Ideal e-commerce strategies for Asia

Source: Genesys.
Thomassain.

Many businesses fall short of their e-commerce promises or fail to keep up with the rapidly evolving expectations of their customers, says Genesys, which provides businesses with a customer experience platform that enables them to leverage customer information and data from their contact centre interactions for a seamless customer experience.

"According to a Forrester report, the estimated total of annual abandoned shopping cart revenue will reach US$31 billion dollars in the next few years," said Erwann Thomassain, Head of Marketing, Asia Pacific, Genesys. "Forrester’s 2013 study, CX online, revealed that 52% of customers will abandon online purchases if they can’t find a quick answer." 

Genesys believes that live multi-channel interaction along with detailed profiles and catering to the buying behaviours of customers is what will help convert the remaining 80% of ‘wanderers’ during the browsing stage of the buying cycle. 

"With the competition for customer loyalty heating up, understanding that customers expect an effortless yet engaging service is crucial and must be considered in the customer experience journey provided," he said. "Businesses ignoring this trend are simply missing out of potential sales and giving away market share to their competitors."

For those already advanced on their e-commerce journey, Thomassain has three tips:

- Seize the online moment. Proactively engage with customers on the web, offering them personalised assistance to drives sales conversions in real time. Don’t ignore online customers and leave them to search company websites for help. Proactive tools such as web chat or web call back, provide assistance to customers throughout the decision making process. Complement the front-end tools with back-end integration to to understand customer behaviour, validate the buying process, and increase online conversion rates.

- Proactive followups. While the number of online browsers who abandon the sales process (cart abandonment) is vast, consider it as a business opportunity. Understand 'abandoners’' behaviour and build personal profiles of dream customers – this information can be analysed and modifications can be made to create new customer leads.

- Close sales with returning customers. With customer profiling and proactive tools in place, businesses have access to tools and information that can identify a returning customer and personalise the interaction. Personalisation through behavioural analysis will entice the customer and well position the business for positive sales outcomes.

Read what Genesys thinks about e-commerce potential in Asia Pacific here.