to be on top. Understand the fact that you all are competing for the same set of customers. Keep your eyes open and see what your competitors are doing and capitalize on opportunities before anyone else. Here are some examples of what to focus on when it comes to competitor analysis in ecommerce.
Discovering online trends and the customer engagement gained by them.
Focusing on the keywords used by the competitors for different content forms.
Reading customer feedback and reviews for their products to identify pain points.
Keeping a close eye on content creation and distribution pattern across channels.
You need to understand how each competitor is positioning their USP (Unique Selling Point) in their marketing outreach and come up with something better. Although all marketing aficionados are always keen and excited to learn about creative marketing strategies and trends, analyzing and keeping a track of them isn't a cakewalk. Here is when various customer analytics tools like Similarweb can lend you a helping hand.
Customer Behavior Analysis to understand the users better:
With a population of 7.87 billion people, about 27.2% people are shopping online.
Key Takeaway: There are lots of potential customers!
These stats can work as good news as well as bad news at the same time. This is because, with a plethora of options available and the short attention span of customers, they are likely to choose better options whenever available. On the other hand, if you offer something out of the box, you'll have the customer's attention. Always remember, creating a loyal customer in the online space with cheap internet access, intriguing offers and discounts can be a tough deal to crack. You need to thoroughly investigate how customers engage with your site and what exactly do they wish for.
A curious marketer will always have questions about their customer insights:
- Which channels are helping me drive new customers?
- How can I make the customer journey from awareness to advocacy better
- What are the most profitable channels of revenue for my marketing campaign?
- Why would my customer add the products to the cart but not check out?
- Which customers are the most interested in my products and when?
Conducting a customer behavior analysis requires you to collect as much data as possible. This can be a time-taking, confusing and exhausting task. However, with smart use of customer analytics techniques, you can come up with both qualitative and quantitative data for your eCommerce store.
Personalization with better omnichannel marketing strategy:
Personalized customer experience is much more than sending a customized email. Once you've analyzed the customer's shopping behavior throughout the journey, it's time for you to reach out to them with deals that they might love.
Take a look at the
top omnichannel marketing trends that can help you make better decisions.
Fun fact: Did you know 'Free Delivery' is the number one reason motivating people to shop online. A lot of customers who confidently reach the checkout page might not buy the product if you ask for additional shipping charges.
Figure 2: Top reasons for people to shop online accordingly. Source: Globalwebindex.com
The secret sauce delivered by all of this is 'Convenience'. When it comes to omnichannel marketing, you need to offer convenience across every single platform where your customers are. Right from easy product browsing to effortless checkouts, the entire process needs to be smooth. Understanding the taste and preferences of customers helps you in segmenting and targeting them in an easier manner. For example, a user who always looks for sports accessories and apparel would love a discount on the best pair of shoes available with you.
Customer Retention Strategy and Policy:
58% of people stop purchasing due to poor customer experience.
Key Takeaway: Keep your customer acquisition game strong and retention game stronger.
A customer who visits your store often to buy products is the most valued one. The probability of selling to existing customers is much higher than selling to new customers. You can monitor the repeat purchase rate (RPR)- one of the most important metrics for retention. If the RPR is falling down, it is time for you to put in more efforts in the customer retention strategy.
Some of the ways to retain your customers may include:
- Creating more educational content to keep your customers aware.
- Creating reward and referral programs.
- Reaching out to customers across channels with your product offerings.
- Providing best-in-class customer support experience throughout.
- Offering deals, discounts and credits with a personalized message.
Always remember that customer retention metrics matter for your long-term goals. Losing this one customer can also make you lose several potential customers because people usually buy products recommended by their friends and family. An existing customer is more likely to be your brand ambassador with word-of-mouth marketing techniques. Don't miss out on them.
Is customer data analytics only for the eCommerce space?
Definitely not! Any & every industry including B2B, D2C and B2C right from online delivery to healthcare and hospitality can use the power of customer analytics. Customers research various things in their day-to-day life like the best work management tools to help the WFH process, the cheapest flight tickets for their travel destination and the most reliable services for insurance.
Bottom Line:
If customers are looking for the products and services that you offer online, you must use customer analytics to create actionable insights and reach out to them first. Altudo can help you with a growth framework for various industries that are booming in the market.
Wish to know more about the biggest brands in the world making the most of data analytics and interpretation?
Take a look at success stories of some of the best brands from various sectors including OTT platforms, fitness business and more.
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Ecommerce