Eight Ways E-Commerce Brands Can Better Serve Their Customers

As more consumers and business clients turn to e-commerce companies to meet their product needs, both opportunity and competition are growing. While starting up a business online is a great way to meet customers where they are with fewer overhead costs, the sheer amount of competition can make it difficult to get noticed in the first place.

One way to draw attention to your business is to focus on your customers’ needs and how you can better serve them. Here, eight members of Rolling Stone Culture Council draw on their expertise as they recommend some of the most effective ways to serve your customers well and to stand out among the competition.

Create an Engaging Experience

Personalization is the one true key for online-only companies. The right combination of your brand voice, relevant (and always-on) technology and consistent execution across platforms will create an experience for consumers that engages them — and creates urgency for your product or service. – Michael Klein, cannabisMD

Write Regular, SEO-Friendly Posts

An online brand can rely on regularly scheduled posts to educate and entertain consumers. At the same time, their creative writing can be SEO-friendly to appeal to search engines and gain exposure. For instance, content relating to my particular industry, cannabis, is growing on a daily basis. – Todd McFliker, JustCBD

Offer Genuine Customer Service

Two words: customer service! Absolutely no one likes to waste their time in the automated customer service cycle. The customer is already doing half the job by placing their orders online, saving money for those companies utilizing e-commerce. The very least that companies can do is offer actual human customer service. I would pay more for products or services if the provider had genuine customer service. – Sheila Dedenbach, Heavenly Sweet

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Ensure Your Website Is Accessible

No matter what you’re selling, it’s important to ensure your website is as accessible as possible. When there are countless alternatives to your products, having a site that loads quickly, is easy to navigate and functions as intended can make the difference between a potential customer choosing your products or getting impatient and choosing the next option on Google. – Evan Nison, NisonCo

Provide Targeted, Relevant Value

Make sure your brand and your lead generation activities match in relevance. Don’t be everything to everyone. Know your target market, segment it, understand its pain points, understand how the market fails to satisfy its needs and use your company’s resources and strengths to create value based on that knowledge. More targeted value equals happier customers and returning customers. – Rene Nunez, Sensum

Connect Through Incentives and Donations

To stand among competitors, offer something your competition doesn’t. Selling products and services is more than just direct sales — it’s about connecting. Offer a newsletter, offer incentives for making purchases, donate proceeds of every sale to a charitable cause, offer special sale days or occasions and focus on supporting a need that your customers may have outside of the actual sale. – Sonia Singh, Center of Inner Transformations

Understand Your Customers’ Expectations

We are living in a digital-first world. One way for businesses to adapt to the changing landscape is to understand their customers’ increased expectations and work on them. Customers expect a personalized approach to make them feel special. Set a cohesive multi-communication customer servicing strategy to address their problems and increase their satisfaction. – Candice Georgiadis, Digital Day

Personalize Customer Interactions

One way to better serve customers is to personalize customer interactions. Personalization may improve the customer experience and make the consumer feel appreciated. With consumer data, e-commerce firms can personalize interactions by providing individualized suggestions, product offerings and marketing initiatives. – Theo Sastre-Garau, NFTevening