Offering high-quality products and/or services is good, but it’s not enough. Today’s consumers are looking for a positive online and offline customer experience—and, above all, one that’s tailored to their needs and expectations. That’s why it’s so important to develop an effective user journey.
A user journey is a series of steps a user takes on your website to get from point A to point B. Once a customer arrives on your site, they will perform several actions, such as searching for a product, adding it to their cart, continuing to browse, viewing information, and eventually completing the payment. But the user journey also includes post-purchase steps, such as customer service, returns, product reviews, and so on.
At this point, you have two options: either you let them figure it out on their own—with the risk that it might take too long or that they might not find the solution they need, in which case they might get discouraged and leave—or you set up a smooth and efficient process to meet their needs as fully as possible.
Focusing on UX Methodology
If you want to stand out from your competitors, you need to focus on the user experience. UX involves developing and designing your web or mobile app with your end users in mind, in order to provide them with an optimized and intuitive browsing experience and make their time on your site both satisfying and engaging. A user who can find what they’re looking for in just a few clicks is more likely to stay on a site and return to it later.
A sound UX methodology is based first and foremost on an exploration phase, which involves analyzing user behavior to better understand their personalities, preferences, and habits in order to create a user journey that suits them.
Not to mention that UX methodology has a positive impact on SEO. A website will be more likely to appear among the top Google search results if its user journey is well-designed and optimized.
Adopting an omnichannel approach
Consumers are no longer satisfied with just one channel in their purchasing journey. Keen on immediacy, they want to be able to interact quickly and at any time with businesses. They want to be able to use social media, their phones, or their computers to access a website, or visit retail locations. All of these interconnected channels can optimize the customer journey, especially if each step is streamlined.
According to a study by LSA/HiPay, companies with omnichannel customer engagement strategies retain an average of 89% of their customers, while 69% of consumers are willing to switch brands if the brand does not offer an omnichannel experience. It is therefore in your best interest to invest in omnichannel capabilities and unify the customer experience to provide a high-quality offering to your customers regardless of the channel.
Eradicate Bugs
E-commerce sites can lose a lot of business due to bugs. According to a survey conducted by Mr Suricate among 14,800 internet users, 86% of French people admit that they abandon a purchase because of a bug, and 70% go to another site to make their purchase. It is therefore essential to eliminate bugs in order to provide the most satisfying customer experience possible, and this can be achieved by increasing the number of functional tests. These tests verify that all features of the web or mobile interface behave in accordance with the requirements established in the specifications developed beforehand.
For example, one of Mr Suricate clients Mr Suricate the retail sector (apparel) received numerous reports of issues related to the service providers operating on the platform, such as error messages when redirecting to the payment provider, or a 500 error caused by a problem with the advertising provider. Bug alerts—along with their classification and severity level—sent in real time via a single tool enabled the client to resolve the website’s technical errors quickly (Time to Market). Resolving these bugs optimized the user journey, fostering a seamless experience and helping to preserve the brand’s reputation .
The most frequently performed functional tests can be automated so that they can be run more regularly, more quickly, and on a larger scale. But implementing an automation strategy can be complex and time-consuming. The solution? Choose an outsourcing solution like Mr Suricate, which handles this for you, allowing you to focus on high-value-added development work.
