Ecommerce holiday readiness: issues you might not have thought about, and how to solve them
How do I prepare my online store for the holiday season?
Preparing your online store for the holiday season involves more proactive planning than just decking it out with sales and promos, and ensuring a well-stocked inventory. A critical aspect that can slip through the cracks is catering to the different shopping scenarios your customers might encounter like:
Adding an additional item to an order
Forgetting a discount code
Needing to change a shipping address
Without the proper preparation, your customer service team could be overrun with requests, leaving them as harried as a mall Santa on Christmas Eve.
Implementing a self-service order editing tool can eliminate these potential bumps in your holiday operations. By granting your customers the power to edit their orders, you empower them with flexibility and a sense of control over their shopping experience. This not only enhances their satisfaction, but also lets your customer service team breathe easier.
Preparing for the holiday season doesn't just imply ramping up your marketing efforts or stuffing your stock. It stretches to predict potential customers' needs and implementing simple but effective solutions like self-service order editing. So, in a season that's all about giving, why not give your customers more control, and your team, a bit of well-deserved peace? Plus, your bottom line will profit as well.
Holiday shopping scenarios your customers will encounter
As cozy and joyful as the holidays can be, every ecommerce store owner knows that this period is rarely without a snowball's worth of problems. So, let's slice through the unknown and look at some of these icy challenges head-on.
Holiday scenario 1: The eleventh-hour panic purchase
Imagine this: it's crunch time and Santa's last-minute helpers are in a frenzy. Noah, a loving but busy parent, remembers their daughter's newfound love for knitting. They want to add a beginner's knitting set to the existing order of plush toys. In a less-than-perfect world, Noah would have to place a separate order and pay for extra shipping or contact customer service, wasting precious time and money.
The solution? Customer self-service order editing, of course! When last-minute shoppers remember an additional gift, there's often a flurry of panic. With self-service order editing, customers can add items to their orders without needing to start a new transaction or contact customer service.
Holiday scenario 2: Switching up the holiday routes
Consider this scenario. Jeff, a diligent uncle, had his gifts ready to be shipped to his nieces in New York, but surprise surprise, they're now spending Christmas in sunny California. The Murphy's Law of holiday shopping. Now, poor Jeff could be looking at a delivery mishap unless you swoop in with the gift of self-service shipping changes.
Changes in shipping are as common as ugly Christmas sweaters during the holiday season. Customers can modify their delivery destinations with self-service shipping changes, ensuring gifts reach the right chimneys.
Holiday scenario 3: Discount dash
How about when your store decides to roll out a surprise "reindeer dash" discount? Customers who've already placed orders would love to get in on this merry deal, but without a self-service tool, it could mean dealing with an avalanche of modification requests.
Equipping your online store with a built-in self-service feature ensures customers can benefit from these after placing orders. This solution says less 'bah humbug', more 'ho ho ho'.
Holiday scenario 4: Quantity quandaries
Imagine little Billy convincing his dad that he wants two Lego sets instead of one. Or introspective Helen, realizing she doesn't need three scented candles, just two (so, she can stop burning money...literally). These adjustments could pile up on your customer service team quicker than snow in a blizzard. However, with a self-service feature allowing order modifications, you transform what could be a snowstorm into a peaceful winter wonderland.
Whether it's doubling up on Lego sets or cutting down on candles, customers often want to adjust the quantity of their purchases. Self-service cart adjustments for your ecommerce store ensures such changes are easier than sharing a mince pie.
Holiday scenario 5: The duplicate dilemma or change of heart
Holiday times, as we all know, are filled with surprises! And sometimes, these surprises may lead to slips in customer purchases. Take Aunt Linda, who just realized that she'd purchased the same novel for her nephew that his favorite uncle has. Or Chris, who discovers his best friend has bid adieu to his fascination for fishing, rendering his newly bought fishing gear gift pointless. In such scenarios, the rush to cancel an order can often lead to traffic jams in the support queue.
Self-service cancellation features can give customers like Linda and Chris the control they need to handle their own order dilemmas. They can swoop into action themselves, canceling that duplicate novel or unneeded fishing gear. This ensures a smoother shopping experience while letting your support team focus their energies on more complex issues.
Holiday scenario 6: The countdown conundrum
As the festive clock ticks down, many merchants set specific time frames for fulfilling their holiday orders. So what if Michael realizes he ordered the wrong superhero action figure for his son a week or two after placing his order?
Editing time-frames for your self-service order system can turn this festive fiasco into a holiday miracle. With this feature, customers like Michael can make necessary changes to their orders until the moment the merchant begins the fulfillment process. This enhances customer flexibility and reduces the pressure on your customer service team. So, as we jingle towards holiday fulfillment, adding time-bound editing to your self-service offerings might just be the star atop your ecommerce Christmas tree.
5 advantages of self-service order editing
By offering customer self-service order changes, your brand can enjoy a range of benefits that improve efficiency, enhance customer satisfaction, and drive long-term success:
1. Improved customer experience
One of the cornerstone advantages of self-service order editing is the improved customer experience it delivers. By empowering your shoppers with the ability to change their orders, you're conveying trust and respect. Nothing warms a customer's heart more than shopping with a business that values their time and allows them to adjust things according to their needs. Plus, when customers feel that they can easily tweak and fine-tune their orders, there's a greater chance they will return for more. Now, that's how brand loyalty is built!
2. Lowered customer service costs
Streamlining your customer service during the busy holiday season can often feel like trying to wrap a velociraptor in Christmas lights. This challenge escalates exponentially if you're handling simple change requests manually. By permitting customers to alter orders themselves, your customer service team won't be deluged by calls and emails for minor changes. This freedom reduces the workload, allowing a focus on complex queries and ultimately driving down customer service costs. Talk about a gift that keeps on giving.
3. Reduced cost of returns
Often, when customers regret a purchase or realize an error post-order, their only option is to initiate a return. This process isn't just inconvenient for them, but it also hits your business with additional costs. Think processing fees, shipping costs, and not to mention, restocking efforts. Did you know that the average $50 item costs brands $33 to return? With self-service order editing, you save drastically on the cost of returns because 42% of current order cancellations might never happen, thanks to switching out items and adding new ones.
With the freedom to edit their orders themselves, customers can prevent incorrect purchases, thus reducing the probability of returns dramatically. This advantage isn't just for Christmas, it's a cost-saving strategy that works all year round. Easy on the pocket and high on convenience – that's some power-packed self-service sleighing.
4. Increased operational efficiency
Having a self-service order editing capability means fewer bottlenecks in your operations. This addition allows you to spend less time juggling easy-to-handle customer alterations and invest more time optimizing your crucial business strategies. The result? A smoothly running, efficient operation ready to ride the waves of holiday shoppers.
5. Competitive advantage over other retailers
Did you know that 40% of customers prefer self-service options over human contact? By providing self-service order editing, you meet the ever-growing customer expectations for control and convenience in online shopping. Whether it’s altering the order, adjusting quantities, or even enabling a cancellation, self-service adds flexibility to their buying experience that most other retailers aren’t providing. This freedom enhances their perception of your brand, leading to higher customer satisfaction, retention, and a huge leg up on the competition.
How to implement self-service editing
How do you successfully implement customer self-service options on your ecommerce site?
Your self-service solution must have a user-friendly interface.
The customer must have all the information they need to make their own changes or updates.
The tool must have enhanced admin controls so you can set custom rules and logic to protect against fraudulent orders.
This brings us to Cleverific Order Editor’s Customer Portal, a customer self-service option for Shopify stores that helps customers self-edit their orders after placing them. Here’s how it works for the customer:
Once a customer places an order and they’re brought to their order status page, they’ll see a button to make order modifications.
Customers follow the prompts and can make the following six changes:
Change size, color, or other variants
Increase or decrease item quantity
Remove an item
Add an item
Change shipping address
Cancel their order
Merchants can set their own logic for the rules and parameters of Customer Portal. For example, you can set the order modification time frame and disallow customers to modify their orders based on any order tags, like “final sale” orders.
Cleverific Order Editor’s Customer Portal ensures customers can quickly modify their orders. The interface is easy to use and gives customers a timely option, without having to contact customer support.
A heartfelt holiday suggestion
With the holiday season bringing opportunities mixed with potential complexities, let self-service order editing be your guide through the festive flurry. It prepares your store for potential customer scenarios and promises to make your holiday season, and likewise your overall service, more efficient, cost-effective, and finally customer-friendly. Think of it as a gift to your business and your customers – after all, isn’t that what this season is all about? Happy holiday prepping!
