​4 Best Practices for D2C Customer Journey

The epic boom of eCommerce and online shopping in the past few years has benefited direct-to-customer (D2C) brands across the globe. One of the main reasons behind the popularity of the D2C sector is companies getting up close and personal with the shoppers like never before.

In recent years, this has become the Holy Grail of online retail, and new tactics are being developed to increase engagement and improve the consumer experience. In an economy crippled by a pandemic, firms have little choice but to figure out “what” people want and “why” they want it without resorting to costly and time-consuming hit-or-miss marketing.

In addition to that, the number of D2C buyers are increasing consistently. 

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As a result, the competition is also rising. This makes it slightly difficult for the companies to sell directly to customers and hold their attention. 

Hence, this post. Here, we highlight some of the best practices followed by D2C companies to obtain substantial results in enhancing the customer journey.

Immaculate Product Pages

The first best practice is to optimize your product pages. These landing pages are the perfect way to hero your product. Not just that, they work wonders for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as well.

You may do this by adding ample relevant information, high-quality product images, videos, and social proof. Your website’s product pages have to be able to advocate for themselves and motivate the visitor to convert.

Big brands like Nike have observed one-third of their revenue through D2C sales and their meticulous product pages surely contribute to this number. Here, we see that they have posted pictures of the same product from multiple angles.

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Alongside, the description is curated in an enticing manner to draw the attention of the shoppers towards the highlighting features. Lastly, you can find the reviews right there. This cements the lead’s decision in case they are having second thoughts about the purchase.

End-to-end Personalization

D2C will always have an edge over those selling goods through third-party marketplaces. This is because you obtain a greater deal of customer data. As a result, you can craft your customer’s journey in a manner they might appreciate.

Personalization has evolved from being confined to targeted offers to encompassing the entire customer experience. Customers desire personalization in their interactions across every channel. 

You can make the most of every unique touchpoint that allows the shoppers to prioritize their time and money based on their preferences. When brands provide such experiences, 80% of customers are more inclined to make a purchase. 

Retailers who provide the finest personalized experiences include customers in the conversation and use data to generate one-to-one personalization. 

Consumers receive offers that are tailored not simply to customers like them, as brands target broad-based offers at the segment level, but to them as people, with products, offers, and communications that are specifically unique to them.

Quick Shipping and Hassle-free Returns

Online shoppers have very little patience and expect the quickest deliveries of their purchases. As little as 12% of consumers are willing to wait for more than 5 days for their items to be delivered. Returns and exchanges should be simple, and the post-purchase experience should be equally uncomplicated as the purchase process.

It’s a good idea for D2C businesses to implement an advanced order fulfillment system for expediting the delivery. In addition to that, install a no-hassle return policy that includes free delivery and no restocking costs.

Customers are likely to return one-third of the things they order, therefore this is a huge risk for D2C businesses. Today’s buyers will purchase a variety of things in a variety of colors, styles, and sizes, select the ones they like, and return the rest.

Such a generous return policy may be too expensive for smaller retailers. The truth is, you can’t afford not to do it. That is because if clients don’t like your return policy, you’ll almost certainly lose the transaction to a firm that does. 

You may have a fantastic website, active social media marketing, and simple checkout procedures. Customers will form a negative image if they are frustrated with your return process.

Exceptional Customer Service

In this day and age of instant gratification, customers want immediate responses. Most D2C businesses want to satisfy their customers, not just with their products, but also by resolving their problems right soon – not in 24 hours or even 30 minutes, but right now.

For instance, 90% of consumers say that immediate response is an important factor when it comes to customer service queries. 

It’s all about forging a strong bond at the right time where things would have otherwise gone awry. It’s all about providing rapid responses and, when a problem can’t be fixed right away, applying true human empathy at scale.

Consumers benefit from the convenience of ordering online, but it also raises a number of problems. Those questions are frequently repeated and predictable. Automation is essential for providing scalable, efficient customer support that responds rapidly to consumer requests.

However, automation must be supplemented with intelligent routing so that when customers do need to speak with live agents, they can do so swiftly and effortlessly, regardless of which channel they choose. 

And when employees answer the phone, they need to be prepared with the customer’s history so they can go right to work on solving the problem. It would be ideal if you could find the right amalgamation of human agents and automation through Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Final Thoughts

The ideal way to practice direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands is to take a strategic approach that helps you to grow your market reputation and consumer base. Personalized interactive contact and directly answering client inquiries is a terrific method to give your company a personal touch.

Any online business can take a leap and become a market-leading brand with well-thought-out marketing strategies, the right software, and a clear roadmap. The most important thing to remember when creating your brand is to always listen to your customers’ demands and give a solution that meets their needs.

Author Bio

Oliver Thyra is the head SaaS copywriter and content strategist at Your Marketing Digest. His intense passion for marketing and his engineering background in software engineering has made him a guy who understands how to sell software subscriptions with words. In his free time, Oliver enjoys quality time with his pets (he has got 4 golden retrievers!).