When consumers make a purchase, it’s not all about price. The experience they have while on your website actually plays more of a role than you might think. If you consider that 88% of online shoppers say they wouldn’t return to a website after having a bad user experience, you can see why making sure your website is as user-friendly as possible can be a real benefit for your business.
User experience begins as soon as potential customers visit a website and it can continue for a long time depending on the products you sell. For example, subscription services will need to keep customers satisfied on an ongoing basis, whereas a business selling a one-time purchase usually has a shorter interaction with customers.
No matter how long customers are with your business, the experience they get will be one of the key deciding factors as to whether they return, they recommend your business, and whether they leave positive reviews.
As much as they might try, not all e-commerce brands manage to deliver on the user experience customers expect, but there are certainly some businesses that do.
Snug
Snug calls itself a “sofa in a box” company and specializes in delivering sofas to customers in a much shorter timeframe than conventional furniture companies. Their website looks good, it’s easy to navigate, and their communication with customers from point of sale all the way through to delivery will likely exceed even the fussiest of customers’ expectations.
The communication style is friendly, informal, and full of humor so most customers will feel pretty comfortable throughout the entire process. For example, when you unbox your sofa, you might find a note from the cushions talking about how they are grateful to have a new home as they have been stuck in a warehouse their whole life. While this might sound a bit silly, it’s little things like this that add an element of humanity and friendliness to the whole process.
Contact details in the form of a phone number, postal address, and even a live chat are clearly displayed so getting in touch with customer service looks to be easy too.
Revzilla
Revzilla is an e-commerce business that sells parts for motorcycles. As there’s a ton of competition in this niche, Revzilla has stepped up and enhanced user experience in a big way.
Shopping for bike parts can be difficult online as you have to try to find whether a specific part is compatible with your bike. This can be hard to do when the business only lists basic product information. Revzilla allows customers to enter their bike details into their “virtual garage” so only parts compatible with their bike will be displayed in searches.
Not only does this make for a great on-site experience, but it also gives the business the opportunity to market appropriate products to each individual customer based on the bike they own.
Chewy
Dog and cat owners seem to be having a great time when shopping with Chewy for their pet supplies. What this brand does so well is adding the human factor back into e-commerce. There’s a story about a Chewy customer who ordered some food from the website. Part of the user experience is that Chewy will try to save you money by offering relevant deals and offers.
If you set up a monthly subscription for your pet’s food, you can save money. Unfortunately, one customer went for this offer just before their dog passed away. After contacting Chewy customer service, they were amazed at the extremely human service they received. Their subscription was immediately canceled and refunded and they were told they could donate any food that had been delivered to a local shelter without needing to return it. On top of that, Chewy actually sent the customer flowers to say sorry for their loss!
While this might be an extreme example, being human in an online world can go a long way when it comes to user experience. If you add this to the fact that there is a huge amount of competition in the pet niche, it makes complete sense that brands like Chewy are doing all they can to stand out and be recognized as a brand that offers high levels of user experience.
Boxed
Boxed is basically an online wholesaler that allows you to buy in bulk. Your order is packed into a box (hence the name) and shipped to you with free samples for you to try inside too. User experience has clearly been a priority throughout the design process as the website is easy to navigate using multiple categories and the communication each customer gets is very personal and friendly.
Photos of your packed box are emailed to you and each delivery comes with a handwritten note to show customers that an actual human has worked hard to make sure their order arrived safely. Humor also plays a part in Boxed as the subject of the email with your packed boxed in is commonly something like “your box just took a selfie”. This humor, cheekiness, and friendliness can actually make a brand more appealing compared to other similar businesses out there.
Purple
Selling bed-related products such as sheets and pillows can be a challenging thing to get right as many customers will be very particular about what they sleep on. Purple seems to have nailed it though.
Not only is the website fast, smooth, easy to navigate, and great looking, but the entire process of ordering appears pretty flawless. Everything stays on-brand with lots of purple featured and your delivery will likely arrive in a branded purple box. The packaging doesn’t waste any space either as Purple uses the blank space to answer FAQs and to provide instructions on how to get the most out of your new products. It might not seem like a big thing but a few small thoughtful acts like this quickly add up to an impressive user experience.
Hapa Kristin
You might think it would be quite challenging to offer a high user experience when selling colored contact lenses, but Hapa Kristin has nailed it. The photography used on the site is to a very high standard which allows their products to be seen clearly giving customers a true idea of what to expect from their order.
The site is also easy to navigate and it looks nice too. There’s quite a bit of information shared on the website but the images take center stage which is usually what potential customers are most interested in.
Tracksmith
Tracksmith is a running brand that shares its story in great detail with customers. This adds a huge amount of loyalty and trust and helps build a strong relationship with potential customers as soon as they visit the website.
There are no banner ads and the site is super easy to navigate. The whole experience is centered around being part of the running community and it makes you feel like you are in a comfortable place with other like-minded people.
AO
AO is an incredibly easy-to-use, customer-focused home appliance e-commerce business. The website lets you navigate exactly where you need to be with just a few clicks and it’s laid out in a user-friendly way.
The brand covers every stage of the buying journey from research to comparison to actually choosing the final product. Buyers’ guides and detailed product descriptions do a good job of helping customers make up their minds and to be sure they’re getting the best product for them.
Fast shipping with lots of communication regarding the status of your order certainly helps too.
REI
The well-known outdoor brand has nailed user experience in a few ways. One of the things REI does so well is that the brand stays in touch even after your order has been placed. Where other brands might think their work is done, after all, they have your money, REI doesn’t stop there.
After you order, you get emails containing blog posts and information all based on the type of product you’ve ordered. For example, if you order a tent, you might get an email with links to one of their blog posts about finding the best campsite, or how to best care for your camping gear.
User experience doesn’t end once an order is placed and REI clearly understands this.
Nespresso
The famous coffee brand covers a lot of bases when it comes to user experience. One of the things they do so well is to get more customers into their community even if they haven’t directly purchased from them. For example, if a customer buys a Nespresso coffee machine from a third-party retailer, they can still register it on the official site and get all the benefits a customer buying direct would get.
Not many businesses would even think about people who weren’t technically customers of theirs, but Nespresso understands that these people will likely end up as part of the community in the long run anyway.
An app and personalized search options also go a long way in keeping customers happy and satisfied while interacting with the brand.
