Global retail eCommerce sales are projected to grow 10.4% in 2023 to an all-time high of $6.3 trillion, according to Insider Intelligence. Despite this growth, the direct-to-shopper (D2C) marketplace is becoming increasingly competitive as new companies form and existing brands pivot. In 2022, 57% of multinational companies reported “significant investment” in D2C channels and just 1% reported “no investment” (Statista).

One key differentiator separates successful businesses from unsuccessful ones – customer experience. Here’s what’s involved in creating a successful customer journey:

Step 1: Understand customer goals and expectations.

Marketers should identify the specific goals of every customer and make sure they align with the vision of the business. They can then create experiences that enable customers to cruise effortlessly through the eCommerce site and engage in a way that’s relevant and tailored to their needs.

Step 2: Identify touchpoints and channels.

When your customers visit your website, track which pages they visit, where they spend the most time, and the most common exit points. If you know the channels different personas use and their preferences, you can deliver the best experience for them across all channels.

Step 3: Find the pain points.

At times, customers may have trouble on your site because of issues like low-resolution images, a complex site structure, slow page-loading speeds, a lengthy checkout process, a lack of customer support, or a lack of responsiveness across devices. As you craft solutions to these problems, focus not only on the framework and best practices, but also on the anticipated lift that results from overall improvements to the customer experience. This will prioritize the most impactful updates before moving on to incremental improvements.

Step 4: Optimize the journey. 

Test your purchase flow often to understand the experience and how you can improve it. Testing should take into consideration real-world scenarios and common points of abandonment. Try to avoid having the same group test each time, as they can develop blind spots as they become more familiar with how the site works.

Customer Relationship Management in a D2C World

D2C allows business owners to build direct relationships with customers, but it’s easier said than done. Read our guide to learn how you can master customer relationships in the D2C world.

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Common Pain Point #1: Cart Abandonment

Most customers bounce from a purchase if it becomes too hard to navigate their cart. Shopify found that its eCommerce customers only convert 1.4% of site visits into a purchase. According to another report, eCommerce businesses lose $18 billion every year due to shopping cart abandonment alone.  Shopping cart optimizations are a fruitful way to improve your website conversion rate and recover some of that lost revenue.

It’s important for eCommerce sites to interact intelligently with customers when they add products to their shopping cart, so they have all the info they need before entering their payment information.

1. Purchase summary

All relevant information about the purchase must be displayed on the cart page: name, image, description, price, quantity, and stock status for each product, subtotal of all products in the cart, and shipping details.

2. Obvious CTAs

The most important elements of the cart are the calls to action (CTAs). Each time a customer clicks, it brings them closer to making their purchase official. Because there is so much fallout throughout this process, make sure the CTAs are clear and visually striking.

3. Total cost

Always be very clear about the total cost of the products. Customers want to know exactly how much they’re paying; fluctuating or inaccurate prices that don’t factor in taxes or shipping increase the risk of abandonment.

4. Guest checkout

Many customers get irked and abandon their carts when they’re forced to register or sign up right before checkout. To alleviate this frustration, and decrease the likelihood of abandonment, let them complete their checkout process as a guest. Once it’s done, you can ask if they want to create an account to make their next checkout more efficient.

5. Single-page checkout

Customers don’t like a lengthy or complex checkout process. A single-page checkout experience puts their shipping details and a summary of their products on the same page as the checkout page.

6. Exit-intent pop-ups

These appear when customers start to abandon a purchase and leave the site. They can feature discount codes or other offers to lead them back to the checkout. Even if it doesn’t drive a purchase right then, it’s an opportunity to capture the visitor’s details and add them to your database. 

Singer Corporation

See how SVP increased conversions by 25% and increased conversions sihle reducing cart abandonment by improving their D2C customer experience.

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Common Pain Point #2: Payment and Checkout Issues

If a problem with this part of the purchase persists, many consumers consider it a bad experience and will stop engaging with that brand all together. A smooth, frictionless process is essential to any eCommerce site.

1. Offer a social login option.

Most consumers have social media accounts, so this makes it easy for them to register. All their details are automatically populated, and they don’t have to spend time registering or manually entering their information.

2. Provide multiple payment options.

Many eCommerce businesses haven’t integrated newer preferred payment methods, such as wallets and other mobile payment services. To adapt to increasingly digital and diverse payment preferences, offer options like credit cards, debit cards, cash/cash on delivery (COD) or PayPal.

3. Offer pickup from a brick-and-mortar store.

For fast delivery, provide customers with the option of getting the product from a nearby store. This offers an omnichannel customer experience and gives the brand the opportunity to familiarize the customer with any nearby locations. It also potentially saves the customer money on shipping costs.

4. Send a purchase confirmation.

After completing a purchase, customers want to know the order went through successfully and to be able to check the status of their order and the projected arrival date. Keep them informed by sending a confirmation or “thank you” email summarizing and confirming their purchase.